Leadership Studies Interview Research Paper

Leadership Studies Interview

I recently had the honor of interviewing someone in our community who has had more than thirty years of leadership experience in our community. The interview ended up taking much longer than I expected because I was so influenced by what he had to say, I did not want to miss anything. Mr. Kevin Henderson started his career as a cook back in the 60's for the Jolly Ox (Steak & Ale) restaurant. His leadership abilities were quickly realized, and he was promoted to Store manager. From there he moved on to the Shoney's Restaurant Corporation where he remained for twenty five years serving as a regional supervisor, and finally working his way up to the President of the Steak House Division of Shoney's. This consisted
of the Fifth Quarter chain, Pargo's Restaurant chain, and the Barbwires Steakhouse chain. Kevin was in charge of over 5,000 employees in his division and led the company in profits as well as efficiency ratings. He is now the Director of Comprehensive Food Services for the state of Tennessee and directs the food services of hundreds of locations such as schools, prisons and state facilities across Tennessee. My conversation with Kevin took a direction that I did not expect. He attributes his success to the leadership traits that he has learned over the years, and quoted many of the very ideas and theories almost verbatim from our class lecture. This was an incredible experience to witness first hand how these traits become behaviors and practices.

Throughout the course of our interview, Kevin laid out the history of his leadership experience, and pointed out how he has learned many of his characteristics from watching other people.
Kevin Heavily noted how leadership and management styles have made a drastic change over the last 40 years from the "my way, or the highway" (Henderson) approach, to a servant leadership approach. Mr. Henderson recalled a plaque that use to hang in his bosses office in the 60's that read "Beatings and hangings will continue until morale improves!" This was the strategy that was used back then, but disregarded the lingering question of "Why" in the eyes of the employees. Kevin provided me with a great analogy that explained the concept of putting a screw into a board with a hammer. "You can drive a Screw into a board with a hammer, and it will go in; however, both the screw and the board will end up forever damaged and the board will eventually wiggle loose." (Henderson) Short term results can be achieved through toxic leadership, but long term goals will almost always fail. Throughout his experience with the Shoney's Corporation, Kevin noticed this approach being used, and vowed to change this within his area of leadership. He attributes his success to this very
idea.

Strong interpersonal skills are one of the most important characteristics he outlined for me. By this, he means "take time to be kind." To achieve positive results out of the people in which he works with, Kevin "turned his division upside down" (Henderson) or transitioned to a servant leadership philosophy. He wanted his employees to feel like the president of the company was someone who not only cared about them and their concerns, but wanted to be someone who they could come to with any problems or ideas they have. "Seek first to understand before you try to be understood." (Henderson) By taking time through charismatic leadership to be kind to his employees, and being empathetic toward their work and personal lives, Kevin was able to achieve above average results out of average people. The ability to "shut up and listen" is a key trait one must have to be a good leader. I asked him if he thought that by being friendly to his employees, and getting to know them personally interfered with his ability to delegate. Kevin responded by stating that if you are firm but fair, honest and straight forward with people at all times, you will in turn commandeer respect from your employees which will provide both parties the necessary tools to excel in their respective positions. One must beware, however, of being insincere, because everyone will see right through you and loose all respect. One must lead by example and be constantly and actively aware on a daily basis that everyone is watching the leaders and modeling their actions after yours. "People don't care what you know until they know that you care." (Henderson)

Another key trait that Kevin noted was that leaders are the ones who are willing to "get up and try it." When he was in his infant stage of leadership, he volunteered to run the store, for one of the managers. "He just threw me the keys and walked out the door! I was scared to death, but willing to give it a shot! Yeah, I made some mistakes but I also learned how to keep from making them again." (Henderson) Leadership is a series of conquering fears and taking on challenges regardless if you have all of the answers. Your mindset must be one of "I think I can fix that." (Henderson) He closed the discussion on leadership traits and skills with a quote from one of his favorite authors, Zig Ziglar. "If you want to get all you can out of life, you must first help others to get all they can out of life."

I told Mr. Henderson that he had given me some great insight as to what traits and skills were necessary to being a leader among men, but wanted to know more. For me really get an idea of how these ideas and theories can be put into practice, I needed to know how one goes about actually doing these things while being in a high workload-high stress position on a daily basis. Kevin stated that it all starts with the golden rule of treating others the way you want to be treated. Take time to stop and think about each comment that you make. People will remember the things that you say and the way they perceive you. Always make a conscious effort wear a smile on your face (even if you don't feel like it) when dealing with others. When you are in a position of authority, people will naturally fear you, and model your emotions. If you want to employees to be happy, simply act happy around them. Secondly, one must make it a point to address others by name at least twice in every conversation. Kevin requires every one of the part time employees in his organization to wear a name tag so that he can remember their names and something about them. This is very difficult to do however when you have over 5,000 people working on your team. For this reason one must use their resources. Kevin required his managers to know some personal details about each employee that worked in their store. They would hold special team building events outside of work such as an evening out on the town. When Kevin makes a visit to a store, he would first brief himself with the manager about the employees who worked there. He would want to know who was doing well, and a little about their personal lives. He would then go to those people and praise them in front of their co-workers. A good strategy to use is to always praise in groups, and criticize in private. (Henderson) When dealing with problematic employees, many managers unknowingly work around them for fear of having to deal with their complaints. When this occurs, the leader is actually rewarding the bad employee, and punishing the good employees by making them do the other persons work. This causes the good employees to slack off and learn to complain in order to get what they want. "If you don't like what is being done, you better check what is being rewarded." (Henderson)

Another Key practice Kevin discussed was the power of questioning.
During our interview, Kevin performed a card trick to prove a point. He had selected the 6 of diamonds and laid it face down on the desk without my knowledge. He then told me that I was going to figure out what the solution to the problem was (what card was on the desk). He began to ask me a series of questions that caused me to rule out various suites and numbers of cards. I was astonished to find out that after only a few questions, I had figured out what card was on the desk. It made me feel like I had rationally come up with the solution on my own, thus making me feel important about my accomplishment. Rather than criticize others, ask them questions to make them realize on their own what mistakes they are making and how to improve upon
them.

Finally, I wanted to know how he got to the level of understanding that he has achieved as a leader. From the standpoint of a student interested in becoming a leader, how do you get from point A to Point B? Mr. Henderson pointed out that you must take time to develop a clearly defined and concise personal mission statement. Furthermore, you must look at it each and every day and think about how you can utilize it in every situation. "You must learn to become a student of people, and be able to effectively communicate your visions and goals to others." (Henderson) One can begin by taking initiative in their own environment may it be work, school, social groups or any other situation you have the opportunity to stand up and be a leader. Be willing to accept the fact that you will fail at times. "One who is willing to attempt leadership and fails is better than one who never tried at all." (Henderson) Listen to what others have to say, and encourage them to provide their input. Never criticize their ideas no matter how bad they may sound to you. This will prevent others from providing feedback that is crucial to your personal development as a leader. Most of all, Kevin left me with the idea that leaders must have character and honesty. Leaders are born from the heart, not created or placed into their roles. Always act as a servant to others and listen to what they have to say. Toxic and Tyrannical leadership will spread like wildfire and destroy everything in its path. "You have to make people want to do their part in striving for the common good, but be able and willing to do it yourself." (Henderson)