Teamwork Brings Us Victories for the Industry
It’s been a good week. Our surety bill changing the way the federal government treats individual surety assets and increasing the guarantee percentage given to sureties participating in the Preferred Program of the U.S. SBA Bond Guarantee Program, which was incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act of 2016, was signed into law by the President. Tomorrow we’ll be in transit to be able to celebrate in person with our staff in Washington, DC on one of my favorite nights of the year: the night we gather to thank our staff for their hard work over the year and celebrate the holiday season together.
It’s been a long, hard slog to get the bill passed, and it took the collective efforts of so many of our Members and Affiliates on Capitol Hill to educate congressional aides and members over three successive Congresses and the tireless efforts of our staff, ably led by Mark McCallum and Larry LeClair. Despite a number of set-backs, they never quit. Passage of the bill is a big victory for our industry, and we should all be very proud. Next year on June 7 and 8 at our Legislative Fly-in, it will be wonderful to thank our representatives for their support and finally be able to move on to address our other legislative priorities. Securing passage of the bill was teamwork at its best.
We also have some wonderful news to share about the Blue Angels Foundation study, described at Past President Tom Padilla’s Annual Meeting in San Diego and supported by our collective donations. Our many Members, Affiliate companies, and Annual Meeting speakers truly stepped up with their support, and, to date, we’ve raised some $120,000. Please take the time to read Tom’s inspirational update here.
It’s also been a good week for Golden State Warrior fans, who have seen history made with, as of this writing, a 19-0 start for the year to start the NBA season, surpassing the previous record of 15 wins. The prior record was held by the 1948-1949 Washington Capitals and the 1993-1994 Houston Rockets. I’m struck by a few similarities of watching another example of teamwork at its best and wanted to drill down to figure out what it is about these Warriors and how they’re playing together that makes them so special.
Is it their good owner and front office, the raw talent, the way they genuinely seem to enjoy one another, the fun they’re having or is it the leadership of their coaching staff–all of which are key components? Heck, Head Coach Steve Kerr is on medical leave recovering from complications from off-season back surgery. He’s been able to attend a few practices and the occasional shoot-around, but the team is being coached by young Interim Head Coach Luke Walton. Both Kerr and Walton have shown uncanny communication and inspirational leadership…but there’s something more.
Once I studied the stats it became apparent it’s something different entirely. You don’t have to be a student of analytics to see the number of assists the players are getting as a group every game–a great example of unselfish play, if ever there was one. The team is composed of a number of really solid players and one superstar in the form of last year’s MVP Steph Curry. Guess who’s leading the team both in points and in assists. Yep, family man Steph Curry, the one whose two year old daughter, Riley, stole the show at many press conferences last year on their run to the NBA Championship. What’s also interesting to see when you watch the Warriors play is that passing the ball becomes contagious. Sooner or later it’s inevitable…our Warriors will lose, but until then they sure have been fun to watch make history each game.
How many of you have seen great players who see the world through the lens of their own egos? You might even have one or two of those on your own team. Ever wonder how good your team could be if they excelled in unselfish play? Here are a few pointers from a collection of leadership experts on ways to lead your team to demonstrate unselfish behavior:
- Share the credit–Employees who are recognized for their winning efforts, whether in the foreground or the background, feel a sense of pride in and loyalty to their company and their leader. Because everyone wants to work for such a leader, a deep pool of talent very often ensues.
- Take time to teach–Teaching is a critical role for a leader. The unselfish leader makes time to teach employees not only about business processes and results, company goals and objectives, but also about ethical and behavioral standards that are important to the organization and the leader.
- Make time to help others–Be generous and share your skills and ideas with others.
- Enable others to come up with their own answers to problems–Too much telling turns people off.
- Accept responsibility for employees’ shortcomings–Don’t be quick to blame others or make excuses when employees inevitably mess up. First, help find the fix to the problem, follow up with coaching and counseling, and then look for ways to improve the process and the training. Learning from mistakes is critical to continuous improvement. Giving employees room to make mistakes and then gain knowledge and confidence as a result, is an unselfish and courageous act for a leader.
- Accept and share the ideas and input of others–An unselfish leader is open to new ideas and concepts from a variety of sources. So very often the employees actually doing the work have the best ideas on how a particular process can be improved. Let others be the experts. Build the bench strength by developing technical and leadership skills in employees. Help others to succeed and reinforce the unselfish trait.
- Don’t forget to pass the ball–An unselfish leader whose openness and generosity is seen by those with whom that leader comes into contact will very likely accrue significant benefits in both a personal and professional sense. A selfish leader who grabs all the credit and deflects all the blame will at some point find the world a very lonely place.
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As the holidays approach and many of us are making plans to celebrate with our families and friends, three of our members’ families are grieving. Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve lost three colleagues way too soon, as you will read in the “In Remembrance” section of this issue here. I was fortunate to know one of them, Glenn Arakaki, a consummate professional and someone I considered a good friend.
Jeffrey and I send our best wishes to each of you for a safe and happy holiday season. Our time here on Earth is limited, so please take the time to hold your families and friends close and be fully present in the now with your loved ones.
Susan Hecker is Executive Vice President and National Director of Contract Surety at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in San Francisco, CA. She can be reached at Susan_Hecker@ajg.com.