I often wondered what a typical day was like for the leadership team of the multibillion dollar company American Family Insurance. I got my chance to learn about this while interviewing Chad Cerkoney, the director of risk management. American Family Insurance with its corporate office in Madison, WI. It currently operates in 19 states mainly across the Midwest with insurance products in life, health, business, and personal property. Chad has been working for American Family for over 30 years and has held positions such as Insurance Agent, Workforce Manager, Actuary, and now Risk Management Director. Chas received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Wisconsin in Business Administration.
Chads typical day with American Family starts out by conducting daily meetings going over reports with staff and preparing for meetings with the leadership team. Some of his duties include analysis and trends of the company’s profits and losses and keeping senior leadership informed of the latest analysis and trends of the company’s profits and losses. Any change in the factors that affect metrics have to be quickly dissected, evaluated, measured and presented so that required actions can be taken. A majority of his time is spent in meetings and keeping the management team motivated and informed of the current strategic goals of the organization.
Two of the most critical managerial problems that Chad faces are lack of communication and disagreements amongst the management team. “I try to keep all lines of communication open at all times and believe, encouraging all of my managers to express their ideas and opinions no matter how small” (C. D. Cerkoney, Personal Communication, February 27, 2012).
Chad explains that three essen...
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...of the everyday challenges that are faced. I now more than ever know that I am taking the correct path into leadership and with each interaction am becoming better prepared to lead my generation into tomorrow, just as Chad has done with his.
References
Clark, D. R. (2004). Leadership and Human Behavior. Retrieved March 2, 2012, from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/questions.html
Kreitner, R. (2008). Foundations of Management. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Toth, M. (2010, April 5). Leadership Through Effective Interpersonal Communication Skills. Retrieved March 1, 2012, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Leadership-¬Through-¬Effective--Interpersonal-¬Communication-¬Skills&id=4052980
Yoskovitz, B. 10 Essential Business Leadership Skills Retrieved March 3, 2012, from http://www.instigatorblog.com/10-essential-business-leadership-skills/2007/04/16/
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In the beginning, Ms. Geis would quietly sit quietly during entire managerial team meetings, but now she is more confident in her abilities, position, and will speak up. “Now I give my opinion or raise questions to ask. Sometimes, I may raise a concern that gives ...
In this section of the paper, I will discuss current relevant literary articles that are related to ineffective leader skills, effective leadership skills, and inadequate communication skills. These scholarly references will show how others are dealing with the issues of ineffective leadership skill. It will also illustrate what can be done to improve poor leadership behavior. By reviewing these references, I will be able to help my organization become more successful.
To inspire and influence others, a leader must possess many skills and abilities. As motivational speaker Peter Northouse, states, “a leader should be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant” (Northouse, 2013) Moving an entire group of individuals toward a singular goal is a considerable undertaking. Without effective communication skills and a clear vision of what needs to be accomplished, one will feel like they are trying to herd cats rather than leading.
DeJanasz, S. C., Dowd, K. O., & Schneider, B. Z. (2002). Interpersonal Skills in Organizations. New York: McGraw- Hill. pp. 371- 393, 241- 259.
Communication plays a key role to a leader. To have communication skills is to have the ability to express oneself clearly to others. It is extremely important as...
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Verderber, S. K., & Verderber, F. R. (1976). Interact; Interpersonal Communication Skills. California: Wadsworth Publishing Co.
Through this I have become a democratic leader. I often use my charismatic leadership qualities to get things going. We are often surrounded by uncertainty in our daily lives, whether it is personal or professional. It is important to understand that a leader has to be comfortable dealing with uncertainty and change. I tend to grow in my leadership capacity by reading leadership books and attending seminars. Like Mark Miller said “your capacity to grow determines your capacity to
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