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2010 Executive Tidbits
IBM, P&G, General Mills, McKinsey, and McDonald's have the best manager training programs according to Fortune 2009. |
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Check out Keith's other site:
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The
Executive Connection SM
a publication of The Virtual Executive
Coach SM
"Vision + Accountability = Success!"
www.virtualexecutivecoach.com
December, 2008
In This Issue:
1. Preview
2. Executive Summary
3. The Executive Style of Gerald
R. Ford
4. Helpful Hints
1. Preview
The Executive Connection explores the creative and analytical
process of business development, team-building, and executive
development. We are an interactive community of executives
and small business owners who desire to network with like-minded
high-performance executives to enhance our knowledge,
skills, and aptitudes in the competitive business world.
Published monthly, the Newsletter offers coaching suggestions
around the topics of: business development, financing,
marketing, networking, incorporations, mergers, human
resources, governmental regulations, and tax laws. Topics
are presented from the perspective of Keith Barton and
represent only his ideas on creating and running your
business.
Because we are an interactive community of executives
and business owners, other viewpoints are welcomed and
may be printed in future monthly newsletters with permission
from Keith Barton.
2. Executive Summary
December, 2008
Dear Executive Connection Subscriber,
This month's newsletter features: The Executive Style
of Gerald R. Ford
3. The Executive Style of Gerald
R. Ford
Thomas M. DeFrank has written a wonderful book about our
38th President, Gerald R. Ford, Write It When I'm
Gone, by Berkley Books, 2007, which I think is especially
relevant given our recent presidential election and the
inauguration set for January, 2009. The book is a series
of private conversations with Ford over sixteen years
with the stipulation that they not be released until after
Gerald Ford's death. What remains is a fresh, bold, look
at our "laid back" president who was anything
but laid back. With a sense of humor, pathos, style, and
panache, DeFrank takes us inside the inner circle
of Ford's days following Nixon's resignation and his re-election
efforts to win the presidency, outright from his republican
challenger, Ronald Reagan. As we know, Ford was defeated
by Jimmy Carter in 1976 for the presidency, a burr that
remained painful until Ford's death because he felt betrayed
by Reagan for his lack of support against "that peanut
farmer from Georgia".
Jennifer Berger and Catherine Fitzgerald have written
an excellent dissertation about "Leadership and Complexity
of Mind," from their book, Executive Coaching: Practices
and Perspectives, Davies-Black Publishing, 2002.
They posit that there are five orders of increasing leadership
skills required for the successful executive, including
knowledge, social, and intuitive roles. Briefly speaking,
these are:
- Understand and integrate the views of other people
- Integrate apparent opposites
- Take a fresh look at taboos or non-supportable issues
- Tolerate contradictions in themselves
- Demonstrate self awareness
- Make connections across levels
- See the influence of their mind-set on their view
of reality
Let's make a few comparisons among our recent Presidents.
Our 43rd President Bush demands loyalty above opposing
views; he is a concrete random thinker with emphasis on
results rather than process. Jimmy Carter was just the
opposite: process of details took importance over results
with his micro management style. With Ford his style was
one of being able to do the above bulleted items because
of his inner strength and sense of self. He certainly
didn't do the popular thing when he pardoned Nixon. This
action arose out of his need to make connections across
levels to "heal the country" in a post-Watergate era.
His pardon took great courage knowing that his decision
would ultimately end his political career (which it did
three years later).
What's interesting about Ford is his earthy quality. He
was not only decent and likeable, but real. He
was the same man on the golf links as he was in the oval
office. Nixon's grandiose name change for Air Force One,
The Spirit of '76, was quickly repealed when Ford assumed
office. He replaced the unpopular Ron Ziegler as press
secretary with Jerald terHorst and told his senior staff
they could talk with reporters without having their contacts
cleared by the press office (page 49). He was also very
disturbed about Clinton's dalliances while Governor of
Arkansas and President and said to his wife Betty that
he thought Clinton had a "sexual addiction". This was
after Betty Ford had been treated for alcoholism and founded
her now-famous clinic.
For all his work as President in restoring decency to
the highest office in the land, Ford was labeled a "do
nothing" President. Ford kept most of Nixon's cabinet
intact, including Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, much
to the consternation of political operatives who thought
that Ford's non-directive approach to management was undermined
by the constant internecine warfare between factions in
his own cabinet. The most interesting revelation about
our 38th President is that he had a sense of humor. Much
later after his leaving oval office at a Ford Foundation
dinner at The Lodge, Ford joked that he was "Deep Throat"
who had given Bernstein and Woodard the information on
Nixon.
Most of Ford's criticism came after he left the Presidency.
He was the first ex-President to acquire a fortune from
speeches and sitting on various corporate boards, a common
practice today. He amassed a fortune then to send his
children to college and buy properties in Vail and Palm
Springs. He remained a workaholic, making speeches for
republican colleagues across the country running for re-election.
He was the "go to" guy in tough congressional elections
like his retired number for the University of Michigan
where he played football. He flew more than any ex-President
working eighteen hour days well into his eighties.
One of the more poignant chapters describes Ford's declining
health. Heading into his twilight years, Ford lived longer
than any President, dying at 91. On December 26, at 6:45
pm, Leslie Lynch King, Jr, known more familiarly as Gerald
Rudolph Ford, Jr., died in his sleep from complications
with arteriosclerotic cerebrovascular disease. His wife
Betty and three sons were at his side. Like John F. Kennedy,
he was not in office long enough to establish a remarkable
political legacy, but he will be remembered as the man
who pardoned Nixon, because Ford was a "good man and that
suits him just fine," a fitting epitaph for our 38th President.
Helpful Hints:
- Read this book for an insightful look at the man
who would be President. His leadership style epitomized
his sure sense of self and his relationship with his
family and friends.
- Harry Truman had a similar legacy to Ford: both
quiet men governed with humility for the greater good
of our nation. Read David McCullough's epic biography
of Truman for an insightful view of the haberdasher
who would be President.
- What do you think the Obama legacy will be four
or eight years from now?
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Contact Information:
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E-Mail: keith_barton@att.net
(c) Copyright 2008, Virtual Executive Coach SM
and A. Keith Barton, Ph.D.
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The Executive Connection SM
Mission:
The Executive Connection SM is dedicated to
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resistance to change, while they create and manage their
own businesses. My goal is to help you transform your
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The Executive Connection SM is a publication
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We would like The Executive Connection SM to
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Archives:
You can read previous issues of The Executive Connection
SM in our archive section.
About Keith Barton, Ph.D
Dr. Barton received his Ph.D. in 1972 from the University
of Texas at Austin and has been a practicing therapist
for over thirty years. He is a graduate of MentorCoach
and is accepting new clients.
He has been an adjunct professor at the University of
South Carolina, consultant to Fortune 500 companies in
executive development, founded and managed Texas Community
Living Ventures, Inc., in 1986 for providing group home
services to persons with mental retardation. Keith founded
and has been running a clinical practice in Northwest Houston since 1990.
He writes part-time with the goal of completing one novel
a year. His desire to coach others derives from his passionate
interest in helping others become attuned to their creative
powers of storytelling.
Dr. Barton has training in coaching, cognitive and family
therapy and health psychology. He has published articles,
made presentations and conducted workshops about:
Small Business Development
Employee Wellness Programs
Anxiety and achievement
Stress management
Self-esteem
Communication skills
Leadership styles
Core values in the workplace
Executive Development
High-performance groups
Physician support groups
Writer support groups
© 2010
The Virtual Executive Coach SM
and Keith Barton.
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