at 27 years
I’m a CEO of a electric cooperative and, after 30 years in this work, still figuring things out. This is where I write about leadership: what it asks of you, what it teaches you, and what it looks like from the inside of a long career that isn’t finished yet.
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AI won’t replace leaders, but it will expose them
Yesterday during my board meeting, the topic of AI came up. Let’s be honest, the topic of AI is always coming up. One of my board members asked how are we using AI at the cooperative during my IT guys report about how our primary vendor is folding in AI along with how we are…
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Peering into the souls of others
Over the past couple of weeks I have been peering into the souls of those who wish to join my team. I had two executives leave my cooperative, one stepping up into a general manager role and the other putting family first. I knew the one stepping up was going after it, I supported him.…
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Puzzles and the organic relationships they build
A puzzle showed up the other day in the break room. I didn’t think much of it at the time. Within a few days pieces were starting to move on the table. Edges were found, colors grouped, some pieces joining with others. While I didn’t see who was moving the pieces around it wasn’t long…
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Changing Company Culture: Quick vs. Long-Term Transformation
The other day, I found myself in an interesting discussion about how to change a company’s culture. A friend of mine was exploring going to a different company than where she was. According to the board of directors, the company she was looking at had significant cultural issues. She didn’t know any specifics about the…
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Too much…
Recently I was a witness to too much. There were two instances in which the reaction to situations was too much. During a meeting of the employees, a question was asked about the changes to an old process. While there were a couple of employees who could have answered the question, their leader took the…
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Marbles on the Table
The other day, while in the breakroom, one of my executive team members approached me and asked how I was doing. He noted that I always checked in with him and the rest of the team and wondered who was checking in on me. I replied that I was doing fine and thanked him. Regardless…
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What you know and don’t
Well I have always believed one of the challenges of sitting in senior leadership positions is you begin to know less about what is going on inside your company. As I sit in my corner office today, I always ask myself what I don’t know is going on. While I do lean heavily on my…
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Emotions of Conflict
So over the past couple of weeks there has been conflict. To be honest there is always some form of conflict. Whether it is in the office between coworkers, conflict in the family, or conflict on the football field this weekend at the Super Bowl. The conflict from this past week in the office is the inspiration…
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The boss or not
Recently I had a conversation with an upcoming CEO. We were discussing another employee’s reactions to decisions being made. The employee is taking issue with the fact that in my world we do have employees that can work remotely, or from home. It is preferred that employees work at the office, but if a position in the company…
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Mining for knowledge nuggets
I started this week at a conference for CEOs in my industry. The conference happens every year about this time and for the most part I find it to be valuable. Everytime I think about attending a conference there is a balance of time away from my work and my family and whether or not I will…
at 27 years - Memories of Leadership, Leadership for the Future 