Bernard Howroyd Interview

BERNARD HOWROYD CHARSIMATIC LEADERSHIP
BY CLAUDIA DABOUB

MGMG355 LEADERSHIP IN ORGANIZATIONS
PROFESSOR: DR. ROBERT TRODELLA
JULY 5, 2012

I had the honor of interviewing Mr. Bernard Howroyd, who has had more than forty-eight years of leadership experience in the staffing industry. The interview ended up taking much longer than I expected because I was so influenced by what he had to say, I did not want to miss anything. Bernard, who is known to his employees as Bernie, has made a career out of making the impossible come true. He has transformed himself from a poor young butcher’s apprentice into a multimillion-dollar businessman and founder of the North America’s largest, privately held full-service employment company. Bernie was born
By this, he means "take time to be kind." To achieve positive results out of the people in which he works with, Bernie "turned his organization upside down". He wanted his employees to feel like the president of the company was someone who not only cared about them and their concerns, but wanted to be someone who they could come to with any problems or ideas they have. "Seek first to understand before you try to be understood." (Howroyd) By taking time through charismatic leadership to be kind to his employees, and being empathetic toward their work and personal lives, Bernie was able to achieve above average results out of average people. The ability to "shut up and listen" is a key trait one must have to be a good leader. I asked him if he thought that by being friendly to his employees, and getting to know them personally interfered with his ability to delegate. Bernie responded by stating that if you are firm but fair, honest and straight forward with people at all times, you will in turn commandeer respect from your employees which will provide both parties the necessary tools to excel in their respective positions. One must beware, however, of being insincere, because everyone will see right through you and loose all respect. One must lead by example and be constantly and actively aware on a daily basis that everyone is watching the leaders and modeling their actions after
They went on to share the same methodology that Bernie had share with me previously, consisting of listening, understanding and caring for their employees to achieve above average results from the staff. Their approach also consisted of involving, listening, questioning, and discussing different situations in order to create a collaborative problem-solving approach. Bernie build fellowships, and his people respected, trusted and followed