“What’s interesting is how things come full circle,” Beutel said.
There were eight founders initially. Today, there are 48 partners, a testament to the center’s broad value (Cox Media Group Ohio, of which MyDaytonDailyNews.com is a part, is among those partners.) Those partners run the gamut — health care, manufacturing, professional services, not-for-profits, educators and others.
We recently sat down with Beutel to talk about leadership, the center’s work and how the Dayton area often seems to have a knack for holding on to leaders. What follows is edited and condensed.
Q: What does the center do?
Beutel: "We partner with different businesses and organizations from in and around around the Dayton community to help them develop their leaders. We have a whole series of leadership development programs for leaders at all levels, from first-level supervisors and professionals all the way up to C-level executives. And rather than have to spend the resources internally, organizations instead choose to send their leaders here, where not only are they learning from the best of the best, but they are also learning with other members of the Dayton community."
Q: In the center’s context, what is leadership?
Beutel: "We talk about leadership in terms of a number of things. One is, first understanding yourself, who you are and what your strengths are and what maybe are some of your areas of opportunity and development. And helping people understand what that is, so they can make the best use of their skills, to impact their organizations and their community moving forward.
“That’s a starting place for us. But it’s also a place where we think there’s the most need and the most opportunity. Starting with helping people build self-awareness first is an important first step in leadership. Sort of the traditional definition that we use is, ‘Helping people mobilize others to do things that they might not otherwise do.’”
Q: Each year you survey local leaders to find out what their needs are. Are they telling you anything today that they weren’t telling you in the depths of the Great Recession?
Beutel: "You might think that they would be. But I'd say, then and now, people are most focused on attracting and developing talent, and retaining their top leaders. We were concerned about attracting top talent then because we wanted to make sure that we kept the best of the best. And now I think people are concerned about retaining the people who have helped them get there. And as our businesses all start to recover, and we continue to grow, that battle for talent becomes even more challenging.
“I think you retain leaders by investing in them. When people know that you care about them, when people know that you’re giving them challenging opportunities and you’re helping them develop new skills, they’re more likely to stay because they know that they have opportunities to continue growing and make an impact in your organization.
“I actually think Dayton is a great place to do business. The way that we have developed ourselves as a business community, and the way that we’ve changed in response to large corporate headquarters relocating elsewhere, is remarkable. There are so many more small- to mid-sized businesses that are innovative and entrepreneurial in making an impact, not just here but globally.
“We have cool people in this town. People underestimate that.”
Know someone who can handle Three Questions? We're looking for behind-the-scenes-but-still fascinating Miami Valley residents with something to say. Send your suggestions to tom.gnau@coxinc.com.
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