Butler series explores secrets to building better leaders

A former CIA analyst won't be divulging any military secrets when he visits Butler University this week, but he will share the secrets of a more open, inclusive style of managing and serving others.

Butler is presenting its second annual Symposium on Servant Leadership and has invited a diverse group of individuals who can speak to the philosophy and how it has shaped their careers.

"The idea of servant leadership was suggested by the faculty," said Gary Edgerton, dean of the College of Communication at Butler.

"Leadership is on everybody's mind, and this is an approach that's consistent with the Butler Way — instead of the top-down, authoritarian strategy of leadership, the whole idea is that leaders serve, real creativity comes from interaction with others, and lots of good ideas come from the bottom up," Edgerton said.

The four-day conference begins Monday and is free and open to the public.

Symposium presenter Dennis Bowden, a former analyst with the CIA, grew up in Indianapolis and attended Lawrence Central High School. He interned for then-Sen. Richard Lugar in Washington, D.C., while in college and later found a home at the CIA, eventually overseeing 250 employees. He retired from the agency in 2011 and now works for a not-for-profit consulting firm.

The federal government might not strike some as a bastion of feel-good management styles, but as with most institutions, there are pockets.

"I always told my employees that, short of treason, there is no mistake they could make that I can't help remedy," Bowden said in a telephone interview from the D.C. area. "That gave them the freedom to take initiative. There were actually metrics on this — we had the highest employee engagement and satisfaction. They had a stake in what was going on and knew management was out to support them."

Bowden's presentation on Thursday is "Servant Leadership in the Shadows: Leading and Following in the CIA."

"One of the great strengths of the CIA is its focus on mission and accomplishing a near-term objective, but it's also a weakness. You can be so focused on near-term goals that you fail to step back and see the bigger picture."

Many of those employed by the CIA have a background in the military and have a servant-leadership concept drilled into them, Bowden said. And many of the tenets were taught within the agency, he said.

"I always told my subordinate managers that my job was to do the downfield blocking for them — hopefully they understood the analogy," he said. Another of his popular rallying cries was "Whose desk do I have to stand on to break the deadlock?"

Bowden was responsible for President George W. Bush's daily intelligence briefings for two years — a period that included 9/11. He points to former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell as a good example of a servant leader.

"He had one dedicated phone line in his office for enlisted military personnel to call him directly at any time. He was always working to empower as many subordinate people as he could while trying to accomplish the mission."

Indianapolis native Dr. Kent Brantly will be honored during the symposium, presented by the Conference on Ethical Public Argumentation. Brantly contracted Ebola while treating patients in Liberia but later recovered. He was named along with other Ebola fighters as Time magazine's "Person of the Year for 2014." Due to a scheduling conflict, Brantly will not attend the award ceremony.

Pat Falotico, CEO of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, will open the conference Monday. The former IBM executive said helping others has always been "a part of who I thought I needed to be."

Her decision to join the Greenleaf Center in October was a natural move, she said. "It's the best possible way to marry leadership and helping others in a work environment, and it carries over in the work I do in the community."

Falotico said in the business world today, TD Industries, Southwest Airlines and The Container Store are among the best companies modeling the servant-leadership philosophy.

"The business results they generate are outstanding, but that's only one dimension. It's really how people feel, how they are valued, how they are cared for that brings great results."

Among other presenters are Doug Boles, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, who will speak on "Winning — When Others Cross the Finish Line First," and Dave Zirin, who writes about the politics of sports for The Nation magazine.

For more information about the symposium and a complete schedule, go to http://news.butler.edu/blog/2015/02/servant-leadership.

Call Star reporter Maureen Gilmer at (317) 444-6879. Follow her on Twitter: @MaureenCGilmer.