Ex-CEOs launch CEO Academy in KC to cultivate next generation of leaders | Preview

By Leslie Collins – Specials editor, Kansas City Business Journal
Aug 19, 2024

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Retired CEOs Bill Zollars and Dan Hesse talked fondly about the business community support they received when they moved to Kansas City years ago.

In 2005, Hesse had only been in town a week when David Lockton of Lockton Cos. invited him to a dinner party at his house with other local CEOs. A few weeks later, JE Dunn Construction’s then-CEO Terry Dunn invited Hesse to dinner with another group of local executives.

“It was, ‘Welcome to Kansas City, and you’re part of our community,’” former Sprint Corp. CEO Hesse said. “I got so much value from that as a new CEO in town.”

But through the years, that tight support network that existed for rising leaders has experienced an “obvious decline,” said Zollars, former CEO of YRC Worldwide Inc. He credits part of the reason to companies being acquired, going out of business or moving out of town.

“But the fact is, we’ve still got a lot of really good talent in Kansas City,” Zollars said.

He wants to cultivate that talent, building the next generation of strong CEOs. That desire sparked the idea for CEO Academy of Kansas City, an educational program led by retired CEOs that’s tailored for aspiring, new and developing CEOs. The “faculty” includes 9 local powerhouse executives: retired CEOs Hesse, Zollars, Beryl Raff (Helzberg Diamonds), Dave Dillon (The Kroger Co.), Greg Graves (Burns & McDonnell), Brent Shafer and David Feinberg (Cerner Corp.), and Brent Stewart (United Way of Greater Kansas City), along with Mark Donovan, current president of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The program kicks off Oct. 17 with a two-day event in Kansas City at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management, which is providing administrative support. Registration and an application is required.

The event includes speakers and panel discussions covering topics such as owning the strategy, how to become a CEO, personal characteristics of the most successful CEOs, succession planning, and transforming the board into an asset.

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Press Release: Former Sprint Turn-Around CEO Dan Hesse to Join Bryologyx CEO Tom Loarie as Host of Popular Business Radio Program "The Mentors Radio"

NEWS PROVIDED BY
The Mentors Radio
Jan 25, 2023, 08:38 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 25, 2023 || The Mentors Radio, one of the longest-running business mentor radio shows in broadcast history—if not the longest-running, now in its seventh year—this weekend welcomes its newest host Dan Hesse. Hesse is best known as the former Sprint CEO whose remarkable and ethical leadership saved the company from the brink of bankruptcy by focusing on customer service and putting people first.  Hesse will rotate hosting duties with Bryologyx CEO Tom Loarie, who has hosted the program since its inception on March 4, 2017.

Hesse's first guest is Admiral Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sharing how to lead during crises, how values and principles create a framework for leaders to make decisions, and how he went from being in the "penalty box" as a young officer to becoming the highest-ranking member of the U.S. military and a trusted advisor to two U.S. Presidents.

Broadcast to more than 6.5 million weekly on the Salem Media Network in San Francisco and live-streamed around the world on iHeart Radio, THE MENTORS RADIO program features real-world advice, first-hand stories, career paths, funny moments, successes, failures, learnings and more, shared by remarkable, ethical CEOs and leaders who challenge listeners' thinking about life and work.

As one of the program's guests, real estate mogul and adjunct MBA professor Tim Strader, puts it, "What you guys are doing is incredible! It's real-world mentoring…What you are doing on the show is a tremendous asset for those who want to succeed in business and in life."

Both Hesse and Loarie—as well as their hand-chosen guests—are anchored in leading and running businesses and organizations based on well-honed habits of ethical business and personal leadership principles, putting people first and mentoring others to be their best selves along the way.

Over the years, THE MENTORS RADIO guests include fascinating interviews and real-world mentoring with the founder of the Ritz-Carlton; Steve Jobs' right-hand mentor throughout Jobs' storied career; global CEO advisor Ram Charan; San Quentin's longest-serving Death Row prison chaplain; master portrait photographer mentored by Ansel Adams; author of Blue Collar Cash; president of Meet-Up; founder of a toy company; retired U.S. Navy SEAL and U.S. Marine officers who help military transition successfully into civilian jobs; a ranking tennis athlete born without hands; thriving cancer victors; and Dan Hesse, who was twice a guest on the program.

"The Mentors Radio" airs Saturdays at 1pm on AM860 in San Francisco and live-streams worldwide on iHeart Radio, with episodes and show notes on TheMentorsRadio.com. The show can also be found on all PODCAST platforms, including Apple, iTunes, Google, Stitcher, Tune-In, Spotify and more.

CONTACT:  Karen Walker - 949.370.1442 – 352559@email4pr.com

SOURCE The Mentors Radio

Leadership in Digital Music

In May of 2014, Dan joined CNBC’s Market Makers to discuss Sprint’s push for mobile, high-fidelity music on wireless devices. Watch this insightful conversation below.

Discussing digital music and wireless with Bloomberg Market Makers
May 2014

Excerpt: Wisdom from the Top with Guy Raz | Luminary Podcast Episode

Guy Raz is a journalist, and current NPR correspondent and radio host. Having been described by The New York Times as "one of the most popular podcasters in history," Dan was excited to join his “Wisdom from the Top” podcast in June 2019 and discuss the lessons gleaned from the early days in his career.

Customers crave simplicity, Dan Hesse figured out early in his career, as he streamlined phone bills at Sprint. He saved 2 billion dollars, just by taking better care of customers in a few key ways. Plus, just how hard Sprint had to work to get the iPhone on its network, and the movie he hoped would change the company culture.

Click to read the full article…

Excerpt: ‘Great To Good’ New Business Model Affirmed By Dan Hesse

Robert Reis interviewed Dan as part of his CEO and Leadership focus for Forbes. The conversation was published August 5, 2020 and delves into the evidence support Dan’s long-held belief that corporate responsibility is good for all involved in the business - stakeholders, customers, and employees.

In thinking about which CEO was right to shed important light on Great to Good, I wanted someone who was an early adopter of being a good corporate citizen and also wasn’t currently at the helm so they could speak more freely. I immediately thought of Dan Hesse who during our first conversation had so impressed me with his passion for being a truly good company through stakeholder capitalism.

Key Insight from Dan Hesse

“I’ve long believed that doing ‘good’ for all stakeholders, especially employees and customers, is in the long-term interests of shareholders, but we didn’t have the data to prove it. That’s no longer the case. Now we know that companies that serve all stakeholders – employees, customers, communities, the planet, and shareholders provide higher returns for investors than their peers who don’t.”

Click to read the full article…

The Zorich Podcast: Conversations with Leaders & Legends

Dan talks with Chris Zorich, former defensive tackle for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins. Zorich was also the athletic director at Chicago State University.

The video podcast covers Dan’s journey to Notre Dame, adventures on the crew team, lessons learned from Dan’s Dad, experiences as the CEO of both AT&T Wireless & Sprint, the importance of Culture & Leadership and much more.

Watch the interview below, or listen on Spotify.

Excerpt: Companies that do good things have higher returns

“Mad Money” host Jim Cramer sat down with Just Capital’s Dan Hesse, the former CEO of Sprint, to get an inside look at consumers’ opinions about corporate America. Watch the full video below and read the full article on CNBC.com.

“What we’ve seen from a financial performance point of view is that you have ... [a] higher return on equity of these companies that do good things,” Hesse, the former CEO of Sprint, told “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer.

Excerpt: Why Excellent Customer Service Costs Less

Chris Malone dives into one of Dan’s most firmly held tenets of corporate leadership in this piece published to Fidelum Partners…

How did Dan Hesse engineer such a rapid turnaround of a publicly-traded behemoth with $30 billion in revenue and over 40,000 employees?   I had the opportunity to speak with Dan recently and he shared a number of insights on his experiences at Sprint.

Key Insight from Dan Hesse

“It may seem counter-intuitive, but in my experience, considering all the costs, providing excellent customer service costs less than providing poor service.  When I arrived at Sprint at the end of 2007, we were very cash constrained.  Part of the problem stemmed from reducing customer care resources to the point that customers began to leave.   Improving care and service was one of the few things cash-strapped Sprint could afford to do in 2008.   We focused relentlessly on identifying and eliminating the primary causes of customer frustration and complaints.  As a result, we were then able to eliminate $2 billion per year in customer services expenses, while going from last place to first place in overall customer satisfaction in the U.S. wireless industry.  The issue of customer churn might apply to every industry.  Once you’ve invested in acquiring customers, it’s a lot cheaper to keep them than to go find new ones.”

Click to read the full article…

Excerpt: Kagan: Bye-bye, Sprint. What T-Mobile US will do next

Jeff Kagan examines Sprint’s merger with T-Mobile and what it means for the joint company moving forward. The article posted to RCRWireless in July 2020 explores Sprint’s history, what they did right and wrong that led us to this moment in wireless history and closes with a look at the next steps for T-Mobile…

Past Sprint CEOs: Bill Esrey, Gary Forsee and Dan Hesse

Bill Esrey was CEO of Sprint when it was in the long distance business and changed over to wireless. The company was popular, but just could not hold a candle to AT&T and Verizon. In fact, that was the cases throughout Sprint’s long history.

When the company needed fresh vision, they hired Gary Forsee as CEO. Forsee came from Bell South, one of the seven Baby Bells. He acquired Nextel just before the entire industry switched from analog to digital.

That move was the death nell for Nextel. And what started out looking like a great move became an albatross around their neck for Sprint Nextel for years to come.

Dan Hesse did a remarkable job saving then growing Sprint

Now, the company was in even deeper trouble. That’s when they hired Dan Hesse as CEO. Hesse came from AT&T. He had been with the company forever. He ran the AT&T wireless business for several years.

When Hesse came to Sprint it was dying on the vine showing huge losses with no light at the end of the tunnel.

What was amazing is Hesse saved Sprint from disaster. He worked hand in hand with the Sprint executives, workers, investors and customers. First, they first stabilized and then grew the business once again.

In fact, Sprint was winning all sorts of quality and reliability awards and it looked like they were finally on a winning path under Hesse.

Click to read the full interview…

American Capitalism and the COVID-19 Response

The COVID-19 outbreak has shaken many companies and organizations around the world, spurring an outpouring of thoughtful insight and guidance from business leaders.

The CEO Forum Group is curating these thoughts and ideas in a collection of real-time CEO insights on leading through Coronavirus.

Dan was featured earlier this week. You can find his quote and more information below.

“This pandemic could become the 'tipping point' for our country moving from shareholder-driven to stakeholder-driven capitalism, as how a company supports its people, customers and communities has never been more important or evident. There are so many great initiatives that CEO’s and their companies are taking. The Just Capital Covid 19 Response Tracker provides many inspiring examples. It makes me optimistic of how American capitalism will emerge from this crisis.”

Learn more about JUST Capital’s intiative tracking corporate actions and policies, the shifting views of the American public, and the best practices from organizations leading the way on their website: JUST Capital COVID-19 Response Tracker.