Put People First: A Story About Powerful Leadership and Professional Growth

By Dirk Barran

Put People First is the story of Michael Stone, the struggling CEO of a financial consulting company founded by his late father. Michael is appointed CEO by the Board of Directors upon the sudden death of his father. After five years of his leadership the company is not doing well. Michael's primary quantitive leadership focus has left the company in a precarious position. Company morale is suffering. The company's financial position is weakening. One morning Michael accidentally overhears two managers wistfully comparing Michael's leadership with his late father's leadership. The comparison shocks Michael. He didn't know people felt this way about his leadership. It was a brutal awakening. Stunned, Michael walks back to his office where another surprise awaits him. The annual Employee Satisfaction Survey is sitting on his desk. Tentatively he opens the survey results and learns the satisfaction of employees with the company culture has dropped to an all time low. He realizes his leadership is in real trouble. He abruptly decides to go for a walk and ends up in the company's beautiful gardens where he takes a seat on a bench. It was his first time in the park like setting. Suddenly he looks up and sees an older man approaching him To his surprise the man asks if he can join Michael. Reluctantly, Michael says yes. The man introduces himself as Nick. This is the beginning of a friendship that dramatically impacts Michael leadership.

Over the next ten months Nick takes Michael on a journey of leadership discovery that forever changes Michael's views on how to truly lead people and organizations. The journey is painful, provocative and immensely revealing. Nick artfully guides Michael's understanding of eight human qualities essential for leaders to be highly effective. Nick's message to Michael represents the golden rule of leadership. People matter.

Put People First is a powerful leadership book. It goes right to the heart of what people want from their leaders.Put People First

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9781667892788

Book preview

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Recognition for Put People First

Dirk Barram tells a great story about a CEO learning how to help managers and employees become the best they can be. And, in the process, enhance the success of the company. That’s what it actually means to Put People First.

I especially liked the segments on Integrity and Truth, probably because they are the hardest to learn and consistently do. I’m looking forward to sharing Put People First with many colleagues in my company.

DIANE WESTGATE

Section Manager at Google

In Put People First, Dirk Barram provides critical lessons for leaders at every level of an organization. As the Dean of a Business School, I daily see people who will be leading businesses and other enterprises in the years to come. This is a book they should read.

DAVE MARCHICK

Dean of the Gogod School of Business, American University

Dirk Barram’s book is an engaging read. It identifies a concept that many leaders would benefit from today, that heart and soul truly matter in leadership. Most importantly, this book contains life lessons that should be known by every leader - from CEOs and executives to parents and teachers. It is refreshingly unacademic and very readable. I wish I had this book 50 years ago when I began my legal and judicial career.

ROBERT R. SELANDER

Retired Clackamas County Oregon Circuit Court Judge

Put People First by Dirk Barram encourages today’s leaders to truly be trans- formational leaders. It is visionary, practical, and hopeful. Barram’s commitment to people-first leadership is needed more than ever in today’s current environment that often is anything but productive. Throughout his story Barram provides wisdom, insights, and creative stories about leadership that is not just inspirational, but what people want from their leaders.

Put People First may be especially helpful for financial, engineering, technology and other introspective leaders who struggle to find the full potential of people within their organizations.

My favorite quote is from Nick, one of the characters in Put People First. The greatest gift leaders can give people is the opportunity to thrive and grow, to help them realize their own possibilities.

PEGGY FOWLER

CEO of Portland General Electric Retired

This book is amazing! Dirk writes with clarity, compassion, and well-earned wisdom from a lifetime of leadership and service. The chapters on Humility and Integrity alone are worth the purchase price. If you take Put People First seriously, it will not only change the way you lead; it will also change the way you live. And organizational transformation will naturally follow because who you are shapes everything.

When there is alignment between your values and your actions, people notice and gladly jump in to help. This book is a gift to all of us who care about organizational integrity and human kindness.

PATRICK ALLEN PhD

Provost and Professor of Leadership, Ret. George Fox University

Dirk Barram writes a rich story of leadership mentoring at its best. Lessons imparted through relationship and storytelling land with authenticity and possibility. When a leader focuses on the being and humanity of people, rather than only on measuring what they do, remarkable outcomes are achieved.

ANDREA P. COOK PhD

President Emerita of Warner Pacific University

Dirk Barram has written a powerful leadership book. It goes right to the heart of what people want from their leaders. The book is uniquely delivered in the compelling story of Michael Stone, a young CEO whose leadership is struggling. Michael meets Nick who artfully inspires him to realize what truly makes a great leader

Put People First represents the golden rule of leadership.

HOWARD BEHAR

Former President of Starbucks, Ret.

Wanna be a wise leader and not just a smart one? You sure? Put People First is an accessible and conversational book that will unpack the difference. And you can follow one guy’s amazing story of changing his own behaviors and decisions to become that wise leader. Be smart enough to read Put People First and wise enough to absorb.

MARTHA JOHNSON

Former Administrator, US General Services Administration, Washington DC

Put People First is a powerful leadership story that reminds us that the foundation of an organization’s culture starts with caring for colleagues, and leaders living out their values every day. Positive, sustained, bottom line results only when leaders model authentic, people first behaviors.

BARBARA PALMER

Regional Managing Director, Republic Bank

© 2023 Dirk Barram PhD

Put People First:

A story about powerful leadership and professional growth

Publisher Rockline Books

Portland, Oregon 97035 (USA)

www.Rockline Books.com

First Edition 2023: Put People First

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN Print: 978-1-66789-277-1

ISBN eBook: 978-1-66789-278-8

Rights and Permissions

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any manner except for brief quotations in a review, without written permission from the publisher.

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons,

living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

About the Author of Put People First

Dirk Barram resides in Lake Oswego, Oregon. He retired after thirty one year’s serving at George Fox University in senior academic leadership as Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dean of the College of Business and Professor of Business. Prior to his university work, Dirk worked at Hewlett Packard in the San Francisco Bay area as a Senior Human Resources Training Manager. He earned his PhD from Michigan State University.

Dirk taught and practiced the kind of leadership he writes about for 31 years at George Fox University. He honed the ideas for the 8 Leadership Principles from his experience.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for my immediate family, Nancy, Anna, Jeff, Emily, Ella & Kate. You each are priceless.

To my brothers, Dave, Dan, Peter and Steve, your belief in me, and the message of Put People First, was inspiring. Thank you.

To Dad & Mom, Edward and Betty Barram, and their quiet, unwavering faith. All roads lead back to their inspiration and enduring belief in each of us. We are grateful beyond measure. We miss you, even Mom’s endless questions.

All of you showed me that people matter.

Dedication

To my wonderful wife, Nancy, who walked with me on this journey from start to finish, and whose constant encouragement, and belief in the book’s message inspired me to keep going.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter One

Trouble

Chapter Two

Nick

Chapter Three

Financial Pressure

Chapter Four

Adrift

Chapter Five

Character Matters

Chapter Six

Waking Up

Chapter Seven

Authentic Leadership

Chapter Eight

Second-Chance Meeting

Chapter Nine

Leadership Autopsy

Chapter Ten

Leadership Dilemma:

The Tension Between People and Profits

Chapter Eleven

Eight Qualities Essential for Leaders

Chapter Twelve

Empathy

Chapter Thirteen

Second-Chance Meeting with Marco Sanchez

Chapter Fourteen

Courage

Chapter Fifteen

Forgiveness and Compassion

Chapter Sixteen

Integrity

Chapter Seventeen

Truth

Chapter Eighteen

Presence

Chapter Nineteen

Practicing Presence

Chapter Twenty

Wisdom

Chapter Twenty-One

Humility

Chapter Twenty-Two

The Leadership Journey Continues

Epilogue

One Year Later

Discussion Guide Questions

Introduction

Put People First is the story of Michael, the young CEO of a financial consulting company whose leadership is in real trouble. The five years since he was named CEO have not gone well. Slipping employee morale, dwindling revenues, and declining profits have raised red flags about Michael’s leadership.

Michael desperately wants to succeed as CEO. The company his late father founded hangs in the balance. To make matters worse, Michael is deeply afraid of letting his father down. Intuitively, he realizes his quantitative skills are not enough. Something is missing.

Then Michael meets Nick, who takes Michael on a journey of discovery that shakes his preconceived ideas of leadership to the core. Nick challenges Michael to be more committed to the transformational side of leadership. At first, Michael resists. Nick bluntly tells Michael he is on a path to fail. This gets Michael’s attention.

Nick introduces Michael to eight leadership qualities critical for the transformational leader: empathy, courage, forgiveness and compassion, integrity, truth, presence, wisdom, and humility.

Nick guides Michael through stories, real-life examples, and actual practice of each of the leadership qualities in Michael’s company. During their ten months together, Nick also pushes Michael to conduct second-chance meetings designed to further reinforce the eight leadership qualities. These prove to be pivotal for Michael.

At times Michael is uncomfortable and skeptical. Gradually, with Nick’s mentoring, Michael begins to believe his leadership success is directly related to the eight leadership qualities. Nick sums it up best when he tells Michael, People matter.

Chapter One

Trouble

At 8:30 a.m. on a warm spring morning in late May, Michael Stone made a seemingly minor decision. Upon entering the corporate headquarters lobby of Stone Financial Advisors, he turned left instead of going straight. To this day he doesn’t know why. He does know the decision changed his life.

A creature of habit, he would religiously walk every morning straight up the curving double stairway to the second-floor executive suite and his office. He never deviated from his routine. Today would be different.

Veering left, Michael made a beeline for the company’s coffee bistro. The bistro was located in a nicely appointed space with a bar to order drinks and a quiet area for relaxing conversation. This is where the trouble began.

He ordered his coffee to go. As he turned to walk out of the bistro, he inadvertently overheard people reminiscing about how much they missed his father’s leadership style. He froze. They were in the quiet area and couldn’t see Michael. He stole a quick glance and recognized them, two Stone Financial managers.

The culture is changing with Michael as the CEO, one commented.

Yeah, said the other one, we used to see his father roaming the buildings talking to people. This guy is invisible.

His father knew everyone’s name. I bet Michael doesn’t know a quarter of the people his father did.

I’m not sure he cares.

Michael hurried back through the lobby and went directly up to his office. He was shaken. He’d had no idea people at Stone Financial Advisors felt this way. But he had to admit to himself that the two managers were right. He did not know the names of many employees, and worse, they knew it.

Michael was medium height, with short brown hair and the lanky, angular look of an athlete. His handsome face, with light brown eyes and a reticent smile, belied a personality that was cautious, skeptical, and driven. Five years ago, Michael had been appointed as the new CEO by the small board of directors after the death of his 62 year old father from a massive heart attack. The shocking and completely unexpected death of Michael’s father resulted in the immediate decision to appoint Michael as the new CEO. The consequences of Michael’s lack of leadership experience and the optics of nepotism would soon follow. During the five years of Michael’s leadership, growth had noticeably slowed. Annual revenues were in a steady decline. Some wondered if the weakening of the family-friendly culture was to blame.

Trouble travels in pairs.

Michael reached his office where