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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Moving into a new year…
As we move into 2024 and the days become longer as winter starts to shiver with the idea of spring coming. It is a time of renewal for me. This is the time when I reflect on where I want to go as the new year moves along. I believe it is important for a leader…
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Keeping Up – Navigating the Seas
Leadership, a skill ever-evolving, demands our attention in a world that constantly reshapes its challenges. Acknowledging that leadership is a skill requiring constant honing is the initial step toward becoming an effective leader. In a sea of resources, finding the right tools to sharpen this skill is a challenge many leaders face. Let’s explore some…
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The day I saw the world changed
Early in my career, I was promoted from my staff engineer position to a supervisor of people. I didn’t realize how things would change, specifically my relationship with others. Having only worked at McDonald’s and at two other jobs while at University, I had little experience as a supervisor, or what I think of the…
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The first room
I still remember the day of the first time I was in the room, at the head of the table; the person who was responsible for everyone else in the room. It was my first meeting as a formal supervisor. I was responsible for the engineering teams along with the metershop. I was the youngest…
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Walking to sleep again
So to round out this exercise of past CEOs that I have worked with comes my final one. Honestly I have given a lot of thought what to share of this CEO. I have a great deal of respect for what this CEO was trying to do and what they came into. The organization had…
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A pause in the plan: Leaders are everywhere
While I still have sharings of lessons from yet another CEO I have worked for, I want to take a moment to reflect on the fact that a title does not make a leader a leader. We are all leaders. Earlier this week I was in a monthly meeting of CEOs in my region. Each…
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Slaying Dragons
One day I received an email from one of my future CEOs, it asked if I wanted to join his table when he became king; and become a knight in his service. He wanted my sword to slay the dragons. He wasn’t the king at the time, and I was only a serf on the…
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The General
With an anchor in place in our exploration of leadership styles I have experienced and learned from, I want to share a story about one of my favorite CEOs I worked with. Before I do it would be a good exercise for me to share with you my thoughts about his style. He was ex-military. …
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CEO Leadership Styles: Anchors
Over the next few weeks, I would like to share my experiences working with four different CEOs, dedicating a week to each one without following any specific order. Each of these CEOs brought a unique leadership style to the table. One adhered to a traditional top-down command structure, another sought to empower each team member,…
at 27 years - Memories of Leadership, Leadership for the Future 