Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Mike Cahill, CEO of AWS Foundation and former CEO of Tower Bank & Trust. Tim Leman is taking the summer off from writing his weekly blog to spend time on an exciting project focused on culture and leadership. We hope you enjoy Mike’s wisdom and perspective.

The best way to manage risk is to dedicate one’s self to lifelong learning. Knowing as much as you can about your job and industry protects your ability to earn a living. Knowing as much about your town and city will help you make the right choice on where to live and what schools to send your children to. Knowing as much as you can about the candidates for local, state, and federal government allows us to elect the best officials. Knowing about your community and what it has to offer allows you to live your life to the fullest. Knowing what’s included in your insurance program will help you better deal with an unfortunate claim.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Greg Downes, Chairman Emeritus at Gibson. Tim Leman is taking the summer off from writing his weekly blog to spend time on an exciting project focused on culture and leadership. We hope you enjoy Greg’s wisdom and perspective.

My good friend and business partner, Dave Gibson, told me years ago after I had become one of the owners in Gibson that we should always “run the business like we’re going to sell it”. Quite frankly, that statement really startled me. The main reason I had come to Gibson was that Dave was fiercely independent. He made it clear during my recruitment that his intention was to always keep Gibson that way. Which is exactly what he did. What did he really mean? If we do what should be done, we won't have to sell it.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Ryan Colvin, Principal at Gibson. We hope you enjoy Ryan’s wisdom and perspective.

A recent Gallup study shows only 30% of Americans are engaged at work. What remains is 70% of workers whose engagement level leaves something to be desired. But what does this mean to businesses? According to Gallup, approximately 20% of employees are “actively disengaged,” they are unhappy at work and even act to undermine the organization. This group of actively disengagedemployees costs the US about $450-550 billion annually. A strategic and purposeful employee engagement strategy can help cut these costs and result in a significant impact to their bottom line.

I previously wrote about how important it is for leaders to live and lead by their organizational vision. Couple this with an unwavering commitment to organizational values and there won’t be much that gets in the way of achieving that vision.

Still you will undoubtedly face moments that require great conviction to stay the course. Many of the examples of extraordinary leadership from Jim Collins’ Good to Great involve leaders who made huge “bet the farm” decisions on the future of their organizations. I imagine those decisions, and risks of that magnitude, came with moments of great self-doubt. I know they have for me.

“A leader without a vision can't lead. And their followers will be lost. Therefore, effective leaders must have a clear vision, they need to be able to articulate that vision, and they need to engage and empower others to define and implement tactics and action plans to achieve the vision,” says my friend and business coach Bruce Gobdel. Bruce had a long career at a national public accounting firm and now spends a lot of his time mentoring and coaching emerging leaders.

I couldn’t agree more with Bruce. In 2011 our executive leadership team began the process of developing and clarifying our vision for the future at Gibson. We ultimately involved a number of key people – internally and externally – in this process to:

1. More fully vet and improve our ideas.
2. Include new strategies we had not considered.
3. Ensure that with a collaborative process we would have the greatest buy-in.

As a business owner, I find my thoughts often gravitating to an area I feel very deeply about – taking care of others. At Gibson, we take care of our clients every day – it’s our core business to help them Protect What Matters Most. As CEO of Gibson, Ialso feel paternalistic in my responsibility to provide a great opportunity for our 100 employees. The other executives and I spend a great deal of time considering how our decisions might impact the long-term connection we strive for with our team.

I was chatting with my partner and Gibson’s CFO, Keith Stone. He’s also the lead trustee for our ESOP - GESOP as we say in “Gibson speak”. I asked him what he thought about the subject. Without hesitation, he said “You know what, I feel really good about the way we consider our employees in all we do. Creating the GESOP in 2010 was probably the best thing we could have done for our people over the long haul.”

Recently Jerry Scott and I were revisiting some of the concepts from our blog last August on Level 5 Leadership: Do I Have Fierce Resolve? In that blog we talked about some of the research from the Collins book Good to Great. I always enjoy getting Jerry’s perspective froma twenty-plus year career managing people.

A Level 5 Leader recognizes that “Who” comes first. It’s about getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats and getting the wrong people off the bus. It’s about creating a culture of discipline – disciplined people, thoughts, and actions. Finally, it’s about a fanatical devotion to excellence and execution with the courage to confront reality and make the big “all or nothing” judgment calls. And with a total disregard for the CEO’s personal wants and needs, Jerry reminds me!

There are so many leadership theories about what makes a good leader – is it traits, competencies, skills, natural abilities or a combination of all of these? Can leadership be learned or are leaders just born to lead?

I was talking on this topic with one of our partners (and a great leader herself) Liz Misenar. She’s very passionate about it. The optimist in both of us believes that it can be learned or at least nurtured and improved.

We are committed to teaming at Gibson. Perhaps more than any other firm in our industry.

By now it’s certainly no surprise to anyone who reads my blog that I am passionate about leadership. It fascinates and inspires me and I spend a great deal of time and effort trying to learn everything I can about the subject. I am blessed to have the opportunity to lead a great organization that is striving to be better each day.

We have an outstanding group of people that are the best in every way. So, I want to be a student of the game: to learn and constantly be striving to master the craft of leadership. Frankly it’s part of the responsibility of my role to give these folks my very best.