By Susan Bari
President & Chief Executive Officer
Greetings,
I am honored and excited to join the Leader to Leader Institute as the President and CEO. Since October 14, I have been caught up in an impressive agenda of meetings and events. In just my second week on the job I joined our Chair, Frances Hesselbein and Vice President Claire Walden for our quarterly "
Generals in Transition" dinner held at Fort Belvoir. Among the distinguished speakers and guests on hand was retired General Julius Becton. His presence was especially meaningful to me – more than 20 years ago on my first day at The White House I watched as Vice President George Bush swore in General Becton as the Administrator of FEMA. An auspicious beginning!
On November 5, we were honored to present the
2008 Leader of the Future Award to
A.G. Lafley, President and CEO of the Procter & Gamble Company. It was an inspiring evening for leadership and my "formal debut" as President and CEO. Chair-elect Fred Altstadt, COO of Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, our host and Benefactor, welcomed us to the black tie reception and dinner held on the 35th floor of Mutual’s Park Avenue, New York Headquarters. One hundred and thirty guests joined in the celebration and networked with leaders of social sector organizations that collaborate with LtoL on programs and publications, corporate supporters and military leaders. I want to thank again each of our supporters and sponsors who are recognized in my
remarks.
Board member Geneva Johnson provided a stirring segue to dinner with her "
thought for the evening". Other Board members present were Chris Fralic, Irv Katz and Doug Shallau.
After dinner, Frances provided a warm and thought provoking introduction of A.G. Lafley that left all who listened to her
remarks in total agreement that he was a Leader of the Future. Mr. Lafley was no less inspiring and his
presentation provided insight into his leadership style – a style that honors the spirit and values of Peter Drucker.
All remarks are posted on the Leader to Leader
website. Photographs will shortly be posted, which will hopefully shed light on the flavor and energy of the evening. I hope you will be able to join us next year when we honor the next
Leader of the Future in our fourth annual celebration.
Other Events
While we were busy in New York with the
Leader of the Future celebration, Vice President Claire Walden convened in Texas with master trainer Marie Ort, where they worked on a "beta" test of the new "train the trainer" facilitator training program that will be used with the 3rd edition of our Self-Assessment Tool – Peter Drucker’s "5 Questions." More information on the roll out of this program will be available in the 1st quarter of 2009.