21st
MAY

Warren Rustand on the Obligations of a Leader

Posted by Michael under Leadership

On May 9th 2009 It was my privilege to hear Warren Rustand speak on “The Obligations of a Leader” at the Entrepreneurs Organization Global Leadership Conference in New Orleans.

 Warren Rustand is a hugely successful CEO. Currently he is Managing Director of SC Capital Partners, an investment banking group offering corporate advisory services, a private equity fund, capital sourcing with a focus on the microcap market. He was previously the CEO of Summit Capital, a firm specialising in small to midsize company development. He has also been Chairman and CEO of Rural Metro Corporation and Cambridge Co. Ltd. He has served as Chairman/CEO of 17 companies. Warren Rustand was Appointments Secretary and Cabinet Secretary to President Ford.

In a life of becoming – you never arrive at a final destination, you only arrive at weigh stations along the way. Life is a continuum, chapters in an unfinished book. What chapters are your in title? What is the title of the book ? What do people need to do? His view was that people need to read, think & write for 30 minutes per day. “Think noble thoughts”. “Read great books by great authors”.

 He spoke about the principles to guide us:


• sense of wonder – about who we are and where we are
• serendipity (good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries) and sagacity (the mental ability to understand and discriminate between relations) We need to appreciate our lives. . Luck is about chance meetings, chance opportunities and time to appreciate that luck. In his life Rustand took time to volunteer to work for Mother’s charity in Calcutta
• Uniqueness, equality and diversity. There is no one else with our DNA.. We are all unique and special human beings. We need to know that we are all equal and make sure we thank everyone who helps us in our daily lives, no matter how menial their role. Doing this It makes us better human beings. 

Warren Rustand typically plans to builds companies in 3 years.

Leaders need to:


• be cause driven
• be constantly learning
• have humor

“The most dangerous person is the person that has achieved a goal and doesn’t have a new goal”.

Small steps yield large results. He gave multiple examples of this including Chairman Mao, Gandhi and Rosa Parks.
He felt that the electronic age is very dangerous time to live in as we “Don’t have transparency”. People can hide themselves but make their views known.

He spoke about “Becoming”. The examples he cited were


• Declaration of independence which created longest serving democracy in the world.
• Glenn Cunningham..When he was only eight years old, Glenn Cunningham’s physicians told him that he would never walk again after suffering from severe leg burns from a gasoline explosion. Despite this he went on to win an Olympic gold medal in 1936.

“Things won are done, joy’s soul lies in the doing”, Shakespeare. 

He spoke of moments of discovery – Stephen Covey.
• core beliefs and values.
• commitment to core beliefs and values.
• behavior based on core beliefs and values.

He gave the example of


Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes  who once boarded a train, but then couldn’t locate his ticket. The conductor recognised the distinguished justice. “Your Honor,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. I know you can be trusted. Get us the ticket when you find it later.” Justice Holmes looked up at the conductor and said:”Young man, the problem is not where is my ticket . . . but where am I going?”

Power of Leadership in EO


• leaders among leaders.
• stepping forward.
• energy of leadership

On the current economic problems . He felt the problems started in August 2007 and predicted 3-5 year for the situation to recover..


“Excess and greed will kill people”


Take ownership and experience from eo/glc
• I am responsible.
• This is my life and my time
• ownership influences others
• Agree support bond commitment

According to research by Martin Seligman, 7 out of 10 people are happy. Despite incredible poverty the majority of people describe themselves as happy. Whether we are rich or poor, people are generally happy.

Satisfaction is derived from the perspective of having done something well with opportunities that have presented themselves.


Key book – Leadership by John Gardner particularly page 81 and 82. Transactional leadership versus Transformational leadership – Transformational leaders transform through noble thoughts that elevate the people around them.

The heroes journey:


• losing oneself in a relationship
• losing oneself in gratitude and generosity (with all including those that serve us)
• compare down not up

Be philanthropic /volunteer

• suppress negative commentary
• know thyself
• discover a belief in the transcendental

Our cause entrepreneurship. We are EO, We will lead.


“There is nothing worthwhile in life that is achieved without enthusiasm” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our challenge is to learn and teach.

Once gone 4 things never come back

• sped arrow
• spoken word
• wasted second
• neglected opportunity

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Reader's Comments

  1. Conor Neill | January 25th, 2010 at 1:40 am

    I have recently returned from Saudi Arabia where I heard Warren speak on “Leadership 360″. I was glad to find your notes and wanted to thank you for taking the time to write this post.

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