To round off each issue, we ask our contributing business leaders for their views on the same question: “What are your greatest motivators as a leader?”
Jeff Riedel, President, United Ground Express
“My greatest motivators as a leader center around the people I work with, and more specifically, the teams of which I am a part. The term “team” has a lot of meaning for me, from my military leadership in combat to our large team of 5,000+ UGE employees. My responsibility as a leader is to support, guide, and mentor my team as we work to achieve an objective, goal, or vision. In order to be successful, I recognize that I have to provide clarity of the vision/objective we are trying to achieve, then ensure they have the necessary skills, tools, and resources to achieve these objectives. Watching a team grow from a group of individuals, to eventually creating a high-functioning and constantly evolving organization, is an incredible and rewarding experience.”
Miller Chalk, President, Inglett & Stubbs
“My friend and leadership coach John Eades ends his book Building the Best with this challenge: “Remember, leadership is about serving, empowering, and inspiring in order to elevate others over an extended period of time.” The concept of elevating others to reach their full potential is what motivates me. I believe that Jesus Christ was the ultimate servant leader and through my relationship with him, I continue to grow into a better servant leader. I do my best to treat leadership as a responsibility rather than a reward.”
Scarlett Nolen, President, Truly Nolen
“One of my motivators is my late father; I am inspired by and propelled to honor him. On top of that, I’m innately competitive, and this is something that I shared with him. I believe it is a mixture of this admiration and competitive spirit that really fuels my motivation. They are intrinsic drivers that push me forward in life and at work.”
Alexandre Lebeau, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Aerosonic
“We feel immense pride when our teams help solve our customers’ most complex problems. It takes dedication, focus, deep expertise and extensive cross-disciplinary teamwork to bring to market innovative solutions that meets the highest level of safety while meeting the latest, most stringent aerospace standards. Our customers expect Aerosonic to deliver quality, highly engineered solutions on time to their unique platforms, while achieving their financials expectations.”
