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February 2023

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Future Value

Our recent blog posts and podcast episodes this month have focused on future value. 


 

Third Turn Thoughts Newsletter Email Header

New Maestro-level leader Cohort Starting!

Linda Milanowski-Westdorp2Linda Milanowski-Westdorp, our newest facilitator coming to us after more than three decades of leadership at MillerKnoll, is a gift to anyone who joins the cohort she gathers. The 4-year peer-cohort experience is designed to offer a place of camaraderie, with navigational tools, executive advising, and scheduled calendar time dedicated to the important, and often delicate, work of transitioning from the top leadership position to whatever is next in life - whether via retirement, sale of a company, or, simply time to move on. She would be delighted to hear from you via email at lmilanowski@designgroupintl.com.

 


 

Recent Podcast Episodes

Linda Maris - Episode 64-1Steve Woodworth - Episode 65

Listen to Episode 64

Listen to Episode 65

 


 

Noteworthy Quotes

"Turn three is my finishing well phase, bringing my legal skills together with my time of life."

- Linda Maris (Episode 64)  

"I've seen so many transitions in leadership in my career--we serve mostly Christian organizations. I've seen so many go so poorly, that it's been a passion of mine to try to understand as I face my own succession, I'm in the middle of right now. Why have so many gone so badly? And the ones that have gone? Well, why is that?"

- Steve Woodworth (Episode 65)  

 


 

Key Themes

Future Value – Building future value is certainly part of the job description for a Third Turn Leader, and is reflected on a balance sheet one plots into the future. It's not just financial value, however. Future value includes living according to clearly expressed company values while also planning to live more fully according to one's personal values, especially as a leader becomes a predecessor.

Speaking of future value, we so enjoyed our Episode 64: Transferring Wealth From This Generation to the Next conversation with Linda Maris, a long-time and deeply respected leader within the National Christian Foundation ecosystem. We walked through her leadership journey and her commitment to helping us safely and meaningfully engage in wealth transfer -- a process that often takes five years.  

And in Episode 65: Finishing Well & Phobic Fears, we talked with Steve. Woodworth—CEO of Masterworks—about his commitment to finish well. Even more, he’s been curating a resource of examples where leaders did not transition well. Listeners will enjoy his insights into the phobic fears of leadership succession.

 


 

Helpful Concepts

Do you need an introduction to our four focus areas? We opened the year with an episode devoted to exactly that.  

Those four focus areas are:

  1. the Maestro-level leader job description.
  2. the Maestro-level leader map
  3. the future balance sheet for your organization
  4. your leadership philosophy, particularly where succession is concerned

Each of these focus areas have a number of themes connected to them, some of which overlap. Take the idea of future value, our theme for January, February and March. Building future value is certainly part of the job description for a Third Turn Leader, and it will be reflected on a balance sheet one is plotting into the future. It's not just financial value, however. It includes living according to clearly expressed company values while also planning to live more fully according to one's values, especially as a person becomes a predecessor.

For further background, here is a favorite blog for each of our four resource areas:

  1. the Maestro-level leader job description
  2. the Maestro-level leader map
  3. the future balance sheet for your organization
  4. your leadership philosophy, particularly where succession is concerned

 


 

Some Inspiration

Any time I read about J. Edgar Hoover and his style of leading and operating, I feel like I need to take a shower. It seems he and Richard Nixon were made for each other, both persons who worked endlessly to maintain a meticulous public image while nursing grudges, witch hunts and takedowns behind the scenes.  Both are examples of men whose pursuit of fame ended with infamy.

It is said of Hoover, "by temperament and by ideology, he was inclined to hold on to his power in perpetuity."  (Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker, 21 November 2022, p.65). We are after just the opposite with Maestro-level leaders. We want to resource safe handoffs and good landings for the predecessor as well as strong launches for successors.

Most Third-turn leaders will live through a succession experience only once. We are privileged to gather other leaders in this same moment, forming a community of learners as we walk alongside each other, building future value, planning succession, and developing legacy.


Mark L. Vincent Headshot 300x300
Mark - Signatures

 

- Mark L. Vincent

 

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Find out more about joining a Maestro-level leader cohort.

Mark L. Vincent
Post by Mark L. Vincent
February 21, 2023
I walk alongside leaders, listening to understand their challenges, and helping them lead healthy organizations that flourish.

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