President Jimmy rang the bell promptly at 12:30, followed by a moment of silence for the passing of a long time Seattle 4 Rotarian Shirley Lansing – one of the earliest women to join Rotary who owned her own employment placement business for five decades. He also paid tribute to Jerilyn Brusseau who was recognized as a global hero by Global Washington’s Goal Makers Conference for helping normalize relations with Viet Nam as the founder of Peace Trees VietNam -- focused on de-mining unexploded ordinances in Viet Nam. Past president Skip Kotkins delivered the day’s inspiration, by explaining the meaning of Hanukah or the eight-day festival of light, and in recognition of the first battle for religious freedom that endures today no matter what the religion.
President Jimmy reminded Rotarians to complete their ballot for club officers, directors, and foundation trustees by December 7; and encouraged Rotarians to register for the Seattle #4 Rotary holiday party on December 15 at the Queen City Yacht Club.
Rotarian and tax attorney Bob Boeshaar https://boeshaarlaw.com/ was featured in the day’s Member Spotlight delivered by John Steckler. As a seventh-grader, Bob aspired to become an attorney for intellectual challenges and to help people. Prior to starting his own practice in 2013 and joining Seattle Rotary in 2014, Bob earned a master’s degree in tax law, worked in private practice, and invested 14 years with the Internal Revenue Service. Bob, his wife Nanci, and his daughter, Lillian live in the Green Lake area. Bob is a runner and volunteers his time with the UW low-income tax clinic.
For the day’s main program, David Fain, VP of Programs, introduced Mike Howard as a former police officer, CIA agent and for 14 years head of security at Microsoft; who provided an overview of his recent book, The Art of Ronin Leadership: The Business Leaders’ Guide to Strategy, Execution, and Sustained Success. https://www.mikehowardauthor.com/
“No matter how successful you are, you are never finished with your leadership journey,” he began.
Ronin leadership is based on Japanese ancient samurai culture -- feudal lords who protected lands and property until Japan centralized its government leaving no need for the samurai who roamed the land helping people as selfless servant leaders.
“The art of ronin leadership is the idea of being selfless because it is not about you but about the teams and people you are leading; and learning and growing from your mistakes,” he said. “At some point on your leadership journey, you will develop your own style of leadership.”
His approach to leadership is based on the idea that leaders have never ‘nailed it’, but always pushing forward and learning new things. He offered some anecdotes from his work as a police officer and Microsoft executive about taking risks, how to be an effective mentor and selflessness. “Remember to switch your way of thinking from career development to taking care of the team first,” he said, “helping them with the things they need to get the job done with you coming second. Take care of your troops and they will take care of you.” He said Bill Gates was an admired inspirational leader who often did “little gestures” to show his gratefulness for what his security team did to protect his family and company. “He did things to thank those who worked for him,” Mr. Howard said. “Most people leave because they can’t stand their supervisor so you should treat people the way you want to be treated.”
He talked about the value of being selfless vs. selfish as leaders think about those they work with. Being a selfless leader, serving people first is the path to working effectively with people. He said mentoring is important “no matter how far along you get is to have a mentor, and to learn from your mistakes.”
“Leadership is a lifelong journey to take care of your team, be selfless and keep forging forward,” he said. “What got us here won’t get you there, so don’t get comfortable as there are other mountains to climb.”
“Servant leadership means not doing the work of direct reports, but in a crisis, you want to get with the team to get the job done,” he concluded. “You want to go to the well and be willing to go down there when necessary”.
John Steckler reminded Rotarians about the next Walk 'n Talk on December 9 for a 30/40-minute walk to view urban artwork including ‘welcome downtown’ banners provided by our Seattle Rotary Arts Committee to encourage a return to downtown.
President Jimmy closed the meeting by reminding Rotarians that leadership is a continuous journey, and how employees constantly influence the reputation of a company. He quoted a former Weyerhaeuser colleague who said “each employee should want to make a positive deposit to influence their company, and as a company, we can’t afford to be overdrawn”. “Seek to do your work and conduct yourself in a way to make positive deposits in your organization,” President Jimmy concluded, “and hope your account will never be overdrawn.”
Rotarians inspire hope.
