Episode 54 - Walt Rakowich | Transparency Wins: The Vital Role of Transparency in Building Trust and Transformational Influence

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

Episode highlights…

Leadership wisdom works across nations and cultures
Organizational culture starts at the top and flows down through the company
Essential to have a core set of values as to how you’re going to treat people
You must measure the results of your culture
Leaders have to slow down to connect with people
Leaders don’t run … if you’re running, you’re probably not leading (slowing down is an act of leadership vulnerability)
The important role of transparency in leadership
Leaders bring attention to the elephant in the room (what you don’t say is just as important as what you do say)
Fear is the greatest leadership gap
Leaders don’t tell their team everything, but you tell them 97% (leaders who fail to share often don’t trust their team)
Leaders are conductors, not soloists
Best leaders in the world are humble, honest and have a sense of humor (3 H’s)
Jesus Christ as a great leader – Humble, brutally honest and human
Three H Core of leadership – Humility (how you see yourself), Honesty (action that connects the two) and Heart (how you see others)
Leadership is more about the journey than the results – if you’re too fixed on the results, we miss the influence we have on others during the journey
Leadership is about trial and error, making mistakes and learning from those mistakes