For years, I had the priv­i­lege of coach­ing the CEO of a national mort­gage com­pany with 6000 employ­ees. He then went on to serve as the CEO of the national bank that owned that mort­gage com­pany, where he was respon­si­ble for lead­ing and serv­ing the 13,000 team mem­bers. And for the last year and a half, I’ve had the plea­sure of work­ing side by side with this past client, as he is now a CEO Men­tor and Exec­u­tive Coach here at Build­ing Champions.

His name is Jerry Baker.

Over the past 10 years or so, we have enjoyed coach­ing hun­dreds of those who served under Jerry’s lead­er­ship. These clients have ranged in roles from exec­u­tives to mid level man­agers, as well as many of the company’s sales force. What we have seen and heard is that almost every­one in this com­pany really knew and cared for Jerry. And most of them felt that Jerry knew and cared for them.

Many lead­ers have asked me, “How does he do it? How does he make that big com­pany feel small?” I respond with what I have observed first­hand over the years.

He com­mu­ni­cates, com­mu­ni­cates, and communicates.

If you were to look at Jerry’s cal­en­dar back when he was CEO, you would see that he spent a great deal of time with his team­mates – on the phone, one on one, and in group meet­ings. Each year, Jerry trav­eled across the coun­try with the rest of his exec­u­tive team, and called it the East West Tour. They would hold “town hall” style meet­ings in every region, so that all employ­ees had the oppor­tu­nity to inter­face with the lead­er­ship team and visa versa.

I’ve heard Jerry say that he thinks the bet­ter CEOs spend 25% of their time communicating.

Jerry is also a very good writer, and was incred­i­bly dis­ci­plined about send­ing reg­u­lar updates on what was hap­pen­ing in the busi­ness. In these updates, he encour­aged his team­mates to do their best and rec­og­nized top per­form­ers. He reg­u­larly wrote for indus­try pub­li­ca­tions, shar­ing his insights and thoughts about how to best suc­ceed in their industry.

So how does a leader make a big com­pany feel small? He com­mu­ni­cates, which means he spends a great deal of time ask­ing ques­tions, lis­ten­ing, and then shar­ing what he sees.

You can learn directly from Coach Baker by read­ing his blog at www.leadershipfromthetrenches.com

Related posts:

1. Asset or Advantage?
2. 25% Fun

Tags: Communication, Great Leaders, Jerry Baker, Teamwork

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