Recipes for Thoughtful Leadership and Healthy Culture

Front Cover
HPL Publications, Dec 19, 2016 - Business & Economics
Thoughtful leadership is alive and well in every corner of the world, and in every corner of our lives. Some demonstrations of it are more obvious than others. And, sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to recognize it when it's coming from someone who will never have an opportunity to sit in the seat marked "leader."The more thoughtful leadership is practiced, the more it becomes a way of life. And, it's that way of life that makes it easier to transform an ordinary, underperforming culture into an environment that fosters growth, extraordinary results and sustainability for future generations - a healthy culture.Leadership, in general, is a mindset that helps us continue to discover, grow, develop new skills, reinvent, innovate, and then share our learnings with others. This continual process of examination and rebirth leads to our ability to plant seeds of greatness in others - leaving a legacy of leadership. The concept of planting seeds is a key element to mastering thoughtful leadership and healthy culture, and is referenced in several chapters throughout the book.Thoughtful leadership and healthy culture have no boundaries of demographic that divides people. Like art and music, these concepts tie people together from every walk of life.This book represents a collection of articles written by Bonnie Sussman-Versace, and published in various editions of the Lehigh Valley Business magazine. The collection has been modified into a series of short recipes for achieving thoughtful leadership and healthy culture, then blended together with actual food recipes designed to make your reading experience more flavorful. Please feel free to read this book in your office or kitchen, and mix and match the recipes for learning, with food recipes by preference. Bon appetit!

About the author (2016)

Bonnie Sussman-Versace grew up in her parent's retail clothing business, learning the value of great customer service at a very early age. In 1981, she became the Founder and Operating Principal of Commercial Design & Furnishings (CD&F), a $4.5M firm offering a unique turnkey business model from site selection, through interior design to relocation. The company prospered because it was passionately focused on providing a superb client experience such that an average of 83% of its business came from repeat and referred clients for 20 consecutive years. Bonnie also was the Founder and Chairperson of the Berks County Small Business Roundtable and the Healthcare Roundtable; and she developed the first partnering alliance between commercial interior design firms in South Africa and the United States.In 2006, Bonnie created the model and co-founded FOCUSED, LLC to help other businesses develop leadership potential, enhance culture, and improve individual, team and company-wide performance. Knowing a healthy company requires a positive and productive culture, she developed effective tools, like Boot Camp for Business Owners® and THE ACT FORMULA®, to teach company leaders and employees how to work together around heightened values of accountability, communication and trust. Bonnie's business and community leadership has earned her many prestigious honors and awards, including the PA Department of Economic Development "PA Best 50 Women in Business," the Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce "Small Business of the Year," the Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce "Small Business Leader," the Eastern PA Business Journal "Executive Spotlight," and the Lehigh Valley Business "Women of Influence" awards.Bonnie regularly shares her insights by contributing to business publications such as the Lehigh Valley Business and Reading Eagle Business Weekly, and continues to challenge the notion that everyone is replaceable in a company. She encourages organizations to redefine their model to meet the ever-changing demands in the workplace.

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