Pam Lassiter, Host of the CEO Academy, interviews Dr. Peter Hirst, Assoc Dean, Executive Education, at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Ralph S. Sheridan, former CEO of American Science & Engineering and member of the global leadership team for Young Presidents Organization – Gold on CEO Academy about “The Challenge to Change as CEO.” Faster, smarter, and constant change for leaders is a given, they agree. Four types of change that you, as a leader, can initiate to improve your nimbleness and results are discussed. One is prioritizing the glut of information that constantly surrounds you, a second is developing a choice of leadership styles so you can select an appropriate one for the situation, and the third and fourth you’ll hear as you’re listening. Come join us!

Pam Lassiter, Host of the CEO Academy, interviews Larry Weber, Chair and Founder of Racepoint Global, on “Future CEO: 5 Skills to Start Developing NOW”. Larry’s extensive experience in founding and growing the world’s largest PR firm, Weber Shandwick, before it was sold to Interpublic Group, then subsequent experience as Chair and CEO of several companies gives him a perspective on the future and expertise in what CEOs need to be doing now to get there. His books and digital marketing focus contribute to his commentary on skills around 1) partnerships + experiences, 2) leveraging the online leap, 3) crafting the right culture and talent. For more detail and the remaining two skills, come join us for Larry’s thought provoking, antidote filled interview. You’ll learn about how “meaning” is an important part of his new book plus our new lives.

Pam Lassiter, Host of the CEO Academy, interviews Todd Krasnow, Operating Partner of Highland Consumer Fund, former CEO of Zoots and founding team of Staples about “Transitions: The 3 Major Career Changes of CEOs.” Whether you’re becoming a CEO, leaving your role as a CEO or retiring, you’re faced with changing your role, identify, skill sets, and expectations for yourself, for your company, your family, and shareholders. Handling these transitions wisely, even when they’re unexpected with a termination, for example, sets up the reputation and relationships that will affect you the rest of your career. How do you improve these during transitions? Todd talks about authenticity and respect in relationships as well as “currency.” Currency is how “current” you are in your profession and industry when you are on boards, not to mention as CEO. If you’re retired, it’s essential to be in the flow of constant information and market changes as a board member to keep your company competitive.

Pam Lassiter, Host of the CEO Academy, interviews Bruce Walton, Partner at Battalia Winston, an executive search firm consistently ranked as one of the top 15 best firms in the business, on “Being Found: How Search Firms Find CEOs”. Bruce describes the business model behind executive search (retained) firms so job seekers see that the firm’s mission is to help corporations find the optimum candidates for their positions and aren’t typically able to help job seekers find jobs. “How to be found’ by them includes being highly successful in your current job, being visible professionally, and continually helping others. The search firm interviews can be aced with self knowledge, with insightful research on the company leading to meaty questions, and by openness. “No one is perfect on all 10 dimensions.” You’ll hear multiple other best practices in the interview.

Pam Lassiter, Host of the CEO Academy, will interview John Fletcher, CEO of Fletcher Spaght, a strategy consulting company focused on growing clients’ current and future revenues. John describes when you should choose organic growth over acquisition, why companies may not be growing as quickly as they should, and the framework you can use to activate a growth process for your own company. Where should the primary responsibility for organic growth lie, with the operating unit or corporate? The answer is more complex than you might expect. You’ll leave with the “next steps” of scaling your company wisely and sustainably for the long term.

Pam Lassiter, Host of the CEO Academy, will interview Pam Reeve, Corporate Director of 3 public companies and multiple non-profits, about “Boards: Getting on the Right Ones, Building Your Own.” We’ll explore the WHY, WHERE, and WHICH of getting on Boards, how to work with your own Board about your intentions and getting their opinions and referrals, and which boards are most appropriate for your current background and experience. Having focus before you approach your network and emphasizing topics and issues in common rather than selling yourself is covered as is the importance of building your own Board strategically with the right combination of soft and hard skills. Come join us!

Pam Lassiter, Host of the CEO Academy, interviews Amy Lipton, CEO of Spitfire Petites, and Dino Cattaneo, CEO of Hoolibean Digital Marketing about “Social Media for CEOs in 140 Characters.” The first question CEOs usually ask is, “Why me? I have a good Marketing Department.” You’ll get your answer. Good CEOs who want to continue to grow their businesses have no choice. “How” is the art form that the guests will describe. CEOs have a unique role in integrating social media strategy into the business plan and in providing oversight of a critical tool in developing business, monitoring customer engagement, and attracting/retaining employees. Regardless of whether you run a B2B or B2C company, the results are in: social media used wisely improves your outcomes at all levels. Amy, Dino and Pam define “wisely” for you along with the risks of social media, how to mitigate them, and how to limit your time on it and measure ROI while amplifying your rewards. Come join us!

Pam Lassiter, Host of the CEO Academy, interviews Maria Kussmaul, Co-Founder and Partner at AGC Partners/ Head of the IT security sector for this global boutique investment bank, about “The CEO’s Role in Cyber Risks to the Enterprise”. Given the multiple large cyber-incursions into corporations, governments, military, and financial systems, CEOs and Boards all need to ensure their enterprise strategies and practices to manage risk. Maria provides you with your system for oversight: 1.Hygiene: basics including employee training, structure, off-boarding, etc. 2.Asset Classification: what’s core to your success as a company? What is peripheral? Are they guarded in “rings of protection”? 3.Extended Enterprise: the riskiest category. Who’s accessing your system from the outside and how well are they vetted and limited? 4.Compliance versus security. Having boxes checked off on your Audit Report doesn’t mean you have the protection you need. Learn your action steps for oversight.

Pam Lassiter, Host of CEO Academy, will interview Tom Wilson, CEO of The Wilson Group in Concord, MA, a consulting firm specializing in designing and implementing performance based reward systems for organizations nationally. In the interview, Tom will cover the four main categories of compensation for CEOs: base salary, short term or annual incentives, long term incentives, and benefits, as well as what you can do to ethically and openly align your compensation with your and your company’s goals. His thoughts on pay for performance, the danger of incentive awards in driving risky decisions, and the importance of getting the long term incentives done correctly as your biggest playing card will all be discussed. Come get your insider primer on designing your compensation plan on the CEO Academy with Pam Lassiter.

Pam Lassiter, Host of the CEO Academy, interviews Dr. Richard Eglen, Vice President and General Manager of Corning Life Sciences, about “Why Should Anyone be Led by You?” This challenging question posed in an article by Goff and Jones is answered at multiple levels by Dr Eglen, a professional successfully leading 3000+ people globally. After talking about the strength of vulnerability and the importance of uniqueness, he’ll cover the difficult conversations you’re most likely to have with employees from performance to terminations, and how these can be handled with empathy and confidence. The meaning of authentic leadership and Bill George’s ideas about constantly growing and matching your behavior to context are all part of building the followership that chooses to be led by you. Richard talks about the structure he uses to make sure employees get the feedback they need and want, and the retention rates + company results show that they’re thriving. Join us!

Pam Lassiter, Host of the CEO Academy, will interview Rick Burns, Co-Founder and CEO of Charles River Ventures, one of the country’s major venture firms. He is on 14 boards and has mentored over 100 successful CEOs so far, so is uniquely positioned to speak about “10 Things CEOs Need to Know.” Rick will speak with great clarity on the importance of first-hand customer knowledge, game plans, communications, hiring, culture, succession planning, the risk of tradition, and “shaking it up” at a company when it’s at its peak. Rick is highly active at the top leadership level of multiple non-profit boards as well, and he will talk about the inter-relationships between the two and the benefits to CEOs of being involved outside of their companies. You’ll leave the show with many more ideas than “10 Things CEOs should Know.”

Pam Lassiter of CEO Academy interviews John Humphrey of Humphrey Enterprises and Humphrey Companies about the whole continuum of having a concept for a company, taking it to global success, then selling it…a process Humphrey has repeated multiple times. From the strategic side, about when to go/not to go global, how to build the teams and processes that will be your bedrock as you grow, and how to shift your company’s culture to an international mindset, to the personal side will be covered. Non-profit leadership unified John’s personal and professional lives resulting in growth for both, as did his approaches to family life during his extensive travels. You’ll leave the show with new ways to look at your company’s potential and process for scaling.

Pam Lassiter, Host of the CEO Academy, will interview Dr Vanu Bose, a radio technology innovator and CEO of Vanu, Inc, a software defined radio company (SDR) that is going to change lives by connecting the unconnected around the world to broadband coverage. He will discuss some of his early influences from Amar Bose, his dad who introduced breakthroughs in acoustics, and how these early leadership lessons helped shape his success as a CEO. Vanu will then pull in learnings from recessions to changing strategies to high stakes situations and global stresses that are inevitable and will test your mettle as you develop your reputation and success. Integrating academic research and coaching insights from Pam Lassiter, Vanu and Pam will arrive at five “Lego pieces” of core steps you can assemble and customize to become and thrive as a successful CEO.