The Leadership Panel consisted of 6 successful leaders; Bill Black worked with Maritime life for 34 years. During those 34 years he was the CEO of Maritime for 9 years. Jane Smith is the president and CEO of Beacon Securities, Alexa McDonough who is the Interim President and Vice Chancellor of Mount Saint Vincent University, Bert Frizzell the president and CEO of The Shaw Group since 1974, Jamie Reid the president of A.P. Reid Insurance and Shannon MacDonald who is the Atlantic Practice Managing Partner for Deloitte. The main topics discussed during the Leadership Panel was; the talents and skills a manager should have, how and why a manager should seek out the best employees, uses and importance of mission statements, the importance …show more content…
Successful managers should provide fair and honest treatment to their employees, be collaborative and understanding yet they should be tough and demanding. Alexa McDonough explained that a key factor in being a successful leader is to find balance in every part of your life; family, relationships, work and the creative part of your life. Jamie Reid’s story is an example that a successful business does not always need a mission statement however it is a good thing to have and it is never too late to develop one. The panelists explained how there are many types of managing styles that work for every manager and business. The most common types of managing styles discussed were demanding; of their employees and to know what is going on within the business, collaborative and consultative; involving employees in decisions and giving advice and another style some managers may prefer is simply walking around into the units of their employees and help them as well as being collaborative and demanding. Bert Frizzell point out that all stakeholders are important however the employees should be the priority. Mr. Frizzell says that employees are who you work with the most throughout the organization and without having employees who are treated well the other stakeholders do not matter. All panelists agreed that post-secondary education is an extremely important part of life and being successful. Bill …show more content…
Jack Walsh’s theory is to fire the weakest employees and over pay the star performers. I understand the concept of the theory and why some leaders follow it however I do not like the idea of Jack Walsh’s theory. I understand that a business needs top employees in order to succeed but it seems like an unfair treatment to the employees being fired. The employees should be given a fair evaluation and told how they should improve their performance. It also doesn’t seem fair the “star performers” get paid more while the regular employees wouldn’t. The second piece of information that was new to me was whether a business needs a mission statement or not. Jamie Reid explained how his business does not have a mission statement. However, 30 years after the business has been up and running, Jamie Reid stated he and his employees are in the process of developing a mission statement. I was under the assumption a mission statement was a requirement for all businesses but that is not true although they are an important statement for a business to have. Jamie Reid’s managing style was also a managing style to me. I knew manager’s could combine different styles of managing however Jamie Reid says he just walks into employees units and manages things that