How often do you take a vacation to get away from your usual workplace routine to enjoy a totally different experience?  I did.  It is part of my life business:  getting away to a new environment.  After this trip, I was refreshed, relaxed, and ready to resume my activities inManhattan.

Spring break from teaching at Baruch took me to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California.  I stayed with my niece Tomi Sue and her cats, dog, and horse.  Below is my photo album of images from a wonderful time with family and the new friends I’ve made after many trips to the area.

One of the first things I did on Tomi Sue’s five acres was to walk around looking at the flowering plants—like white daffodils—and the wildflowers that were blooming.  On Sunday, we went for a lovely Easter dinner at Tony and Dana’s, Tomi Sue’s sister, who live in the wine country of Napa Valley.  Of course, the food was excellent as was the wine.

Usually when I’m in the area, I go toYosemiteNational Park, about an hour and a half away from Tomi Sue’s house.  However, on Tuesday when Tomi Sue and I wanted to see Yosemite one more time, rain was forecasted.  My niece suggested we explore the town of Hornitos, translated to “little ovens” in Spanish, which was closer and something we both hadn’t previously seen.  To get there, we drove through beautiful pasture areas where there were no gates to confine a cow and calf; instead, there are grates along the road that cattle cannot cross.

Hornitos, a town of 75 people, is located in the southern tip of the gold country of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  It is called the Gold Country because in 1849, gold was found in the area and soon people were rushing from all parts of the country—and the world—to strike gold.  The Gold Country is made up of a series of mines where prospectors panned for the gold that they thought would give them wealth.  Many did profit greatly; however, there were many who came away empty handed or in a jail like the one in Hornitos for jumping someone else’s mine.

Tomi Sue and I spent a long time in the cemetery reading the names and dates of the then diverse populations.  We saw headstones that included the Irish, Croatians, Portuguese, Chinese, and other ethnicities.  My niece pointed out that the brick creation could have been one of the “little ovens” that gave the town its name.

According to online sources like Ghost Town Explorers, Hornitos was one of the most prosperous mining areas in the Southern Motherload.  Do you like Ghirardelli candy?  Ghost Town Explorers’ caption of the remains of a business reads, “Domenico Ghirardelli Store, opened in 1856, he went on to become a chocolate manufacturer in San Francisco.  In 1929 the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company purchased the ruins of this general store and put a plaque on it.”

I couldn’t help but take this picture of looking at goats in their pasture through a free standing doorway and over an old wagon.  It framed for me the tranquility of the area and the preservation efforts of those who live in a very small historical town.

Our return trip took us higher up into the mountains.  Even looking at this picture makes me a little dizzy.  My niece is a great driver so I wasn’t afraid, just cautious since it was a very long way down.  On our way back, we stopped for a wonderful dinner at a restaurant where, if the clouds weren’t so low, we could have seen into the valley of California.  Ah, it’s time for me to not just get back to work but to plan my next trip to the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

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.

(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.

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.”

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.

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.

“I know I want to do something.  I say, ‘I’m a gonna do something, I’m a gonna do something, I’m a gonna do something.’” 

Simon Rodia did do something:  he single-handedly built what would become the world-famous Watts Towers, located in South Central Los Angeles.  The art work designed and executed by Rodia attracts people from around the globe because he believed that, “You got to do something they never got ‘em in the world.”  His artistic structures are unique—as he wanted them to be.

The Watts Towers are located in Watts, an area best known for the Watts Riots of 1965.  Thankfully, the Towers were not harmed even though the raging fires over blocks of stores called “Charcoal Alley” were only four blocks away from his work area and home.  (Read Diversity of Social Class at my blog for more details on the area). 

Specifically, Watts is about ten miles due south of downtown Los Angeles, California.  The open plains of the western U.S. attracted a diverse group of settlers and after the gold rush in 1849, the region earned statehood in 1850.  In Southern California, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese arrived on ships docked in the local harbors of the Pacific Ocean; Swedes, Germans, and British drove wagons from the East; whites and blacks from the South took trains; and my parents traveled in cars from New York and Florida to meet, marry, and join others in a common quest to have the American dream, a dream that got passed on to their children.

Rodia immigrated to America at the age of 14, leaving behind “an impoverished southern Italy rich in artistic tradition,” according to the notes for the DVD “I Build the Tower,” a film by Edward Landler, the producer, writer and director, and Brad Byer, the maternal great-nephew of Rodia.  “He worked his way from New York state farmlands to Pennsylvania coalfields and Washington state where he married” and had children.  While living in the San Francisco Bay area, Rodia “became a drunk and disappeared in 1910, only to reappear in 1918 in Southern California—completely sober to begin work on the Watts Towers.”

In 1921, Rodia started in earnest building seventeen major sculptures constructed of structural steel and covered with mortar.  Working alone, the Italian immigrant spent the next 34 years building his towers single-handedly with only simple tools, and no machine equipment.  My mother wasn’t alone in donating chards of broken pottery, glass, and other items to be part of the mosaics on the towers, in birdbaths, and imbedded in walls.  There was interest in what Rodia was doing and not ridicule but awe at his daily work of building the towers.

In the 1950’s, the City of Los Angeles ordered the Watts Towers to be torn down.  A committee was formed to save the towers and in 1959, the results of a stress test demonstrated that Rodia’s towers were stable and thankfully did not need to be demolished.

The Watts Towers listed on the National Register of Historic Places are a National Historic Landmark, a State of California Historic Park and Historic-Cultural Monument No. 15, as designated by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission. 

Simon Rodia died on July 16, 1965, a few weeks before the Watts Riots.  It is the riots that have been connected to Watts and drawn negative attention to the area.  But it is the Watts Towers that are the most noted around the world and most admired.

“Sam will rank not just in our century, but rank with the sculptors of all history…” R. Buckminster Fuller, engineer, mathematician, and futurist, stated during his last interview that was filmed exclusively for “I Build the Tower.” 

A leader in his fields and known best for his design of the geodesic dome, Buckminster Fuller saw what the City of Los Angeles and many other institutions and individuals didn’t:  that Rodia “got to do something they never got ‘em in the world.”

Today is International Women’s Day, a day of events to bring forward and reflect on the women who have made a difference in the political, economic, social, and other areas of their countries.

There are two ways that I am ‘celebrating’ International Women’s Day.  One is to read the March 12, 2012 issue of Newsweek which includes brief profiles of “150 Fearless Women in the World” and an article by Amy Chua on “The Rise of China’s Billionaire Tiger Women.”

From the start of reading on page 3’s “Periscope:  Symbols and Strength.  Women in the World” by Tina Brown, Editor in Chief of Newsweek and The Daily Beast, to page 72’s “My Favorite Mistake:  Aretha Franklin on the hat that created a worldwide sensation” the magazine enlightens and informs readers on the contributions women around the globe have made.

The second way I am reflecting on the roles of global women is by reflecting on the wonderful movie I saw last evening, “The Iron Lady.”  Meryl Streep won an Oscar for her performance as Margaret Thatcher, the first and only female British prime minister who is also the longest-serving (1979-1990) prime minister of the 20^th century.  Obviously, Thatcher was a strong woman to achieve such a high status in government.  Streep does a magnificent job of portraying Thatcher in her early 80’s but also as the younger woman during her years as the prime minister.  It is a movie worthy to see not just for her performance but to see the stamina it took for Thatcher to earn her role in British and global history.

Although I didn’t attend an event to mark International Women’s Day, I hope that by sharing these thoughts you will spark a reason for you to celebrate this day in your own way.

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.

Out of 20,000 new hires, the failure rate was 46% according to Mark Murphy, founder and CEO of Leadership IQ.  His research on this topic revealed that the reason the failure rate was so high was because 89% of the new hires demonstrated a lack of coachability, poor emotional intelligence, mixed motivation (to do or to be paid?), and temperament.  In only 11% of new hires was a lack a technical skills a failure factor.

“Hiring for Attitude” was one in the series of Thought Leader Teleforums offered by Marshall Goldsmith and Patricia Wheeler at Leading News.  Guest speaker Murphy talked about what he learned writing his most recent book, Hiring for Attitude:  A Revolutionary Approach to Recruiting and Selecting People with Both Tremendous Skills and Superb Attitude (McGraw Hill, 2011).  He summarized his book by saying, “Hire for attitude, train for aptitude” because “companies want attitudes that perfectly match their unique culture.”

Hiring for attitude is applicable at all levels within an organization.  For instance, CEOs fail so often because they misread the organization’s culture, Murphy said.  In my previous post “The Price of Ignoring Workplace Culture”, I write about why Jack Griffin, Chairman and CEO of Time Inc., was forced out after less than six months of starting at the company.  The basic reason for his departure was because he didn’t closely read the organization’s culture but instead moved forward with his own agenda without consulting with his staff.

“Who do you want by your side?” is one of the questions an interviewer can ask employees at their company use to discover the attitude needed by a job candidate.  By soliciting input from the staff, it is possible to create a checklist of the needed attitudes because the interviewer is looking for the psychological characteristics of what the company needs on their team.  For instance, Murphy shared the example of ‘brown shorts.’  Southwest Airlines brought in pilots for interviews.  One of the first things the interviewers did was ask the pilots if they would change from their suits and instead put on brown shorts.  Not all the candidates were willing to change their attire.  And guess what?  It was those who did put on the brown shorts who continued to be interviewed.  The others were eliminated because they didn’t have a sense of humor, one of the required attributes of a pilot at the airline.

Murphy’s “Five Part Interview” was an eye-opener.  Here’s what the interviewer will ask the candidate.  1)  Think about your job before your current one, name a key person there, and spell out the person’s name.  2)  Tell me about that person; describe them.  3)  How could you have improved your working relationship with that person?  4)  What would that person say were your strengths?  5)  What would that person say about your weaknesses (like not being open to coaching?).  The purpose of this is to generate self-awareness in the candidate and personal reflections on whether he is a good fit for the new company culture.

Researching the corporate culture of the workplace to see if you will be a good fit is the key to having the right —and authentic attitude—when you apply.  Don’t try on brown shorts if that is not something you want to do at an interview.  Be yourself and you will find the culture that is a good fit for your career.