By Theresa Berenato
Communications and Marketing Manager

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend an American Management Association (AMA) 3-day ‘Train the Trainer’ seminar at the AMA Center on 48th Street and Broadway in Manhattan.  

I was one of seven participants in the seminar and was impressed with the content and facilitation of the program. Dr. Geri McArdle, who presently works for the AmeriCorps-Red Cross on disaster operations and training, was the facilitator. She was excellent – adapting the curriculum to each of our training focus areas – which ranged from Corporate Claims to Sales & Marketing.  

Throughout the three days, I learned about adult learning objectives, assessment tools and method concepts. The facilitation activities and lecture alternatives were especially helpful in developing Leader to Leader’s training for Drucker's "Five Most Important Questions" Facilitator Network Training Program which will be on April 25-26. Each program participant will learn the knowledge and skills required to become a member of the cohort of the "Five Most Important Questions" facilitators working in and with organizations across the sectors around the globe. There are still seats open for this training, and if interested, please contact Claire Walden: claire@leadertoleader.org.

Not only was the AMA training beneficial in immediate application of training tools, I have already been in contact with the other course participants – leveraging the relationships we formed over the three days into an ongoing networking opportunity.  

There are 75 AMA Scholarships available to social sector leaders this year, provided by AMA and Leader to Leader, which includes among other things, one management professional development seminar offered by AMA.  Scholarship Information 

By Claire Walden
Vice President

“What would Peter Drucker – “the father of modern management,” think about the recent leadership change in America?” Sitting among Drucker experts, disciples and emerging leaders at the New York City Drucker Society's monthly meeting, a profound evening discussion about President-elect Barack Obama, our economy and the financial crisis was ignited.

About a year and a half ago, the New York City Drucker Society was launched, as others around the country began to emerge, with hopes that Peter Drucker’s principles be converted into action in communities across the country and all over the world. Initially established abroad, today, more than 10 Drucker Societies exist in four continents.

I was invited to join the meeting by Lee Igel, an assistant professor at New York University who heads up the New York City Drucker Society. I learned that the mission of the Society meetings is not only to prompt members and guests to critically think and discuss relevant social, economic and political topics, but to incorporate and apply Drucker’s principles into their companies and communities.

Drawing inspiration from Drucker’s “Six Rules for Presidents,” the evening’s dialogue was one of the liveliest discussions I have had recently and I would say that the goal of the meeting was surely accomplished, as I realized how soundly Peter Drucker’s ideas and principles, written down almost 15 years ago, resonate today.

Anyone is welcome to attend Drucker Society meetings, and “the common denominator is an interest in building community by thinking through, understanding and applying Drucker's principles.”

The Drucker Institute serves as the hub for Drucker Societies, and to learn more about becoming a Society member, attending a monthly meeting or starting a Drucker Society in your community, you can visit the Drucker Institute website.

By Kamal Singh Masuta
Manager, Internet & Creative Services 

The deadline for the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation is July 15th, and quickly approaching.  The Drucker Institute, which administers the award, encourages all interested nonprofits to submit applications ASAP.  The award, administered annually since 1991, is granted to a social sector organization that demonstrates Drucker's definition of innovation—change that creates a new dimension of performance. The winner will receive the $35,000 first prize, with $7,500 for second place and $5,000 for third place. To download an application, please go to the Drucker Institute website.

Widely considered the father of modern management, Peter Drucker not only consulted for major corporations, he advised the Girl Scouts of America, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and countless other social-sector organizations. He called the nonprofit "America's most distinctive institution."

The past two winners of the Drucker Award include the "Made in NY" Production Assistant Training Program, which launches unemployed and low-income New Yorkers in careers in film and television production, and the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, which trains detained immigrants to navigate often unfamiliar and complex legal systems.

For further details, please contact Christina Johnson (Program Manager, The Drucker Institute) at christina.johnson@cgu.edu.

By Robert Falcey
Acting President & Chief Executive Officer

We recently collaborated with The Conference Board to offer a webcast featuring Marshall Goldsmith, a longtime Leader to Leader Institute Board member and our Chairman, Frances Hesselbein. As Marshall says, top companies understand that sustaining peak performance requires commitment to developing leaders. More companies are taking note of research showing that companies that excel at this tend to achieve higher long-term profitability. There are plenty of successful leaders out there; Marshall and Frances spent 1.5 hours talking about how to help them become even more successful. This PDF of the slides used in the webcast will give you a high level look at what they discussed.

slides.pdf (409.91 kb)

As I listened to the webcast, I considered some interesting facts. The leadership development theories that are taught by top thought leaders are already well known by successful leaders. The challenge, then, is not a lack of understanding. Rather, the challenge is for leaders to use this understanding in their day-to-day work. This disconnect between theory and practice is hardly limited to the office. Most people know they should exercise. Of those people, plenty take that understanding and make a decision to join a gym or buy an exercise video. Of the people that join the gym or buy the video, how many stick with their exercise schedule 6 months down the line? There are many things we should be doing in our lives, and we know it. Only those who bring this understanding into their practical lives will succeed, whether we are talking about leadership development, personal health or something else important to us.

Here’s some research on this topic. Thanks to Marshall Goldsmith for letting us offer this to our readers for free.

leadership_is_a_contact_sport.pdf (99.89 kb)

By Kamal Singh Masuta
Manager, Internet & Creative Services

As many of our regular visitors may have noticed, we launched a completely redesigned website on October 9, 2007. We have been offering leadership resources on the web since April 1997. The redesign was the first step in an initiative to enhance our web presence. We now present this Blog, which gives us a new way to communicate with our audience. We are pleased to announce that our Chairman, Frances Hesselbein, will be a regular contributor to the Blog, discussing leadership issues raised at her many speaking engagements.

We look forward to an open exchange of viewpoints and welcome your ideas and feedback.