Leadership Lessons from Vicki Escarra

A flight attendant in 1975, Vicki Escarra quickly escalated in her career. At her first meeting with the CEO of the airline company, David Garrett, she announced that her current job was temporary for her and that she hoped to do something meaningful with her life. Soon she was offered a different job at the company and ended up working for Delta for 30 years.

The first woman to be promoted to an executive role in Delta, she helped the company get loans after the 9/11 crises and helped with the rewriting of security rules. She later went on to work for the city of Atlanta, then became the CEO of Feeding America (a hunger relief non-profit) and is now serving as the CEO of Opportunity International.

Having managed over 70 000 employees, Escarra offers these important lessons in Leadership.

TAKE TIME FOR TALENT

Escarra’s life took new course because the CEO of Delta recognized her potential just when she was starting out. Having learnt this lesson early, she advises other entrepreneurs to take time out of their busy schedule and identify talent. She believes, this won’t just help the employees advance in their careers but would also motivate them to be more loyal to the company.

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EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING TO GIVE

Escarra shares a conversation she had with the Mayor of the city, while she was working for her. On a school visit, the Mayor gave her phone numbers to all the students promising to help them out with their education in some way if they called her. When Escarra asked her why she did it, the Mayor told her, “Because I really believe in the power of what one person can do. Whether you are the Mayor of Atlanta or the chief marketing officer of Delta, we can all do things to give back to our world.”

This changed the course of Escarra’s life as she then went on to work for organizations such as- Feeding America and Opportunity International.

MEASURE AND TRACK RESULTS

Even though she wasn’t interested in leaving Feeding America when she was offered the job at Opportunity International, what finally convinced her Escarra was the impact the new company could have on the world. “Most people who are in the non-profit space don't realize that really well run nonprofits are very focused on measurable goals: they set up score cards… Any investor that decides to put money into a nonprofit should ask to see, ‘Let me see your scorecards, let me see your impact.’”

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Entrepreneur

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236255