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

Leadership Series, Article # 3

[Readers: A significant part of my legal practice relates to the movement of employees from one company to another and the litigation that often ensues as a result of these transitions. When the departing employee holds a significant leadership position, additional issues are implicated. What effect will the executive’s departure have upon key customer relationships? If the executive joins a competitor, will that jump start the competition? What impact will the executive’s departure have on the remaining employees and their attitudes about the company he or she left?

In the years I have practiced, I periodically have met executives who are inspirational leaders. When these individuals leave their companies, either to join a competitor or to start a new company, the ramifications of their departures are heightened. Almost immediately, they are deluged with inquiries from their former colleagues, exploring whether there might be additional opportunities at the executive’s new employer.

Steve Champeau, the author of the third article in my leadership series, is one of these inspirational leaders. The CEO of Trans-Alarm, Inc. (http://www.transalarm.com/index.cfm) for the last several years, Steve previously had extensive experience in critical leadership roles at other national and international companies. Steve’s insights into leadership, set forth in his article below, illustrate why he inspires those around him. I hope that you enjoy Steve’s observations. Regards, Roy]

Leadership Reflections

By: Steve Champeau

Change is good…You go first.

After 22 years of growing a very small business into a medium size business and having it acquired by a big business which I then led as well, I eventually decided to move on to join a small company again. Creating the 100-day plan for my new venture was exciting, but nothing could prepare me for the reality of what I was actually going to face. The people, culture, systems, customers, products, scale and cash flow were all quite different from what I left. Not bad, just different. Thankfully, the leadership requirements of the job were identical. Best-selling author Mac Anderson wrote the book titled, Change Is Good…You Go First, and I reflected long and hard about the change management process before I decided to leave.

I’m glad I made the change, and here is what I learned in the process: Read more

Leadership Series, Article # 2, Another Lesson from Kids

Earlier this month, I started a series of articles on the subject of leadership.  The first article, written by Brian McDermott, was entitled, “Everything You Wanted to Know about Leadership . . . and Should Have Asked Your Kids.”  (That article is still available on the Blog and can be found by using the “View By Topic” bar to the upper left and clicking on “Leadership,” or simply by scrolling down this Blog page to Brian’s May 5 article.)  As Brian’s article suggests, you can find examples of leadership in many different contexts . . . if you simply pay attention.

I’ve spent a considerable portion of my non-work time coaching youth sports.  Like Brian, I try to keep my eyes open to examples of leadership from those around me, young and old. Let me offer an illustration.

I have coached a lot of boys traveling baseball teams.  These teams typically start when kids are 9 years old and continue until they are 15, when their high school sports careers begin.  Practices almost always begin with stretching exercises, followed by a 3-5 minute jog around the baseball fields.  On a team of 12 boys, the players are in different shape and of varying athletic ability, strength and stamina.  Consequently, when they run, the kids often spread out, in bell curve fashion.  The two or three fastest, strongest kids take the lead, about six kids are in the middle group, and two or three kids lag behind.  As the run progresses, the last few kids get farther and farther behind the leaders. Read more