By Lisa Hochgraf
More than 20 years ago, Lou Centini moved to Virginia from New York and bought a house. When he decided to landscape his yard, the garden center employee gave him some great advice: Prepare the soil.
In the part of Virginia where Centini lives, the soil is red clay, and can get hard as rock. Preparing the soil would make it much easier for plants to grow.
So too with leadership, Centini told attendees of CUES Symposium: A CEO/Chairman Exchange this week in Bonita Springs, Fla. A professor at the University of Virginia and a faculty member for CUES' CEO Institute III: Strategic Leadership Development, he said CEOs need to be in touch with employees to prepare the organization so their leadership vision can take root.
Centini cited the example of a CEO who righted a Boston hospital that was failing in the late '90s. The first thing this turnaround CEO did was serve lunch with employees in the cafeteria. And then she did laundry with the linens crew. And she kept moving around the hospital, talking with employees while working with them on things that would typically be seen as beneath the CEO to tackle.
“She was interested in employees as people,” Centini said. Employees want to know three things from their leaders:
- Do you care about me as a person?
- Can I trust you?
- Are you committed to excellence?
“Nobody’s going to ever ask you those questions explicitly,” Centini noted, “but if you can answer them you’ll be on your way” in leading people to follow your vision.
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.
