Leading the Virtual Workforce E-Book

Karen Sobel Lojeski

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: Microsoft Executive Circle
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 251

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

LEADING THE VIRTUAL WORKFORCE World markets are unsteady, unemployment is on the rise, housing foreclosures are up, asset values are down, and the political landscape is shifting. Under such tumultuous conditions, people often look to leaders to soothe battered nerves. But in today's rough and tumble environment, there are reportedly few leaders the average person relies upon. Over 80 percent of Americans believe that we are in the midst of a major leadership crisis. And over 75 percent of executives from around the world are seriously concerned about whether businesses can develop good leaders for the future. And yet not one leadership book squarely addresses the issue of the changed workforce, the virtual workforce, and why old leadership models just don't work--until now. Leading the Virtual Workforce builds off the ground-breaking concept of Virtual Distance introduced in Sobel Lojeski's seminal first book, Uniting the Virtual Workforce. And in never-before-published interviews, leaders from IBM, Merck, Western Union, Alcatel-Lucent, HP, AT&T, and more share detailed case studies about what's different about leadership today and how to become a great leader in the Digital Age. Leading the Virtual Workforce covers: * The most common myths about leadership for today's virtual workforce * Why old leadership models need to be reshaped for a new era * What great leaders do differently to thrive in the globally connected enterprise * A new leadership model custom-built for today's workforce realities * Advice from the greats for those looking to advance their leadership and management effectiveness for the virtual workforce The virtual workforce is a relatively new phenomenon. The Virtual Distance Model provides the quantitative data and predictive power needed to understand how new behaviors, born out of the Digital Age, impact performance, innovation, and other critical success factors. And now the time has come to reshape leadership models to best serve worldwide organizations in the twenty-first century. Leading the Virtual Workforce does just that--paving the way for future leaders to create unmatched competitive advantage and performance improvements in the growing world of virtual work.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK

About the Interviewees

Steven A. Tainer

Susan Roser - Senior Vice President, Global Service Support, Western Union

Robert McMahon - President of U.S. Commercial Operations, Merck & Co., Inc.

Cheri Sterman - Director of Child Development and Consumer Relationships, Crayola

Guido Petit - Director of Alcatel-Lucent Technical Academy, Alcatel Lucent

Gina Poole - Vice President, IBM Software Group Marketing 2.0, IBM

Philip McKinney - Vice President and CTO, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett ...

Kathy Burke-Thomas - Associate Director, AT&T Project Management Center of ...

Lawrence A. McAndrews - CEO, National Association of Childrens Hospitals and ...

Jack Barsky - Vice President of Information Technology, NRG

Piet Hut - Professor of Astrophysics and Head of the Program in ...

Acknowledgements

CHAPTER 1 - A Whole New World

A GROWING LEADERSHIP CRISIS

A CHANGED WORKFORCE

VIRTUAL WORKFORCE DYNAMICS

NOTES

CHAPTER 2 - A Brief History of Leadership

TRAIT MODELS OF LEADERSHIP

CONTINGENCY MODELS OF LEADERSHIP

BEHAVIORAL MODELS OF LEADERSHIP

SERVANT LEADERSHIP

AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP

RETHINKING LEADERSHIP FOR THE VIRTUAL AGE

NOTES

CHAPTER 3 - Creating Context

CONTEXT IN THE “OLD DAYS”

CONTEXT CHANGES IN THE DIGITAL AGE

CONTEXTUAL LEADERSHIP AND THE VIRTUAL WORKFORCE

CONSTANCY AND LEADERSHIP: A TIE THAT BINDS

STORYTELLING AND LEADERSHIP: A CRUCIAL PAIR

CONCLUSION

NOTES

CHAPTER 4 - Cultivating Communities

CONCLUSION

NOTES

CHAPTER 5 - Co-Activating New Leaders

CONCLUSION

NOTES

CHAPTER 6 - Techno-Dexterity

E-MAIL

TELECONFERENCING

VIDEO CONFERENCING

SOCIAL NETWORK TECHNOLOGY

BLOGS

VIRTUAL WORLDS

CONCLUSION

NOTES

CHAPTER 7 - The Virtual Distance Leadership Model

THE VIRTUAL DISTANCE LEADERSHIP MODEL

THE “HOW” OF VIRTUAL DISTANCE LEADER EXCELLENCE

CONCLUSION

NOTES

CHAPTER 8 - The Future of Leadership As We Know it

CONCLUSION

NOTE

CHAPTER 9 - A Different View of Leadership Altogether

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

NOTE

APPENDIX A - The Virtual Distance Model

Index

Copyright © 2010 by Karen Sobel Lojeski. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sobel Lojeski, Karen.

Leading the virtual workforce : how great leaders transform organizations in the 21st century / Karen Sobel Lojeski, Richard R. Reilly. p. cm. - (Microsoft executive leadership series ; 14)

Includes index.

Summary: “How to understand and attain the attributes and skills required to be a successful leader in the new digital age. Rapidly evolving changes in the way that we work have led to the need for a new model of leadership. Motivating and inspiring employees who are geographically, culturally, and functionally dispersed requires new sets of skills and different kinds of behaviors. This visionary book uses real-life models of world-class leaders who have demonstrated their ability to lead their virtual workforce through the combined use of technology and personal styles. It presents a new model of leadership that incorporates the key attributes of these successful leaders and presents tools and techniques for becoming a successful leader in the digital age. Karen Sobel Lojeski, PhD (Port Jefferson, NY), is Professor in the Department of Technology and Society in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Karen is also the CEO of Virtual Distance International, an advisory firm specializing in leadership and innovation in the new millenium virtual workplace. Richard R. Reilly, PhD (Basking Ridge, NJ), is Emeritus Professor of Technology Management at Stevens Institute of Technology”-Provided by publisher.

eISBN : 978-0-470-56189-8

1. Leadership. 2. Computers-Social aspects. I. Reilly, Richard R. II. Title.

HD57.7.S6925 2010

658.4’ 092-dc22

2009025055

For Edward Friedman and A.J. Lederman

Microsoft Executive Leadership Series:Series Foreword

Today’s world requires lifelong learning. The Microsoft Executive Leadership Series provides leaders with access to new ideas and perspectives, intended to inspire and to challenge—ideas that will help keep thoughts fresh and minds nimble. These ideas range from effective strategy to deploying an agile infrastructure. Information technology increasingly drives the evolution of business models, social norms, market expansion, even the very shape and nature of our institutions. Organizations that succeed in the future will differentiate themselves effectively on how well they use technology to navigate change, respond to challenges, and leverage new opportunities.

I talk nearly every day to executives and policy makers grappling with issues like globalization, workforce evolution, and the impact of technology on people and processes. The idea for this series came from those conversations—we see the series as a way to distill what we’ve learned as a company into actionable intelligence. The authors bring independent perspectives, expertise, and experience. We hope their insights will spark dialogues within organizations, among managers, and with policy makers about the critical relationship between people and technology in the workplace of tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy this title in the Microsoft Executive Leadership Series and find it useful as you plan for the expected and unexpected developments ahead. It’s our privilege and our commitment to be part of that conversation.

DANIEL W. RASMUS General Editor, Microsoft Executive Leadership Series

Titles in the Executive Leadership Series:

Rules to Break and Laws to Follow by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, 2008.

Generation Blend by Rob Salkowitz, 2008.

Uniting the Virtual Workforce by Karen Sobel Lojeski and Richard R. Reilly, 2008.

Drive Business Performance by Bruno Aziza and Joey Fitts, 2008.

Listening to the Future by Daniel W. Rasmus with Rob Salkowitz, 2008.

Business Prosperity by Michael Hugos, 2009.

Strategic Project Portfolio Management by Simon Moore, 2009 Leading the Virtual Workforce by Karen Sobel Lojeski and with Richard R. Reilly, 2009.

Old World, Young World by Rob Salkowitz, 2010.

Preface

A few years ago, Warren Bennis, a prominent leadership scholar noted the following:

Bad leadership at Enron alone impoverished thousands of employees, stealing their livelihoods, gutting their retirement accounts, and tearing them apart with stress. . . . There are, no doubt, people who took their own lives because of what was done at Enron by its lavishly compensated bad leaders.a

As it turns out Bennis underestimated the impact that bad leadership can have. A combination of greed, hubris, flawed judgment, and miscalculation has made the Enron debacle seem almost quaint by comparison to the global financial crisis that we now face. Although numerous pundits and scholars have advanced many reasons for the devastating situation, the bottom line is, as Bennis pointed out previously, bad leadership is one of the major reasons for the current state of affairs. However, it’s not simply dreadful leadership, it’s also the wrong kind of leadership for a new age.

If a group of typical corporate employees from the early 1980s could be time-transported into today’s interconnected, high tech, global world they would be astonished by the degree of change in the way that work is done. This same group of employees might also be surprised to learn that the same leadership models they learned about in the early 1980s are pretty much still applied in our academic institutions and our business enterprises, without any significant modifications or alterations to address the challenges leaders face in the digital age.

In the first book, Uniting the Virtual Workforce,b a new phenomenon was described. It’s called Virtual Distance. And it explains much of what had been highly misunderstood about the virtual workforce until then. The Virtual Distance model also shines much needed light onto what leaders of today need to do differently.

Virtual Distance is characterized by a combination of physical separation, technology mediation, and disconnected relationships. These dynamics lead to a psychological separation that builds over time. And the research documents the negative effects that Virtual Distance can have on productivity, innovation, and trust between employees and groups of organizations. This data should be of major interest to any leader trying to improve performance and advance competitive advantage.

When Virtual Distance is relatively high the following critical success factors significantly degrade:

• Innovation falls by over 90% and competitive advantage is severely impacted.

• On-time/on-budget project performance suffers by over 50% and can cost a company millions of dollars.

• Trust declines by over 80%.

• Job satisfaction drops off by over 80%.

• Goal and role clarity decline by over 60%.

• Good citizenship behavior plummets by over 70%.

These results, which reflect outcomes in over 500 project teams from around the world, quantitatively show that the virtual workforce needs new leader focus. The original Virtual Distance research approach included interviews with dozens of managers, individuals, and leaders. Than, a survey was deployed to measure the Virtual Distance Index among hundreds of teams. Using this data, it was found that:

• Virtual Distance has significant impact on performance and competitive outcomes.

• Virtual Distance is not only measurable but can also be predicted, therefore it can be avoided with proper analysis, planning, or intervention.

• Virtual Distance is just as prevalent among co-located team members as it is among geographically dispersed groups so it should not be assumed that if you have people all working in the same place you are without Virtual Distance risk.

• When Virtual Distance is relatively high—leader performance suffers significantly more than when Virtual Distance is relatively low.

These findings have been used to help organizations improve performance, enhance innovation, and avoid problems before they emerge through Virtual Distance Indexing, Virtual Distance Mapping, and Virtual Distance Management, techniques detailed in the first book on the subject.

Survey research, which led to the ability to quantitatively measure the impact of Virtual Distance, is a powerful method for uncovering important information. But surveys are also limited in that they don’t give the whole story or allow for immediate follow-up when something interesting is found.

So in this follow-on work another approach was used. Interviews were taken with highly effective executives as well as other thought-leaders. The major participants, in order of their first appearance in the book, include:

• Steven A. Tainer, Contemplation Scholar and Author

• Susan Roser, Senior Vice President, Global Service Support, Western Union

• Robert McMahon, President of U.S. Commercial Operations, Merck & Co., Inc.

• Cheri Sterman, Director of Child Development and Consumer Relationships, Crayola

• Guido Petit, Director of Alcatel-Lucent Technical Academy, Alcatel-Lucent

• Gina Poole, Vice President of IBM Software Group Marketing 2.0, IBM

• Philip McKinney, Vice President and CTO, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett Packard Company

• Kathy Burke-Thomas, Associate Director, AT&T Project Management Center of Excellence, AT&T

• Lawrence A. McAndrews, CEO, NACHRI (National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions)

• Jack Barsky, Vice President of Information Technology, NRG

• Piet Hut, Professor, Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey

One of the greatest challenges, as well as greatest opportunities in writing this book, was the wealth of material and insight collected. Ultimately the analysis of this information led to the development of the Virtual Distance Leadership Model—comprised of the most salient features of the strategies and tactics used by the best to lead the virtual workforce. At the core of the model are three core competencies:

1. Creating Context

2. Cultivating Community

3. Co-Activating New Leaders

The ability to create a common context for employees, contractors, part-timers, interns, and others in the virtual workforce was a key characteristic of the leaders interviewed and others studied. What is meant by context? It is everything around us that helps us to understand who we are, where we are and what our role is. Context is the foundation upon which we derive meaning from what other people say.

In the past, the requisite context needed to do a good job was readily available. We commuted from home to work, coworkers knew where we lived, how many children we had, what our marital status was, approximately how old we were, and so on. We went to an office every day and saw the same people. We knew a lot about our boss, and the boss’s boss and that helped us see how we fit into the organization and what our career path might look like. We saw people day after day and knew about not only their work lives but their personal lives as well. With that information we could cipher who thought what about work as well as politics, family, and other important notions in life. And from there we could determine our relative positions and adjust our behaviors and strategies to best serve ourselves as well as the organization.

But today it’s not so simple. We may never see our boss and co-workers face-to-face. A lot of our work is done in temporary projects where people come and go, and organizational affiliations change with each new project or merger or downsizing. Our physical space can be a remote office, or even a space in our home. Others’ view of life beyond work is often shielded by electronic gizmos and we may never know how someone feels about some of the very things that we care about most.

And while it might be easy, neat and logical to think that we don’t need such things to stay on task, that’s just not the case. That kind of magical thinking has led us astray. It’s unrealistic to believe the “hype” that suddenly, given technological tools, we will simply behave in a way that is fully rational, finely tuned, and in synch with others. No. That’s just not true. Instead, under such circumstances, people remain highly emotional beings as well as rational workers. When we are blind to others’ contexts—their surroundings, the way they think, and more, we simply do not operate with maximum effectiveness. So one of the things that leaders need to do most is to help individuals and teams in the virtual workforce see the context that is otherwise invisible. They do this by understanding how to use technology to communicate effectively and by serving as a human anchor, or constant, to help everyone stay connected.

The second key characteristic, cultivating community, is not one normally associated with corporate leadership. But today much of the work is done by loosely connected individuals who come together in teams to accomplish some objective and then go on to work in other teams or assignments. As organizations have become flatter and more matrixed the ability to “recruit” people to work on projects or other assignments has become an important aspect of leadership. One way that effective leaders do this is by building diverse communities of people who have the skill and commitment to help, even though this may fall outside their prescribed organizational roles. In other words, a lot of what happens to get work done in organizations today is voluntary. Organizational psychologists refer to such voluntary activities as organizational citizenship behaviors because they help maintain the growth and sustainability of the organization in ways that are not role specific. Mentoring others, taking on a project to build a wiki, and acting as a coach are examples. Leaders can create a sense of community that activates a kind of virtual team spirit and produces extraordinary behaviors—even among the most dispersed set of workers.

The final characteristic is called co-activating leadership. A lot of thought was given to the notion of “shared leadership” first. Shared leadership makes sense when you are talking about a project team. Each member can play a leadership role at different times during the project lifecycle, for example. But senior leaders told a different story about working with others. They often lead in an indirect way, using what we call “leader intent” to influence and motivate others to lead. This may come from encouraging employees in a community or it may come from writing an engaging article on a blog that inspires others in a new way. A lot of what these leaders do is outside the usual lines of authority. Instead it relies on influence that comes from their expertise, personal qualities, and a keen understanding that informal networks, as opposed to more traditional formal networks, are the main routes into developing leaders of the future.

Of course there are additional characteristics that enable the three core competencies of the Virtual Distance Leadership Model. One critical aspect is called techno-dexterity. This includes not only mastering a keen understanding and facility with different technologies but also knowing what kind of communication technology to use and when to use it. E-mail, teleconferencing, video conferencing, web conferencing, and face-to-face are all available, but the leaders showcased use these applications in a way that matches the need and the significance of the communication. They make a conscious, selective decision depending on the message and it’s importance to the receiver.

Another aspect has to do with understanding how to use social networks that can be based on technology-enablement or old-fashioned professional societies. Having a strong, extensive social network allows leaders to build their own communities as well as communities for others, span cultural and geographic boundaries, and identify the right people when an important issue needs to be addressed. And while this aspect of leadership, seen in isolation, is nothing new, with so many choices for how to spend one’s time developing these crucial synergies, its not necessarily intuitively obvious, to even the most senior management, what works best. And as is pointed out later, only ten percent of executives use social media on a regular basis—but great leaders experiment and find an optimal mix of in-person and on-line interactions.

One final characteristic for mention here (there are others discussed throughout this book) is authenticity. Today’s workforce is very different than the workforce of 20 or even 10 years ago. Authentic leaders are not only genuine, but also transparent. This allows them to create a level of trust and commitment that is essential in leading a multicultural, multi-generational global workforce.

Throughout the book Virtual Distance is discussed. Virtual Distance, if well understood, can provide an ideal road map for leaders on how to increase productivity and innovation. In the Virtual Distance research, it was found unequivocally, that leadership means more in the virtual workforce than it does in a traditional one—it has an even greater impact—both on the positive as well as the negative side. Together with the unprecedented data set collected and the information gathered in the interviews that follow, the Virtual Distance Leadership Model is offered.

Virtual Distance Leadership is a breakthrough approach to enhancing innovation and productivity in the virtual workforce. The Virtual Distance Leader transforms organizations, in many ways differently than leaders who have come before them. They are much more successful at increasing financial performance and setting the stage for competitive advantage in the new world of work.

ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK

In Chapter 1 a brief overview of the myriad of changes that require us to look at leadership differently is discussed. With leadership books available by the hundreds, it was important in this work to focus on “What’s Changed,” “What’s New,” and not simply on yet another way to say the same old thing about leadership. Traditional leadership models continue to proliferate but they tend to ignore the fact that the assumptions on which they are built have all but collapsed, creating a whole new set of circumstances that rarely gets mentioned when leadership for today’s workforce is discussed. This chapter highlights some of these gaps.

In Chapter 2 a brief history of leadership models is given. Most of the leader models we are familiar with focus on traits, situations, or behaviors. And while some or all of these models may still have some useful life in the new world of virtual work, many of them do not speak to the most fundamental change of all—that we rarely see each other and therefore have little opportunity to use charisma, transformational styles, or any other trait or behavior ideal for the “in-person” world, but not necessarily the virtual world.

Chapter 3 shows how great leaders build context. Three executive interviews are showcased in this chapter; Susan Roser, Senior Vice President of Operations for Western Union, Robert McMahon, President of U.S. Commercial Operations for Merck, Inc. & Co., and Cheri Sterman, Director of Child Development and Consumer Relationships, Crayola.

Chapter 4 details how great leaders cultivate community. Two executive interviews are showcased in this chapter; Guido Petit, Director of Alcatel-Lucent Technical Academy, Alcatel Lucent, and Gina Poole, Vice President of IBM Software Group Marketing 2.0, IBM.

In Chapter 5 co-activating new leaders is discussed. Three more executive interviews are included in this chapter; Philip McKinney, Vice President and CTO—Personal Systems Group, Hewlett Packard Company, Kathy Burke-Thomas, Associate Director, AT&T Project Management Center of Excellence, and Lawrence McAndrews, CEO of National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI).

In Chapter 6 the concept of techno-dexterity is revealed through discussion and more interviews. Highlighted here is the need for a firm grasp and understanding of technology for leader communications. Many of the executives listed above are quoted about this topic. In addition, Jack Barsky, Vice President of Information Technology at NRG talks about his use of video conferencing and Piet Hut, Director of Interdisciplinary Studies from the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton is highlighted as a pioneer in using virtual world technology in the scientific and contemplation realms.

In Chapter 7 all of the ideas highlighted come together into a new leadership model for the twenty-first century, The Virtual Distance Leadership Model. Remarks are extended on how the Virtual Distance Leadership Model reduces Virtual Distance fueling higher levels of trust and an increased willingness on the part of individuals and teams to do more for those they follow.

In Chapter 8 the future of leadership in a digital age is discussed. Now more than ever good leaders need to step up, challenge old assumptions, and help forward an agenda that serves the people in the workforce—not just a goal to get as “techno-connected” as possible which actually bears little on how human beings perform at their best.

In Chapter 9 the full interview with Steven Tainer is put forth. Steven is a world-renowned contemplation scholar whose view of leadership is much different than others interviewed. Yet his comments have a great deal of relevance to today’s leader and also speak directly to those of us who seek to be better human beings and live a more complete life.

In Appendix A an overview of the Virtual Distance Model is provided. The central tenets of the Virtual Distance Model are highlighted which will help the reader understand more fully how he/she can develop into a great leader in today’s world and prepare others for what is yet to come.

About the Interviewees

As mentioned in the Preface, a number of people thought to represent great leaders in the digital age or others who had interesting insights into leadership in a technological world were interviewed extensively. At times their comments are featured in case studies. At other times quotes were used to underline certain key points.

Following are the interviewee profiles. They are listed in order of their first appearance in the book.

Steven A. Tainer

Steven A. Tainer is one of the first students of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. He has studied Eastern contemplative traditions intensively for forty years with many Tibetan, Chinese, and Korean masters. After practicing for a number of years in mountain retreats, he now teaches Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian views and methods. His specialties are Indian Buddhist philosophy, the “Unity of the Three Traditions” in Chinese thought, Taoist yogic practice, and Ch’an contemplation. One of his main areas of investigation and teaching has been the application and implementation of these traditional insights in modern workaday lay life.

Steven has served on the faculty of the Institute for World Religions and the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery since 1995. He is a faculty member of the Kira Institute (www.kira.org), which explores the interface between modern, scientifically-framed perspectives and matters involving human values. He is also the co-founder and Editor of WoK (www.waysofknowing.net/).

Working on behalf of his teachers, Steven has been the coauthor or editor of over eighteen books on Buddhism and Taoism (including Dragon’s Play, and Time, Space, Knowledge). A new series of books on his own teaching is also in progress.

Susan Roser

Senior Vice President, Global Service Support, Western Union

Susan Roser is Senior Vice President, America’s Operations for Western Union Financial Services Inc. Ms. Roser has responsibility for overseeing agent operations for North and South America and Anti Money Laundering (AML) compliance operations.

Ms. Roser has 15 years of experience with Western Union / First Data.

Previously, as SVP of Global Service Support, she was responsible for customer service for agents and consumers, management of our global call centers, in addition to AML and Fraud Operations.

She led Operations for TeleCheck, a subsidiary of First Data, where she was responsible for customer service operations and relationship management.

Ms. Roser also worked in the Integrated Payment Systems business where she was the Vice President of Official Check and Money Order Products. In this capacity, she was responsible for sales, service and product development for Official Check and Money Order products for financial institutions.

Prior to First Data, Ms. Roser spent over 13 years in the banking industry where she held various positions in the customer service and operations functions.

Robert McMahon

President of U.S. Commercial Operations, Merck & Co., Inc.

Robert A. McMahon is President of U. S. Commercial Operations at Merck & Co., Inc., where he has worked his way up through a progression of increasing responsibility over the last 25 years. Throughout his career, Bob has developed a reputation as a passionate leader with a keen ability to motivate a diverse employee population scattered throughout the nation. He is also known as a steadfast advocate of Merck’s mission of putting patients first.

Mr. McMahon is a graduate of Villanova University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. He began his career with Arthur Andersen & Co. in their New York Office. He also worked at the Squibb Corporation prior to joining Merck.

A CPA by training, Mr. McMahon began his Merck career in finance. Over the course of his career, he has held a variety of commercial roles with both domestic and international responsibilities. From 2000 to 2004, Bob served as Vice President and General Manager of Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals. He was then appointed Vice President, Marketing and Franchise Business Group Leader of the Arthritis and Analgesia Franchise Business Group. In 2005, Bob was appointed General Manager, U. S. Human Health, Hospital and Specialty Products and then became General Manager of the Cardiovascular /Metabolic Business Unit. In October 2007, Mr. McMahon was promoted to President, U. S. Pharmaceuticals and in August 2008, Bob assumed his current position as President, U. S. Commercial Operations.

Mr. McMahon and his wife Andrea currently reside in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. They have two adult children.

Cheri Sterman

Director of Child Development and Consumer Relationships, Crayola

Speaking on the behalf of children—helping parents and educators understand children’s abilities and interests—has been Cheri Sterman’s career.

Cheri Sterman is an experienced child advocate and “kid expert” who helps others understand what children, their parents, and teachers want and need. Cheri taught child development to future teachers at the University of Cincinnati and Sinclair College in Ohio. She lead parenting programs for Head Start and Preschool Enrichment Programs. She’s authored Crayola publications entitled, How Children Learn and The Power of Creativity, helping adults understand children’s potential. She’s advised policy makers and business leaders on kid trends and child development issues.

She has provided leadership to regional and national child advocacy associations and serves as a spokesperson on children’s issues to media, businesses, government, and academic organizations:

• Member of United States White House Committee for Children and Youth, 1984

• Governor Richard Celeste’s Director of Children’s Programs—setting policies and administering funds to educate and protect children in Ohio, 1984-1987

• Member, Governor’s Commission for Children and Families, Ohio 1983-1987, Pennsylvania 1987-1994

• Treasurer for the National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1985-1989

• Governing Board of National Association for Child Development Credentialing, 1985-1989

• Conference Chair for Ohio Children’s Defense Fund, 1984-1987

• Child Development Regional Training Director, U.S. Administration of Children, Youth, and Families Child Development, 1980- 1984

• Presenter on “State of Childhood Today” for the National Governor’s Association, 1986