November 2008

Academy News

Welcome to the second edition of the Academy Newsletter. This communication is an additional resource for our members provided by Midwest ENERGY Association's Utility Leadership Academy. The Academy was designed for you to grow, connect, and communicate with other members of the energy industry.

I am happy to announce that The Academy is sponsoring MEA's OQ and Technology Conference 2009 in Las Vegas, NV -- February 10-12, 2009.

The Energy Industry has transformed into one of the most technologically advanced industries in the United States. New innovations have reshaped the industry into a technology leader, and this is in all segments of the industry. MEA's annual OQ and Technology Conference focuses on these technologies and how they help and can shape your organization as a whole.

Our 2009 conference theme will focus on program specifics and how the use of technology can help and if not used right, sometimes hurt your organization. Whether your a small contractor needing assistance with your OQ training program, looking to enhance your safety program, or building a strong leadership program from within, this conference will be right for you.

Dianne Felty
Director of Member Relations
Midwest ENERGY Association

A Different Kind of Leadership

Excerpts from Marci Alboher, "Hot Ticket in B-School: Brining Life Values to Corporate Ethics," The New York Times, May 29, 2008 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/business/smallbusiness/29shift.html>, accessed on November 14, 2008.

It may not sound like the stuff of business school education. But Mr. Friedman [management professor at the Wharton School] and other like-minded leadership educators have tapped into a desire by both students and established entrepreneurs for more integration of their careers and personal lives.

Mr. Friedman’s philosophy is fairly straightforward. The fundamental premise is that leadership can exist in every person, whether at the top, middle or bottom of any group. Mr. Friedman also teaches that leadership should not be confined to work, but extended to one’s personal life, community involvement and family life.

“There was a period when you’d never talk about the emotional or sensitive side of leadership,” Mr. Cohen [the dean of Babson College's graduate business school] said. “Then the pendulum swings and you find out that some of these people are tone-deaf and emotion-blind, that they lose their followers and make decisions that aren’t so good. We have seen a lot of unethical leadership, and all of a sudden devoting your career to just making money isn’t looking so attractive. So different kinds of courses become more interesting.”

Book Review: Go Put Your Strengths to Work

So many organizations focus on people's weaknesses. Offering training on what "not to do", focusing on the negatives. Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Acheive Outstanding Performance by Marcus Buckingham turns that concept on it's ear, helping you find your strengths and put them in action. What's holding you back may not be the external stuff, the noise: the boss, the office, the commute, but what you believe.

Leadership and the Bad Boss

Excerpt from Dianne Felty, "Leadership and the Bad Boss," ULA Forum, November 6, 2008 <http://www.midwestenergy.org/forumviewmessage.cfm?forumnbr=4492&topicnbr=9807&discussionnbr=509348>.

TV's boss, Michael Scott of The Office, is a paradigm of what not to do as a leader--like imprisoning your staff in a conference room to prove that work is better than jail. But while there is the ring of truth in his incompetence, the actual truth is always more interesting than fiction. Let's keep in mind that leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills. Although your position as a manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization, this power does not make you a leader, it simply makes you the boss.

Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals, rather than simply bossing people around. Let's also remember that good leaders are made, not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and most importantly, experience.

Are you signed up to receive notifications when the Utility Leadership Academy forum is updated? For help contact Dianne Felty at (651) 289-9600 x131.

Nothing limits achievement like small thinking. Nothing equals possibilities like unleashed thinking. ~William Arthur Ward