Day 42: Larry Glenn
“ … what I find is that if you are low-key and you live the talk, if you will, that you are more effective, and I find that most people respond to that kind of coaching, that kind of encouragement, and they have a tendency to bring you to the forefront. Once you are in the forefront, then you become that grown leader or that designated leader who comes from within.”
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Toni Reece: Before we begin, I want to thank you, Larry, for taking part in this project and right before I get into the questions, can you please introduce yourself?
Larry Glenn: My name is Larry Glenn. I’m the director of workforce development for Kaplan University in Hagerstown campus. I have been working in this field for a number of years, and I’m excited about the opportunity to be interviewed for this project.
Toni: Well thank you! With the work that you do, Larry, whether it’s through the professional arena of Kaplan University or even personally with other things you might be involved in, and you think about inspiration, who do you believe you inspire, and how might that happen?
Larry: I hope I inspire a number of people, particularly on nonprofit boards, and also some of the businesses that I work with; and I think that that happens by my demonstration of leadership skills and analytical ability.
Toni: Okay, and how do you go about that when you’re working with people? Do they come to you with a need? Are you helping them with something? What’s actually happening?
Larry: Actually, sometimes they come to me with a need and something is stated. More often they will come to me and say “Something’s not right and I don’t know what it is”, and we have the opportunity to work with them that way. Or I am a member of a number of nonprofit boards, and nonprofit boards go through cycles, as I’m sure you aware, where they have leadership issues, personal communication issues and so on, and I get a chance to work with them.
Toni: What type of approach do you take, Larry, when you’re working with a nonprofit board, or actually some of the businesses who may need your support and help in that leadership? What’s the approach that you take towards that inspiration and also helping them to explore their potential?
Larry: I like to try to play a low-key role, because what I find is that if you are low-key and you live the talk, if you will, that you are more effective, and I find that most people respond to that kind of coaching, that kind of encouragement, and they have a tendency to bring you to the forefront. Once you are in the forefront, then you become that grown leader or that designated leader who comes from within.
Toni: And is that what you try to bring out with the other people that you’re working with, whether that’s board members, the nonprofit itself, or the businesses, by taking that low-key role but also setting the example? Are you bringing that leadership to the forefront of those people?
Larry: Absolutely, but I think what happens is that it encourages them to see if they can participate in similar ways, and it gives them some time to be incentive to try it. What I find is that it’s very effective because they learn from the ground up, and they learn in little bits and pieces that they can take home and use elsewhere.
Toni: So it’s not only helping that individual, whether it’s in their business or working with that nonprofit, but basically your approach to inspiration and helping them explore their potential carries over into other areas.
Larry: Specifically, their personal lives; yes, absolutely.
Toni: Have you seen examples of that? Do you receive that type of feedback that you can cite an example of how that might happen?
Larry: I receive that kind of feedback, but it’s interesting because it’s usually a long time after the fact, and it usually comes from somebody who had the opportunity to go through that process, to meet with me, to work with me, to just correspond with me. Sometimes several years later they realize what changes are made in their lives, and then I hear about it.
Toni: So it’s really an embedded thought and an embedded trust that you provide. How do you think your low-key role, Larry, helps encourage others to, I don’t know, to bring their own leadership skill to the forefront? I just would like a little clarification on that, because I think that’s a great phrase, that your low-key role helps that.
Larry: The low-key role is one that allows me to demonstrate in baby steps what really needs to happen within an organization, and you build on those baby steps. It gives me the opportunity to communicate that way to the group at large. It’s a little bit disarming in that people are not particularly afraid that you’re going to overrun them in the process; and I think what it does is it gives them the opportunity to not only realize that you don’t have to be a Theory X type of a manager or leader in order to be successful, in order to make an impact, in order to move forward.
Toni: So what I’m hearing from you is that you basically do provide, again, that trusting environment where you take away the perception of fear, the perception that you have to be the go-getter; and it’s almost a gentle way and powerful way to instill confidence in others to explore potential that they maybe haven’t been able to do before?
Larry: I think that you’re right in your assessment that it does give them that opportunity, but I think the other piece of it is it gives me the opportunity to understand the depth of knowledge that I possess. I think the depth of knowledge and the ability to apply it in multiple situations adds to the confidence that people have in their own abilities.
Toni: And you’re not strong-arming them in the process.
Larry: Exactly.
Toni: Larry, when you think about inspiration, what do you need to be inspired? What do you seek for inspiration?
Larry: That’s a good question. I guess for me, personally, I gain that inspiration from being a little bit successful in each of my projects. When I sit back and take a look at what has happened over a period of time — and I see forward movement in the board or in the company or in whomever I’m working with — and I see that movement and I see the indications of improvement and personal self-confidence that come with that, there’s the inspiration that I need.
Toni: Do you seek any type of tools or, I don’t know, any resources outside of your business when you feel that you’re looking for a little bit of inspiration to stay inspired for others?
Larry: Occasionally I do. For example, I recently went to a seminar. Are you familiar with Lance Secreton who has a book out that’s called “Inspired”? Actually, and I had the opportunity to sit through a luncheon with him and a program, and walked out of there with some new insight that really excited me, some things that I could take back and put into this low-key process.
Toni: Anything you’d care to share?
Larry: In terms of what I learned, you mean?
Toni: Yeah, as far as, you actually went somewhere to explore your own potential, it inspired you and provided you with insight to do things … to add on to what you already do, and if you had any examples to share that would be great.
Larry: Maybe not just insights, but it gave me renewed interest.
Toni: Okay.
Larry: Kind of a personal renewal; that this is not for naught, if you will. It’s an opportunity to kind of refresh and rejuvenate. And I find that that was useful, and then some of the ideas … He professes what’s known as “higher ground leadership” — and it’s making the right choices and taking the high road — and he has a couple of interesting analogies that made a lot of sense to me and kind of gave me the idea that I wanted to kind of quote something and make a statement that I could use in my low-key process. And what that inspired in me was to come back …
I mean, we’ve all heard of the story of the golden rule and what the golden rule is. Well, it just happens that I took that from his comment, the term “golden rule”, and applied it to my personal life and found that it’s useful. For example, my father and grandfather ran a grocery business when they were younger, and the names of the stores were the Golden Rule Stores. They ran those stores with high ethical standards and so on, and that’s what I grew up with. So I like to say I learned the golden rule from the ground up and so on, and I use that analogy now; that helps. And people accept that very nicely.
Toni: So your father and grandfather’s store was called the Golden Rule Stores?
Larry: That’s correct.
Toni: That’s really interesting.
Larry: And they truly lived that life; they always took the high road.
Toni: And so here you are, finding ways to also keep yourself fresh and keep that inspiration full, looking at your own potential, and you go to a leadership conference and they talk about the high ground and the golden rule which took you right back to the beginning.
Larry: There you go. That’s exactly what happened.
Toni: Now how will you apply that in what you already came to the table with? It’s just been now verbalized again; and how do you then apply that from the personal experience in that, “Wow, I’ve already been there”, to the people that you work with and the boards and the companies that you support through Kaplan?
Larry: Actually, through Kaplan and personally, as well. The most recent experience I’ve had with that happened last week, actually. I happen to be on a governing board of a church that’s going through a new visioning process, and we’ve had some difficulties and some growth issues and so on and so forth. Communication issues have become convoluted, and things became less than trusting, and so I was able to use that analogy and catch the attention of these people who have known me for a number of years and kind of gotten things back on track without being overbearing. And, of course, the golden rule hits a churchgoing group anyway.
Toni: It’s interesting, it reminds me … One of the only times I’ve experienced in business someone even speaking to the golden rule was in starting my company a couple of years ago when they asked me flat out what my business golden rules were, and I thought that that was a very interesting question. And isn’t that something how we have to get back to that?
Larry: It is; and it’s something that is so crucial to business. And there are so many times … I mean, if you take a look at all the bailout issues and all of the financial issues that we’ve had in the country over the last several years, you know, and the ethical issues that come from those – it’s time for us to get back to fair ground leadership.
Toni: And that simple golden rule.
Larry: There you go.
Toni: Larry, you have just been fantastic today, and there are many people who are going to listen to this interview and go “Yeah, that’s right!” and they will learn and benefit from this. And I really appreciate you providing this snapshot of time into your own approach to inspiration and exploration of potential to what you need and how you explore your own potential and how that correlates with each other. And for that, I thank you very, very much for your time today.
Larry: You’re most welcome. I enjoyed it.
Toni: Thanks, Larry, we’ll talk soon. Thank you very much.
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For more information about Larry Glenn: www.hagerstown.kaplanuniversity.edu
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