| Recent and Current Searches |
PRESIDENT for a University ranked by U.S. News and World Report as a top-tier western regional university.
CFO for an all-suites West Coast hotel company
CEO for a travel related company
Board Member for a private family entertainment company
CFO search for a California university
EVP/COO search for an East Coast hotel company
CEO search for an international ministry in Colorado
Head of School for a new prep school
VP Sales & Marketing for an industrial manufacturer
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| Book Reports |
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 The Alpha Male Syndrome by Kate Ludeman and Eddie Erlandson |
As I read this book, and really thought about it, I realized that throughout my life as part of organizations, whether business, non-profit, academia or church, I’ve run into exactly the type of person this book describes. Add to this, that as a search professional, I’ve witnessed brilliant, innovative, creative leaders who take their organizations to great heights, only to have a demoralized, frustrated, beleaguered group of people in the trenches. This type of scenario is symptomatic of “The Alpha Male Syndrome.” Recent history shows poignant examples of organizations led by Alpha Males that reached the pinnacle of success only to spiral into catastrophe.
As a “commander, visionary, strategist or executor” (one of these four or a combination thereof), the Alpha Male is courageous and self-confident, turned on by bold, innovative ideas and ambitious goals, and pursues his objectives with tenacity and an urgent sense of mission. At his best, he inspires awe, and his noble leadership skills are revered by others.
The term “Alpha Male Syndrome” recognizes that there is a flip-side to these same positive characteristics. The dysfunction created by an “out of control” Alpha Male (or worse, a group of them) can permeate an organization. Often the stronger the positive qualities, the more likely they are to erupt as negatives. While the upside is limitless, the downside can be devastating.
The authors of this book, both self-professed “Alpha” personalities, now devote their careers to acting as executive coaches for other “Alphas.” Their goal in consulting and in this book is to help individuals and organizations leverage Alpha strengths to maximize overall effectiveness.
In titling this book, The Alpha Male Syndrome, the authors do not ignore that women can be Alphas. However, their experience shows that men more consistently demonstrate Alpha characteristics and that, when behaving badly, their behavior is more likely to cause wreckage.
This insightful, clear-cut book will be extremely beneficial to the Alpha Male in his transformation into “a reflective, self-aware leader who can overcome the negative characteristics” and instead “harness his amazing alpha power for the good of his career and his organization.” It also serves as a helpful guide (some might say survival guide) to anyone who works with Alpha Males as a peer, subordinate or boss, helping to channel their brilliance and thrive in their midst. - Book Review by Donna White
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 Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk With Customers by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel |
I’ll admit the title of the book did catch my attention, but it was the sub-title that impressed me to buy it. You see, I knew virtually nothing about blogs or blogging. Naked Conversations served as an ideal primer on the subject. The idea behind the title is that the world of blogging encourages, or actually, by its culture, forces participants to be accountable to their constituents. Authentic blogging, according to the authors, sends a strong message to customers that the individual, business or organization desires to be transparent and sincerely responsive. In short, blogging is different from emailing or a typical website in that it allows an on-going, two-way conversation about a topic of interest between numerous contributors. Comments (or “posts”) are arranged in chronological order with the most recent post listed first. Naked Conversations gives many applicable and easy to understand tips about how to start, how to be successful and what to avoid when entering into the “blogsphere.” Further, the authors provide numerous blog site examples supporting their research.
Aside from serving as a basic introduction to the blogging world, Scoble and Israel point out that almost every business should have a blog to develop a real connection with their customers. Often, the businesses will have nothing to gain on the front end by blogging, however, as the relationship and scope of contributors grow, future connection may be beneficial. Additionally, as people read, post and link to your blog, the instances of your business/organization moving up the algorithm search engine chain (or, “Google Juice”) is increased—often giving you more exposure probability when people are seeking the services you offer. The personal nature of blogs allows for “real people communicating with real people.” This communication allows for understanding and trust to develop. And, according to the authors, trust and understanding are good for business.
This book is interesting, easy to read and gives clear reasoning to consider using the blog medium as another way to develop relationships. These relationships that usually start as business, become personal, and then relate back to business. If for no other reason, I’d highly recommend Naked Conversations in assessing if blogging may benefit your business. - Book review by Tim Bernstein
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| Our People |
Bruce Dingman
President
Donna White
Vice President
Tim Bernstein
Associate
Patti Schultz
Office Manager
Allison Lindauer
Admin Support
Connie Schuh
Bookkeeper |
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| Feature
Article |
| The Difficult Search for a Chief Development Officer (Fund Raiser) |
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Doing a fair amount of searches in the world of education and non-profits, we are often asked to undertake a search for a Chief Development Officer. However, the search is so tough to do successfully that we seldom accept such an assignment.
While there are many development professionals available, a large portion of them don’t stay long in a position for (most often) one of two reasons: There may be a lack of alignment with the Board and/or CEO and the development professional concerning expectations or approach to fund raising. Or the development person may not be effective. A common reason for ineffectiveness, assuming the person has adequate resources to do the job, is that many don’t have the professional self-discipline that makes sales executives successful. They lack a focus on making sales calls, or as fund raising professionals would call it, “friend raising.”
Why are the searches so difficult?
It can be hard to attract an excellent development professional. The person is usually reluctant to leave for one or more of the following reasons: They’re in love with their present organization and/or its mission; they have good alignment with their CEO and Board expectations in fund raising; if they leave, they forfeit existing relationships with donors; and they’re already well compensated.
So … why would a good development professional change jobs?
There are several factors that may attract a development professional to a new location:
- For the sake of a promotion or moving to a larger organization. It may include moving fund raising or ministry impact from a regional focus to a national or international focus.
- Higher compensation. As altruistic as one might be, there is still a mortgage payment to consider, so personal income can be a factor.
- A new CEO or Board composition that doesn’t understand what to expect from a good development officer. Or perhaps when the development officer sets up the opportunity with a major donor, the new CEO does not feel comfortable doing “the ask.”
- For family reasons. The new opportunity may be closer to grandparents or in a warmer climate. Or, if the opportunity is in higher education, there may be tuition assistance for college age kids.
Over the span of 20 years, The Dingman Company has conducted four development officer searches. One person has now been in place for 12 years, another for 10 years and the third moved on after five years when a new CEO came. The fourth search was never completed due to the entrepreneurial CEO/Founder being too busy with other things to find time to interview the candidates, so the candidates lost interest.
What might an organization do to find a development officer on its own?
- Search among donors or friends connected with the organization to find a proven, successful sales professional (coming from some type of relationship-based sales like financial planning, insurance or real estate). Look for someone ready to make a career change and then support that person for six months with a fund raising consultant to train him or her.
- Network within the professional fund raising associations.
- Run an ad in association magazines, job bulletin boards, or the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
- Use a search firm.
What must be present for us to accept a chief development officer search?
We turn down far more requests for development officer searches than we accept. However, we accept searches in which the organization, the mission and the expected results of this position have an attractive opportunity for candidates. Other considerations are the location and the compensation.
There are search firms that do far more development searches than we do. They’re likely to have a database of potential development candidates that exceeds our own. However, given the far lower rate of successful completion of development searches, do sufficient due diligence—ask the recruiter about uncompleted searches and talk with his or her prior clients. |
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| The Dingman Company has Joined Penrhyn |
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What is Penrhyn? Penrhyn International (www.Penrhyn.com) is a worldwide affiliation of independent, mostly boutique-sized, executive search consulting firms, partnering together in several ways to provide the highest standards of service on international assignments.
Executive Recruiter News listed Penrhyn International as one of the largest search groups in the world. However, the group’s aim is effectiveness rather than scale, with the belief that effectiveness is enhanced by having a collegial group where members know each other fairly well. By being highly selective in who can join the group there is an unusual degree of trust among members, and a high degree of stability in the membership.
What might that mean to a client? If an organization has a need to fill a position in another country, the current Penrhyn member search firm can introduce the client to a Penrhyn member search firm in that country, with confidence that the search will be professionally done. This is especially true if a firm is undertaking major expansion in several countries, as Penrhyn firms can work together to handle numerous simultaneous searches.
Also, each Penrhyn member has access to the specialty practices of the other Penrhyn search firms. Need a biotech search done? Skott Burkland in New Jersey specializes in it. Need a high tech search done? Tom Horgan and Sean Splaine in Silicon Valley focus in that arena. Similarly, The Dingman Company, although also a generalist firm, has specialty niches in hospitality, education and non-profits. If Dingman has a hotel client needing to fill a position in Europe, then prior searches by Hansar International will prove very useful.
Each Penrhyn member firm has owners/principals who are active recruiters themselves and disposed to be helpful and collegial to the others. It’s a bunch of nice guys and gals who enjoy each other and their profession, gathering once a year in a nice location to build relationships and have a good time. Last year was Mumbai and next year it will be in Düsseldorf.
Being asked to join Penrhyn is a highly selective process. Two member firms must recommend the prospective member. A site visit and thorough investigation of the methods, values and reputation of the firm are conducted. Then finally, the vote by the current Penrhyn members must be unanimous. The invitation to join Penrhyn is only extended to firms that are among the best in their national markets and who will make a positive addition to the group in values, professionalism and “personality.”
And lastly, what does “Penrhyn” mean? Penrhyn is a word from the Welsh language and means “headland” or “promontory”. One of the early members of Penrhyn International lives on the coast of Wales in Penrhyn Castle, and the name was adopted by the group. Some members have interpreted Penrhyn to mean that we are at the point, or leading edge, of good practice in executive search. |
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