Monday’s Wall Street Journal had an article, Raising Women to be Leaders, about the Sullivan sisters – Denise, Maggie, Colleen and Andrea – four women who are senior executives.
“It is rare for four brothers to achieve such levels of success. The fact that they are sisters is striking. Half of all managers in the US are female, but most are stuck in midlevel staff jobs. In senior posts, men outnumber women by almost six to one,” the article pointed out. It continues, “The Sullivan sisters, as they were known growing up, beat these odds, in large part because of their upbringing. Their father, an AT&T executive, wanted to share everything he knew about business with his girls. Their mother taught them that ambition is a part of femininity."
Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan’s “leadership training program” is one that many companies should consider emulating.
- Mr. Sullivan brought home models of the Princess Trimline phone when it was being developed to teach his daughters about marketing.
- Mr. Sullivan took his daughters to the office decades prior to the advent of “take your daughters to work day”.
- Mr. Sullivan had his daughters learn to set and reach goals early in their lives.
- Mr. Sullivan had his daughters read at least one book a week, and then write a report on it.
- Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan woke the family at 6:00 every morning to exercise together.
- Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan expected their daughters to choose activities they liked – and to excel in them. “Aim high, and if you don’t get what you want, analyze what went wrong and try again,” they said.
- Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan expected their daughters to earn their allowance by doing household chores. When they became teenagers, the daughters were expected them to get part time jobs.
All of these things – learning the nuts and bolts of business, goal setting, reading to expand one’s mind, keeping physically fit, learning from failure, taking responsibility – that Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan did as they raised their children, are a great start on the design of a leadership training from which any company would benefit.
By the way, the Sullivan Sisters are all doing pretty well for themselves. Denise Sullivan Morrison is President of Campbell Soup USA. Maggie Sullivan Wilderotter is Chairman and CEO of Citizens Communication Co. Colleen Sullivan Bastkowski is a regional VP of Sales for Expedia. Andrea Sullivan Doelling is now devoting her time to equestrian competition, but was Senior VP of Sales for AT&T Wireless.
The common sense point here – it’s never too early to learn how to lead. If you’re a leader or a business owner and you weren’t lucky enough to hire a Sullivan Sister, get on the ball and do whatever it takes to develop your people into leaders. The sooner you start, the better.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense. Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.
I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
Bud
PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open. Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.
Excellent article and post. "it’s never too early to learn how to lead."- thanks for this. My belief in myself is once again strenghtened. While searching the net for articles on leadership, i also found te following article; i strongly recommend checking it out:
http://www.cvtips.com/good_leader_at_work.html
Posted by: Rev Bilal | February 14, 2007 at 04:58 PM
I found your article informative but I am still stuck on the assertion does leadership begin at home or not.
Posted by: Toni | September 10, 2007 at 11:11 AM