Session Highlight: Leadership Lessons from the Executive Suite
A panel that included representatives of a global corporation, a multifaceted enterprise with a celebrity brand and one of the nation’s largest non-profit education associations shared some of the secrets behind their success in the Thursday morning session "Leadership Lessons from the Executive Suite." Marilyn Johnson, vice president for market development at IBM, served as moderator of the discussion. The panelists were Kawanna Brown, chief operating officer for Magic Johnson Enterprises; Orlando Ashford, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Marsh and McLennan Companies; and Byron Garrett, CEO of the National Parent-Teachers Association. One of the major themes of the session was the skills and qualities of a good leader. According to Ashford, the most critical skill is learning agility, which he defined as "your ability to flex your style and approach to a given situation." An offshoot of that skill, he said, is a talent for collaboration: getting people in various positions to work together toward a shared outcome. Brown named integrity as the most important quality for a leader. "I’ve had experience with a leader who lost his integrity," she said. "I had to evaluate whether I wanted to follow or step into a leadership role and say, ‘No, I’m not going to go this route.’" She said she chose the latter course. When an audience member asked the panel to speak to the challenge of finding the time to mentor others in the workplace, Brown noted that, along with being a good listener, being available is an essential to effective mentoring. Ashford recommended that, instead of targeting one person as a mentor, an up-and-coming employee would do well to ask for feedback from several people who are models of success in more than one area. He calls this approach "creating your own personal board of directors." Garrett noted that good mentoring doesn’t happen instantly. "There needs to be an authentic connection and a relationship that is built up over time," he said. Another audience member wanted to know how panel members helped young African-American staffers gain opportunities to move into "the C Suite." Johnson, the moderator, said she plays close attention to signs of star talent whenever she begins working with a new team at IBM, and she relays those observations to those who have the power to promote them. "I make sure I telegraph the message . . . that I know where the talent is in my community," Johnson said. |
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