Leadership Lyceum: A CEO's Virtual Mentor Thomas B. Linquist

Welcome to Episode 27, Season 7 of A CEO’s Virtual Mentor®
Are you a new board member serving on a regulated company board, but from a non regulatory background? This episode is directed especially to newer board members and executives in utility companies regulated at the state and even federal levels.  

My guest in this episode is Dr. Mark Jamison. Dr. Jamison is Director and Gerald Gunter Professor, Public Utility Research Center at the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida in Gainesville. PURC is an internationally recognized academic center dedicated to research and to providing training in utility regulation and strategy to support effective utility policy, regulation, management, and leadership. PURC helps government and industry officials develop efficient utility infrastructure to better meet the needs of their customers. PURC’s view is educated executives, employees, and board members, organizations benefit from better decision making and thus a more promising future. 

Our discussion today is merely a survey of the history, development, structure, and process of utility regulation with advice on a few best practices in regulatory affairs posture and approach. Lyceum sees fitting coverage of the vast subject of regulation as well beyond this brief podcast. This is an appetizer.  For the main course - and to help you navigate more thoroughly through the changing regulatory landscape - please contact our guest Dr. Mark Jamison at the Public Utility Research Center.  For more about PURC, its ever-expanding body of research and its training courses, conferences and other events see the PURC webpage thought the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida. See important hyperlinks in the program’s album notes.   

Program Guide  

A CEO’s Virtual Mentor Episode 27: A Regulatory Primer for Board Members with Non Regulatory Backgrounds 

0:00     Introduction to the program and to guest, Dr. Mark Jamison 

3:50     Part 1: The history of regulation

15:25   Break 1 

15:45   Part 2: The structure of the regulatory commission 

21:49   Break 2 

22:09   Part 3: How does the regulator set prices? 

30:01   Break 3 

30:44   Part 4: Regulatory risk and strategies for dealing with risk 

52:27   Closing comments

We would like to express our special thanks to the clients of Lyceum Leadership Consulting that enable us to bring you this podcast. 

Thanks for listening.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.   

See you next time. 
Informative and Helpful Links 
​PURC Webpage: https://warrington.ufl.edu/public-utility-research-center/  
​Links to Biographies of Guests: Mark A. Jamison
​Your host Thomas B. Linquist is the Founder and Managing Director of Lyceum Leadership Consulting and Lyceum Leadership Productions. Over his 18 years in management and leadership consulting he has served a wide array of corporate clients.  This includes leadership assessment and search for chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief operating officers and boards of directors.  He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and over his 32-year career has served in a variety of roles: as an engineer with Shell Oil Company, a banker with ABN AMRO Bank, and as treasurer was the youngest corporate officer in the 150+ year history at Peoples Energy Company in Chicago.  He is an expert on hiring and promotion decisions and leadership development.  Over the course of his search career, he has interviewed thousands of leaders.
Program Disclaimer 

The only purpose of the podcast is to educate, inform and entertain. The information shared is based on the collection of experiences of each of the guests interviewed and should not be considered or substituted for profess

Welcome to Episode 26, Season 7, of the Leadership Lyceum: A CEO's Virtual Mentor®. This episode coupled with the prior Episode 25 on Overcoming Homophily forms two episodes themed to span both Black History Month and Women’s History Month.
I'm joined in this program by four of five women who on May 1st, 2019, published together a collective autobiographical book titled The Energy Within Us. It is their stories across the arc of their lives from childhood environments and experiences that shaped them to, and through, their long careers in executive leadership roles in the energy industry. These women have a great deal in common. They're all dear friends. They're all accomplished executive leaders in the energy industry and their careers. They're all giving back by serving broader leadership roles in corporate and non-for-profit boardrooms and social service organizations. They all have unbounded generosity of spirit. And they all, as you will hear, exude the energy within themselves.
The discursive style of our interview revealed a wealth of advice for current and future business leaders especially in the realm of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Topics covered include – role models, mentors and coaches, courage to challenge the status quo and hold leaders accountable, assumptions and misunderstandings, barriers to developing instrumental networks and receiving developmental feedback.
Program Guide
A CEO’s Virtual Mentor Episode 26
The Energy Within Us
A wide-ranging discussion about the upbringing and developmental experiences of four pioneering corporate leaders
0:00  Introduction to the program and to guests and authors Telisa Toliver, Carolyn Green, Joyce Hayes Giles, and Hilda Pinnix-Ragland.
2:54    Part 1: What motivated the authors to write their autobiographies?
15:04    Break 1
15:43    Part 2: Upbringing, Environment, and Foundational Experiences
15:49    Author Joyce Hayes Giles and segregated Mississippi
22:01    Background on Medgar Evers
24:00    Audio clip of speech of Medgar Evers
27:56    Audio clip of speech of Myrlie Evers Williams
31:35    Break 2
31:51    Author Hilda Pinnix-Ragland and the North Carolina farming community
36:49    Author Telisa Toliver and growing up in white communities in Oklahoma
43:08    Break 3
43:32    Part 3 Formative Decisions, Influencers, and Mentors
52:15    What is misunderstood about people?
56:02    Break 4
56:46    Part 4 Barriers to Professional Development: Forming Instrumental Networks and Critical Feedback and Coaching.
1:09:24    Break 5
1:09:42    Part 5: Conclusion and Closing Comments and Advice from the Authors
1:12:51    End of Program and Preview of Episode 27, a primer on the regulatory construct that regulated utilities operate within.
We would like to express our special thanks to the clients of Lyceum Leadership Consulting that enable us to bring you this podcast.
 Thanks for listening.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. 
See you next time.
 
Informative and Helpful Links 
Amazon Link to the book. The Energy Within Us
 https://www.amazon.com/Energy-Within-Illuminating-Perspective-Trailblazers/dp/1945875615
Links to Biographies of Guests
 Joyce Hayes Giles
https://dpsfdn.org/about/board-and-staff/joyce-hayes-giles-2/ 
Carolyn Green
https://www.ase.org/biography/carolyn-green
Telisa Toliver
 https://www.aabe.org/docs/pages/19/file/Toliver%20-%20Short%20Bio%202013.pdf
Hilda Pinnix Ragland
 https://www.aabe.org/docs/fck/file/Leadership%20Profile%20-%20Hilda%20Pinnix%20Ragland.DOC
Your host Thomas B. Linquist is the Founder and Managing Director of Lyceum Leadership Consulting and Lyceum Leadership Productions. Over his 18 years in management and leadership consulting he has served a wide array of corporate clients.  This includes lead

Welcome to Episode 25, Season 6, of the Leadership Lyceum: A CEO's Virtual Mentor®. This is part one of two episodes aimed as a celebration of Black History Month.
In August 2020, USA Today reported that 11% of the directors across the 50 largest companies in the S&P 100 are black. On the other hand, gender diversity on boards has shown better improvement over the last seven years. BoardEx just released data that revealed gender diversity on corporate boards in the US increased about 10% over the seven-year period from 2014 to 2020, that is from 19% to 28.8%, a year on year average growth rate of about 1.4%. France and Norway are at 44% and 39% respectively, but their growth rate is slower than the US. You see, they started from a higher percentage level in the first place. We agree with all the benefits of having diverse boards, but we think that a 1.4% growth rate is not even close to good enough.
Since the 2017 founding of our sister company, Lyceum Leadership Consulting, we’ve placed diverse candidates in 24 out of 43 of our board and executive searches, or 56%. It's a track record we're proud of, but we can do better. If we assume the good intentions of everyone involved in board selection decisions to improve upon those numbers, then what is holding us all back? What is causing the stubborn persistence of diversity levels across the world? Lyceum Leadership Consulting thesis is that we are battling our own human nature.
In my search work over the last decade and a half, I often observed that a missing link in creating boardroom diversity is often a lack of diversity in the professional networks of the board of directors or the nominating committee themselves. As often, candidates are identified and selected from these networks. In order to understand what causes a lack of network diversity to exist, it's instructive to understand sociology applied to these social networks.
In this program, we examine ways of counteracting our own human nature to ultimately make significant improvements in boardroom and executive diversity.
Joining me on the program is Associate Professor of Sociology, James M. Cook, from the University of Maine. One of Dr. Cook's areas of expertise is in the area of social network analysis. I discovered Professor Cook's work in my own research on this perplexing issue. I was especially intrigued and informed by an academic paper that he co-authored in 2001 called Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks.
 
 
 
 
Program Guide
A CEO’s Virtual Mentor Episode 25 
Why is Achieving Diversity So Hard?
Overcoming Homophily and Our Own Human Nature with Sociologist James Cook 
0:00     Introduction to the program and Dr. James M. Cook, Associate Professor of Sociology, from the University of Maine.
4:26     Definition of Homophily
7:25     Homophily in the boardroom setting and the limitations of the board
11:20   Break 1
11:19   Social Capital: Bonding and Bridging
14:34   Break 2
14:47   Part 1 of the Framework for Overcoming Homophily: Finding people who are different
25:35   Break 3
26:19   Part 1 (continued): Finding, or being found, at the individual level
33:46   Break 4
34:29   Part 2 of the Framework for Overcoming Homophily: Uniting through the instability that bringing people who are different causes
40:24   Break 4
40:51   Part 3 of the Framework for Overcoming Homophily: Managing conflicts that are bound to arise.
44:15   Break 5
44:38   Conclusion: Intergroup relations and advice toward improvement in diversity outcomes
55:06   End of Program and Preview of Episode 26, part 2 of 2, in celebration of Black History Month
 
We would like to express our special thanks to the clients of Lyceum Leadership Consulting that enable us to bring you this podcast.
Thanks for listening.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe wherever you listen to y

Inspiring award-winning performances from your talent:
Crossover applications to business leadership from the theatrical development process
with Charles Newell, Artistic Director of Court Theatre in Chicago
A CEO’s Virtual Mentor Episode 24
 
Welcome to Episode 24, Season 5, of the Leadership Lyceum: A CEO's Virtual Mentor®.
I'm joined in the program today by Charles Newell, the Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director of the renowned and critically acclaimed Court Theatre in Chicago.
This interview was recorded in the summer of 2019 as the Court Theatre's production of the play, The Adventures of Augie March, had completed its record-breaking performance run. We had intended to publish this episode early this year in 2020, but COVID hit and it seemed a little bold to put this out at the early stage of the pandemic. The world had other pressing items that deserved attention. But now, in the middle of the holiday season, we've been without live theater and entertainment for nine months, we thought this interview might be not only informative, but also soothing at this stage of the pandemic.
 
This interview is timeless and gets deep into a theatrical production's creative process as seen through the mind's eye of the director. In general, we, as an audience of entertainment, be it sports or the performing arts, are often spoiled with the perfection and professionalism of the finished product. But what is involved or required from a leadership perspective to develop and burnish the performance into the form to which we are also accustomed? What goes on in the business of theater has crossover applications to all business leaders.
We'll cover a wide range of topics in today's program. We'll outline the organizational form of the Court Theatre, including its governance, funding and management structure. But the majority of our time will be spent stepping through the phases of the creation of a production from script selection to closing night.
 
Program Guide
A CEO’s Virtual Mentor Episode 24
Inspiring award-winning performances from your talent
with Charles Newell, Artistic Director of Court Theatre in Chicago
0:00     Introduction to the program and Charles Newell, Artistic Director of the Court Theatre in Chicago
3:20     Court Theatre’s history, governance structure, funding sources and unique structure with the University of Chicago.
5:09     Achieving high caliber of performances on a smaller budget than peers theater companies in Chicago
7:25     Unique mission and social-societal outcomes of Court Theatre in the realm of national theater.
10:39   Break 1
11:19   Phase 1 of the Theatrical Development Process: Finding and developing a script.
17:11   Break 2
17:27   Phase 2 of the Theatrical Development Process: Developing the look and feel of the production. Revealing the collaborative creative process.
25:01   Break 3
25:35   Phase 3 of the Theatrical Development Process: The Casting Process. Dealing with barriers and constraints.
32:45   Break 4
34:51   Phase 4 of the Theatrical Development Process: Production development, rehearsal, and refinement. Inspiring and motivating actors to perform at their best.
39:20   Break 5
39:46   Phase 5 of the Theatrical Development Process: The arc of production and performance evolution from opening night to closing night. Keeping a production evolving and improving in the absence of continuous rehearsals.
49:33   Break 6
50:03   Retrospective self-reflection on the evolution of a theater director.
55:06   Conclusion and coming attractions.
 
We would like to express our special thanks to the clients of Lyceum Leadership Consulting that enable us to bring you this podcast.
Thanks for listening.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. 
See you next time.
 
Informative and Helpful Links
 

“Service First, Safety Always”
The Anatomy of a Private Equity Investment: from M&A roll-up, to IPO, and beyond
with Advanced Disposal Services’ Chairman and CEO Richard Burke
A CEO’s Virtual Mentor Episode 23 
Welcome to episode 23 and the beginning of Season 4 of A CEO's Virtual Mentor.
I'd like to express our special thanks to the clients of Lyceum Leadership Consulting that have enabled us to bring you this podcast, and to you, ladies and gentlemen, our devoted listenership, for your continued encouragement and programming suggestions.
And let me mention that we cannot improve without your feedback and suggestions. Please take a moment and subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcast platform, and rate us with your feedback.
There are two main features on our program today.
I. We occasionally feature a spot on the program called Famous Last Words. We will intersperse excerpts of a dramatic scene from the 1956 movie, “Patterns…of Power!”, through the breaks in our program. Patterns’ brilliant screenplay was written by Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame. The Patterns script predated Twilight Zone and is considered by many as the finest piece of writing Rod Serling has ever done and brought him instant acclaim. We'll feature the dramatic scene between ruthless, cold, and calculating owner of the corporation Walter Ramsey, played by Everett Sloane, and youthful, charismatic and considerate industrial engineer, Fred Staples, played by Van Heflin. Ramsey is impressed with the performance of Fred Staples at a company Ramsey has recently acquired. Ramsey's grooming Staples to replace the struggling, but highly principled Bill Briggs, played by Ed Begley, as the second in command at the company.
II. For our main event in the program, I'm joined by Richard Burke, Chairman and CEO of publicly-traded solid waste services company, Advanced Disposal Services. 
We'll be discussing Richard's leadership in a company that delivers a service punch well above its $1.6 billion weight class. We'll cover its evolution from private equity backed roll-up of solid waste businesses through its IPO in October of 2016 and right up to just prior to the announcement on April 15, 2019, that Waste Management would purchase Advanced Disposal.
Our interview covers a lot of ground and addresses an array of situation-specific business leadership topics, including:
The economics of the solid waste business. A company’s evolution from private equity ownership to IPO M&A and the "Four D’s" behind a seller’s motivation Corporate Reputation and Integrity Reputation Derived from Investors on the Path to an IPO Safety and Corporate Culture Post-IPO Board Composition Considerations  We would like to express our special thanks to the clients of Lyceum Leadership Consulting that enable us to bring you this podcast.
Thanks for listening.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. 
Informative and Helpful Links
“Patterns…of Power!” (Full Movie)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMnU4faUMUY
 
Program Guide Episode 23
“Service First, Safety Always”
The Anatomy of a Private Equity Investment: from M&A roll-up, to IPO, and beyond
with Advanced Disposal Services’ Chairman and CEO Richard Burke
A CEO’s Virtual Mentor Episode 23 
0:06     Introduction to Program
1:05     Introduction to Famous Last Words feature “Patterns…of Power!”
2:51     Interview with Richard Burke
11:02   Music Break 1
11:19   Patterns Scene 1 of 4   
15:24   Music Break 2
15:43   Richard Burke on Landfill Economics
16:48   The Secondary Vertically Integrated Market
19:09   Geographic Adjacencies
21:28   The Seller’s Consideration and “the Four D’s”
23:03   Reputation Requirements for M&A
23:20   Music Break 3
23:26   Private Equity Interest and Approach in the Solid Wa

 A Remarkable Corporate Turnaround:
The “Take-Private” of Talen Energy with CEO Ralph Alexander and CFO Alex Hernandez
A CEO’s Virtual Mentor® Episode 22 
Welcome to Episode 22 and May 2019, which marks Lyceum’s three-year anniversary of publishing A CEO's Virtual Mentor®.
Today I'm joined by Talen Energy’s CEO, Ralph Alexander, and CFO, Alex Hernandez. We'll be discussing the remarkable turnaround of Talen Energy that Ralph and Alex have been leading.
Talen Energy in its privately-held form today is unique and its evolution to its current state illustrates the range of leadership approaches available for a company in a “take-private” setting. There's a definite before, middle, and beyond to the take private transformation. Talen is still in the early stage of the “beyond” era. The red-letter date of the take-private was December 6th, 2016.  And to set context, we have to back up a little bit.  About a year and a half before the take-private, Talen Energy was formed when Pennsylvania Power & Light, or PPL, spun off their power generation assets and combined them with those belonging to private equity group Riverstone. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on June 1st, 2015, with initial ownership being 65% PPL and 35% Riverstone.
That company, which Ralph and Alex refer to as “Talen 1.0,” had about 15,000 megawatts of capacity split across fuel sources, with about 43% from natural gas, 40% from coal, and 15% from nuclear (from the company’s one nuclear facility, Susquehanna). Those assets sold into two major wholesale markets in ERCOT and PJM, plus a small amount in New England. Talen generated a proforma of $4.3 billion in 2014 revenues.
On December 6th, 2016, Riverstone purchased the remaining 65% of Talen, making Talen a privately-held company, and appointed Ralph and Alex to lead the company. They faced the massive task of sorting out what the company had and planning what they would do with it. 
Our interview covers a lot of ground and addresses an array of business leadership questions, including:
What are the expectations and requirements that a private equity owner has for a company and a management team? What historical decisions prior to new ownership of a company led to lackluster performance? What were the strategic views embedded in the private equity investor’s thesis about a company? Why invest more deeply in a company that is suffering from lackluster performance? Can new management and their decisions have a marked impact? How does a new leader ferry the costs out of and efficiencies into a business after acquisition? Does private ownership provide benefits for a company? What does a productive, strategic partnership between a CEO and a CFO look like? What is the role of a “strategic” CFO? Is good leadership universal? Is a management team and its profitable approach transportable to other sectors?  We would like to express our special thanks to the clients of Lyceum Leadership Consulting that enable us to bring you this podcast. 
Thanks for listening.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. 
 
Informative and Helpful Links
Talen Energy's Website - https://www.talenenergy.com/
Riverstone's Website - https://www.riverstonellc.com/
Economic dispatch of power generation resources explained by the EIA - https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=7590
 
Program Guide Episode 22
A Remarkable Corporate Turnaround:
The “Take-Private” of Talen Energy with CEO Ralph Alexander and CFO Alex Hernandez 
0:00     Introduction to Talen Energy and CEO Ralph Alexander and CFO Alex Hernandez
4:00     Expectations and requirements that Riverstone had for the company and the management team.
7:11     Historical decisions prior to new ownership of the company that led to lackluster performance.
9:17     Break