Entrepreneur. CEO. President. Founder. Chairman. Chairwoman.
Lofty titles, all.
But what is it that makes anyone holding one of these titles a leader? Berks County Living went in search of answers to that very question. In doing so, BCL sought out the advice of four longtime and well-known businesswomen in the community who make it their business to not only recognize leaders, but to help in the development of individuals’ leadership skills.
Our go-to women for this important topic are all familiar faces in the Berks business community: Robin Costenbader-Jacobson of Reading-based RC-J Consulting Associates LLC; Karen Marsdale, senior vice president of the Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce; Bonnie Sussman-Versace, founder and principal of Focused LLC, Wyomissing; and Joni Naugle, president of Naugle Associates LLC.
Each woman has a program concentrating on leadership development. It is from elements of those programs that each offers weighty points to ponder.
A MASTERMIND
Robin Costenbader-Jacobson
rcjconsulting.net
Costenbader-Jacobson cut her professional teeth when it comes to leadership development as long-time executive director of the local chapter of Junior Achievement. She worked to nurture the skills of youthful leadership. Now a Coach Training Alliance Certified Coach (CTACC) with her own business, she helps grown-ups (individually and in group settings) deal with the joys and travails of professional leadership.
Her Mastermind Group (or groups – there are four in session currently) brings together a mix of individuals once a month to share their experiences in their leadership roles. Each group is comprised of persons of different ages (current range is mid-20s to 74), genders and business segments. Each participant signs a pledge of confidentiality. As Costenbader-Jacobson composes each group, she looks for an element of chemistry between members.
“The mix has been great,” she says. “It allows people to bring new experiences to the table. Everyone can see the differences, but there is also sameness. It’s really about people – building relationships is what life is about.”
The concept of mastermind groups goes back three-quarters of a century to Napoleon Hill, who authored the book Think and Grow Rich. The mission of these groups is to bring together the collective smarts of individuals to address challenges, says Costenbader-Jacobson.
“I was a member of a mastermind group 10 years ago,” she reveals. “I recognize how important that was. When I look at my own background…I find myself to be a late bloomer, and having a strong support system inspired and mobilized me.”
Costenbader-Jacobson says there are seven reasons to join a mastermind group:
To become a member of a community of like-minded folks; for advisement – to know one is not alone and to build self-confidence; for collaboration – achieving more together than alone; to extend personal and professional networks; to learn – from members’ experiences, knowledge, and connections (“Someone may have that solution you need!” she says.); for cross-promotion – everyone can help promote each other in a variety of ways; and for the need and ability to “think bigger.”
Her groups meet monthly and some have lasted for years. Members are expected to commit to attending the monthly meetings just as they are expected to honor confidentiality. There is “homework.”
Costenbader-Jacobson stresses the importance of emotional intelligence in today’s society and among today’s leaders.
“It’s important to understand where someone is coming from or how they behave in a social relationship or business environment,” she says. “When you can relate to people, you break down the barriers, the animosity, and it leads to a better environment.”
The first person to really understand is oneself.
“I will say that people need to take care of themselves first,” she says. “It’s really an investment of time and treasure to be the best you can be to make that difference as a leader.”
UP-AND-COMING LEADER
Bonnie Sussman-Versace
focusedllc.net
Sussman-Versace, founder and principal of Focused LLC, Wyomissing, develops leadership qualities in her clients through her Next Generation of Leaders training. Actually, the next generation sort of came out of a generation past.
Sussman-Versace, who joined the then-Berks County Chamber of Commerce back in 1977 when she ran a commercial design and interiors business, found comfort in the business organization. Among her closer friends at the Chamber back then were Bob Egan and Tom McMahon, who would go on to become mayor of Reading after a long career at Entech Engineering. The three, along with a dozen others, settled into a monthly lunch at Canal Street where they would share the triumphs and travails of their business worlds.
Sussman-Versace took the concept, massaged it, and morphed it into Focused LLC, which she founded in 2006. By 2008, two business owners requested the formation of a program whereby their daughters would be integrated into the family businesses. She wanted to do something a bit different from a traditional roundtable experience for the young women, but to maintain the requirements of confidentiality and the benefits of shared experience.
“I developed a program that was curriculum-based and intended to help the next generation fill in the gaps from a progressive viewpoint,” she says. The curriculum exposed the owners’ daughters to every facet of the family business, from knowing all the various positions to dealing with finances, human resources, and legal and marketing concerns.
“It was hard for them to sometimes put all the pieces together,” she says. “We concentrated on leadership development in each phase, teaching them the relevancy of the different aspects of the business.”
Sussman-Versace not only brings the participants together as they progress through the course, she also brings in experts in the various facets to reinforce what was learned in the workplace, share experiences of their own, and field questions.
Just like that first duo which served as the pattern for future next generation of leaders training groups, each group meets once a month with a 12-month commitment. One-on-one coaching occurs within the program. Each segment of the year-long program ties into the subsequent one.
In the last month of the sessions, Sussman-Versace puts together a program in which participants explain how they’ve put to use the training and how they plan to use it in the future.
Sussman-Versace values the feedback she has received from business owners whose staffers have completed programs.
“Probably the first word I hear is confidence – how much more confident the individual has become,” she says. “We build those leadership skills from a knowledge base and that helps the individuals enhance their contacts and increase their networking among their peers.”
Sussman-Versace believes the key characteristics of a good leader include communication, accountability, vulnerability (on occasion), and transparency.
She also emphasizes it’s not necessary for a leader to be identified by title or position.
“One of the things I teach is that you don’t need to be a leader to have good leadership skills,” she says. “Whether you are a manager, supervisor, or front-line worker, everyone has the ability to develop and demonstrate leadership qualities.”
Sussman-Versace, whose work experience includes everything from interior design to construction management, also composes her groups of individuals from diverse businesses. The current mix of men and women in the groups range in age from 22 to about 45 and are based in either Berks or Lehigh counties.
“The whole point is that they are all from different non-competitive industries,” she says. “It’s important though that they have a chemistry that will work. When that doesn’t happen, I may occasionally need to make some changes.”
WONDER WOMEN
Karen Marsdale
berkswomen2women.com
Marsdale, who has been with the Chamber for the better part of two decades, is the founder of the organization’s Women2Women program.
“Women2Women’s mission is to grow more women leaders in our community,” she says, noting one of the champions of the program is Julia Klein, chairwoman and CEO of C.H. Briggs Company. “A few years ago, Julia and I had a discussion about the Lean In Foundation, its work on continuing the conversation that was started in Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In… and how women lead. With that, a group of young women were part of a pilot program that was expertly facilitated by a professional and highly respected woman, Joni Naugle. Hence, the first Lean-In Circle was born in 2013.”
To join a circle, the first step is to complete an application. That provides the depth of a candidate’s background and allows the Chamber to assess where the applicant is in her professional life. This information gives the Chamber the ability to blend circles that have the best opportunity for synergy.
“We also want to ensure confidentially and the competitive make up of where the women work,” says Marsdale. “Typically, there are 14 to 16 per circle, and to date, 60 women have participated in the four circles we hosted.”
The Chamber prefers participants be members, but even if they are not, they are members of Women2Women.
“At this moment, our Lean-In Circles have been under Women2Women’s program of work and are geared specifically to women only,” she says. “However, that doesn’t mean that our Circles won’t evolve to including men in a mixed environment or [to] hosting Circles for men only.”
The cost per year per circle is $500 for 10 two-hour sessions.
Marsdale explains that the methodology for a circle breaks the program down into two areas: the educational experience and the exploration piece.
This year’s curriculum is “Centered Leadership,” she says. Every other month is dedicated to the education piece, while the off months are focused on actual experiences. The facilitator identifies two individuals who discuss how their experience reflects the education piece of the program. The sessions are very educational, with a defined curriculum, yet very much of an open forum of confidential discussion.
Marsdale believes that circles provide opportunities to explore what the components of leadership mean both professionally and personally.
“As many of the participants have shared, this experience has allowed them – for the first time – to find their center, become more confident, find their voice, and engage with women in similar situations,” she says.
“Together, they are finding and building strength with one another, allowing them be true leaders in the workplace, at home, and in society. Wherever a woman has found herself professionally, there is always room for self-examination and growth, which is the embodiment and mission of the Lean-In Circles.”
.jpg.jpe)
AN EXPERT COACH
Joni Naugle
naugleassoc.com
Naugle, whose long career morphed from 25 years in financial services to the past decade in professional consultant services, now heads her own firm through which she specializes in leadership and corporate organization.
One of the ways Naugle assists business leaders and organizations to increase productivity and accountability is through executive coaching.
The major focus for Naugle’s executive coaching work is through the executive peer groups that she chairs through an alliance with Vistage International. When Vistage wanted a Berks County-based chair, Naugle says she was recommended by a local company president who was participating in the program in another county.
“From my consulting experience, I knew that executives didn’t have a truly confidential place to talk openly, learn, grow, be challenged and be held accountable to themselves,” she says. “I went through extensive training at Vistage’s headquarters in San Diego, Calif., in 2010 and have been actively working with executives in this manner since 2011.”
Naugle also takes on individual executive coaching clients on a case-by-case basis; she began that type of work in 2006.
There are different levels of and criteria for the executive coaching forums, she says. For the Chief Executive Program, participants must be owners, presidents, chief executive officers or general managers. For the Key Executive Program, participants must be senior level executives within their organization, or the president/owner of a small business.
Individual coaching clients must have a desire to learn, grow and enhance their leadership skills.
Participants in the Chief Executive Program meet once a month individually with Naugle, sessions that tackle personal and professional areas of life. The group meets monthly, devoting a full day to productive interaction and instruction. Eight times a year, speakers from across the country are brought in to facilitate half-day workshops on a wide range of business and personal development topics.
For the Key Executive Program, the group meets one full day a month and follows the same format as the Chief Executive Program. All feedback is provided in the group setting.
With individual coaching clients, the content is customized based on the specific needs of the client.
Much of the work with individual coaching clients is improving their self-awareness so they can improve results.
“I often begin with a 360-degree assessment followed by a series of one-on-one meetings,” Naugle says. The meetings can be monthly or semi-monthly.
Costs for the programs vary. For the Chief Executive Peer Group, the cost is $1,340 per month. The Key Executive Group is $705 per month. The investment for individual coaching clients varies depending upon the scope and format – ranging between $350 to $750 per month.
Naugle says self-awareness is the key to developing leaders.
“We all have our blind spots or the areas that create fear and anxiety,” she says. “Once blind spots are identified, tools and techniques are reviewed to get the desired outcomes.”
Naugle, who has coached more than 50 persons, knows what a leader is.
“A great leader establishes a compelling vision, effectively communicates that vision in a manner that inspires others, helps other employees achieve their greatest potential and has a high level of self awareness,” she says.
And, Naugle says, a leader must always maintain a certain stance.
“A leader’s public persona is very important,” she says. “Never forget: everyone watches the leader – whether you’re leading the company or your department. When a leader’s persona comes under question, a leader must be able to face his constituents and demonstrate how his words and deeds unfailingly align with the organization’s values.”
Entrepreneur. CEO. President. Founder. Chairman. Chairwoman.
Lofty titles, all.
But what is it that makes anyone holding one of these titles a leader? Berks County Living went in search of answers to that very question. In doing so, BCL sought out the advice of four longtime and well-known businesswomen in the community who make it their business to not only recognize leaders, but to help in the development of individuals’ leadership skills.
Our go-to women for this important topic are all familiar faces in the Berks business community: Robin Costenbader-Jacobson of Reading-based RC-J Consulting Associates LLC; Karen Marsdale, senior vice president of the Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce; Bonnie Sussman-Versace, founder and principal of Focused LLC, Wyomissing; and Joni Naugle, president of Naugle Associates LLC.
Each woman has a program concentrating on leadership development. It is from elements of those programs that each offers weighty points to ponder.
A MASTERMIND
Robin Costenbader-Jacobson
rcjconsulting.net
Costenbader-Jacobson cut her professional teeth when it comes to leadership development as long-time executive director of the local chapter of Junior Achievement. She worked to nurture the skills of youthful leadership. Now a Coach Training Alliance Certified Coach (CTACC) with her own business, she helps grown-ups (individually and in group settings) deal with the joys and travails of professional leadership.
Her Mastermind Group (or groups – there are four in session currently) brings together a mix of individuals once a month to share their experiences in their leadership roles. Each group is comprised of persons of different ages (current range is mid-20s to 74), genders and business segments. Each participant signs a pledge of confidentiality. As Costenbader-Jacobson composes each group, she looks for an element of chemistry between members.
“The mix has been great,” she says. “It allows people to bring new experiences to the table. Everyone can see the differences, but there is also sameness. It’s really about people – building relationships is what life is about.”
The concept of mastermind groups goes back three-quarters of a century to Napoleon Hill, who authored the book Think and Grow Rich. The mission of these groups is to bring together the collective smarts of individuals to address challenges, says Costenbader-Jacobson.
“I was a member of a mastermind group 10 years ago,” she reveals. “I recognize how important that was. When I look at my own background…I find myself to be a late bloomer, and having a strong support system inspired and mobilized me.”
Costenbader-Jacobson says there are seven reasons to join a mastermind group:
To become a member of a community of like-minded folks; for advisement – to know one is not alone and to build self-confidence; for collaboration – achieving more together than alone; to extend personal and professional networks; to learn – from members’ experiences, knowledge, and connections (“Someone may have that solution you need!” she says.); for cross-promotion – everyone can help promote each other in a variety of ways; and for the need and ability to “think bigger.”
Her groups meet monthly and some have lasted for years. Members are expected to commit to attending the monthly meetings just as they are expected to honor confidentiality. There is “homework.”
Costenbader-Jacobson stresses the importance of emotional intelligence in today’s society and among today’s leaders.
“It’s important to understand where someone is coming from or how they behave in a social relationship or business environment,” she says. “When you can relate to people, you break down the barriers, the animosity, and it leads to a better environment.”
The first person to really understand is oneself.
“I will say that people need to take care of themselves first,” she says. “It’s really an investment of time and treasure to be the best you can be to make that difference as a leader.”
UP-AND-COMING LEADER
Bonnie Sussman-Versace
focusedllc.net
Sussman-Versace, founder and principal of Focused LLC, Wyomissing, develops leadership qualities in her clients through her Next Generation of Leaders training. Actually, the next generation sort of came out of a generation past.
Sussman-Versace, who joined the then-Berks County Chamber of Commerce back in 1977 when she ran a commercial design and interiors business, found comfort in the business organization. Among her closer friends at the Chamber back then were Bob Egan and Tom McMahon, who would go on to become mayor of Reading after a long career at Entech Engineering. The three, along with a dozen others, settled into a monthly lunch at Canal Street where they would share the triumphs and travails of their business worlds.
Sussman-Versace took the concept, massaged it, and morphed it into Focused LLC, which she founded in 2006. By 2008, two business owners requested the formation of a program whereby their daughters would be integrated into the family businesses. She wanted to do something a bit different from a traditional roundtable experience for the young women, but to maintain the requirements of confidentiality and the benefits of shared experience.
“I developed a program that was curriculum-based and intended to help the next generation fill in the gaps from a progressive viewpoint,” she says. The curriculum exposed the owners’ daughters to every facet of the family business, from knowing all the various positions to dealing with finances, human resources, and legal and marketing concerns.
“It was hard for them to sometimes put all the pieces together,” she says. “We concentrated on leadership development in each phase, teaching them the relevancy of the different aspects of the business.”
Sussman-Versace not only brings the participants together as they progress through the course, she also brings in experts in the various facets to reinforce what was learned in the workplace, share experiences of their own, and field questions.
Just like that first duo which served as the pattern for future next generation of leaders training groups, each group meets once a month with a 12-month commitment. One-on-one coaching occurs within the program. Each segment of the year-long program ties into the subsequent one.
In the last month of the sessions, Sussman-Versace puts together a program in which participants explain how they’ve put to use the training and how they plan to use it in the future.
Sussman-Versace values the feedback she has received from business owners whose staffers have completed programs.
“Probably the first word I hear is confidence – how much more confident the individual has become,” she says. “We build those leadership skills from a knowledge base and that helps the individuals enhance their contacts and increase their networking among their peers.”
Sussman-Versace believes the key characteristics of a good leader include communication, accountability, vulnerability (on occasion), and transparency.
She also emphasizes it’s not necessary for a leader to be identified by title or position.
“One of the things I teach is that you don’t need to be a leader to have good leadership skills,” she says. “Whether you are a manager, supervisor, or front-line worker, everyone has the ability to develop and demonstrate leadership qualities.”
Sussman-Versace, whose work experience includes everything from interior design to construction management, also composes her groups of individuals from diverse businesses. The current mix of men and women in the groups range in age from 22 to about 45 and are based in either Berks or Lehigh counties.
“The whole point is that they are all from different non-competitive industries,” she says. “It’s important though that they have a chemistry that will work. When that doesn’t happen, I may occasionally need to make some changes.”
WONDER WOMEN
Karen Marsdale
berkswomen2women.com
Marsdale, who has been with the Chamber for the better part of two decades, is the founder of the organization’s Women2Women program.
“Women2Women’s mission is to grow more women leaders in our community,” she says, noting one of the champions of the program is Julia Klein, chairwoman and CEO of C.H. Briggs Company. “A few years ago, Julia and I had a discussion about the Lean In Foundation, its work on continuing the conversation that was started in Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In… and how women lead. With that, a group of young women were part of a pilot program that was expertly facilitated by a professional and highly respected woman, Joni Naugle. Hence, the first Lean-In Circle was born in 2013.”
To join a circle, the first step is to complete an application. That provides the depth of a candidate’s background and allows the Chamber to assess where the applicant is in her professional life. This information gives the Chamber the ability to blend circles that have the best opportunity for synergy.
“We also want to ensure confidentially and the competitive make up of where the women work,” says Marsdale. “Typically, there are 14 to 16 per circle, and to date, 60 women have participated in the four circles we hosted.”
The Chamber prefers participants be members, but even if they are not, they are members of Women2Women.
“At this moment, our Lean-In Circles have been under Women2Women’s program of work and are geared specifically to women only,” she says. “However, that doesn’t mean that our Circles won’t evolve to including men in a mixed environment or [to] hosting Circles for men only.”
The cost per year per circle is $500 for 10 two-hour sessions.
Marsdale explains that the methodology for a circle breaks the program down into two areas: the educational experience and the exploration piece.
This year’s curriculum is “Centered Leadership,” she says. Every other month is dedicated to the education piece, while the off months are focused on actual experiences. The facilitator identifies two individuals who discuss how their experience reflects the education piece of the program. The sessions are very educational, with a defined curriculum, yet very much of an open forum of confidential discussion.
Marsdale believes that circles provide opportunities to explore what the components of leadership mean both professionally and personally.
“As many of the participants have shared, this experience has allowed them – for the first time – to find their center, become more confident, find their voice, and engage with women in similar situations,” she says.
“Together, they are finding and building strength with one another, allowing them be true leaders in the workplace, at home, and in society. Wherever a woman has found herself professionally, there is always room for self-examination and growth, which is the embodiment and mission of the Lean-In Circles.”
.jpg.jpe)
AN EXPERT COACH
Joni Naugle
naugleassoc.com
Naugle, whose long career morphed from 25 years in financial services to the past decade in professional consultant services, now heads her own firm through which she specializes in leadership and corporate organization.
One of the ways Naugle assists business leaders and organizations to increase productivity and accountability is through executive coaching.
The major focus for Naugle’s executive coaching work is through the executive peer groups that she chairs through an alliance with Vistage International. When Vistage wanted a Berks County-based chair, Naugle says she was recommended by a local company president who was participating in the program in another county.
“From my consulting experience, I knew that executives didn’t have a truly confidential place to talk openly, learn, grow, be challenged and be held accountable to themselves,” she says. “I went through extensive training at Vistage’s headquarters in San Diego, Calif., in 2010 and have been actively working with executives in this manner since 2011.”
Naugle also takes on individual executive coaching clients on a case-by-case basis; she began that type of work in 2006.
There are different levels of and criteria for the executive coaching forums, she says. For the Chief Executive Program, participants must be owners, presidents, chief executive officers or general managers. For the Key Executive Program, participants must be senior level executives within their organization, or the president/owner of a small business.
Individual coaching clients must have a desire to learn, grow and enhance their leadership skills.
Participants in the Chief Executive Program meet once a month individually with Naugle, sessions that tackle personal and professional areas of life. The group meets monthly, devoting a full day to productive interaction and instruction. Eight times a year, speakers from across the country are brought in to facilitate half-day workshops on a wide range of business and personal development topics.
For the Key Executive Program, the group meets one full day a month and follows the same format as the Chief Executive Program. All feedback is provided in the group setting.
With individual coaching clients, the content is customized based on the specific needs of the client.
Much of the work with individual coaching clients is improving their self-awareness so they can improve results.
“I often begin with a 360-degree assessment followed by a series of one-on-one meetings,” Naugle says. The meetings can be monthly or semi-monthly.
Costs for the programs vary. For the Chief Executive Peer Group, the cost is $1,340 per month. The Key Executive Group is $705 per month. The investment for individual coaching clients varies depending upon the scope and format – ranging between $350 to $750 per month.
Naugle says self-awareness is the key to developing leaders.
“We all have our blind spots or the areas that create fear and anxiety,” she says. “Once blind spots are identified, tools and techniques are reviewed to get the desired outcomes.”
Naugle, who has coached more than 50 persons, knows what a leader is.
“A great leader establishes a compelling vision, effectively communicates that vision in a manner that inspires others, helps other employees achieve their greatest potential and has a high level of self awareness,” she says.
And, Naugle says, a leader must always maintain a certain stance.
“A leader’s public persona is very important,” she says. “Never forget: everyone watches the leader – whether you’re leading the company or your department. When a leader’s persona comes under question, a leader must be able to face his constituents and demonstrate how his words and deeds unfailingly align with the organization’s values.”
By Donna Reed | Photos by John A. Secoges, Secoges Photographics
