Olabisi Boyle
Dir., Engineering Planning & Tech. Cost Reduction Company: Chrysler Group LLC HEADQUARTERS: Auburn Hills, Michigan WEB SITE: www.chryslergroupllc.com Primary BUSINESS: Automotive. Annual Revenues: $40 billion EMPLOYEES: 52,000
What was the best advice you ever received? Work hard to prevent events from stealing your joy. Events don’t have to break you, they ultimately can make you! What is your most rewarding career accomplishment? Leading an excellent engineering team to develop the
Larry Satterfield
Area Vice President, Telepresence Sales Company: Cisco HEADQUARTERS: San Jose, California WEB SITE: www.cisco.com Primary BUSINESS: Technology Annual Revenues: About $40 billion EMPLOYEES: 72,600
What’s the worst mistake a leader can make? Not listening to his or her team and not winning and losing with the team. How do you define leadership? I define leadership as the ability to inspire teams to chase a common goal or objective. If you are a great leader, your teams trust that
2011 MY Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan. We were able to maintain sales leadership of the 2010 carryover vehicle in a year where major competitors, Honda and Toyota, released all new models into the segment. What’s the worst mistake a leader can make? Failing to recover and get back on your feet after you fall. We must be people of good character, not just when everything goes well, but also when we pick our heads up after things go poorly. What was the defining moment in your life in which you understood your leadership? When I was 14, growing up in New York City, I found myself caught up in a shoe store robbery, an innocent victim of a gunshot wound in one shoulder and both hands. It was traumatic and it took some time to recover and eliminate the fear of going through normal, everyday activities. Over time, I learned these events don’t break you; ultimately, they make you and you have to make sure you get up and face the day one more time.
you will always do what you believe is the right thing. A leader should be out front, demonstrating and practicing the behavior you are promoting. What is your most rewarding career accomplishment? I’d say leading my sales team over the last 12 months. We achieved outstanding results in a period where we could have been easily distracted by being acquired. My sales leaders did a terrific job of keeping their teams motivated, and I felt a strong sense of accomplishment. What risks should a leader take? I believe as a leader you should only take risk where the reward is substantial compared to the negative consequence of failure. I tend to take risks when I can quickly and easily measure the result. This allows you to change course quickly and limit damages of a bad decision. What was the defining moment in your life in which you understood your leadership? Probably the first time I was not successful at leading a team to the desired result. It helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses better. w w w.d ive rs ity jo u r n a l.c o m
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