Emerging Leaders: A View from the Top
Welcome to The Leading Edge, a bimonthly e-letter addressing some of the critical issues that matter most to leaders like you. In our last issue we focused on effective meetings. This year we will be including interviews with leaders who we think make a difference. They are role models of leadership excellence. We will be talking with them about what they look for in their emerging leaders and sharing what we learn. We begin this month with two leaders from the Phoenix community who have proven track records of success.
 Kathy Bollinger was named president of the Arizona West Region in 2009. Previously, she served as CEO of Banner Estrella Medical Center in Phoenix, Ariz. and CEO of Banner Heart Hospital in Mesa, Ariz. Prior to becoming a CEO, she held a variety of positions with Lutheran Health Network, including director of planning and marketing, director of outpatient services and manager of speech, language and hearing services.
Banner is the largest employer in the State of Arizona, so Kathy definitely has a challenging job. One of her responsibilities is to identify and grow Banner's leadership capacity.
TLE: What differentiates an emerging leader from the rest of the pack?
KB: As a company, Banner Health is committed to growing talent from within. That means we are always looking two levels down for our emerging leaders. Several things differentiate those that do in fact emerge from those that don't: self-awareness, genuine curiosity, sincere desire to continuously learn, enthusiasm, energy, excitement, effective communication skills and the ability to inspire followers. We are sharpening our skills at identifying emerging talent and then developing leaders through a very robust talent management process.
TLE: What happens when you run into someone who seems to lack self-awareness?
KB: I ask them to "tell me the last thing you learned from someone else." They usually talk about a book they read, but what I really want to hear is that they have the ability to listen and learn from someone else. We have to signal that we don't know everything and can learn from others - especially our people.
 Jim Armstrong, founder and Chairman of the Board of JDA Software, a global supply chain software company that serves over 6,000 clients and 3,000 employees worldwide, is both a business leader and a hands-on philanthropist whose passion for helping the disadvantaged has ranged from founding scholarship programs to building orphanages in Mexico.
TLE: What differentiates an emerging leader from the rest of the pack?
JA: There are many characteristics that help someone stand out from the pack. However, the one I look for first and foremost is the ability to be the company leader who believes in, understands, articulates, and most importantly, sells the organizations' product or service. By that, I mean selling the organization to customers, suppliers, investors, and employees. It sounds simple, but we look at investing in companies all the time and that's what I look for first.
I have met a lot of "leaders" that have to rely on staff to sell their story or vision, and that's a non-starter for me. I look for emerging leaders that have the passion and knowledge required to make the sale successful.
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Leadership In Action
Successful leaders are self-aware and show their passion. Here are some questions for you to think about:
1. Are you self-aware?
- Do you know your strengths and do you know your weaknesses?
- Are you open to getting feedback on those weaknesses
- Are you willing to work on them?
- Are you willing to be the learner, or do you have to be the teacher?
2. Are you showing your passion?
- Are you energized by the vision of your organization and selling that up, down and around?
- Do you have the presence that commands attention, believability and confidence?
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Digging Deeper: Resources | |
The Leadership Challenge, 4th Edition by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. Kouzes and Posner identify five exemplary practices of leaders that are essential elements for emerging leaders to master.
StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath. Strengths Finder is one of many instruments that can help you become more self-aware. |
About Leadership Development ServicesWe help individuals and organizations achieve excellence through leadership development. To do this, we provide customized training, facilitation, consultation, and coaching services (on-site and virtual) that improve the quality of leadership and mentoring. We partner with clients to create sustainable mentoring support structures and processes and roadmaps for creating a mentoring culture. We offer innovative and comprehensive leadership development programs to enhance individual and organizational learning and accountability. Our long-standing relationships with clients around the world are testimony to our ability to facilitate results that matter.
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Check back with our blog every Wednesday for these upcoming topics
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