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Thank you to the 1,400 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 questions!
I hope reading
7 Questions with Richard M Kiernicki
helps you in your leadership.
Cheers,
Jonno White
7 Questions with Richard M Kiernicki
Name: Richard M. Kiernicki
Current title: Author, Speaker, Mentor, Senior Financial Advisor
Current organisation: Richard M. Kiernicki
Richard Kiernicki considers the past 40 years to have been some of the most exciting times in the professions of finance, motivation & personal transformation. He believes that the future of these industries holds unlimited potential & possibility. While the Canadian financial industry experienced explosive growth & the fields of self-help & transformation rapidly gained acceptance & worldwide momentum, Richard found his place in that ever evolving/expanding world.
Fortunate to have an open mind, deep intuition and a strong commitment to move ahead in his life, “he did not do what was the easiest and most expeditious, he chose to do what was right” according to a 1997 letter from his partner Michael Lee-Chin at AIC. Richard strongly agreed with Michael on this point: your reputation is absolutely vital to your success. Richard’s other mentors include Napoleon Hill, Bob Proctor, Viktor Frankl, Brian Tracy, Anthony Robbins, Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Lise Janelle, Sir John Templeton, Peter Cundill, Peter Lynch & Warren Buffett. He learned to follow examples set by those who are considered to be the absolute best in their areas of expertise & exemplify honesty, dedication, ethics & commitment. These individuals continually seek to differentiate themselves from the crowd by being examples of living according to the highest degree of personal values & integrity. Richard integrates those values into his own life & passionately shares those principles with his family, friends & clients.
He fully understands that acting on that knowledge is much more powerful than just having it. When you live life according to your highest values you become inspired & awaken the genius within, and have the ability to inspire & awaken the genius in others.
Richard provides a wide variety of coaching disciplines that set the stage for innovative methods of inspiration for those who are seeking to find an expression of their truest selves through authenticity, challenge & support.
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1. What have you found most challenging as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise?
Getting everybody on the same page enthusiastically. It is important that everyone in the organization knows, understands and supports the reason for the business being in place.
2. How did you become a CEO or executive of a large enterprise? Can you please briefly tell the story?
I saw a way to differentiate myself through the foundations that we had established in the business and recruited and trained other people into the philosophy of the business, which opened the doors for me to grow my career.
3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?
There was a time when my day started at 9:30 AM and finished at 9:30 PM, Monday through Friday and the objective was to see as many people and clients as possible. Other strategic meetings were built into my schedule weeks in advance. Maintaining this pace allowed me to achieve my goals early in life and then I started taking more time with my family responsibilities. To me this is backwards and everyone should be focused on their personal and family lives in their early years and when you're older and your kids are grown you can focus on expanding your career because there are no distractions. Now I lead a more balanced life. I make time for the little things so I do not compromise my family or my business.
4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?
We must adapt quickly to change, especially change that is forced upon us without warning. The biggest change is to seek the truth about any situation whether it needs to be changed or not.
5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?
The book that comes to mind is "Three Magic Words" by U.S. Anderson. The profound impact that this book has had from a leadership perspective is twofold: first, to truly listen to yourself so you are congruent in body mind and soul and the second, was attaining perfect response from listening to those who I learned to listen to. Listening instead of hearing has dramatically changed my life and many of the lives that surround me.
6. How do you build leadership capacity in a large enterprise?
By doing your best to make the people in your organization feel that they are listened to and that they are a valuable part of the whole enterprise.
7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise so far?
We grew our company from $9 million AUM to $14 billion in 20 years. However, despite the amazing upside, the downside was not contemplated and when, like all things go up and down, this lack of preparedness caused our assets to drop; they dropped dramatically, changing the lives of everyone who was involved.