Skip navigation

October 19, 2012

Leaving a Legacy by Gerald Meck

“Our days are numbered. One of the primary goals in our lives should be to prepare for our last day. The legacy we leave is not just in our possessions, but in the quality of our lives. What preparation should we be making now? The greatest waste in all of our earth, which cannot be recycled or reclaimed, is our waste of the time that God has given us each day.”
–Billy Graham

What legacy do you want to leave?  As a leader, what would you like people to say about you when you leave your leadership role? This may be one of the more important questions you can ask yourself as a leader.   Identifying a legacy provides direction and guidance to your leadership style.  Writing a legacy statement provides a wonderful way to measure your performance and helps determine how long you should continue in your role as a leader.

To have any credibility as a leader, you must live what you say you believe. A legacy statement articulates what kind of a leader you want to be. Based on the legacy you want to leave, you will identify what current changes you want to make as a leader. Examples of changes may include strengthening certain character traits, acquiring more education, changing particular methods of work, building stronger relationships, etc. John Maxwell says “Only by changing the way you live will you be able to create the legacy you want to leave.”

In my former role as a CEO, I created a legacy statement which guided my leadership style and gave me a measuring tool for deciding when to complete my time in that role.

My statement read: I would hope that people associated with the organization I lead would say that Jerry Meck was fair, consistent and understanding in response to employee job duties and personal life situations. I hope that people will say that I accepted their suggestions graciously and acknowledged their hard work and recognized the contribution they made to the organization. I want to leave the organization in a good financial position. I want to leave the organization knowing that employees, volunteers and clients feel pride in their association with the organization.”

Our life stages change. After 26 years with one organization, I transitioned to North Group.  This month, I will be 66 and eligible for full retirement. It is time to create another legacy statement that reflects my current life stage.  How will I do this?

  • Take time to reflect (listen to that still small voice from God)
  • Identify my core values
  • Decide my target audience (work colleagues, family)
  • Create legacy statement

What would you like your legacy to be?

June 20, 2012

Governance as Leadership by Gerald Meck

During my 40 years of nonprofit executive leadership, and more recently as a consultant, I’ve been reminded of the critical role of the board of directors in the operation of an organization. Recently I was reading a book entitled Governance as Leadership by Richard Chait which prompted me to think further on board governance.

Have you looked up “board governance” on Google lately? The last time I checked, the results stood at 21,800,000. These include best practices, free resources on the web, books, articles, consultants, workshops, case studies, etc. This number of entries alone suggests that governance is an important role of the nonprofit board.

Governance is the act of governing. From its Greek origin, Kubemao, means “to steer”. Nonprofit governance focuses primarily on the board’s fiduciary responsibilities with respect to the exercise of authority over the explicit public trust that is understood to exist between the mission of an organization and those whom the organization serves.

Leadership as defined by John C. Maxwell is “the ability to obtain followers.” Leaders obtain followers by influence. The governance role of a board is to influence the organization in three ways as suggested by Chait.

Generative — developing the big picture

  • Relying on a sense of the past to generate new insights
  • Looking beyond the details of the issue for answers to problems
  • Recognizing there is no one answer to a problem
  • Involving “outsiders” to gain insights for decision making
  • Suspending “Roberts Rules” in order to encourage creative dialogue

Planning — setting goals and evaluating

  • What business are we in
  • What do our customers want
  • Where do we have a competitive advantage
  • What are our competencies

Fiduciary — minding the rules of organizational life

  • Can we afford it
  • Did we get a clean audit
  • Is the budget balanced
  • Should we increase departmental budgets
  • Does a merger make financial sense
  • It is legal

Today governance has become a front-page story propelled by a steady flow of articles on acquiescent and negligent corporate boards and unbridled (and often unethical) leadership. There are examples of these stories in Lancaster and surrounding communities. The Goverance as Leaders role was not followed.

Nonprofit organizations are experiencing many challenges including a lack of public trust, shrinking resources, increased regulations and an increased demand for services. For a nonprofit organization to be successful, it requires boards of directors who think and govern like leaders. Consider what you can do to enable success in the nonprofit organizations that you support by developing, providing and /or encouraging strong leadership in its board of directors.

February 6, 2012

It’s All About Integrity by Gerald Meck

I recently read an article entitled “The Future of Business is Pure Chaos. Here’s how you can survive – and perhaps even thrive” by Robert Safian in the January 2012 issue of Fast Company.   This article stimulated my thinking about what kind of leadership is needed at the board and executive level to guide an organization through an ever-changing and fast-paced marketplace.

As leaders in a constantly changing world, our ability to predict the future is difficult.  The pace of change continues to accelerate.  Just five years ago three companies controlled 64% of the smartphone market. These companies were Nokia, Research in Motion and Motorola. Today two different companies, Samsung & Apple, control the market. Online education programs are challenging our assumptions about what education looks like. The rise of Facebook, the fall of Blockbuster, the downgrading of the US credit rating, foreign government regime changes and rising unemployment all contribute to the difficulty in forecasting the future.

When leaders, including board members and executives, search for the right answers for the future, no clear road map or business model emerges. When I began as CEO/President of United Disabilities Services in 1983, I created a five year plan that guided the organization into the future. Today, however, a planning model needs to be a strategic thinking process that is flexible and adaptable to the fast-changing conditions of the business world.  In the next decade or two, organizational planning will be defined more by its fluidity and flexibility than by a well-defined strategic direction for the future.

Most organizations are good at solving clear problems, even very complicated ones.  But organizations have a difficult time solving ambiguous problems when leadership doesn’t know what it doesn’t know. Faced with ambiguity, organizations look for leadership that has developed a successful model which can be replicated. But in a world of flux, what has been successful for one organization will not necessarily work for another organization.  Trying to replicate what worked yesterday will leave an organization vulnerable. Every organization needs to find their unique organizational structure, business model and culture that best allows it to stay flexible and competitive.

To survive in this climate of constant change and growing competition, leadership needs to be adaptable. Adaptability requires leaders who:  a) work continually to be clear about the mission, b) embrace instability, c) enjoy recalibrating their business model, and, d) continually evaluate current assumptions. This approach of constant attentiveness to change will enable leaders to weigh the risks and opportunities and to make decisions that will position the organization for future sustainability.

As Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “Our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and face the challenge of change.”

Recently I was working at my desk preparing for a board meeting when one of the members came into my office, and began to talk to me. My first reaction was that I did not have the time to talk. Why was he disturbing me as I prepared for the meeting?

Since he did not have my phone number, the board member had come to the meeting early hoping I would be available because he had some ideas and comments to share with me.  Feeling impatient, but also wanting to be respectful, I listened to what he had to say.

He stated that he thinks about me often as I navigate the difficult day to day challenges of the organization where I am serving as Acting Executive Director. He provided me with some suggestions about how to deal with staff morale and trust issues, and gave me a quote to read on the importance of being transparent when dealing with a difficult situation. He affirmed my leadership and thanked me for my service to the organization.

I felt my impatience melting away.  I listened, no longer out of obligation, but because I welcomed his words of encouragement.  This experience reminded me how important it is to take time to encourage and acknowledge others for their work.

As I reflected further on this conversation I was reminded of a quote from John Quincy Adams: “A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not.”

This board member demonstrated leadership by example.

One of North Group Consultant’s leadership principles states: “Leaders have the ability to give encouragement, affirmation and challenge in appropriate amounts.”

Giving and receiving encouragement, affirmation and challenge are powerful tools for motivating and empowering ourselves and others.  May we all demonstrate leadership in our ability to give and receive these building blocks of character in appropriate amounts.

 

We welcome your comments at blog@northgroupconsultants.com.

July 5, 2011

Every Day is a Gift by Gerald Meck

On Father’s day, as I was exercising at the Ephrata Recreation Center, I debated whether to write about the importance of leadership succession planning, servant leadership or managing by values.

While these thoughts were circulating through my mind, I was watching the US Open golf tournament.  During the tournament NBC aired a segment on golf pro Ernie Els, telling the story of how Ernie and his family responded to the challenge of raising a child with Autism.

For several years Ernie and his wife hid the fact that one of their children had Autism.  They wanted a “normal child” like the rest of their friends and golf peers.  However, after hours of physical therapy, testing and medical treatment they  finally came to terms with their son’s condition and began to embrace and celebrate his life.

As part of coming to terms with his son’s condition, Ernie established the Els for Autism Foundation in 2009 with the goal of funding an Autism Center of Excellence; the first in the world.  Autism effects one in 110 children.  Learning that a child has autism hits families hard.  Ernie says “I will be fighting for the rest of my life to try and help others in the same situation.” The Center of Excellence will launch a global digital learning platform that will make best practices in education and therapy available to thousands of children on the Autism spectrum around the world.   Ernie is now providing the leadership to assist other children and their families in dealing with the challenges of Autism.

This story reminded me of a leadership theme during my 26 years as President and CEO at United Disabilities Services (“UDS”).   My theme was “Every day is a Gift.”   There were challenges, disappointments, times when things did not go as planned.   We needed to find ways to turn those challenges and disappointments into opportunities.

Ernie Els is a wonderful example of how an individual turned a challenge into an opportunity for thousands of other people.  As a leader I asked myself each day “What am I going to do with the gift of this day?”  At UDS, I asked our 400 employees what they were planning to do with this gift of a day, to write it down and share it with me.  I was amazed at the creative and thoughtful responses I received.

What are you going to do with the gift of this day?

We welcome your comments at blog@northgroupconsultants.com.