LEADERSHIP BT EXAMPLE by Mark Goldsmith

“It's a tired example to say 'to lead by example,' but Frances leads by example, and I think that's very important. Any one of us—as a manager, having run five or six cosmetics companies, I can tell you that the only way that I've ever led is by example and I see that in her also. I never used my position, whether it was moving from director to Vice President, to General Manager, to CEO. I've always tried to set an example for the people who worked in my companies or divisions, and I think she does the same thing and I think that's extremely important.

Once a leader starts to use their credentials or their background purely as the opportunity why they should be listened to as leaders, I think they begin to lose their constituency, and that's one thing that she never does. She is the leader of the Leader to Leader Institute [The Frances Hesselbein Institute], and she doesn't do it by professing it, she does it by example.”