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How to Be a Bankable Leader: Interview with CSAA Annual Meeting Keynote Speaker Tasha Eurich

Marco-Island-Logo_vertCSAA is pleased to present Dr. Tasha Eurich, keynote speaker at the upcoming Annual Meeting in Marco Island, FL. “Tasha Eurich understands the importance of our industry. She and her family have been devoted alarm users for more than 30 years,” says Security Central, Inc. (Centennial, CO) President Jordan Jackson. “Her personal security experiences blended with her professional leadership expertise make her the perfect keynote speaker for this year’s conference. We have been utilizing the leadership principles she shares in her fantastic book Bankable Leadership, and what a difference it has made! Don’t miss your opportunity to transform your business with Tasha Eurich’s intriguing insights into leadership, business, and security!”

Read on to find out what you can learn from Dr. Eurich in Marco Island in October, and register now for the CSAA Annual Meeting!

CSAA: So just what is a “bankable leader”?

Eurich: As an organizational psychologist, I’ve devoted the last 15 years of my life to making bosses better—from start-ups to the Fortune 100, and in almost every Tasha Eurich low resindustry. And no matter their level or position or business, there’s one common denominator that all leaders face: the tension between engaging and retaining their people and driving results for their business.

Bankable Leaders, put simply, successfully manage the tension between people and results. And even though the best leaders do both, this balancing act is easier said than done. Most leaders tend to favor one over the other: some favor the people side—what I call the Cool Parent leaders—who are so focused on making sure everyone’s happy and that everyone likes them that nobody gets anything done. But even more fall on the other side, favoring results—the Trail of Dead Bodies leaders—who focus on outcomes at all costs. And though they might produce short term results, it’s not a matter of if their results will crumble but when. My belief, supported by decades of academic research—is that not only are most leaders out of balance, but they rarely know that this is the case!

CSAA: Tell CSAA members how you came to be interested in helping leaders.

Eurich: My purpose in life is to help leaders become more successful and self-aware, and in so doing, create value for their employees, customers and shareholders. When I was a child, shortly after my parents’ divorce, my mother started the first business in the country that trained and placed nannies in the homes of single parent and dual paycheck families. My mom would often take me to the office with her, where I watched her solve problems, coach employees, and communicate her vision. Even at a young age, what she had accomplished wasn’t lost on me. Not only was she supporting our family, she was supporting the families of the 25 people who worked for her.

Thus began my lifelong leadership obsession, which eventually led me to seek my doctorate in organizational psychology. Over the last 15 years, I’ve studied and applied the scientific principles of human behavior to help leaders and companies succeed. At its most basic level, my work is about helping leaders learn the skills they need to be successful at work (or, as a client of mine recently quipped, “Leadership is my Everest, and you are my Sherpa”). I’ve worked with people at all levels, in most industries, all around the world: from family businesses to the Fortune 100; from salespeople to engineers; from frontline leaders to CEOs.

CSAA: What can CSAA Annual Meeting participants expect from your session, “Bankable Leadership?”

Eurich: We will answer three general questions. First, what are my personal preferences as a leader between people and results? Second, what does that mean for the engagement and performance of my employees, the happiness of my customers and the success of my business? Third, what are a few actionable strategies I can use to accelerate my business goals through my leadership (not just my own, but also through the leaders who report to me)?

CSAA: Can you share a sneak preview of a data point that you use to help leaders evaluate themselves? Or some finding about leadership that you find particularly interesting/illuminating?

 Something rather amusing that I often hear is that “leadership is a soft skill.” To be blunt, that’s just plain wrong and there have been decades of empirical research showing just how wrong it is.

One of my favorite studies looked at over 30,000 leaders and showed that leadership has a direct economic impact on the bottom line. Specifically, the bottom ten percent of leaders had (on average) $1.2 million of net losses in their functional area while the top ten percent showed (on average) $4.5 million in net profit! There is also a direct, causal link between leadership effectiveness and employee and customer satisfaction.

But in spite of this powerful impact, most organizations do precious little to prepare their leaders to lead, and as a result, 50 percent of leaders are ineffective. If executives aren’t closely tracking and growing the leadership effectiveness within organizations, they’re likely suffering more for it than they realize.

CSAA: What is something you have found really surprising in your work with leaders over the last 15 years?

Eurich: Especially over the last five or so years, there’s been a lot of talk about the “great person” view of leadership—that is, that great leaders are born with more charisma, or vision, or skill than others. But psychologists have known for almost 80 years that leadership isn’t about traits—it’s about skills. Why is this distinction important? Because it means that leadership is largely learnable, no matter what your style or personality. In our session, you’ll learn why 96 percent of leaders can dramatically improve their effectiveness (and why the remaining 4 percent can’t).

CSAA: You’ve mentioned that you have an alarm system for a long time. Bet you have an alarm story to share!

Eurich: Some might call my family paranoid, but we prefer the term “security conscious” (or, for CSAA purposes you can think of us as “forever customers”). My family and I have been proud Security Central customers for more than 30 years. And not only have Jordan Jackson and his team kept us safe in by our count more than ten houses, they have treated us as part of their family. Our relationship with Jordan and his team goes far beyond just business—he and the entire company truly care about our safety and well-being. I couldn’t be prouder to be addressing Jordan’s colleagues this fall!

CSAA: Tell us something about yourself that drives or influences the way you do business. 

Eurich: Before I decided on a career in psychology, I was a professional actor and a classically trained singer. As a double theater and psychology major in college, then, I had quite a fork in the road to navigate. Of course, I chose psychology, not just for the inspirational reasons I mentioned earlier in this interview, but also because I wanted to, you know, have health insurance and make a livable wage. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss theater, but there isn’t anything in the world I’d rather be doing than what I’m doing now.

CSAA: What do you hope CSAA members will take away from your presentation?

First and foremost, I want folks to leave with a no nonsense strategy to improve their leadership effectiveness when they get back to work: both to accept their current reality as well as a few new things to try to accelerate the performance of their employees and their business. Just as importantly, I hope that they feel a sense of excitement and inspiration about what it will mean if they do.

Meet Dr. Tasha Eurich, 2016 Annual Meeting Keynote Speaker

CSAA’s 2016 Annual Meeting will feature a keynote address titled “Bankable Leadership Strategy: The Secret Weapon to Accelerating Business Success” presented by Tasha Eurich, PhD.

Keynote speaker Tasha Eurich is an organizational psychologist, speaker and New York Times best-selling author of Bankable Leadership – and a fresh, modern voice in the leadership world. By pairing her scientific grounding in human behavior with a pragmatic approach to business challenges, she has helped thousands of leaders over the last fifteen years. With a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Colorado State University, Eurich serves on the adjunct faculty of the Center for Creative Leadership, one of the top ten executive development institutions in the world. She’s also the principal of The Eurich Group, an executive development firm that helps companies succeed by improving the effectiveness of their leaders and teams.

 

(View Eurich’s recent TedxMileHigh Talk at https://youtu.be/NVPxmz_PvUw.)

“In today’s competitive business environment, leadership is as difficult as it is important. Good leaders create economic value–and poor leaders can sink companies. Even though research tells us that effective leaders balance people and results, this complicated balancing act is easier said than done,” says Eurich. “In the quest to create engaged employees and drive business growth, most leaders feel more comfortable doing one than the other, but this imbalance drastically limits their success.” Eurich will deliver an engaging keynote based on her bottom-line research that will help attendees master the balance. Built on decades of research on the transformation of real leaders, her fresh, practical approach can help almost anyone become bankable–delivering bottom-line results, while simultaneously fostering a healthy work environment. At the end of the session, attendees will understand their personal preferences as a leader and what skills they need to sharpen, and leave with a plan to improve immediately.

Find all the details about CSAA’s annual meeting and register today at CSAA Annual Meeting.

Leadership, Business Management and Technology are Key Themes at 2016 Annual Meeting

2016 is Second Year of Multi-Year Reimagining of CSAA’s Signature Event;
Adjustments to Traditional Schedule Will Enable Full Participation in Fewer Days

With a sharp focus on technology and on business and performance management, along Marco-Island-Logo_vertwith the networking opportunities for which the event is famous, the 2016 CSAA Annual Meeting offers participants the kind of value in both content and engagement that is unmatched at any other industry event.

The 2016 meeting will be held at the Marriott Resort Marco Island, Marco Island, FL, on October 22-26. Last year’s Annual Meeting in Sonoma, where a revamped education program took center stage, drew rave reviews from attendees. “2015 marked the beginning of a multi-year reimagining of CSAA’s annual event, and based on the member feedback, our efforts were successful,” says CSAA President Pam Petrow. “Attendees in 2016 can expect the same value, with timely presentations built around themes of leadership, business management, and technology, along with the networking opportunities you can only find at a CSAA Annual Meeting.”

Petrow notes that CSAA is making a change from “our traditional leadership meeting schedule this year, in order to address feedback on the length of the meeting.” The CSAA Board will meet on the first day of the conference–Saturday, October 22. Committees will meet on Sunday, October 23. “This change will help committee members participate in the complete array of annual meeting events but arrive a full day later than in the past, if they wish,” she says.

General sessions begin Monday morning, October 24. They include:

Bankable Leadership Strategy: The Secret Weapon to Accelerating Business Success
Speaker: Tasha Eurich, PhD, The Eurich Group

Tasha Eurich low resKeynote speaker Tasha Eurich is an organizational psychologist, speaker and New York Times best-selling author of Bankable Leadership – and a fresh, modern voice in the leadership world. By pairing her scientific grounding in human behavior with a pragmatic approach to business challenges, she has helped thousands of leaders over the last fifteen years. With a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Colorado State University, Eurich serves on the adjunct faculty of the Center for Creative Leadership, one of the top ten executive development institutions in the world. She’s also the principal of The Eurich Group, an executive development firm that helps companies succeed by improving the effectiveness of their leaders and teams. (View Eurich’s recent TedxMileHigh Talk at https://youtu.be/NVPxmz_PvUw.)

“In today’s competitive business environment, leadership is as difficult as it is important. Good leaders create economic value–and poor leaders can sink companies. Even though research tells us that effective leaders balance people and results, this complicated balancing act is easier said than done,” says Eurich. “In the quest to create engaged employees and drive business growth, most leaders feel more comfortable doing one than the other, but this imbalance drastically limits their success.” Eurich will deliver an engaging keynote based on her bottom-line research that will help attendees master the balance. Built on decades of research on the transformation of real leaders, her fresh, practical approach can help almost anyone become bankable–delivering bottom-line results, while simultaneously fostering a healthy work environment. At the end of the session, attendees will understand their personal preferences as a leader and what skills they need to sharpen, and leave with a plan to improve immediately.

Capitalizing Customer Experiences
Speaker: Dennis Snow, Snow & Associates, Inc.

Noted speaker, trainer and consultant Dennis Snow is the author of the book Lessons from the Mouse: A Guide for Applying Disney World’s Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life. His customer service abilities were honed over 20 years with the Walt Disney World Company. There, he developed his passion for service excellence and the experience he brings clients and audiences worldwide. Today, Snow helps organizations including banks, universities and hospitals achieve goals related to customer service, employee development and leadership.

Snow, Dennis- HR PhotoSnow explains: “World-class customer service is not simply a matter of smiling employees who say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ Everything your customer sees, hears or touches impacts their experience … This session will cover how delivering world-class service requires careful orchestration of the entire customer experience. Employees watch to see how committed we are as leaders and take their cue directly from us.” Snow will help participants discover what key points of contact make or break the customer experience and understand the behaviors that create a culture of accountability among employees. “As customer expectations are at an all-time high and business competition is fierce, learn about the steps you can take to reinforce organization values and gain organizational commitment to a vision that capitalizes customer service in your company,” he says.

Marketing in the Digital Age–Social Media 102: How to Leverage Social Media To Build Your Business and Your Bottom Line
Speaker: Ken Countess, The Countess Group

Ken Countess is managing director of The Countess Group, a strategic marketing and communications consultancy now in its 15th year. He is an award-winning marketer and an internationally recognized, accredited expert on email marketing and social media marketing. His approach to educating audiences about how to use these tools to build their businesses has earned him the respect of loyal followers around the world.

Countess understands the challenges marketers face. “You’ve hit all the social networks to market your business–but they seem to change every day. Your email contact list is up-to-date–but reaching your audience is a challenge as best practices continue to change. Where do you go from here? Are you getting back what you are putting into your digital marketing efforts?” he says. This session will give participants a closer look at the value of popular social media networks to the professional monitoring industry. They will discover how others in the industry are using social media and email to develop business and learn how to tell if their social marketing activity is working and how to gauge success based on customer reaction and engagement. Takeaways will include reporting and measurement metrics tools and a better understanding of how using digital media can impact the bottom line. CSAA and Countess will present a pre-meeting webinar on Tuesday, September 13 in which participants can get a preview of the impact and value of social media tools.

The complete preliminary program can be found at csaaintl.org/2016am. Additional speakers and session details will be announced in the coming weeks.

To register for the CSAA Annual Meeting, visit csaaintl.org/2016am. The Marriott Resort Marco Island in southwest Florida is on the Gulf of Mexico, just 55 minutes from the Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) or a short drive from Naples, FL. Visit csaaintl.org/2016am for the special reservations link, or call 1-800-GET-HERE (1-800-438-4373). Rates as low as $185/night are available.

 

CSAA Annual Meeting 2016 Keynote Speaker Dr. Tasha Eurich Will Share Strategies for “Bankable Leadership”

2016 is Second Year of Multi-Year Reimagining of CSAA’s Signature Event;
Adjustments to Traditional Schedule Will Enable Full Participation in Fewer Days

VIENNA, VA (April 25, 2016) – With a sharp focus on technology and on business and performance management, along with the networking opportunities for which the event is famous, the 2016 CSAA Annual Meeting will give participants the kind of value in both content and engagement that is unmatched at any other industry eventMarco-Island-Logo_vert.

The 2016 meeting will be held at the Marriott Resort Marco Island, Marco Island, FL, on October 22-26. Last year’s Annual Meeting in Sonoma, where a revamped education program took center stage, garnered rave reviews from attendees. “CSAA is entering the second phase of the reimaging of its Annual Meeting,” said CSAA President Pamela J. Petrow. “In 2015 a new emphasis was placed on educational programming, and the General Sessions were a hit with attendees. CSAA intends to bolster that emphasis on fresh, meaningful education in 2016. In addition, we are changing the traditional scheduling by reversing the program for Saturday and Sunday. The schedule change will allow attendees who are not on the Board of Directors to shorten their stay at the meeting by one day — and still participate in all educational programming and committee meetings as well as the high-level networking opportunities that the Annual is known for.”

Tasha Eurich low resKeynote speaker Dr. Tasha Eurich is an organizational psychologist, speaker and New York Times best-selling author of Bankable Leadership — and a fresh, modern voice in the leadership world. By pairing her scientific grounding in human behavior with a pragmatic approach to business challenges, she has helped thousands of leaders over the last fifteen years. With a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Colorado State University, Eurich serves on the adjunct faculty of the Center for Creative Leadership, one of the top ten executive development institutions in the world. She’s also the principal of The Eurich Group, an executive development firm that helps companies succeed by improving the effectiveness of their leaders and teams.

As a passionate, often humorous and always enlightening speaker, Eurich travels the world spreading her message. She contributes to Entrepreneur Magazine, has been featured in outlets like ForbesThe New York TimesCNBCUSA Today, INC. MagazineToday.com, and CNN. She has been named one of Denver Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” as well as a “Top 100 Thought Leader” by Trust Across America, alongside Stephen Covey, Jim Kouzes, and Bill George. In 2015, she was named a “Leader to Watch” by the American Management Association along with notables including Patrick Lencioni, Ram Charan, and Chip Heath.

“We are pleased to feature a ‘next-generation’ speaker at the Annual Meeting,” said Petrow. “CSAA members are always looking toward the future, and Dr. Eurich is sure to provide them with new strategies to stay ahead of today’s leadership challenges.”

Education sessions (October 24-26) at the Annual Meeting will focus on how alarm industry leaders can address critical issues and challenges facing the monitoring industry, including workforce development, executive management, technology updates, and telecomm issues. The complete roster of speakers will be announced over the summer.

To further assist attendees, CSAA is offering a limited number of rooms at the headquarters hotel at rates as low as $185/night.  “2015 saw the largest attendance CSAA has had in recent years, and we are confident our reimaging of the meeting will top last year’s record when we convene this fall in Marco Island,” said Petrow.

To register for the CSAA Annual Meeting, visit csaaintl.org/2016am. The Marriott Resort Marco Island in southwest Florida is on the Gulf of Mexico, just 55 minutes from the Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) or a short drive from Naples, FL. Visit csaaintl.org/2016am for the special reservations link, or call 1-800-GET-HERE (1-800-438-4373).

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 About CSAA International

The Central Station Alarm Association International (CSAA) is an internationally-recognized non-profit trade association that represents professional monitoring companies that are listed by a CSAA-approved Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory, such as FM Approvals, Intertek/ETL or UL. CSAA is legally entitled to represent its members before Congress and regulatory agencies on the local, state and federal levels, and other authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) over the industry. Since its incorporation in 1950, CSAA has served its members’ interests through education, online training, meetings and conventions, certification, insurance, and industry standards. www.csaaintl.org. For more information, contact Elizabeth Lasko at CSAA, 703-242-4670 x 16.