Leadership Lessons Learned Along the Way

Type “leadership” in the Amazon.com search box and you will learn there are over 80,000 books in the leadership category. The Oxford Dictionary defines leadership as the action of leading a group of people or an organization.

My day job is managing an academic school at Washburn University, I have held board and officer roles in community and professional organizations, completed Leadership Greater Topeka and Leadership Kansas programs, and helped to develop a leadership program at Washburn. Do I know anything about leadership? Not in a formal sense. Of those thousands of Amazon books, I have read fewer than a dozen. However, I have been fortunate to study or get to know many leaders and have watched what they do and say. I believe there are seven key attributes of these individuals that we can emulate in our path to becoming better leaders.

Leaders focus on the big picture, making sure the outcome is truly meaningful.

In business, the focus is on the bottom line. Generals who think about winning battles receive respect and honor. But what do leaders do outside of business or the military? Saint Teresa of Calcutta made it her life’s work to help the poorest of the poor in India. Her big picture was to be true to her faith—living the Christian gospel through love.

Closer-to-home examples abound: Barry Feaker at the Topeka Rescue Mission; the great folks at Harvesters, Let’s Help and the Salvation Army; Deacon Harry Craig ministering to cancer patients; or the volunteers at Mary’s Choices. Can you think of more meaningful outcomes than housing the homeless, clothing and feeding the poor, comforting the sick and dying, or bringing life into our world?

In your business or organization, in your community, or even your own space, what are the truly meaningful big- picture things you need to focus on?

Leaders listen to a variety of input and use available data

In our fast-paced world, we often feel we have to make quick decisions based on a gut instinct. While successful leaders will seemingly use their intuition, it is likely they developed a process to alter information and have built up a meaningful knowledge base. They also know what they don’t know and have a network of others to turn to when they need help.

Leaders are always asking questions, o en digging deep into their organization for new insight. A 50/50 proposition might require some hard thinking (and some Maalox on occasion), but slowing down and using a process where your decision is based on a variety of input and data has a better chance of being a good one.

Do you have a process for building your knowledge base? Are you willing to listen to others?

Develop and execute a (simple) plan.

Washburn alumnus Greg Brenneman is a well-known business leader and author of “Right Away” and “All at Once” (Rosetta Books, 2016). His successful career has been about turning around troubled companies such as Continental Airlines, Burger King, and several others.

His first step for a successful turnaround is the creation of a one page “Go Forward” plan, a simple strategy statement that will fit on one piece of paper. By focusing on the big, important things and setting the direction, everyone in the organization will know where it is going and try to figure out what they can do to get there.

Greg’s idea applies to our personal lives as well. This past year, 40 Washburn students participated in seminars based on Greg’s book, and they developed their own personal “Go Forward” plans!

What would your “Go Forward” plan look like?

Leaders make mistakes, and they allow others around them to make mistakes too.

In April 2003, Washburn University President Jerry Farley phoned me. “David, it is a beautiful day on campus, and we would like you to join us here at Washburn.” I was leaving a job where the leadership was in constant turmoil, and often settled scores in ugly, public ways.

As I settled into my new role as an Ichabod, my direct boss, Dr. Ron Wasserstein, pulled me aside and said,
“David, remember two things: At Washburn, we don’t like Emporia State; and two, when President Farley isn’t happy with what you are doing he will let you know in private.”

Dr. Farley’s leadership attitude creates a culture at Washburn such that leaders can make mistakes as they try to accomplish some things that seem risky. We learn from our mistakes, our failures.

Have you recently had a failure? What did you learn to apply to your next success?

A low profile is often successful.

“Charisma” often invokes thoughts of flamboyance, showmanship. Sometimes we expect our leaders to be loud, outspoken, ashy. However, many leaders have a charisma based on humility and kindness.

Upon arriving in Topeka, one of the first folks I met was Jack Dicus. I later got to know his son John and his family. Many of you know of the years of leadership they have provided Capitol Federal Savings and are aware of the great philanthropic and leadership contributions to our community that CapFed and the Dicus family have made over the years. As quiet leaders, they deliver for their employees, customers, and their community every day.

Do you show kindness, respect, humility, and deliver on your promise?

Communicate, and make it simple.

When asked how the Cold War conflict with the USSR should end, President Ronald Reagan kept it simple: “We win, they lose.” Reagan was a gifted communicator, someone who honed his trade as a sportscaster, actor and spokesperson long before he entered politics. His British political contemporary, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher also had a very direct style of communication—no wonder they admired one another.

In one of our Washburn freshman classes each fall, we spend a class period talking about Lincoln’s Gettysburg address (Lincoln thought it was dreadful) and Churchill’s famous 1940 “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” speech (actually delivered in a boring monotone, unlike the Hollywood versions). We finish with Reagan’s 1984 speech after the NASA Challenger tragedy and review how in a five-minute speech he successfully connected with a variety of grieving audiences— school children and teachers, the astronaut families, NASA employees and the country as a whole. In these examples, Lincoln, Churchill, and Reagan used relatively unsophisticated language in their messages.

Do you keep it simple?

Get involved, have fun and give back/make a difference.

Topeka has witnessed tremendous success of a local company started by three Washburn graduates: Advisors Excel. I once asked one of the founders, Cody Foster, why AE was building the company in Topeka as opposed to a major city where there might be more opportunity, more resources. He told me he liked Topeka, his family liked Topeka, he wanted Topeka to be great so that his kids might stay in Topeka someday.

Cody expects a lot of from his employees, but also wants them to enjoy their lives away from work. Many of the new things “happening” in our community are a result of Cody’s vision. In addition, I am always amazed by how much emphasis AE places on having their employees involved with charitable and other activities
in our community. AE is not alone in this regard, as many of the great companies in Topeka have leaders who encourage their employees to volunteer.

What are you doing to give back/make a difference?

I am not a leadership expert, but I have always tried to pay attention to the qualities of those folks I consider to be great leaders. Perhaps you have your own group of folks that you consider great leaders, or attributes different from the ones I think about. Maybe you would like to share your thoughts with me and we can continue this discussion? You can reach me at david.sollars@washburn.edu.

DAVID L. SOLLARS is Dean and Professor of Economics in the School of Business, Washburn University.