A Day of Observing Great Communicators
This week I was honored to witness an almost indescribable panoply of great communicators.
We started with a hybrid virtual/in-person Warren Bennis Leadership Institute Council meeting with 30 people, which included Tom Peters, Ken Blanchard, Joline Godfrey, Joan Goldsmith, Pat Zigarmi, Doug Conant, Ken Cloke, Cynthia Cherrey, Bob Castellini, Dick Thornburgh, Raj Sisodia, and Betsy Myers. As the Chair of the Council, my job was to introduce this esteemed group to the University of Cincinnati’s WBLI leadership team, internal Advisory Board, and student leaders. We could have gone on for days. The enthusiasm and generosity of the Council members filled the room with love: they shared their stories about Dad/Warren, about their passion for leadership development, and the extraordinary moment we find ourselves in today when great leaders are the critical ingredient on all fronts: political, environmental, societal, global, and economic.
From there, we moved to a panel discussion with an invited audience of Cincinnati business and civic leaders. University of Cincinnati’s President Pinto opened the event with a warm welcome to all the luminaries in the room, even a shout out to me and my husband, Hal, whom he had met just minutes before. A great reminder of the importance of giving the gift of acknowledgment. It’s free and meaningful. He then made a powerful proclamation about the Institute and it’s vital purpose: to foster great leaders for the university, for Cincinnati, for Ohio, and for our country.
Introducing the Institute, Donna Chrobot-Mason, the Academic Director, charmed us with her passionate appeal for leadership education school-wide! That’s over 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students! That’s a tidal wave of positive impact!
Betsy Myers, in a red suit (Go Bearcats!), moderated a panel with Doug Conant, Raj Sisodia, Pat Zigarmi, Leigh Fox, and Mayor Aftab Pureval. Betsy moderates with curiosity and generosity, very like my father. She celebrated each panelist before asking the WHAT of leadership education—WHAT do we teach? Each person shone and added completely new insights. And each person was showered with Betsy’s rapt attention, nodding head, beaming smile, and a follow up inquiry that brought out nuance.
Next, Dean Marianne Lewis’ panel with Michael Fisher, Barbara Turner, Kerry Byrne, Cynthia Cherry, and Sue Simmons, focused on the HOW of leadership education—HOW do we teach it? Dean Lewis is strength and enthusiasm incarnate. She moderates as she leads—with curiosity, generosity, and elevated the panelists so we in the audience felt an immediate connection, allowing for their expertise to lead the conversation.
At 3:00 we all stepped outside, donned our glasses, and, as if Dad had conspired to bring us an indelible team-building experience, we witnessed the eerie and astonishing moments when the sun is extinguished during the solar eclipse.
The evening festivity was a beautiful keynote by Raj Sisodia. Truly transcendent. Raj embodies his work on Conscious Capitalism, living with conscious kindness, so that his talk to hundreds feels like an intimate conversation.
The stars of the show, of course, were the UC students, the Warren Bennis Leadership Experience board and fellows. Poise is the word that most captures their presence. They are remarkable and I credit UC’s co-op program for asking more of college students than most universities. The students work in real jobs connected to their majors throughout their undergraduate years.
I am still overwhelmed by the intensity of the experience and am coasting on the sense of hope and possibility.
My only regret is that my father was not there with us. It was the perfect mix of old friends, trusted colleagues, academics, and mostly, the students.
Next week, when I’ve had time to reflect, we’ll talk about the specific skills these communicators illustrate.