F. Stuart Gulley became the seventh president of Woodward Academy in 2009. Previously he was president of LaGrange College for 13 years. The Nashville native began his career in academia in administration at Emory University, where he received a master’s degree.
Mike Pitcher became president and CEO of LeasePlan USA in 2008, five years after he joined the company. Prior employers include Dell Financial Services and Pitney Bowes. Pitcher hails from the New Orleans area and is a devoted Saints fan.
Bob Mathis is chairman and CEO of Peachtree Planning Corp., which he founded in 1987 after working for a larger firm. A graduate of the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, he has experience in numerous areas of financial planning.
The executives, who led their teams to the three top spots in “Top 100 Workplaces in Metro Atlanta,” took the time to discuss successful leadership in an e-mail roundtable:
Q: What is the difference between a leader and a manager?
A: (Gulley) A leader helps create a shared vision and inspires others to live in that preferred future, while a manager tends to tactical details to get the job done. Actually, a good leader does both.
A: (Pitcher) While all managers are leaders, all leaders are not managers. Leadership should be defined as influence, and every manager influences people he or she works with. Leaders understand that most people really want to be successful in their careers, so leaders find ways to help them become successful. Leaders speak to the heart, not just to the head.
A: (Mathis) Some leaders are also excellent managers. However, most times, every organization has one leader who is the promoter of the firm’s vision. It’s the person who perhaps founded the company based on his ideas or vision of why it was important to create this company. A leader is not always an effective operational manager, but the leader always must manage and develop the relationships with the people who have bought into the “why” of this company. Not just the executive staff, but everyone.
Q. What makes you an effective leader with your company? How do you think you best execute leadership qualities?
A: (Gulley) To the extent I am viewed as effective, I would say that it relates to my commitment to be open, transparent and accessible. I listen. I try to affirm and encourage others on the team while directing our efforts toward our mission and vision.
A: (Pitcher) I think that I am at my best when communicating with our team. They know my expectations of them, and I, respectfully, know what they expect of me. I set the tone for the organization at many levels. My work ethic, the way that I interact with clients and team members, as well as how much fun I have at work, are all ways that I influence others.
A: (Mathis) I am the keeper of the culture and, based on our retention of both advisers and professional support staff, I believe that my partners and I have been effective leaders in keeping our culture and mission alive and vibrant.
Q. How has the company fared through these difficult economic times?
A: (Gulley) We have not been immune to the economic downturn. Families are struggling, and some families, who have been very loyal to Woodward over the years, have had to send their children to public school. Fortunately, even with the loss of enrollment and the resulting loss of tuition revenue, we have been able to manage by closely watching our expenses. In addition, Woodward has a history of being fiscally strong, which has helped.
A: (Pitcher) Excellent. We have reached pre-credit crisis levels of profitability, and our employee satisfaction/engagement, as well as our client satisfaction and loyalty, has never been higher.
A: (Mathis) We have been fortunate to grow our business through these last few years and have actually increased our staff to enable us to better serve our various markets.
Q. What adjustments have been made to deal with the economic challenges?
A: (Gulley) We have reduced expenses while being clear that the reductions should be as far away as possible from our core mission — the education of our students. Because program budgets were fairly robust prior to the economic downturn, the reduction in budgets has not had a major negative impact on our operations.
A: (Pitcher) LeasePlan is in the position where we haven’t been forced to make any difficult adjustments to deal with the economic challenges. We have worked to streamline our processes and our systems in order to gain efficiency. We are committed to not laying people off. When people left, we did not replace them, but we did not lay anyone off. Instead, we shared the workload.
A: (Mathis) We have rededicated ourselves to spend more time with all of our clients to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect them from this volatile economic climate. Staying in touch with our clients during turbulent times made the last three years impactful in a positive way.
Q. How have you tried to maintain worker morale during these times?
A: (Gulley) We have maintained morale by attempting to communicate directly, in person and by e-mail, to inform folks of the status of things. Because of budget constraints, we did not offer a salary increase this year; however, we did have a modest surplus in our budget from the prior year, and we awarded the surplus in the form of a bonus (approximately $700) to all employees. In addition, I’ve invited employee participation in major issues confronting the school, such as revising our mission statement.
A: (Pitcher) We have maintained — and actually increased — worker morale in many different ways. We pride ourselves on open and honest communication from leadership. We are accessible to employees at all levels. The entire executive management team reads every word of the employee surveys because we value their input and use their feedback to implement positive changes. We also have several unique programs to make it fun and enjoyable to work at LeasePlan.
A: (Mathis) By reminding everyone in our firm of the importance of the work we do. We make a difference in the financial lives of our clients. We must provide leadership to their clients and minimize the financial errors that they may make during turbulent economic times. I show our advisers that I have confidence in them to provide the difference in people’s lives.
Q. What is your approach on communications with employees?
A: (Gulley) Last year, I met with all 650 employees in small groups to hear their thoughts about what we are and aren’t doing well as an academy. This was in addition to community meetings and e-mail communications.
A: (Pitcher) We use all types of methods to communicate as an organization — verbal, e-mail, focus groups, newsletters, message boards, intranet and quarterly town hall meetings. We communicate everything — business results, philanthropic success, promotions, new business wins and those that we have lost. The entire leadership team has an open-door policy. At any time, an employee can walk into my office and talk to me.
A: (Mathis) I prefer individual meetings, but the company has grown to the point where that is not always practical. E-mails are the next best because my employees can get an e-mail from me that addresses the issues concerning that specific employee or colleague. We have regular group meetings that cover business plan issues and our 90-day action plans.
Q. How, if at all, are employees rewarded for work above and beyond the normal requirements?
A: (Gulley) Most people who go into education do so for reasons other than the salary. Still, we do have a merit system for faculty, whereby they can increase salary through numbers of years of service, attainment of master’s and doctoral degrees and work performance judged meritorious by their superiors.
A: (Pitcher) Senior management selects an Employee of the Quarter who is provided with a gas card and front row parking for the entire quarter. We also have various incentive programs, such as those in our maintenance department where technicians are incentivized to save the client money on their vehicles’ maintenance and repairs. Rewards such as gift cards, lottery tickets and breakfasts are given for meeting monthly quotas. In addition, we give every employee a $100 holiday gift card each December. This past December, we doubled it to $200 because the company is doing so well.
A: (Mathis) We believe that our bonus structure recognizes employees and advisers who perform at a higher level than anticipated.
Q. What is your approach in hiring new employees? What factors are important to you?
A: (Gulley) We look for a diverse pool of applicants who have the academic credentials and experience necessary for the position. In addition, we seek people who are passionate about helping young people in their development, who enjoy working with a student population which represents the globe.
A: (Pitcher) The most important thing for us is whether or not they possess the behaviors that exhibit our core values and whether or not they will be a good fit with our culture. We are fortunate to find quality candidates through two main methods — internal candidates transitioning to new roles and our employee referral program.
A: (Mathis) The education level is at least a college degree and preferably an advanced degree or professional designation. Their work history must have a success pattern where they excelled in whatever they have been asked to do. The candidate must have a desire to spend time enjoying family activities. The candidate must show a genuine desire to help other people as evidenced by his or her past life events — fund raising, philanthropic events benefiting others, etc.
Q. How does your institution measure up against peers as a place to attract and keep quality workers?
A: (Gulley) The average tenure of a faculty member at Woodward is 14 years. Woodward has great staying power. Once you start working here, you don’t want to leave. We think we measure up very well against our peers in the public and private sector in caliber of persons we attract and our retention of them.
A: (Pitcher) Everything we do has contributed to our very low turnover rate last year, which was about 8 percent. We have a firm belief that if employees are happy, they will stay with the company and continue to help ensure happy clients. And that belief is a reality for us. In our most recent client satisfaction survey, our client loyalty rating increased significantly and was much higher than the company’s global average. In addition, the percentage of “delighted” clients increased.
A: (Mathis) We are fortunate to enjoy almost a negative turnover in our professional staff, which significantly reduces our training time and tremendously helps our advisers do a better job for their clients. Our advisor retention rate is approximately 40 percent higher than the industry retention rate. Our five-year advisor retention rate is in the 90 percent range.
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