What a Chief People Officer Teaches Future Leaders
Hal Halladay
What happens when you bring a veteran leader into the classroom to teach students who are thirsty for knowledge of what it’s like in the “real-world?”
The answer – you get moments of extreme clarity of the importance of leading people.
I’m fortunate to be friends with Hal Halladay, the Chief People Officer of Infusionsoft. He agreed to fly from Phoenix to Provo to spend just a little over an hour with my students at BYU. I found myself taking copious notes. Hal exposed the power of good leadership in a way that a text book could never cover.
Return on Character
Hal shared his insights from the book Return on Character. The author (Fred Kiel) linked leadership attributes of integrity, forgiveness, responsibility, and compassion as key traits that actually drive up stock value.
As a leadership coach, and a professor of human resources, leadership, and ethics, I get excited to see real companies, with real leaders, producing results where success means the people are valued and developed, customers are happy, and shareholders benefit.
Good leaders recognize symbiosis between valuing and developing talent and sustainable exceptional business outcomes. For an example, checkout Infusionsoft’s values and the relationship between people, customers, and business performance.
For the Future
The next generation of leaders will undoubtedly face some of the most challenging human and ethical issues we have ever known in business. I’m glad to see leaders practicing and teaching the subtle interconnections between authentically valuing people and the resulting business performance.
I’m adding Return on Character to my reading list – thanks Hal.