Thank you to the 1,400 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 questions!
I hope reading
7 Questions with Jeff D Standridge,
helps you in your leadership.
Cheers,
Jonno White
7 Questions with Jeff D Standridge,
Name: Jeff D. Standridge, Ed.D.
Current title: Managing Director
Current organisation: InnovationJunkie.com
Dr. Jeff D. Standridge helps organizations and their leaders generate sustained results in the areas of innovation, strategy, profit growth, organizational effectiveness and leadership.
Formerly a Vice President for Acxiom Corporation, he has led established and startup businesses in North & South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Jeff serves as Managing Director for the Conductor, Co-founder of Cadron Capital Partners, and teaches Entrepreneurial Finance & Innovation Leadership in the College of Business at the University of Central Arkansas.
Dr. Standridge has been an invited speaker, trainer, and consultant for numerous companies, institutions, and organizations across five continents. He is also a two-time best-selling author of “The Innovator’s Field Guide: Accelerators for Entrepreneurs, Innovators & Change Agents” and “The Top Performer’s Field Guide: Catalysts for Leaders, Innovators & All Who Aspire to Be.”
Prior to his business career, Jeff spent more than a decade in healthcare, serving as an Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and as a member of the Angel Flight Helicopter Transport Team at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. He is also retired from the U.S. Army – Arkansas Army National Guard. Jeff holds the Doctor of Education with special work in Leadership & Organizational Development, as well as a Master of Education with special work in Human Resource Development.
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1. What have you found most challenging as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise?
Balancing “results” and “relationships” consistently to generate sustained results for the organization while retaining, motivating top talent.
2. How did you become a CEO or executive of a large enterprise? Can you please briefly tell the story?
Technically, I’m a “Managing Director” of an organization that works with large enterprises, but to answer your question ... I paid my dues. I worked hard. I sought new challenges. I read and learned voraciously. And I surrounded myself with talented people and gave them permission to give me direct feedback.
3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?
I still use a paper “journal book,” but I am completely beholden to my smartphone calendar. I look at it first thing every morning and just before I go to bed at night.
I keep track of what I need to do and I try to focus on the biggest priorities first.
4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?
Don’t hire people you can’t fire.
5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?
“Good to Great” by Jim Collins. It has a few years on it, but it has stood the test of time. Jim’s research explored that which separates great companies from good ones. His findings were so profound and have had an impact on me for years.
6. How do you build leadership capacity in a large enterprise?
Hire people smarter than you and get up every day and work hard to help them to be successful!
7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise so far?
Early in my career, I had an employee come to me and ask permission to give me feedback. I granted that permission and she replied, “I’d like to tell you what I’m observing, describe how it makes me feel, outline the impact it’s having, and then give you a chance to respond.”
She then followed that outlined and delivered the most direct, well-intentioned, constructive feedback I had ever received. She never said “You ...”, she never spoke for other people, only for herself, she told me how my actions were making her feel and the impact it was having on her job satisfaction.”
That one piece of feedback changed my life as a leader. I have used her “outline” many times since and I have taught it as part of my leadership training and consulting in multiple countries on five continents.