Happy Memorial Day

Leaders Are Learners

"Leaders are learners but when they stop learning they cease to lead wisely. Education is an enlightened envoy for leaders who think ahead and who are engaged in effective execution. If a leader does not assess the facts of a situation and operate in reality, he loses any advantage he might possess. Circumspect living is the life of a leader who is ever learning."

 Wisdom Hunters

Spotlight on our Alumni: Jill Geisler

It's time to meet another one of our great alumni. Today the spotlight is on Jill Geisler, she's just written her first book (we highly recommend you pre-order it, as it will be released in June), and like most of our alumni, she's deeply committed and dedicated to building strong positive workplace cultures and helping people do their best work. 

Tell us what you do at your job?

I head the Leadership and Management programs for the Poynter Institute, a wonderful non-profit school that's dedicated to the ethical practice of journalism. Poynter provides mid-career training in writing, editing, reporting, visual journalism, social media, ethics and diversity -- and leadership. I work with media leaders from around the world to help them improve their skills and to reinforce the important value of quality journalism in free society. My leadership teaching has now expanded beyond journalism to people in all disciplines.

The Poynter Institute is in St. Petersburg, Florida and you live in Wisconsin. How does that work for you? Do you like it?

It's worked quite well since 1998. I work from my home office for many things; writing, research, seminar and teaching preparation. I fly to Poynter to lead seminars and attend faculty in-service programs. I'm there an average of 12 days a month. But I am often teaching in organizations, too. I recently taught at Stanford, and coming up I have teaching at Poynter, in D.C. for NPR, in Mobile and Cedar Rapids for TV station groups, and just today worked on plans with one organization to teach in London and Bangkok later this year. And yes, I like it!

Jill leading a session

What are your best memories about studying at SLPA?

Because I travel so frequently to teach and consult, I needed to plan my coursework carefully. I remember how helpful the SLPA office staff was in getting me early copies of the syllabi for courses, so I could stock up on the book assignments and get a head start on my reading! I was never more productive on an airplane than when I was in the MLLS program. I always had my head in a book or was writing a paper. When the course ended, I loved coming to the campus for commencement, because while the online course was rigorous and fulfilling, I wanted to have the in-person ‘Duquesne Experience’ at the culmination of my studies. It was wonderful.

What is your leadership philosophy?

This is what I believe: The most important thing leaders do is help others succeed. And my management philosophy, which I lived by during my many years as a television news director is quite simple: Life's too short to work with jerks.

You’ve recently written a book which has received a great review from Publishers Weekly.  Tell us about it. What were you hoping to accomplish with this book?

My book is Work Happy: What Great Bosses Know. It is a workshop-in-a-book for anyone, from student to novice manager to veteran leader -- who wants to become better at building strong positive workplace cultures and helping people do their best work. I wrote it in response to the many people who kept asking me to suggest just one book they could read so they could build skills in key management areas. I have several hundred books in my person leadership library, but most focus on individual topics, so I would often have to suggest multiple books, not just one. Then, I also discovered something fascinating: I had been producing "What Great Bosses Know" podcasts that Poynter made available free of charge on iTunes U. We learned from Apple that those short leadership lessons had been downloaded millions of times since we launched the series in 2010. People all over the world are hungry for credible, practical advice. So, that led me to take the lessons I teach, write about and podcast, and turn them into a book. I'm just delighted to be able to serve managers everywhere, especially those who haven't had the benefit of leadership training.

8 Myths About Why You Can't Delegate Debunked

Leadership is not about accomplishing great things by yourself. The entire concept is based on accomplishing great things through others – often your employees, colleagues and stakeholders.  What distinguishes the successful leader from the mediocre one is the ability to accomplish results through others.  Delegation is therefore a skill at which you must excel if you want to grow and become more successful.  Unfortunately, delegation doesn’t get the press and the attention that other aspects of leadership does. It may be one of the most unglamorous parts of leadership, but it is the one skill that a large percentage of leaders call upon, a lot, to succeed.  Many of the most successful and noteworthy people we know got to where they are due to their ability to let go of control and delegate.  Richard Branson for example said: “Virgin's ability to grow and diversify successfully was set in the company's early days, with my learning how to delegate and let go.”

According to a 2012 survey of more than 450 North American employees, two-out-of-three people say the stress level in their workplace is high.  Learning how to delegate properly is a great way of reducing your stress levels at work. Yet you often find that leaders have a reluctance to delegate, and they have a laundry list of reasons why they don’t do it, or find it hard to.  Let’s debunk the most popular ones.

There’s no time to delegate

A common excuse since delegation requires training, and training takes time.  ‘It’s quicker to do the job than to train someone else to do it’ is what you hear a lot.  But that’s short term thinking.  If it’s something that you do all the time, it’s worth it to invest the time now to show someone how to do it.  You’ll save tremendous amounts of time in the future. If it’s a project or a process you undertake once or twice a year, then by all means, keep it.

I can do the job better than anyone else

Of course you can, you’ve been doing it for a while.  Given training and experience your team member will be able to do it just as well in the future.  In the meantime, you’ll have to go through the growing pains and anxiety associated with training them to do it. Again, think of it as an investment that will save you time in the future.

Telling Us What You Want Could Win You a Kindle

Dear Alums

We want to be of service to you, but only in ways that add value to your life, so we’re asking you to complete a survey at this link.  By completing the survey you will allow us at SLPA to determine what activities are of value to you, which services you would like to see us provide, and what programs you would like to see us offer.  When you complete our survey, in addition to receiving a thank you gift from us, your name will be automatically entered into a draw to win a Kindle Touch 3G. 

So please complete the survey as soon as you can.  The drawing for the Kindle will be held on May 17^th, 2012.

Thanks……Sonia

Come Volunteer With Us at Food Bank

Alumni and students from SLPA’s Duquesne Breakfast Club (DBC)* have set the date to volunteer at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and are looking for more people to get on board.   We will be participating in the Produce to People campaign where we will be distributing fresh fruit and vegetables along with other grocery items.  If you are interested, please contact Steve Buccilli or Jennifer Setting of the DBC for further details. The date and times are below and this PDF provides further details and requirements (page three refers specifically to the Produce for People campaign).   

Date

Thursday – June 14, 2012  

Place

Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Duquesne Warehouse, One North Linden Street, Duquesne, PA 15110 

Time

4:30pm to 8:30pm approximately 

*The DBC is a club made up of SLPA students and alumni who meet most Saturdays at 6:15 am at DeLuca’s in the Strip. If you've never been before, please consider joining them this Saturday.

Free Webinar: Implementing and Executing a Strategic Plan

SLPA is having a free Webinar on Wednesday April 25, 2012. It runs from 12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m. EST. If you want to join us, send me an email at laynegartsides@duq.edu and I will connect you.  You can also sign up for our upcoming Webinars here. 

 Implementing & Executing a Strategic Plan

April 25, 2012 - 12 to 1 p.m. EST

Your organization's strategic plan can be destroyed by poor implementation at the departmental and team level. Implementing a freshly chosen strategy and making it work within your department takes a lot of time and attention; you need an understanding of the "big picture," as well as all the sequential steps of the implementation process. This workshop will give you a broad overview of the implementation process and explore the lessons learned from those that have been successful in implementing and executing a strategy within their organizations.