Once upon a time (well, actually many times over decades!), I was a mentor in a national program that paired experienced executives with up and coming business leaders. My first mentee in that program, Colleen Larson, and I have stayed in touch over the years. Along her life journey, Colleen demonstrated her own boldness in…
Becky Roloff is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the YWCA of Minneapolis. As their website describes, the YWCA serves over 30,000 annually with a budget of $23 million through a dedicated staff of over 600 full and part-time employees. I’ve met Becky socially several times but had never sat down to talk with…
Let me start this post where Carly Broderick and I ended our bold leader conversation. Optimistic, empathetic and curious were three adjectives Carly offered as the best descriptors of herself. I don’t know her well but in our few exchanges, all three of these characteristics have been on display. I could add a few others:…
I’ve known Dr. Nicolas Guggenheim, the President of Heraeus Medical Components (HMC) and worked with him and his team for a couple of years now. We have (hopefully he agrees!) a strong, positive working relationship and yet I find him a bit of a mystery at times. That is a big reason why I wanted…
I remember the day I met Nancy Dahl. It was 1999 and I was in a small fishbowl conference room at Lifetouch where she was at the time Senior VP of Sales and Marketing. It was a small group, discussing the implications of the internet (then a still relatively new phenomenon!) on the company strategies. …
My bold leader interview with Steve Guida picked up after a 15 – 20-year gap. Neither of us could remember exactly the last time we saw each other. As so often happens when you haven’t seen someone in a while, you have dated perceptions of who they are—as if they’ve been in a time-stopped bubble…
One of the things I ask everyone I meet through these bold leader interviews, especially those who have been referred to me so I’m meeting them for the first time, is: “Why do you think (referring person) sees you as a bold leader? And, do you think of yourself that way?” John Hoskins’ response was…
Ben Freakley, Lieutenant General (Ret), is the first military leader I’ve had the opportunity to interview for this bold leader series, and boy did I get lucky. Now Special Advisor to the President of ASU for Leadership Initiatives, a Senior Advisor to The McCain Institute for International Leadership and former Eagle Scout, one of the…
Phil Soran is a bold leader who knows himself very well. Not in a braggadocios way but in a confident, warm, and engaging way. Before committing to the actual interview, Phil wanted a conversation and asked me more questions than anyone I’ve interviewed to date. I thought that was great! And interesting. Through our two…
The latter part of the title is the beginning of a quote from my conversation with Sam Yagan, CEO of Match.com. The whole quote is: “Fail because you are trying, not because you are not trying.” It is probably a good example of why Time Magazine in 2013 named him one of “the 100 most influential people in…
