SUSANNA KYNTÖLÄ
Spa Manager, Siluetti Spa
Helsinki, Finland
What is the best
leadership lesson
you’ve learned?
Surround yourself
with people who are
[great] with their job.
To lead them, give
boundaries and care
while demanding
[nothing less than]
their best performance.
If you can ask one great leader a
question, who would it be and
what would you ask? In general, I
admire leaders who create success
through positivity and motivation; who
get the staff to perform well with a smile
on their face. My question [to these
leaders]: How do you do that?
If a staff member initially refuses to
follow your lead, how do you
inspire him or her to follow? Many
times I find myself in a situation
wherein I ask staff to do certain things
in a certain way but nothing happens. It
took me a while to realize that if I
explain thoroughly why they should do
them and what would be the outcome, I
[can] get them to follow. By getting staff
to find solutions themselves, they can
[also] find the motivation to take action.
How do you spot a natural leader?
It is difficult to spot all the good and the
bad qualities in a person during a [job]
interview. We have not recruited
“natural leaders” yet but promoted team
members into team leaders. Spotting out
a “leader material” is so much easier.
38 PULSE
■
May 2012
Dr. Brinkenhoff with
wife Gayle.
MICHAEL C. BRINKENHOFF, M.D.
President and CEO, Athena Cosmetics, Inc./RevitaLash
Ventura, California
What is the best leadership lesson you’ve learned? The best leadership
lesson I’ve learned (and am still learning!) is to be a good listener. The CEO
of any company makes decisions every day, some trivial and some momentous.
Making wise decisions usually requires listening not only to a variety of differing
opinions and viewpoints, but also listening to your own thoughts, feelings
and beliefs. Taking the time to be a good listener is a crucial element of being a
good leader.
If you can read only one book about leadership, what would it be? I
usually don’t read these kinds of books, but recently, while at the airport, I
picked up a short book entitled The Five Temptations of a CEO, A Leadership
Fable, by Patrick Lencioni. It was a quick read, but I found its lessons to be quite
insightful.
If you can ask one great leader a question, who would it be and what
would you ask? (Hoping to catch him on a good day!), I’d be tempted to ask
Winston Churchill: In the face of such overwhelming odds, from what inner
source did you summon such grace and courage?
How do you spot a natural leader? I look for someone who is knowledgeable, dependable, and consistent; and, importantly, as stated above, I look for
someone who has excellent communication skills, including the ability to
actively listen. These are the people I find trustworthy and who have the natural
ability to lead. ■
IF A STAFF MEMBER refuses to follow your lead, what do you do? Find out
what these leaders have to say. Visit digital Pulse at experienceispa.com.