Leader to Leader Reflections
November 5, 2008
The Leader of the Future Celebration (2008)
Remarks by Susan Bari, President and Chief Executive Officer
The Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute
Good evening and welcome to our annual celebration of the Leader of the Future. This is my third week as President of the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute and I am excited to be here with you and thankful for the opportunity to work with a dedicated board, exceptional staff and a network of inspired thought leaders. I am especially thankful for the opportunity to work with an iconic leader, Frances Hesselbein, who has welcomed me to lead this important organization that she and Peter Drucker dreamt and she has grown.
Never has our society, indeed the world, been more in need of leadership than it is today.
It is not difficult to find things to complain about in today's world ? the housing market, the financial markets ? even the prices at the supermarket. We'll have to deal with the negative impact of these problems, but there is also a lot to be thankful for and we should not forget to celebrate when things work well.
I am thankful for each of you and delighted that we can celebrate together the important contribution being made by one special leader, A.G. Lafley.
This would not be possible without the sponsors that enable us to bring our mission to life with programs such as the one we celebrate tonight ? the Leader of the Future. I especially want to thank the Mutual of America Life Insurance Company that is our dinner host, the major underwriter of tonight's celebration. Our thanks also extend to our Patron Sponsors the Bright China Social Fund, Lee Cockerell, LLC, the Ford Motor Company, General Electric Company, Marshall Goldsmith Partners, Grey Global Group, Inc., Humana, Inc., The Procter & Gamble Company and John Wiley & Sons. Additional support has been made possible by our Benefactor Sponsors the American Express Foundation, Fidelity Investments Institutional Operations Company, Inc., Jones Lang LaSalle and Kenneth Kirschner.
You will each receive a very special gift bag this evening. As is appropriate, it is a book bag. We have taken care to fill it with wonderful books that will keep you intellectually engaged and thinking of the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute long after tonight's celebration is over. We have "Creating Magic" from Lee Cockerell based on the principles taught at the world-renowned Disney Institute. Our honoree Mr. Lafley has generously gifted us with his book "The Game-Changer". We are especially grateful to John Wiley & Sons for providing not only the new edition of "The Five Most Important Questions", but as a special treat, the advance copy of "The Organization of the Future 2" that will be released in January. I also want to thank Julie Levi and Progressive Promotions who designed our Leader of the Future award and provided the CD with some lovely background music while you are reading all of your new books. I also want to than Mark Thompson who began work tonight on a new project we will be developing on capturing for various media, the wisdom of our thought leaders.
Most of us have heard and even repeated the Alexander Graham Bell quote "When one door closes another door opens;" But did you know that is only part of the saying? Bell continued: "... but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us."
It is our calling at the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute as we move forward as an organization to inspire all to see those open doors. The future is calling.
It is now my pleasure to ask the secretary of our Board of Governors, Geneva Johnson, to offer a thought for the evening.
