Episode 53 - Walt Rakowich | “I Have No Earthly Idea What To Do” … Creating Transformative Influence Through Vulnerable Leadership

Are you struggling to lead through crisis? Are you wondering what it takes to lead in ways that builds great culture and teams? Are you looking for the secret sauce for people and team leadership? Our special guest Walt Rakowich delivers mindsets and tools you can use today to help you amply your leadership through transparency and vulnerability.

Walt Rakowich is a leadership speaker and former executive of Prologis, a global real estate company that was near collapse when he took over as CEO in 2008. During the economic downturn, the Prologis stock had dropped from over $70 per share to approximately $2 per share in 10 months, making it the third-worst performing company in the S&P 500. After Walt joined as CEO, he quickly implemented a change in culture through transparency, orchestrating a dramatic turnaround and restoring its position in the industry.

In addition to speaking to audiences on a range of leadership topics, Walt also serves on a number of corporate and philanthropic boards. Walt attended Penn State where he received his BS in accounting, and then earned his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Listen in as Walt shares his ideas on vulnerable leadership, building culture and empowering teams.

The Impact Leadership Podcast is brought to you by Cardivera, the leadership development eco-system that helps your grow your people, grow your business and grow your life.

Show Notes

In this episode you’ll learn…

Lessons from parents – Appreciate people for who they are
Poor leadership causes people to work in silos, close off, stop sharing ideas
Leadership: With trust you have everything … without trust you have nothing
Transfluence – The path to creating transformative influence by focusing outside of yourself and focusing on the people around you.
The key to leadership is transforming your peoples’ lives by focusing on them (this is transformative influence)
Two biggest obstacles for leaders are fear and pride – leaders’ greatest fear is incompetence and the number two fear is vulnerability
The antidote to fear is faith and facing it head on (acknowledging it)
Leaders must create time alone for thought and contemplation
Vulnerability is an act of faith in action especially during crisis and difficult times
Leaders job is NOT to always have all the answers – your job is to support the team in developing the answers (they’re closest to the issues)
During COVID business leaders must be more empathetic and flexible since teams are struggling more now than ever in their personal lives
Leaders need to listen more and talk less, especially now