Banking on KC – Bill Zollars of CEO Academy: Mentoring Kansas City's Next Generation of CEOs
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Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is Bill Zollars, the Co-founder of CEO Academy of KC, and the former chair, president and CEO of Fortune 500 Company, YRC, which he helmed from 1999 to 2011. He's also held executive positions at Eastman Kodak and Ryder, and served on the boards of several major corporations and privately held companies. Welcome, Bill.
Bill Zollars:
Thanks, Kelly. Appreciate it. Nice to be here.
Kelly Scanlon:
We're happy to have you here. Coming to share your experience as an executive, and now helping the next generation through CEO Academy. What did inspire you and your co-founders to launch an organization like this?
Bill Zollars:
It was a conversation that I had early on with Greg Graves and Dan Hesse, about the kind of reception we got when we got to Kansas City versus what's kind of happening today with new leaders of organizations. When we got here, we got tremendous support from the existing business community here, and we felt like over time with companies moving out and being acquired, that that kind of support wasn't necessarily coming up for the people that just are now entering into those leadership positions. So, that was really the genesis of this whole idea of the CEO Academy, was to see if we couldn't build back some of that support for new CEOs that we felt when we first got to the city.
Kelly Scanlon:
Those networks that you were invited into when you first came to Kansas City, they've changed over the years. So, tell us about what it was like during that time when you first stepped into leadership, and what's different now? You mentioned the differences, what are some of those?
Bill Zollars:
Well, there were some icons in Kansas City. We had the Hall family here, we had the Bloch family here. We had Irv Hockaday, who was a big influence on me early on. So there were a number of iconic business leaders here that welcomed the new guys in town and the new women in town, in a way that we didn't see happening in the last few years.
Kelly Scanlon:
They were so welcoming. And Neal Patterson and his EE Academy, the Entrepreneurs Exchange, did that influence you at all?
Bill Zollars:
It did, of course. I was on the center board for over 20 years, so I knew Neal very well, and I thought that was a terrific idea, but it was aimed at startup, smaller companies, innovative companies, as opposed to maybe somebody that was coming in like Dan to run Embark and Sprint, somebody like me. So we wanted something that would be comprehensively valuable to anybody that was either in a new CEO position or aspired to be a CEO, and that's really what the design of this particular effort was all about.
Kelly Scanlon:
And why is that so important, to have that network?
Bill Zollars:
Well, I think that from the perspective of the incoming CEO or the incoming leader of an organization, you want to have the most attractive place to attain and retain people in Kansas City. So you want to make Kansas City as attractive as possible to attract and retain people. And we felt like there was a real vested interest on the part of these new leaders to do that, as well as kind of a learning experience for them about other leaders in Kansas City that were going to share their experience with them.
And so, we started with the idea that we would try and get former CEOs to come in and really be the faculty, if you will, for this academy. I wasn't sure how that was going to go over, because we weren't going to pay anybody. And all these people, even though they're former CEOs, are still pretty busy. Much to my surprise, we ended up with lots of people volunteering to come back and give back to Kansas City, which is what this is all about. So, it was really a combination of a need we saw and the willingness of former leaders to come back and give back to the community.
Kelly Scanlon:
And the importance doesn't stop in the boardroom and in the business decisions and the business network, because it spills over. So often the people that you are referring to, yourself included, they're the philanthropists. There's job creation involved, and it really has an effect on the entire region and on so many levels.
Bill Zollars:
It does, and one of the things I was fortunate to be able to do is be the chairman of the United Way while I was here in Kansas City. That gave me a very different perspective to see how businesses were interacting with the community, how much they were supporting it. And again, I saw that start to wane over time. So the whole kind of two-way value of this from the incoming person's perspective, as well as from the community perspective, I think is enhanced by kind of the networking that goes on at this academy. And it's networking among what I would call the students, the CEOs or wannabe CEOs, as well as among the faculty and between the faculty and the students. So there's a tremendous amount of networking, including some mentoring that comes out of this. So, the networking part of it is probably at least as valuable as just the learning experience of the people that go through the academy.
Kelly Scanlon:
Let's talk about that learning and mentoring aspect. Give us a glimpse into what the students do.
Bill Zollars:
Well, it's a two-day program. We've lengthened it a little bit based on the feedback we got from the first class that went through it last October, but it's a variety of presentations by different former CEOs. Many of them are still in Kansas City, but we have people coming from Arizona and Utah and California to speak, that were former CEOs in the Kansas City area or in a couple of cases, they weren't even CEOs here but they were CEOs elsewhere. So it's really a learning experience from nine different professionals, including people like Mark Donovan, who obviously brings the interest of the Chiefs to the program. And then other people cover things like strategy and culture and personal characteristics of A CEO, feedback importance as a CEO, and just kind of nine different looks at what the job is like from people that have actually done it.
Kelly Scanlon:
Kind of a boot camp style almost?
Bill Zollars:
Yeah, exactly. In fact, most of these programs, and I've been through some of them, problem is that the people that actually did the job are not the ones that are teaching it. So you'll go into a two or three-day program on leadership or CEO training, and there'll be somebody in there that's never been a CEO telling you what the job is like. In this case, you actually have people that have done the job telling you what the job is like, and I think that brings a lot more perspective to the students than somebody that really hasn't had the job trying to talk about it.
Kelly Scanlon:
So when the two days is completed, when that concludes, what happens after that? I'm sure relationships are formed. You've only been in your first year so far, so are there plans to get people back together or sign up for reunions, so to speak?
Bill Zollars:
Yeah, there's a lot of networking that goes on among the students that kind of translates into continuing networking after the academy is over. And then what we found was the feedback we got from the students, some adjustments to the program were made. We had a promotion score of something like 90, which is unheard of. So a lot of what we did was well received, and we've carried that through into year number two. But there were some other things that we got from the students as feedback, that we've adjusted the curriculum a little bit. And we lengthened the program, as I said, because people said they'd like to spend more than a day and a half, which is the original program. So some changes based on feedback we received from the participants.
Kelly Scanlon:
One of the interesting aspects, and you've touched on this a little bit, is that the Academy benefits more than just the current or aspiring C-suites crowd. So how does the work that you're doing support that broader leadership and importantly, community development?
Bill Zollars:
Yeah, I think that's really an important part of this. I think, as I said earlier, every company would like to be a place that people want to work. And Kansas City is a great city but not well known outside of Kansas City. So part of this is building up appreciation for what a great place this is, and if you can do that across the board, community support and other kinds of things, then people want to come here, they want to stay here. Companies want to have the best talent here, so it's a great way to attract more people if you've got a better brand. It's kind of a self-fulfilling issue for the community, because you get more people involved in the community and then the people get involved, they get other people involved, and the thing kind of just continues to grow from there.
Kelly Scanlon:
Who's the ideal candidate for this program?
Bill Zollars:
We're looking for a mix, and the last year was a good example. About half of the people that went through the program were sitting CEOs, both of big companies and small companies, and about half of them were aspiring CEOs. So C-suite level, direct reports to the CEO, kind of level. And we had about 40, we tried to keep the number low enough so that we kept the networking alive and well. We didn't want an overwhelming number of people that couldn't get to know each other, couldn't get to know the presenters. So 40 people, about half were from big companies, about half were from small companies. And then it also equally divided between CEOs that currently were in their job and ones that were aspiring to that level. So it was a mix of people, and I think that turned out to be really valuable to the people that went through the program. And it was also interesting for the presenters to have that mix in the audience.
Kelly Scanlon:
You've mentioned that it was founded by yourself, Greg Graves and-
Bill Zollars:
Dan Hesse.
Kelly Scanlon:
... and Dan Hesse. Who else is involved there, you got [inaudible 00:08:15].
Bill Zollars:
Yeah, we were really lucky, and this is one of the surprises to me, was that it was really this easy to get the number of people that we've gotten, but we've got Dave Dillon who used to run Kroger. Very big company, very different kind of company than the one I've led and the one Dan led. So we have those guys. We have Beryl Raff who ran Helzberg here, and has a really interesting story to tell. And then we have people like Brent Shafer, who was the CEO at Cerner and is now the CEO at Baxter in Chicago. Went from chairman of the board of Baxter to becoming the CEO of Baxter. So, he's in the mix. And then we have, as I've mentioned earlier, Mark Donovan. And we've also added a person that was a student last year, and this year is a teacher.
Kelly Scanlon:
Wow.
Bill Zollars:
And that's Paget Alves, who used to be at Sprint, worked for Dan. He went through the program last year, loved it, and we asked him if he would come back and be a presenter this year because he has a great insight now having been through the program once and having spent most of his career in Kansas City. So, he's coming into the program as well. And then we have Maggie Wilderotter, who has been the CEO of a number of companies on a number of different boards. Not from Kansas City, but heard about the program from Dan and said, "Boy, I'd really like to be a part of something like that." So, we've got really an interesting mix of people from around the country and people from a bunch of different industries and from big companies and small companies.
Kelly Scanlon:
I know there's a registration to attend and be a part of this program. So, where do those proceeds go if not to the instructors? Because I know you're part of the UMKC block school, so talk to us about that.
Bill Zollars:
Yeah, the UMKC administration uses that to help people who may not have the financial resources to pay the tuition at UMKC.
Kelly Scanlon:
So scholarships.
Bill Zollars:
So it's all scholarship related money. We don't get anything, and we still didn't have any trouble recruiting people to come and present. So I told them that at the beginning of the year, we're going to pay them double what we paid them last year, which is zero, and they all signed up again because I think they really enjoyed it.
Kelly Scanlon:
What are some of the messages that these people are passing on to the new group of CEOs that are rising up?
Bill Zollars:
It's a reality, kind of presentation. So you've heard a lot about what a CEO job is like. I'm going to give you a perspective on what really happens inside the CEO job. And everyone has a different experience, so you get this from nine different perspectives and it's a different story in each case. And so people can learn I think, from every one of these presentations, but it may be a specific person that you relate to because of the situation you're in, the situation they went through. And so that's where the mentoring starts to develop, where somebody will approach one of the presenters and say, "Hey, I really would like to get to know you better and learn from you. Can we put together some sort of a mentoring relationship?" So we let that happen kind of naturally.
Kelly Scanlon:
Organically, sure.
Bill Zollars:
Which it does, and I think that's another advantage of this program, is you can really learn firsthand from the person that is in a similar situation to you, whether you're a sitting CEO or an aspiring CEO.
Kelly Scanlon:
How has business changed since you were in the thick of things when you were day-to-day CEO?
Bill Zollars:
It's more complicated. I think the number of things that A CEO has to think about and work with their board on today is a lot more complex than it was let's say, 10 or 15 years ago. The reality of the situation is the CEO job is really two jobs. One is an outward-facing job. So whether it's your shareholders, your analysts, the press, the government, that's all outward-facing. And then you've got the inward-facing job, which is leading the company. And so it's really two jobs in one, and that's something I think that many people don't really appreciate is that it's not just running the company, it's all this other stuff that can be distracting and very time-consuming. So they get a feel for that as well in the academy that really, it's two separate jobs combined into one.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah, and sometimes that's at odds with the person. Some people are much more gregarious and want to be out in the community, and there's others who prefer to be within the walls of their company. And when you have to mesh the two, it can be a little difficult.
Bill Zollars:
Yeah, and you also have a different need for a different kind of CEO as the company evolves.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes, that's very true.
Bill Zollars:
So a small startup company with a founder has one set of requirements. You don't have a lot of the outside stuff that you would if you were in a corporate Fortune 500 company, but you still have investors and you still have employees. So that kind of a CEO might be great for a founding small company, but it might evolve over time as the company evolves. And so we make it a point to say that look, nothing is static here. All of these situations you're going to hear about developed over time, and we're going to tell you the story of how people reacted to those evolutionary changes that came about.
Kelly Scanlon:
When you were coming up as a new CEO, a new businessman, new executive, did you have a mentor?
Bill Zollars:
I had a lot of mentors. It started with my dad when I was growing up. And then as I went through my business career and I worked for a number of different companies, I had mentors, both positive and negative. And by that I mean, you learn a lot from people on how to do things, but you also learn a lot from people on how not to do things. And sometimes that's an even better lesson than it is learning from somebody on how to do something. And I think that's the case with most of our presenters, is they've had some really good role models and then they've had some people that kind of showed them the way not to do it.
Kelly Scanlon:
And some of those people who showed you the way not to do it end up because of that experience going and starting their own companies, they spawn entrepreneurs from those bad experiences. So, I can't let you get away today without asking you for your advice to aspiring CEOs.
Bill Zollars:
I have a theory, and it's just a theory because you can never prove this, but in my case, I can tell you it was very helpful to me. And that is, do as many different kinds of things in a company as you can. I think the days of a single threaded, I call it, executive, are over. Today, I think the more you know about business in various different perspectives, the more valuable you become. So general management candidates usually are people that have a lot of experience in different parts of the business. So in my case, I had eight years outside the US, five in Europe, and three in Canada, and a year in Japan. That helped me immensely when I finally got to the CEO position. I was in finance, I was in marketing, I was in strategic planning, I was in logistics.
So my advice to people when they're coming through the ranks is, do as many different things as you can. Don't worry about lateral moves, don't always be looking for a promotion. Try to gain as much experience as you can in different fields within the business world, and it'll make you more valuable in the long term.
Kelly Scanlon:
Well, and you'll have a much broader perspective as you have to make decisions when you're in that top spot.
Bill Zollars:
Yeah, and that's why general management candidates tend to be multi-discipline kinds of people because it gives you a broader view of the playing field and makes you more valuable and better able to relate to everybody in the organization, to say nothing of the board of directors, which in public companies is a real requirement.
Kelly Scanlon:
Personally, what did you learn most about yourself as you progressed in your career?
Bill Zollars:
I learned what I didn't know. I mean, it's an amazing journey. When you start out, you think you've got a pretty good idea of what's going on and you think you're pretty good at what you do, and you have a certain amount of confidence. As you move through your career, you realize that you don't know what you don't know, and that becomes really important because in a long career, you want to always be learning. You want to always be trying to figure out what you don't know and learn about it. I think the most successful leaders are learners, they're constantly looking for answers to questions that they don't have. And so in my case, eight years outside the US, tremendous perspective on what it's like for people on other continents to look at the US and look at the companies in the US, and that was very valuable to me when I got back here.
So, I think the basic kind of tenet for me has always been learn as much as you can, try as many different things as you can. You might not be good at all of them, I certainly wasn't. And you might not get really high marks, but at least you've had the experience. And then you can put that kind of in your memory bank and your experience going forward will benefit from that.
Kelly Scanlon:
And on a similar note, when you're the CEO, buck stomps here, ultimately you're making the decisions or you're held accountable for decisions that are made at other levels in the organization. And so, when you're faced with the decision and all of the data is telling you one thing, but because maybe of the experience you've talked about, your gut's telling you another thing, how did you decide?
Bill Zollars:
That's where you need a really strong team. Someone once told me, and I think this is a great line and words to live by, "Only hire people that you would work for yourself." And I think that's the testimony there to the strength of the team is really important. So when you get into a situation where it's a tough decision, you need people around you to tell you what they really think, to tell you the truth, because when I became the CEO, one of my compatriots said, "Congratulations. No one will ever tell you the truth again," And that's very dangerous. So you got to surround yourself with people that have courage and that will tell you their perspective on things, whether you agree with it or not. And that's very helpful in coming to the right conclusion on, and making the right decision.
Kelly Scanlon:
Let's go back to the fall program. Give us the dates and how you can enroll in it if you're interested.
Bill Zollars:
It's September 30th and October 1st, starting at 8:00 on September 30th, with a full day and then dinner that night with the presenters, and then continues to 3:00 in the afternoon the following day, October 1st. You can go on the UMKC website and application is there. Some of the presenters' bios are there, you've got a little bit of insight into the curriculum there. So you can really find everything you need just on the UMKC website.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah, and we'll have a link to that in the show notes for anyone who's interested. As you look to the future, Bill, how do you envision the CEO Academy continuing to shape Kansas City's leadership culture? And importantly, what can we all do to help support that vision, whether it's directly through the academy or in other ways?
Bill Zollars:
Well, I think from the Academy perspective, we're sort of feeling our way on this. We weren't sure this was even going to work when we first came up with it. It was so successful last year we thought, okay, we're going to do it again. Now the question becomes, we're really doing CEO 101. Is there a CEO 102? So, can we build on taking the students that have been through the first phase of the academy and build a curriculum for another phase? So, that's part of what we're thinking through right now. A lot of that will depend on how this year goes.
I'm sure we'll make adjustments, but the idea here is to provide a local CEO development program in Kansas City that is second to none in the country, because right now there are some, but they're very expensive, they're on the two coasts, and again, they're not being taught by former CEOs in most cases. So we're trying to make this unique, we're trying to make it meaningful, but at the end of the day, we're really trying to help Kansas City. So, as more people go through the program and it kind of spills out into the rest of their organizations, we're hoping that that'll help reinforce this idea that Kansas City is a great place to live and work.
Kelly Scanlon:
Well, we appreciate all the work that you and your co-founders and the entire group that works with you to offer this program. And again, you can go out to the UMKC website to register for the program that's coming up this fall, and we'll have that in our show notes. Thank you so much, Bill.
Bill Zollars:
Thanks for your time, Kelly. I appreciate it.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, President of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Bill Zollars for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC. Bill shared how the CEO Academy of KC is fostering a new generation of leadership by connecting current and aspiring CEOs with seasoned executives who have walked the path before them. Through a blend of mentoring, networking, and hands-on insight, the program provides an authentic look at the realities of executive leadership and its impact far beyond the boardroom. By empowering leaders, the Academy is helping to build a stronger business community and in turn, a more vibrant Kansas City. The CEO Academy's commitment to supporting new and aspiring CEOs aligns with the Country Club Bank vision of using leadership positions to positively transform lives and communities. We're encouraged by the willingness of Bill and other successful CEOs to spend their time transitioning new leaders who will shape Kansas City.
Thanks for tuning in this week, we're banking on you, Kansas City, Country Club Bank, member FDIC.