Found 0 posts
Leadership development is an important tool to running a successful company. At Cydcor, we like to share motivation and success advice. You can check out the Cydcor Pinterest boards for inspiration if you need it. For now, learn about these charismatic CEOs who are changing the way we do business and leading the world into a new generation.
1. The Showman- Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com. Benioff was voted by readers of The Street as the number one tech CEO of 2013, winning a whopping 54%, compared to Amazon Titan Jeff Bezos with 8%. Benioff has driven the push to cloud computing more than any other leader in the industry, and the success of Salesforce.com has been the payoff. Benioff is one of the few CEOs active on Social Media, and also leads a powerful sales conference called Dreamforce every year, attracting some of the top leaders in the industry.
2. The Bleeding Heart- Howard Schultz, Starbucks. Schultz recently appeared in an interview with Oprah and openly discussed his emotional ups and downs. Schultz has been famous for emotional reactions in the past, and while to some that may seem negative, no one will ever doubt his commitment to his company. After returning as CEO of Starbucks during the economic downturn, Schultz led the company to its biggest profits yet.
3. The Idealist- Blake Mycoskie, TOMS. After encourntering impoverished families around the world, Mycoskie called in every favor he had to start a shoe company that would provide aid to needy families. Solving a problem with an economic solution using his one-for-one model, Mycoskie has become a leader in fashion and social enterprise when he was barely over thirty years old.
Leadership development is part of the company culture at Cydcor. Who is your favorite CEO to follow? Tell us who inspires you!
Cydcor Reviews: Onward
Author: Howard Schultz
Reviewer: Gail Michalak, Cydcor VP of Marketing and Communications
Description of this book: Onward is the story of how Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz turned Starbucks around after a downturn in financial performance. Schultz explains that while the recession definitely had an impact in the loss in profits for the massive international coffee and specialty company, the biggest factor was a shift in company culture. Onward explains Shultz’ decision to return to the CEO position after a departure to implement a hands on strategy to bring his company to its most profitable year ever. Between 2008 and 2011, Starbucks was able to find its way again and Schultz continues to lead it to record profits every year.
Why people should read this book: Gaining insight into how a multinational corporation is managed is a powerful experience. Howard Schultz not only reveals his focus for how to drive Starbucks back to glory, but is able to admit mistakes in his character and company strategy. The book reads more like a memoir than a business book, making it interesting for anyone with a larger than life character and an obsession with producing superior product. This is a great read for any manager looking for insight into how to deal emotions, negative push back, and implementing changes in corporate culture.
My favorite part: Howard Schultz frequently admits how personally he takes criticism against him, even over something as simple as seeing a competing cup of coffee in the hands of a stranger. He isn’t afraid to be self deprecating, exposing a very passionate and very realistic person behind the success. There are many examples of the book when Schultz acted on impulse—from writing an emotional internal memo that was leaked to the press, to throwing temper tantrums over breakfast sandwiches.
Gail Michalak is the VP of Marketing and Communications at Cydcor in Westlake Village, CA, where she overseas efforts in marketing, corporate communications, public relations, and events for Cydcor.
You can follow Cydcor on Twitter for the latest news and sales tips!
Cydcor review by: Gail Michalak, Chief Marketing Officer at Cydcor
Book: Talent Masters by Bill Conaty and Ram Charan
Description: This book is a description of how to judge exceptional talent within organizations and how to leverage that talent into success for the business. Bill Conaty has worked closely with legendary CEO Jack Welsh of General Electric and Ram Charan is a consultant that has worked for large corporations all over the world. Both authors contend that smart leaders put their people first, which leads to better revenue and company culture. Much like Talent Wars, the previous Cydcor Review, Talent Masters details an effective system for managing talented team members and getting the best results.
Why people should read Talent Masters: Leaders should read this book to learn ways to move talent from the lower rungs up the corporate ladder. This is the best way to assure teams perform at their top level. Entry-level employees should read this to take notice of what traits to embody and how to prepare for success at a higher level. Any professional can benefit from this book by learning how to think about running a team or an organization more effectively. The book is also a good reminder that top performers at one level won’t necessarily perform the best at all levels.
My favorite part: Differentiation breeds meritocracy, sameness breeds mediocrity. This is a good way to summarize the idea of celebrating the individual talents of employees and how to capitalize on their strengths. It is also important to remember that recruiting people from other companies is often a good way of bring fresh ideas and more energy to a position, as long as the new person can assimilate into company culture.
Interested in more from Cydcor? Don't forget to Like us on Facebook or follow Cydcor on Twitter.
A message from Vera Quinn, chief operating officer
Once again, Cydcor team members tapped into their creative brains to provide a valuable experience to the kids at EARTHS Magnet School! Together, they created 50 literary kits in conjunction with the United Way of Ventura County, then personally donated them to the faculty. The literacy kits were designed to enforce reading and improve reading comprehension through games, worksheets, and crafts. The theme of the book that was selected to be included in the kit - habitats - aligned perfectly with the current theme of the school. Not only that, but the school was so overjoyed that they requested the original files of the worksheet and habitat game so that they could be translated into Spanish for ESL students.
There was a lot of detail and hard work that went into this project. We went above and beyond what was expected and made a real impact on the lives of children in our local community. The kit will be entered into the Ventura Corporate Games charity category as well. We have an awesome team!
Hooray for Hollywood – and our Rising Stars! These up-and-coming top performers from independently-owned offices across North America were invited to our exclusive event, “Rising Stars,” which was held in Hollywood, California. Attendees were selected from among a network of 250 offices and had a chance to participate in a variety of educational classes and workshops that focused on a number of topics. During the weekend, they were treated to a night on the town at a popular bowling hotspot and a dinner at a well-known restaurant, where they had the chance to form powerful business relationships – and have some fun (there were several celebrity sightings!). To read more about this important weekend, check out our recent press release!
Cydcor is celebrating its 18 year anniversary! For the past 18 years, the company has grown tremendously and achieved numerous milestones, ranging from a move to the United States in 2001 to its most recent expansion into the retail channel. Just recently, Cydcor announced that the company experienced an overall growth of 15.2 percent in 2011 - an example of the hard work and dedication that each and every Cydcor team member and the field puts into the business every day.
Cydcor started as a small Canadian business to a thriving and profitable company that is looking forward to even more growth and expansion. Today, with hundreds of independently-owned offices across North America selling on behalf of major clients, the company is poised to continue its enormous success. Here's to the next 18 years!
Cydcor team members jump-started 2012 with their annual Kick-Off Meeting! During the two-day event, team members from all departments gathered together to network, learn, and brainstorm. Some team members and campaign teams were also recognized during the awards ceremony, which honored those who have made a significant impact over 2011 – and followed Cydcor’s Behaviors We Value.
Cydcor team members also attended an offsite bowling fundraiser, which was donated to EARTHS Magnet School in Newbury Park. The funds were raised through a Queen of Hearts game, which enabled Cydcor to donate more than $600 to the school! Cydcor regularly volunteers time to the school through a specialized tutoring program. Cydcor is looking forward to a great 2012 and beyond!
During a USC class, we learned about a conference that was attended by 60 top business leaders. The leaders were asked to name their biggest fear. All 60 had the same answer, although not the same exact words. For each of them, their biggest fear is that people will find out that they are not so good.
Almost everyone struggles with confidence. Each of us has to realize that success comes from effort, discipline, work ethic, resiliency, preparation, going the extra mile, student mentality and treating people well. Talented people sometimes think that there is a magic formula of business skills to learn to become successful, or that you have to be like someone else. The reality is that anyone can do anything with will power.
All of us need to ask ourselves these questions: How confident are we in our effort? In our discipline? In our work ethic? In our resiliency? In our preparation? In going the extra mile? In treating people well? In our student mentality? If you are confident in these areas, you should be very confident in your success.
Walter Payton, aka "Sweetness," played with the Chicago Bears from 1975 to 1987 and missed only one game in his career. He was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993 and is remembered as one of the most prolific running backs in American football history. Hall of Fame NFL player and coach, Mike Ditka, described Payton as the greatest football player he had ever seen—and the greatest human being he had ever known. Payton’s incredible work ethic and humility earned him the respect of players and fans everywhere.
Payton had a 5-feet-10-inch, 200-pound frame and worked out every day, even in the off-season. He was acrobatic and quick but not fast, so he developed his signature "stutter-step" to help break runs and give him the edge on his opponents. He did not believe in running out of bounds and maintained a “never die easy” mentality. He played hard to win, and his determination led him to become the all-time leader in rushing with 16,726 yards and all-purpose yards until 2002, when Emmitt Smith broke his record. Payton also held the single game rushing record until 2000.
What gave Payton the will to achieve such great success? In the following excerpt from his autobiography, Never Die Easy, he attributes his work ethic to how his parents raised him:
"Competing in sports back then was everything. No matter what the game was or how much older and stronger the other kids were, we were taught to give it everything we had until it was over. Never give less than one hundred percent. If you start something, you shouldn't quit, that is what we were taught. If you're going to play, you might as well play to be your best.
My mother was a yard person and every summer to keep us out of trouble she'd have this guy to come in and dump this hundred pounds of topsoil in the driveway. She'd want us to spread the topsoil all over the yard. We had one shovel and a wheelbarrow... It was hard work and we were so small then, I was six, seven, eight, Eddie was a couple of years older. But there we were, trying to shovel and push all of this topsoil everywhere... If you want my opinion, there was no reason to spread all that topsoil except to keep us occupied and around the house.
I look back on it now, though and I think that yard work taught me a lot. I learned about working hard and staying with something even though the project seemed overwhelming... You have to imagine how big that huge pile of dirt appeared to a seven-year-old. I used to think we would never finish. We'd just try to make dents in it every day. Which is how you have to approach any kind of work. You have to take things one day at a time... You work as hard as you can for as long as you can and the small gains you make will eventually pay off. Eventually that mountain of dirt will be gone and you can go play baseball or go hunting."
We can apply Payton’s simple yet powerful formula for success on our own work and lives: Work hard, persevere and commit to do and be our best.
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., July 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cydcor, the leading provider of outsourced, face-to-face sales teams, announced that Jim Erickson has joined the team as Vice President of Business Development.
In this role, Erickson works closely with Cydcor's Senior Vice President of Business Development and various members of the business development team to identify, pitch, and negotiate contracts with various cable and telecom companies to enlist Cydcor's outsourced sales services.
In addition to Erickson's primary focus on these industries, he is assisting the business development team in sourcing and negotiating opportunities in other industries as well. Upon signing new clients to contracts with Cydcor, Erickson works closely with Cydcor's campaign management team to help grow the campaign. For the past year, Erickson has worked as a consultant for Cydcor as the company explored opportunities in the cable industry – making him well-versed in Cydcor's practices, procedures, and goals.
"We're very excited to have Jim Erickson join our business development team. Jim's experience at Comcast and Qwest provides us with another high quality vice president who has a deep understanding of the cable and telecom industries, which are the cornerstones of our business," said Jim Siegrist, senior vice president of business development. "While Jim will focus much of his attention on these industries, his professional relationships will enable us to leverage his experience across multiple industries."
About Cydcor, Inc.
Cydcor, Inc., is the leading provider of outsourced, face-to-face Cydcor sales teams to a diverse client base of companies in a range of industries, including telecommunications, office products, retail energy, and financial services. Serving Fortune 500 and emerging market clients in the business-to-business, residential, and retail channels through in-store marketing initiatives, Cydcor works with a network of independently owned corporate licensee (ICL) Cydcor sales offices providing clients with access to more than 2,700 sales professionals and nearly 200 offices in North America. The privately held company is based inWestlake Village, California. For more information about Cydcor , log on to www.cydcor.com.
SOURCE Cydcor, Inc.
A colleague recently asked me who was the greatest influence in my life. Without hesitation, I replied, “my grandparents.”
I recall that my grandfather and grandmother came over every Sunday to be with my family. This was important to me because my dad worked every weekend. They taught me how to read, helped me develop a love of learning and took me to my first ball games.
It was their example, however, that inspired me the most. They were selfless in how they treated my each of us. They thought the best of everyone, listened well and never judged. They were nurturing toward my siblings and me, and their kindness shaped our characters. They were there for all of us, and nothing was more important to them than family.
My grandparents never lectured us on the importance of these values. They simply lived them and became our role models.
I aspire to be like these two amazing individuals, taking care to remember that the example I set through my character and actions speak louder than any words.