Listen in to a great interview with Chris Garner, General Manager of the Long Beach Water Department. Chris describes his incredible journey from a kid who just wanted to work in an office, to trading tens of millions of dollars of gas with Enron, running the Public Works Department, the Natural Gas Utility, and finally, Long Beach Water. He stayed ready and showed he could take on big responsibilities, and as a result was given bigger and bigger roles. Chris discusses the importance of treating good employees well and has ideas on what to do with employees who underperform. It’s a great conversation full of high-quality leadership advice.
Here's what we discussed:
• The journey to become CEO and the big lessons learned along the way.
• The “Awesome Responsibility of a leader.
• When he felt like he became a leader, and the transition to leadership.
• Leadership philosophy.
• Skills for today’s employees to be successful, and develop as leaders.
• The value of setting a strategic direction.
• A “Rookie Moment” when he learned a big lesson from a mistake.
• The process for making tough decisions.
• Good advice received, and advice for young people starting out in their career.