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Yesterday, I received a “Major Issues, Major Impact Questionnaire” from the American Association of University Women (AAUW), an organization breaking barriers for women and girls.  Answering the questionnaire is important since “AAUW research and education programs are used by federal, state, and local agencies and academics to address gender and gender gap issues positively.”

AAUW was the resource that the U.S. Congress used to pass the Lilly Ledbetter bill, the first bill signed by President Barack Obama.  According to an article “Obama Signs Equal-Pay Legislation” by Sheryl Gay Stolberg in The New York Times on January 29, 2009, “the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (is) a law named for an Alabama woman who at the end of a 19-year career as a supervisor in a tire factory complained that she had been paid less than men.”

The author goes on to write that “After a Supreme Court ruling against her, Congress approved the legislation that expands workers’ rights to sue in this kind of case, relaxing the statute of limitations.”  President Obama stated that, “It is fitting that with the very first bill I sign — the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — we are upholding one of this nation’s first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness.”

Stolberg wrote that the president “was signing the bill not only in honor of Ms. Ledbetter — who stood behind him, shaking her head and clasping her hands in seeming disbelief — but in honor of his own grandmother, ‘who worked in a bank all her life, and even after she hit that glass ceiling, kept getting up again’ and for his daughters, ‘because I want them to grow up in a nation that values their contributions, where there are no limits to their dreams.’

That was in 2009 and not much progress has been made on the gender pay gap since then.  The AAUW warned that, “Women have only gained 13 CENTS toward pay equity with men in the last 30 years.  At this rate, it will take another 60 years before we achieve pay equity.”

Women working full time earn 77 cents, on average, for every dollar earned by men.  AAUW also stated that, “just one year out of college, women working full time already earn less than male colleagues, even in the same field, and that the pay gap widens as time goes by.”

Here are examples of the impact of paycheck inequity:  if he makes $10,000, she makes $7,700.  If he makes $30,000, she makes $23,100.  If he makes $50,000, she makes $38,500.  If he makes $70,000, she makes $53,900.  If he makes $100,000, she makes $77,000.

AAUW and other organizations are doing their best to help women earn an equal paycheck.  Enacting bills from the U.S. Congress on equity is not all that can be done, however.  It takes women, especially young women, to do their research before accepting a salary offer.  Often, it is the first salary you get that determines how much you will be making as you climb the corporate ladder.  So be prepared to state that you want to receive a salary equal to the one that a male would — a small but important step to end the gender pay gap.

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(l to r) Michael F. Bachner, Garrett Bauer, Donald Schepers, Walter Pavlo, Jr.

“Ethics Week 2012” at Baruch College generated a series of programs featuring guest speakers and faculty members.  Tuesday, March 27, I attended “The Story of an Exposed Insider Trader” sponsored by the Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity (ZCCI).

Donald H. Schepers, Academic Director of ZCCI, moderated a panel discussion for a large and very interested audience.  Panelist included:  Garrett Bauer, a former day trader who pleaded guilty to insider trading, obstruction of justice, and money laundering in December 2011; Walter Pavlo Jr. who oversaw a $2 billion operation at MCI Communications and embezzled $6 million; and Michael F. Bachner of Michael F. Bachner & Associates, P.C. who specializes in white collar criminal defense and securities litigation.

According to the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission, insider trading has two meanings:  legal and illegal conduct.  As stated on the SEC website, “The legal version is when corporate insiders—officers, directors, and employees—buy and sell stock in their own companies. When corporate insiders trade in their own securities, they must report their trades to the SEC.”  And “Illegal insider trading refers generally to buying or selling a security, in breach of a fiduciary duty or other relationship of trust and confidence, while in possession of material, nonpublic information about the security. Insider trading violations may also include ‘tipping’ such information, securities trading by the person ‘tipped,’ and securities trading by those who misappropriate such information.”

Garrett Bauer

After introductions by Prof. Schepers, Mr. Bauer, who is now awaiting sentencing for his actions, came to the podium and quietly but effectively shared his story of crimes that spanned 17 years and brought in $37 million.  Without notes and in a manner perfected by presenting to other college audiences and non-profits, he explained to the audience what constitutes insider trading, how he became involved, and the scheme itself.

Bauer was a day or short-term trader whose business wasn’t that profitable.  He met Matthew Kluger, a contract lawyer whose work at high-profile deal-making law firms gave him access to financial opportunities.  Tips from Kluger were passed to Kenneth Robinson, a friend of Bauer’s with whom he spoke with very often, sometimes every day.

When asked by an audience member, “What was your drive to trade illegally?” Bauer responded that he had just moved to New York City and his trading was not going well.  He had to get cash advances on his credit cards to survive.  Information from Ken was vague; Bauer’s trades made him millions of dollars over a few days then lost the same amount later.  “I didn’t think of the consequences,” stated Bauer who is now “happy not dealing with trading.”

One day, Bauer decided not to trade but Ken traded $700,000 and was caught.  One day after that, twenty FBI agents entered Bauer’s apartment in the early morning and proceeded to take the trader to a state jail in New Jersey, what Bauer would find as “the scariest place on earth”.  Negotiations led to Bauer’s brother paying his bail and his mother leaving her home in Florida to be with Bauer while he was confined to his apartment.

Bauer knew that it was Ken who had turned him in and also knew that Ken, because he had cooperated with the SEC, would not have a long if any sentence or even a large fine.  Bauer, who was a regular and loyal volunteer at non-profits, is scheduled to be sentenced by May 1 to a Federal Prison for 9 or more years.  Once the former trader gets out of prison and starts to work, the government can garnish his earnings until the $11 million they require is paid.  Calm and accepting of his penalty, Bauer has one shining light: “My relationships with my family and friends are stronger than ever.” 

Walt Pavlo Jr.

“Where were you on 9/11?” is one question Walt Pavlo doesn’t want to answer because from 2001-2003, he was serving time in a Federal Prison for insider trading.  While working at MCI Communications, he oversaw a $2 billion operation and also ways to improvise and embezzle $6 million.  “I’m invincible,” he felt and continued his ‘personal’ activity at the company.  While at home, he said, “I don’t want to talk about it.” However, when the time came that he had to go prison, he told his two sons (10 and 9) that he got a government job and not the truth.  He and his wife talked about divorce but she vowed not to leave him. 

“No one told him to cook the books” but he did it under the guise of helping the company while auditors turned a blind eye to what he was doing.  It was a junior auditor who found out his embezzlement.  And Pavlo learned the hard way that was “where fraud is uncovered.”

“People pay a price on what was done,” and Pavlo went public in 2007 to share his story.  Stolen Without A Gun by Pavlo and Neil Weinberg (Etika, 2007), is a confessional on how his crimes contributed to the collapse of Bernie Ebbers’ Worldcom.  Today, in addition to being a speaker, Pavlo is a blogger for Forbes Magazine on White-Collar Crime. 

On his blog recently, Pavlo wrote a post on Before Prison – Future Inmates Get in Their Vacation and referenced Bauer’s situation. “…life waiting to be sentenced to prison is not much better than being in prison.  I recently spoke with Garrett Bauer, who has pled guilty to insider trading and is scheduled to be sentenced May 1st and may receive up to 11 years in prison.  Bauer told me, ‘This time just seems a bit surreal right now.  In some ways, it is like I am already in prison since I don’t work nor can I make any plans.’ Currently, Bauer spends his days giving lectures on his case to universities and volunteers for non-profit groups. ‘I’ve volunteered for years but now it is the focus of why I get up every day.  I travel some, but really only to do a few speeches,’ he said.”  Palvo summed up the life of future inmates that “they remain searching for that last memory to take with them to prison.

Michael F. Bachner

“Where are the insider traders?” Bachner stated then tongue in cheek told the audience to “look right and left.”  To the question of “Why is this happening so frequently?” the lawyer’s answer was “The luck of getting caught.”  “How busy is the prosecutor?” is determined by how many cases can be handled meaning that some cases are put on hold for years.

Bachner said that because of the now highly computerized SEC, there is a massive focus on catching insider traders.  “Money isn’t power,” he tells his audience and suggests that it is “Better to be a little poorer and a little happier” than be an insider trader.  Especially since that in 1987, sentences for insider trading was 3 years and today cases like Bauer’s is 9-11 years or more.

Takeaways

Prof. Schepers wound up the question and answer period by asking the panelists to offer a ‘takeaway’ for the members of the audience.  His advice to those in attention was to have the feeling that “you could walk outdoors and be okay” and that “you can walk away from any situation.”

Bauer spoke with earnest that you should, “Think harder before you act on something.  A small crime can build on itself.”

Pavlo offered his personal experience that others shouldn’t follow:  “I knew what was wrong and didn’t stop.  I went along with it.”

Bachner feels that, “Society is a big loser because they are missing Bauer’s volunteer work.”  In keeping with the tone of his legal presentation at the end of the program, his last words of wisdom were, “Don’t do stupid things!”

Later that day during the “Organizational Behavior” class I teach at Zicklin, I asked my students, “What week is this?”  “The last week in March” wasn’t the answer.  Another student said it was, “Ethics Week” to which another student stated that, “Every day is an ethics day.”  And he was right.  Ethical behavior is an integral part of one’s life each day.

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Thinking of going to graduate school in New York City?  Below is a press release entitled “U.S. News & World Report Ranks Baruch College Among ‘2013 Best Graduate Schools’” issued by the school that may help you decide where you will attend.

NEW YORK, NY-March 13, 2012 –  Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business was rated a top MBA program with the most financial value at graduation according to a survey in U.S. News & World Report. Of the 437 business schools surveyed in 2011, the Zicklin School of Business’s MBA program is ranked #2 as the best place for students to earn the most in their first year after graduation relative to their debt load.

This is the second year the Zicklin School ranked in the Top 5 for this category. Class of 2011 MBA graduates at the Top 10 “MBA Schools with the Most Financial Value at Graduation” earn the highest annual salaries in their first jobs relative to the amount they owe in student debt. Among the ten schools, graduates earn, on average, four times as much in their first-year salaries than what they owe in loans. Graduates of the Zicklin School of Business have a 5.5 to 1 salary-to-debt ratio.

Baruch’s School of Public Affairs is ranked #46, up 11 spots from the 2008 ranking of #57. In addition, the SPA received high marks in the specialty area of Nonprofit Management debuting on the ranking at #21.

Each year, U.S. News and World Report ranks professional school programs in business, education, engineering, law, and medicine. These rankings are based on two types of data: expert opinions about program excellence and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school’s faculty, research, and students. The data come from surveys of administrators at more than 1,200 programs and nearly 15,000 academics and professionals, conducted during the fall of 2011 and early 2012.”

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Did you read it?  “Senators Question Employer Requests for Facebook Passwords” by The Associated Press was published in The New York Times on Sunday, March 25, 2012. 

Why you should read this article now is that, “The Associated Press reported last week that some private and public agencies around the country were asking job seekers for their social media credentials. The practice has alarmed privacy advocates, but its legality remained murky.”

However, Facebook has put out a warning to employers that they “might be vulnerable to claims of discrimination if it did not hire that person.”

Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have taken up the cause to ask “Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to investigate whether employers asking for Facebook passwords during job interviews are violating federal law.”  Thankfully, the senators are serious about the actions by potential employers and have requested investigations by the Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The author of the article continues to state that, “Specifically, the senators want to know if the practice violates the Stored Communications Act or the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Those two acts, respectively, prohibit intentional access to electronic information without authorization and intentional access to a computer without authorization to obtain information.”

After reading the article, send it on to friends and colleagues – and take a copy with you when you go for an interview, just in case.  You will read in the article that “Personal information such as gender, race, religion and age are often displayed on a Facebook profile — all details that are protected by federal employment law.”  If somehow someone at work does get access to your account, what will they think about the photographs of you at a party, the ‘bully’ type remarks you wrote about a friend, or other activities you wouldn’t want your parents to see let alone an employer or interviewer.

During the college classes I teach, I caution students to be conservative in their decisions to post revealing and very personal photographs on Facebook or other social media sites.  Posting negative comments about a workplace has caused many people to be fired, including police officers.

Going on an interview can be a very stressful experience.  Be prepared with the answer when an interviewer or employer asks you, “To complete our talk, please give me your password to Facebook.”  You can answer directly and also at the same time, bring out the article to inform the person across from you that you will not reveal your password.

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Sean McBrien

On the last days of December 1996, I took on a technology consulting assignment that was to last two-to-three days in the Marketing & Communications Department at Merrill Lynch & Co.  That assignment stretched out to over three years and I’m very glad it did.  In 1997, Sean McBrien began working in the same department where I was the Technology Trainer and Sean a Contractor.  Our work stations then were both on the same floor but in different areas.  About a year later, Sean was developing and managing Access databases for the Event group and I was sitting next to him in my role as the person who helped senior executives, individuals, and teams learn how to use databases and other programs.  I left Merrill but then came back soon as a technology consultant for the Merrill Lynch Archives while Sean continued his climb up the Merrill ladder. 

After my consultancy to get the Archives updated and through the 2000 assessment process, I left and started my own company.  Sean earned an MS in Information Technology and Project Management then applied his expertise in the role of deputy to the head of the Electronic Marketing Communications team, eventually rising to the position of Vice President of Electronic Marketing responsible for managing all internal and public web sites, advertising and communications for the capital markets and investment banking group.  Merrill Lynch was purchased by Bank of America in September 2008.  Unlike many others, Sean stayed through the merger and today is a Senior Vice President at U.S. Trust and responsible for strategy and tactics for all electronic platforms that deliver the U.S. Trust brand.

We kept in touch through the past eleven years and knowing what an effective role model he would be, I invited him to speak in front of my “Organizational Behavior” class at the Zicklin School of Business.  After his first presentation, I invited him back again and again.  During every presentation, he delivered a magnificent overview of his career path—pitfalls and potentials combined—and a detailed description of what he did to get where he is now.  He has the talent and ability to convey information effectively and at some point in his career, I hope he will become an Adjunct Lecturer.

Below are questions and answers that will help you learn more about this wonderful senior executive.

LH:  What were your career ambitions when you were in elementary school?  In college?
SMcB:  My career ambitions in elementary school, depending on which grade, spanned from fantasy to a form of ambiguous realism.  Up until around say the third grade, I think astronaut might have been my primary ambition.  From third grade to say seventh, I gave it little thought.  In eighth grade, with high school looming thoughts of being an attorney entered my mind, mostly at the urging of others.  While pursuing my undergraduate degree, I started with a major in English, Secondary Education with the intent of becoming a New York City teacher, but eventually changed my major to Political Science with the intent of eventually going to law school.  After college, I earned a certificate in paralegal studied and decided that a career in law wasn’t for me and set off into the world of finance.

LH:  What were three key events that helped you move from developing databases to working with electronic marketing?
SMcB:  I don’t know if there necessarily three key things.  I’d describe the process as a combination of natural evolution and the ability to recognize opportunity.  The databases I designed and built included both back end data store, but also the user interface.  As standalone databases morphed into online applications, I became heavily involved in user experience and information architecture.  When email communications began to be integrated with the web-based platform, I paid close attention to messaging and to ‘look and feel’ on landing pages.  All of these things eventually wrapped up into a full suite of marketing capabilities encompassing branding, messaging, user experience, call to action, etc.  Additionally, with my education and experience with back end systems, I have also developed strong skill sets around organization and operations.  I have a good sense of the “what” and the “how” if you will.

LH:  Your master’s degree of science is in Information Management.  How was this area of help to your performance at the banks?
SMcB:  Getting my master’s degree represented a great leap forward in my career, not so much by virtue of the fact that I have one, but by what I learned in the process of obtaining it.  Most of my classmates were experienced professionals like me, so we were able to share a lot of real world experience, but more importantly, I learned the process of developing a premise and conducting research to support that premise.  While my particular program did not require a final thesis, each class did require a minimum 25 page paper as part of the final exams.  Writing these papers helped me to better organize my thoughts and make compelling arguments, additionally, they helped me develop the skills I needed to plan, articulate and lead major initiatives be they marketing or technology based.

LH:  Project management is a growing field.  What three insights have you learned about project management from your years in this area?
SMcB:  I think there is one over-arching thing I’ve learned, and that is that everything is a project or at the very least, project management principles touch all business activity and even the most cursory review of project management theory can yield benefits regardless of where one sits in an organization.  Shortly after earning my master’s degree, I also obtained a PMP (Project Management Professional) designation – now since lapsed – from the Project Management Institute, doing so required an even more in-depth study into the practice of Project Management.  What I learned is that project management principles put rigor against the method by which a successful outcome can be achieved for any effort.  What had largely been considered intuitive in much of the business world in the past, perhaps wrongly, is now clearly spelled out.  Reasons for this could include new and emerging technology, development of virtual teams, distributed workloads, etc., but the point is that spelling out who your stakeholders are, your priorities, success measures, budget, teams, communications, etc. all help to ensure that a project is purpose driven and being monitored.  An added benefit of planning and review is that the process often uncovers things that would ordinarily have been overlooked.

LH:  As a Senior Vice President at US Trust, you interact with the CEO and other senior executives.  What advice can you share about how you establish and maintain these relationships?
SMcB:  Communicating with the “C-suite” definitely comes with a strong set of ground rules.  The first I’d say is to know your stuff, and that often means knowing more than just the materials you are presenting: know the how and why of what you are presenting.  Executives see things in the big picture and you may be asked about things that are relevant to, but outside of, your presentation.  Secondly, be brief, but don’t overlook the most important points and be sure to communicate them clearly.  Executives often process multiple threads of disparate information in rapid fire, so to make my point effectively, I try to use plain language and avoid jargon wherever I can.  I pay close attention to how my thoughts are organized and presented; this requires multiple revisions and importantly, practice – including standing up in my office and giving my presentation out loud.  As for maintaining the relationship, when you’ve proven yourself, executives will seek your input and you will rarely need to solicit their attention.  If you do need to get something in front of an executive, be sure to conform to proper protocols and processes.  Finally, don’t overstep normal cordiality.  Just because an executive sends you a thank you or ‘great job’ note, it is not an invitation to become best friends.

LH:  When did you first become a manager at Merrill?  Was this a smooth transition for you?  Why?  Why not?
SMcB:  I became a manager relatively early in my career, or at least back in the 1990’s it might have been considered somewhat early.  I began managing a team in my mid to late 20’s.  Of course at the time, I thought I did a great job, but looking back I was very green.  I viewed management as a very simple structure involving delegating work and simply getting things done.  Today, my view of management is much less tactical and more strategic.  A good manager, in my opinion, looks at the big picture, at least the picture within their circle of influence, and objectively thinks about how to achieve a goal, not just get things done.  In terms of delegating, as a new manager I simply pushed work down the pipeline, now I think more deeply about a balance of delegation and empowerment.  I also pay close attention to employee skill sets and career goals.  An awkward moment for me as a young manager was managing an employee that was 20 years my senior.  Again, I viewed management at that time as a top down construct and didn’t have the insights into the softer people skills that I do now.
LH:  What qualities did you then and now look for in potential candidates for positions?
SMcB:  One of the most important things I look for in a candidate is drive.  Of course I pay attention to skill sets, education, experience and all of the standard things that go on a resume, but if someone makes it to an interview, I focus on things like communications skills, including their ability to listen, understand and articulate their own thoughts as well as the ability to restate a thought or concept that I have raised with them.  Communications ability, enthusiasm and drive are things I look for in both junior and experienced candidates; however, experience and skill sets factor more heavily for senior slots than for junior positions.  Communications skills and drive are crucial to me when hiring someone that I am going to have to train and develop as an employee.  When someone asks articulate questions, is curious and enthusiastic, my job as a manager gets easier and we begin to build a professional relationship rather than a senior-junior relationship. 

LH:  What made you say “Yes” when I asked if you wanted to present for the students in my management class at Zicklin?
SMcB:  Aside from not saying ‘no’ to a friend, I was curious about what the experience would be like.  My wife is a teacher and my children aspire to be teachers, I myself had wanted to become a teacher while in college.  I’ve also entertained daydreams of teaching courses as an adjunct.  I viewed coming to Zicklin as an opportunity to get a first hand sense of what being at the front of the classroom would be like.  Despite apprehension, e.g. ‘what will I say’, ‘will they listen’, ‘will they find it useful’, I found the experience to be exhilarating.  I had wondered what I would talk about for an hour and a half, but from the first time I was a guest lecturer to now, I am always surprised to find that we run out of time.  I also had some concern as to what I had to offer the students, but I quickly learned that many students are keen to learn about what to expect when they enter the business world.  They invariably ask intelligent and thoughtful questions that directly apply to their studies, their experience and their future.  When I see that students are engaged, listening and learning and when I watch their reaction as something I say clicks with them, I get a strong sense of enabling people and passing on what I know.  It’s a fantastically satisfying feeling that I find hard to articulate, but I suspect most teachers will know what I’m describing.

LH:  What is your next step?  Your career ambition?
SMcB:  A very interesting question considering that I am at a kind of crossroads in my career.  I have very strong and senior level experience across marketing and operations, so I am at a juncture in my career where my path must break toward one or the other, that is, a Chief Marketing Officer route or a Chief Operating Officer route.  I am fairly close to the top of my organization, so a concentration in a particular area is the next step in my career path.  My lean is likely toward the COO path, but with a focus in a marketing organization for a large institution.  I see myself continuing to grow in my executive career, but I also see myself beginning to share my experience and strengths outside of my job.  I am active in volunteer organizations and I hope to broaden my experience in higher education.

LH:  What advice do you have for readers to begin and stay on their career paths?
SMcB:  That depends on where a person is on their career path.  In hindsight, I realize that a career path actually begins quite early.  At a minimum, I think a junior in high school should already have a good idea of what they want to do in life and that certainly by the end of undergraduate sophomore year a major commensurate with career goals should be set.  For those new in their careers, I’d say that a key element of success is recognizing that all projects are worthy efforts and opportunities for an employee to demonstrate their ability, in other words, look for projects and don’t turn any down.  Being successful at executing a project is a great way to get visibility and to be recognized, especially when managers are thinking about who their ‘go to’ people are.  For mid or senior level employees, I think it is important to have at least have a plan, i.e. to be thinking about what your next move is or how you are positioning yourself for where you want to go in the organization.  It is also important not to become stagnant, at least once, probably twice, I stayed too long in a particular position and while not really hurting me, it did hinder me.  Finally, for anyone at any level, I feel it is important to always keep relationships at the forefront of your career.  In my experience most of my successes had good relationships as a foundation.  I like to keep strong and positive relationships with everyone wherever possible, from the mailroom to the C-suite and with those on their way up or way down.

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Timeless leadership is always about character, and it is always about authenticity…To be authentic is literally to be your own author (the words derive from the same Greek root), to discover your own narrative energies and desires, and then to find your own way of acting on them.

When you are real in your music, people know it and they feel your authenticity.

Warren Bennis, in On Becoming a Leader, and Wynonna Judd describing her experience as a musician, are two descriptions of authenticity.

Authenticity is the buzzword of the twenty-first century according to Robert Doniger, in Michael Crichton’s Timeline as quoted in Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want by James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II.  “Authenticity is in the air.  You see it, feel it, all around you,” according to the authors.  However, “Most of what we experience in today’s consumer-oriented society revolves around issues of what is real and what is fake.”

A parallel trend that demonstrates authenticity is to develop story telling skills to get a job, pitch a product, or motivate employees.  Peter Guber’s book Tell to Win:  Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story, has a slightly different take on the power of authenticity at work.  In his chapter on “Are Your Motives Authentic and Congruent with Your Goal?” Guber writes:

Whether you’re a CEO, salesperson, volunteer organizer, or small business owner, your listeners will never fully connect to you, buy into your proposition, or join your parade unless they can trust you.  And only if they respect your motives and empathize with you as a fellow human being will they feel that trust.  To tell a compelling story, then, you need to be authentic in your passion for your goal, and that passion needs to be congruent with your experience and commitment.

Authenticity in the Classroom

My teaching style in the course I teach on “Organizational Behavior” is based around experiential learning, meaning that as one former student told me in class, “I chose this class because I couldn’t fall asleep.”  He is right.  My time is spent moving my students out of their comfort zones by asking questions, having them interact with their classmates by name, wanting opinions, and making them memorize and recite lines from Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet” and “Hamlet” as an exercise in emotional intelligence.

During our 29 sessions together each semester, I tell stories about places where I worked in my career and personal experiences in order to bring up, illustrate, and reaffirm a topic in class.  In turn and in keeping with honoring the students’ disclosures, I am asked questions.  Most of the time, the queries are about an organizational behavior.  However, I am asked many personal questions to which I answer authentically—up to a point.  As the leader of a classroom, I am the authority figure and aim to earn the trust of each of my students.  I am not in front of a classroom to tell the details of my life’s story every session; I am there to further my students’ education and prepare them to be effective managers and leaders.

Authentic Leadership

We are living in an age of transparency—or at least that is what Google and Facebook would like so that they can capture and sell more data from their users.  How can someone be authentic and not transparent?  I’ve heard about a manager who when he was transferred to a district office suggested that the staff have a sleep over at his house, go to meals together regularly, and build a bond of transparency with everyone.  Is that relevant to the work that they do?  Does his version of team building build trust?

The class textbook, Organizational Behavior, 14^th edition, by Stephens P. Robbins and Timothy A. Judge, describes the authentic leader in the section on “Authentic Leadership:  Ethics and Trust are the Foundation of Leadership:”

Authentic leaders know who they are, know what they believe in and value, and act on their values and beliefs openly and candidly.  Their followers consider them ethical people.  The primary quality produced by authentic leadership, therefore, is trust.  Authentic leaders share information, encourage open communication, and stick to their ideals.  The result:  people come to have faith in them.

Inauthentic Leaders

In a quote I found online, Coco Chanel, the French haute couterie, said, Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.

The global economic condition and fast moving technology innovations are stretching the borderlines of what authenticity really means.  And how inauthentic leaders have failed their followers.

Bernie Madoff is the poster boy for the financial professionals on Wall Street who like others escaped close scrutiny from the Security & Exchange Commission by a façade of authenticity, a façade that in this case led Madoff to being sentenced to 150 years in prison for the largest financial fraud in U.S. history.

Google, Facebook, and other social media sites are fearless in making their users transparent—to a fault in some cases.  We are instructed to want to know everything about everyone and to display all there is to know about ourselves.  But knowledge doesn’t mean authenticity.  Knowledge is one aspect of an individual.  It is the individual herself that needs to be the author of the story of her authentic life.

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Working as an Adjunct Lecturer in the Management Department at the Zicklin School of Business within Baruch College is a labor of love.  I love what I do and enjoy the role of helping undergraduate students be prepared for their careers as managers and leaders, especially teaching “Organizational Behavior” which I define as how people act and interact in a particular setting.

When we met for the first time on a day in late August of 2008, my supervisor told me the amount I’d be paid for being an Adjunct.  I looked at him with a smile on my face since I had previously been an Adjunct at another CUNY school and knew the range.  He said words to the effect, “Being an adjunct is an intrinsic experience, not an extrinsic one.”  Meaning, it’s about the rewards of imparting knowledge to those seeking it and not the monetary value of the work.

A previous post, Teaching – The Most Important Job in America, describes how I feel about standing up in front of a classroom two evenings a week to share the knowledge I’ve gained through consulting, coaching, and working at some very interesting companies—plus reading the required textbook:  Organizational Behavior 14^th Edition by Stephen P. Robbins and Timothy A. Judge.

My pedagogic philosophy is centered on one thing:  meeting the needs of my students so that they will succeed in their academic endeavors and career development.  Below are suggestions and behaviors to make the spring semester of MGT 3300 a very good experience for everyone involved.

Journey.  My students and I will be together for 2,175 minutes spread out over 29 sessions from January 31 until May 22^nd.  The major behavior students will experience in my classroom is moving out of their comfort zones.  During Baruch’s 46^th Commencement ceremonies, Provost James McCarthy spoke of the many reasons why I was soon going to receive the Presidential Excellence Award for Distinguished Teaching from President Mitchel B. Wallerstein on the dais in front of a sea of graduating students.  As I remember, the Provost said more than once the reason my students nominated me was that “Prof. Henderson moves her students out of their comfort zones” while my soon-to-be student alumni in the audience nodded their heads.  Being open to growth is not just a behavior in the classroom; it is one that companies expect.

Show Up.  Since I started teaching at Zicklin in the fall of 2008, I have be present at every class until last October when for medical reasons, I had to miss eight classes before I was able to return to finish the semester.  I expect students to be present as well.  Those that do not show up over a period of time lose the flow of the classroom but also the learning that has been gained.  My suggestion is that each student has a “Class Colleague” to contact when they miss a class or want to clarify the assignment.

On time.  My routine is to come to class around 15 minutes early to be organized for a prompt start to class.  When I say, “Good evening, class,” it is time to start and a good percentage of students are in their seats.  Those that come in late repeatedly are duly noted in my attendance sheet; being late many times impact a student’s participation grade.

Prepared.  There is always an assignment for our next class and that is usually to have read a chapter in the textbook.  Not just read but prepared to have a question or to answer a question during class.  There will be four guest speakers during the semester and students are expected to read their bios, find out information about the speakers’ companies, etc. so that they can ask relevant questions of the speaker.

Participate.  The experiential learning approach I use in the classroom has been honed during a long career of being an educator.  Each student is expected to learn the names of the other students in the classroom and get to know where they work, what they do, etc.  Debates are part of the curriculum as is a chance to recite lines from Shakespeare.  Interaction with class colleagues is a way to learn, expand awareness, and understand other company cultures.

Present.  Everyone needs to be fully present during class.  What that means is that smart phones are turned off or are put on vibrate then put out of sight.  They are not to be on a desk, in a lap, or anywhere why they can be seen.  My eyesight is still good and I have seen students looking down at their phones thinking that I can’t see what they are doing.  Our class is 75 minutes long and no one, not even this instructor, is that important that e-mails or instant messages can’t wait until after the session.

Resources:  During the semester, there are four written assignments that require critical thinking, situation analysis, proper grammar, etc.  To help students, a librarian from the Newman Library comes to class to share with my students how to find the research they need for their papers.  Baruch College’s Writing Center helps students to improve their composition and grammar skills.  Students can request an appointment online.  The Counseling Center helps students talk about what might be keeping them from functioning at their best in class.  One of my students began the semester by earning a grade of C on papers.  After appointments with the Writing Center and the Counseling Center, she earned an A- as her final grade.

By the end of the term, my students are grateful for learning from and interacting with their classmates and I am proud that one more cohort of students gained the opportunity to be part of an experiential learning adventure.

P.S.  Two more things about classroom behavior:  I have a good sense of humor and will be sad if the New York Giants do not win the Super Bowl!

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Nicholas Kristof posted “The Most Important Job in America” on his blog “On the Ground” at The New York Times on Saturday, January 21, 2012.  The esteemed columnist writes that, “I think education is, in the long run, the most important challenge America faces and the one where we’re in greatest difficulties. If we want to maintain economic competitiveness and chip away at poverty, we simply have to improve high school graduation rates and college attendance — and that in turn will depend on an overhaul of the entire education system, starting with early childhood education.”

Kristof’s blog post introduced his next day’s column:  “How Mrs. Grady Transformed Olly Neal.”  The short story is that Neal, an incorrigible elementary school boy who brought his English teacher Mrs. Grady to tears one day, picked up a book in the library, read it, liked it, returned it then was delighted to find another book by the same author.  He found a third book, then a fourth, etc.  Thinking that Neal didn’t want to be seen reading a book, Mildred Grady always placed the new book where he could find it.  Not until he was an adult and saw Mrs. Grady at a high school reunion did she tell him that she drove to a book store 70 miles away to buy books by the same author for him to read.

Thanks to the generosity, patience, and forgiveness of Mrs. Grady, Kristof writes about Neal that, “His trajectory changed, and he later graduated to harder novels, including those by Albert Camus, and he turned to newspapers and magazines as well. He went to college and later to law school.  In 1991, Neal was appointed the first black district prosecuting attorney in Arkansas. A few years later, he became a judge, and then an appellate court judge.”

As someone who last year earned Baruch College’s Presidential Award for Distinguished Teaching, I agree with Kristof about the importance of the job of teaching.  I like to think and have been told that I offer students the opportunities to transform their lives and grow into a career they love.

My first semester teaching on the college level was in the Marketing Department at New York City Technology College in downtown Brooklyn in 1990.  “Why I Teach” is the title of a blog that I posted that includes a letter of gratitude from one of students who was in my first Public Relations class.

Following is the note a brilliant student sent me in a Thank You card at the end of my first math class.  It will give you an idea of how my teaching style motivates and inspires students.

Our last scheduled class ends today and I can honestly say that I’m going to miss it!  I’ve learned a lot more that math this semester.  I have learned about caring, sharing, and friendships.  You have built up my confidence and I feel as though I can accomplish just about anything.  You have given me a direction in life which I plan to follow.  I thought this was just supposed to be a math course! 

I greatly appreciate everything that you’ve done for me.  Thank you for caring enough to motivate me.  You’re doing a great job!

Sincerely, Steve Armand

Over twenty years later, I will begin teaching another class with the same respect for my students and the belief that my job is the most important one in America.

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Where were you when you heard that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been killed?

In the afternoon of April 4, 1968, I was walking with a friend on Telegraph Avenue after leaving the campus of the University of California at Berkeley where I was a student.  It was then that I heard the news that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee.  News of his assassination spread quickly on a campus that was the center of the Free Speech movement, protests against the Vietnam War, racial equality, women’s equality, etc.  I was sad to hear about a man who was marching to bring about equality, a man who wasn’t afraid of marching and risking his life, a man who gave his life and left a platform on which others could build a more diverse and equal America.

My memory fails me as to what exactly I did next after learning the news of King’s assassination.  But looking online, I found an article “Where Were You in ’68?  Faculty and staff memories conjure a tumultuous decade’s most eventful year” that was published in the June 4, 2008, UCBerkeley News.  Irene Hegarty, who graduated in 1968 and went on to be the Director of Community Relations at Cal, described how the campus responded. 

Some of the students “were called to a meeting at a vice chancellor’s house to advise on how the campus should acknowledge the event.  It was decided that classes would be cancelled for the afternoon of the next day so that students could go to religious services nearby; that there would be a special carillon concert of spirituals played at the Campanile, followed by ‘We Shall Overcome’; and that students would gather at Sproul Plaza for a minute of silence and could then voice their feelings.” 

Hegarty goes on to describe what surprised yet didn’t surprise me since we were students on a campus that had diverse opinions on every topic.  She writes, “I sat on the Sproul Hall steps that day, listened to the music, and cried, while thousands of students gathered. After the music and the silence, someone stood up and said some words honoring King, but then another student stood and said that King had sold out to the White establishment. Before long, there was an active, heated debate—shouting and pointed fingers.  I remember thinking, ‘A young man—a father, a husband, a great leader—is dead.  Can’t we just honor him for a moment and fight this out later?’”

My year had gotten off to a very sad start when on February 2 my mother died suddenly.  My grief continued after King died.  On June 4, Robert F. Kennedy, younger brother of President John Kennedy, was assassinated and died two days later.  Instead of being able to nominate another Kennedy for president, Hubert Humphrey ran and lost the election to Richard M. Nixon after a tumultuous convention in Chicago.  Ronald Reagan was Governor of California at a time that the campus became a center for organizing and taking action for civil-rights marches and major anti-war protests.

We as a country have lost many great leaders, leaders who will stay alive through the contributions they have made to my life and those of others seeking peace, justice, and intelligence on who we can become when we take down the barriers to change.

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“Writing to Be Heard” was posted on July 16, 2007, the first time I used my blog.  After writing hundreds of posts since then—especially this year—I decided to share my favorite posts of 2011 with you.

The posts below all have a story behind them, a reason to share the information, and a desire to help you on your career journey.  The posts could have been written to address an issue that came up during a coaching or consulting meeting, a topic that was discussed in a management class I teach at the Zicklin School of Business, an opportunity to expand horizons, etc.  The focus of each one is categorized by one or more of the tiles above the post which include Career, Coaching, College, Culture, Economy, Health, Leadership, Life Business, Management, Technology.

Below is a month-by-month list of posts that I hope you will find relevant, inspiring, and even fun.

January 17:  Are You Afraid of Feedback?  The topic emerged from two different threads.  The first was to offer guidance to decision-makers who were working with a very resistant executive.  The second was the loan of an academic colleague’s DVD on feedback.

February 21:  The Price of Ignoring Corporate Culture  As I told my students in an “Organizational Behavior” class, teaching corporate culture is my favorite unit to teach.  It is because of the environment executives create and how it impacts employee’s behavior.  In this particular case, the executive did not take into account his behavior in an established culture.

March 10:  Women’s Month 2011: Shake the World  To acknowledge the progress women make in a range of fields, I wrote about their accomplishments including that of Justine Siegal who had fulfilled her dream of throwing batting practice for the Cleveland Indians in spring training.

April 4:  Lasting Impressions  I am impressed by the number of people who even when we have not seen or spoken with one another for months or years, still remember me and the work I do.  The need to make a good first—and subsequent—impact on everyone you come in touch with is an important part of career development.

May 27:  Shakespeare in a Management Classroom  In April 2010, I attended a workshop on teaching Shakespeare in the workplace.  To my delight and my students’ reluctance, I developed a class session on emotional intelligence by having students get on a stage with a partner and recite excerpts from scenes in Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet, their favorite because they get to yell!

June 17:  Ten Guideposts on Your Reinvention Highway  Exploring a new career can be stressful and tiring.  Since I have reinvented myself a few times—I like to call it evolution—I share ideas on how to practice active patience to realize a new career.

July 7:  Holistic Professional Resume  In addition to teaching a business course, I also teach a program called “SuperCharge Your Career” at Zicklin.  What I don’t see on many resumes is Activities or another heading that can fill out the profile of a candidate and give an interviewer a sense of their lives outside the company.

August 30:  Career as a Farmer:  Sasha J. Farkas  Not everyone wants to work in an office in New York or any urban environment for that matter.  USA Today’s headline on December 26, 2011, “More Young People See Farming Opportunities,” confirmed that those in their 20’s and 30’s who have been downsized or unable to get a job, are seeking ways to survive on a farm.

September 13:  LockerDome:  The Facebook of Team Sports  Gabe Lozano, Co-Founder and CEO of a website for young athletes, read my post Women’s Month 2011: Shake the World and left a comment.  That comment led to a conversation, two interviews—his and Justine Siegal’s—and my own profile on LockerDome’s social media site.

October 29:  Disability:  A Second Career for L.I.R.R. Workers  Last year, I wrote about the ethical behavior of Long Island Railroad workers who claimed disability when they were obviously fine since they played golf sometimes daily.  Recently, I read that the cost of disbursing those on disability can be close to $1 billion.

November 12:  Walking Meetings  One of the many takeaways I had from reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson was learning the pleasures of a walking meeting.  A friend gave me that opportunity and I’m very grateful for it.

December 24:  Dear Santa:  My Wish List  It had been ages since I wrote a “Dear Santa” letter so I put tongue in cheek and infused my humor into the serious requests I made for the greater good—and not just the sweater and earrings I hoped Santa would bring!

Thank you for your time to browse and read my posts.  Looking forward to writing more in 2012!

Very best wishes for a HAPPY NEW YEAR!