Taking the Lead
Business leaders in Hawaii share their insights into leadership and team building.
by Jacob Kamhis
"Taking the Lead" is the cover story of the July-September 2013 issue of Pacific Edge Magazine. To see the complete multi-page layout in the magazine, visit Pacific Edge.
There's an old saying about life: Some people make things happen. Others watch what happens. Still others wonder what happened. Successful business leaders will naturally fit into the first category – they're doers. They make things happen.
After several years of a staggering economy, companies don't have the luxury of merely surviving, they must be thriving and growing to stay afloat. To achieve this, professionals must attract and promote willing and able employees who will be responsible for their posts. And quite often it goes further, with employees producing and being held accountable as a team. A strong leader is the catalyst for team building, efficiency and success, no matter how many employees they lead. But what type of leader is most successful? And what are the qualities of leadership that produce results?
“You have to lead the way and build leadership within the team, or you not be able to nurture an environment with new business models that are relevant to changing times,” says Cyrus Driver, vice president of business services at Time Warner Cable Business Class. “Great leadership keeps the group moving in the right direction and allows for sustained success.”
Driver has certainly learned a few lessons while gaining expertise in international companies. After working in 13 countries in a variety of industries, he has discovered a basic principle in every land and culture. "The team typically reflects the DNA of its leadership, which eventually determines its performance in the marketplace."
Moreover, when leaders take on a new role in a company, they must do their research. First off, understand the local business culture and find its signature – how people relate, the major players in the market and the buying patterns of customers. Next, execute an effective plan quickly. In today's economy, if you wait months to perfect your strategy, the market has changed. It's all about a balance between the quality and speed of execution.
It's imperative that a strong leader connects with their staff. How does Driver do it? He reveals a true story that lights a spark in the minds of his managers and staff. He draws from his own experience. He appeals to the conscience and the common sense of his employees. “You can work magic with good leadership – you can make things happen,” Driver says.
Sometimes managers will say a project cannot be done in time, or they may complain resources are not available. Another leader in a different industry has an immediate answer. “Cut the fat,” says Henk Rogers, president and chief executive officer of Blue Planet Software. Every project has something that can be eliminated to buy additional time and resources. The earlier this discovery is made as to where to cut the fat, the less waste, he explains. According to Rogers, in the game software industry, the end-user doesn't notice if certain things go missing. On the other hand, vital parts of the software game must be bullet proof.
Rogers was the oldest of eight boys in the family. He practiced being boss from a young age. By the time he became an adult, he operated companies in Japan, San Francisco and Moscow. Rogers meets with his management team like any other leader and praises them for their accomplishments. “As a manager, you have to figure out where you can give them credit so they can do more,” he explains.
When employees are not performing up to par, Rogers says he gets the employee back on track by being genuine, preferring employees connect with him as a person instead of a company figurehead. According to Rogers, this approach fosters loyalty. He compares it with someone reading a speech off of a piece of paper versus speaking from the heart.
Another important leadership skill is team building. There are many strategies to creating cohesion in a team, from organizing a company paintball match to simply taking a crew to lunch. “My leadership role is finding the right people – employees stronger than me in different areas,” says Bill Smith, general manager of Vacations Hawaii. He finds people to help him lead so he can focus on the bigger picture. Vacations Hawaii is owned by Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming, of which Smith is vice president.
Smith has a formula when he starts a new company. He hires people who can operate as team players. As others join the group, they become team players as well. New hires are assisted through the idea of forming a strong group. “It's a human phenomenon that the person who isn't making it will not remain on the job. They're going to find something else,” he says. Smith says turnover at Vacations Hawaii is very low because if you help employees, they, in turn, help when needed.
To Smith, leading by example is leading by trust. He finds that a leader must care about employees and in return they'll want the leader and the company to be successful. This “family values” company must do well to make payroll and provide benefits to its employees, he says.
In the hospitality industry, customers must be tended to day or night, presenting a different set of challenges for managers leading large groups of employees. Kelly Sanders, general manager of 1,636-room Sheraton Waikiki, has a vast demographic of employees who service hotel guests. He must know the strengths and natural talents of staff in order to enhance the overall experience for each guest.
Sanders arrived from a sister hotel in San Diego seven years ago. “As a leader, you have to listen first,” he explains. Employees were quick to point out the many lifestyle and cultural differences between San Diego and Hawaii, and Sanders took note to build strong ties with his staff. He also found that the hiring pool is limited in Hawaii, so he spends more time training and developing employee talents.
A major leadership challenge occurred during the resort's $220 million renovation. “I was moving everybody's cheese,” he says, referring to the popular book, “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson. Employees don't always agree, but as a leader you have to get people behind you one by one and keep them communicating, Kelly recommends.
While in-house adversity can test a leader's strength, so can larger, societal issues. When the economy contracted several years ago, Central Pacific Bank had a record $1.3 billion in outstanding residential and commercial construction loans on the mainland. The bank grew its business too far out on the risk curve.
John Dean, president and chief executive officer, came aboard three years ago and helped to develop a strong internal culture and guide the bank back to its profitable local core business. Dean organized a team of 15 mid-level managers to communicate with staff and they set about to define the corporate culture. Ideas came from the “heart and soul” of the organization instead of upper management, although top level executives provided input, Dean says.
Using a program called TIES (teamwork, integrity and exceptional service), the internal organization refocused and strengthened its commitment to teamwork, necessary because multiple divisions in the bank must combine efforts to fully service clients.
“Core values only work if everyone owns those values,” Dean says. "Such values, when ingrained in the corporate culture, self-perpetuate over time, and trust and loyalty grow. They make the company powerful," he explains.
To foster the team spirit at Central Pacific Bank events are organized to help employees build relationships outside of the office environment: contests are held and community-benefit walks are organized. Employees acknowledge one another with the “On the Spot” Recognition card. These company-provided gift cards list the bank's core values. When an employee exhibits these values, a fellow employee checks them off. Human resources tracks the employees receiving these cards and puts them into a lottery for a bigger prize. A worker can even offer a card to Dean.
While some people have the propensity to gravitate toward leadership roles in business, becoming a strong and effective leader is a skill that must be learned, practiced and eventually honed through experience to create the best results.
“You have to fall off the surf board a hundred times and before you learn to surf,” says Rogers of Blue Planet Software. “Everyone has the ability to be a leader. You have to allow yourself to do it.”
There's an old saying about life: Some people make things happen. Others watch what happens. Still others wonder what happened. Successful business leaders will naturally fit into the first category – they're doers. They make things happen.
After several years of a staggering economy, companies don't have the luxury of merely surviving, they must be thriving and growing to stay afloat. To achieve this, professionals must attract and promote willing and able employees who will be responsible for their posts. And quite often it goes further, with employees producing and being held accountable as a team. A strong leader is the catalyst for team building, efficiency and success, no matter how many employees they lead. But what type of leader is most successful? And what are the qualities of leadership that produce results?
“You have to lead the way and build leadership within the team, or you not be able to nurture an environment with new business models that are relevant to changing times,” says Cyrus Driver, vice president of business services at Time Warner Cable Business Class. “Great leadership keeps the group moving in the right direction and allows for sustained success.”
Driver has certainly learned a few lessons while gaining expertise in international companies. After working in 13 countries in a variety of industries, he has discovered a basic principle in every land and culture. "The team typically reflects the DNA of its leadership, which eventually determines its performance in the marketplace."
Moreover, when leaders take on a new role in a company, they must do their research. First off, understand the local business culture and find its signature – how people relate, the major players in the market and the buying patterns of customers. Next, execute an effective plan quickly. In today's economy, if you wait months to perfect your strategy, the market has changed. It's all about a balance between the quality and speed of execution.
It's imperative that a strong leader connects with their staff. How does Driver do it? He reveals a true story that lights a spark in the minds of his managers and staff. He draws from his own experience. He appeals to the conscience and the common sense of his employees. “You can work magic with good leadership – you can make things happen,” Driver says.
Sometimes managers will say a project cannot be done in time, or they may complain resources are not available. Another leader in a different industry has an immediate answer. “Cut the fat,” says Henk Rogers, president and chief executive officer of Blue Planet Software. Every project has something that can be eliminated to buy additional time and resources. The earlier this discovery is made as to where to cut the fat, the less waste, he explains. According to Rogers, in the game software industry, the end-user doesn't notice if certain things go missing. On the other hand, vital parts of the software game must be bullet proof.
Rogers was the oldest of eight boys in the family. He practiced being boss from a young age. By the time he became an adult, he operated companies in Japan, San Francisco and Moscow. Rogers meets with his management team like any other leader and praises them for their accomplishments. “As a manager, you have to figure out where you can give them credit so they can do more,” he explains.
When employees are not performing up to par, Rogers says he gets the employee back on track by being genuine, preferring employees connect with him as a person instead of a company figurehead. According to Rogers, this approach fosters loyalty. He compares it with someone reading a speech off of a piece of paper versus speaking from the heart.
Another important leadership skill is team building. There are many strategies to creating cohesion in a team, from organizing a company paintball match to simply taking a crew to lunch. “My leadership role is finding the right people – employees stronger than me in different areas,” says Bill Smith, general manager of Vacations Hawaii. He finds people to help him lead so he can focus on the bigger picture. Vacations Hawaii is owned by Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming, of which Smith is vice president.
Smith has a formula when he starts a new company. He hires people who can operate as team players. As others join the group, they become team players as well. New hires are assisted through the idea of forming a strong group. “It's a human phenomenon that the person who isn't making it will not remain on the job. They're going to find something else,” he says. Smith says turnover at Vacations Hawaii is very low because if you help employees, they, in turn, help when needed.
To Smith, leading by example is leading by trust. He finds that a leader must care about employees and in return they'll want the leader and the company to be successful. This “family values” company must do well to make payroll and provide benefits to its employees, he says.
In the hospitality industry, customers must be tended to day or night, presenting a different set of challenges for managers leading large groups of employees. Kelly Sanders, general manager of 1,636-room Sheraton Waikiki, has a vast demographic of employees who service hotel guests. He must know the strengths and natural talents of staff in order to enhance the overall experience for each guest.
Sanders arrived from a sister hotel in San Diego seven years ago. “As a leader, you have to listen first,” he explains. Employees were quick to point out the many lifestyle and cultural differences between San Diego and Hawaii, and Sanders took note to build strong ties with his staff. He also found that the hiring pool is limited in Hawaii, so he spends more time training and developing employee talents.
A major leadership challenge occurred during the resort's $220 million renovation. “I was moving everybody's cheese,” he says, referring to the popular book, “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson. Employees don't always agree, but as a leader you have to get people behind you one by one and keep them communicating, Kelly recommends.
While in-house adversity can test a leader's strength, so can larger, societal issues. When the economy contracted several years ago, Central Pacific Bank had a record $1.3 billion in outstanding residential and commercial construction loans on the mainland. The bank grew its business too far out on the risk curve.
John Dean, president and chief executive officer, came aboard three years ago and helped to develop a strong internal culture and guide the bank back to its profitable local core business. Dean organized a team of 15 mid-level managers to communicate with staff and they set about to define the corporate culture. Ideas came from the “heart and soul” of the organization instead of upper management, although top level executives provided input, Dean says.
Using a program called TIES (teamwork, integrity and exceptional service), the internal organization refocused and strengthened its commitment to teamwork, necessary because multiple divisions in the bank must combine efforts to fully service clients.
“Core values only work if everyone owns those values,” Dean says. "Such values, when ingrained in the corporate culture, self-perpetuate over time, and trust and loyalty grow. They make the company powerful," he explains.
To foster the team spirit at Central Pacific Bank events are organized to help employees build relationships outside of the office environment: contests are held and community-benefit walks are organized. Employees acknowledge one another with the “On the Spot” Recognition card. These company-provided gift cards list the bank's core values. When an employee exhibits these values, a fellow employee checks them off. Human resources tracks the employees receiving these cards and puts them into a lottery for a bigger prize. A worker can even offer a card to Dean.
While some people have the propensity to gravitate toward leadership roles in business, becoming a strong and effective leader is a skill that must be learned, practiced and eventually honed through experience to create the best results.
“You have to fall off the surf board a hundred times and before you learn to surf,” says Rogers of Blue Planet Software. “Everyone has the ability to be a leader. You have to allow yourself to do it.”