Leadership Series, Article # 4

[Readers: Presented below is the fourth article in our Leadership series. This article was submitted by Christine Esckilsen. Ms. Esckilsen is a Managing Director in the General Counsel Department at Piper Jaffray’s Minneapolis headquarters. She manages all of the firm’s litigation. In addition, Ms. Esckilsen advises the firm on employment law issues and consults on matters including hiring, performance management, executive compensation, policies and procedures. Prior to joining Piper in 2002, Ms. Esckilsen was in private practice for seven years at Littler Mendelson in California where she was an employment and labor law litigator for national corporations.

Ms. Esckilsen has had the benefit of observing leadership skills as both in-house and outside counsel. Moreover, she herself is a leader within the Piper organization. As such, she brings a unique perspective to this important topic. I hope you find Christine’s article instructive and interesting. Regards, Roy]

Reflections on Leadership

By: Christine Esckilsen

Every company has its own culture. I work for an investment bank. Perhaps you are now thinking bailout money (we didn’t take any), proxy statements, red-eye flights, sharp elbows and Brooks Brothers ties. Fair associations all. Yet working here has taught me that effective leadership is best accomplished by being present, open, and connected, concepts addressed below. Why is this important? Because the key to effective leadership is developing engaged employees. We cannot truly engage others unless we are present, open, and connected with them.

To accomplish this, we need to draw on our mind, physical body and emotions. As Americans, we prize and stress the intellect. So, the true work comes in understanding and managing the physical body and the emotions. Once we accomplish this, we can mobilize our teams and feel good doing it! For the skeptics, I submit to you that if this model of successful leadership can work at an investment bank, it can work anywhere. Read more