HR Problem Solver

We hear a lot about leadership today, but what does it actually take to be a leader?  Leaders are not necessarily born with the needed characteristics to lead, they can be intentionally cultivated.  Let’s take a closer look and break it down to the most basic concepts.   Today my guest is J. Lee Whittington, Ph.D., Dean & Professor of Management at the Gupta College of Business at University of Dallas. He focuses his teaching, research, and consulting in the areas of Leadership, Organizational Behavior and Spiritual Leadership.  His research has been published in The Leadership Quarterly, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Managerial Issues, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Business Strategy, and the Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management.  His book, Biblical Perspectives on Leadership and Organizations was published by Palgrave-Macmillan in August 2015. He is also a co-author with Tim Galpin and Greg Bell of the book, Leading the Sustainable Organization. His newest book, Enhancing Employee Engagement: An Evidence-Based Approach was co-authored with DBA students Simone Meskelis and Enoch Asare, Gupta professor Sri Beldona. Prior to joining the University of Dallas, he served on the faculty at Texas Wesleyan University and The University of Texas at Arlington. He has received multiple awards for his excellence in teaching and research. While at UTA he was twice recognized as the Outstanding Undergraduate Professor and nominated for The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. At Wesleyan, J. Lee was named the MBA Professor of the Year, received the Heads Above the Crowd award, and named a Guardian of the Golden Shears.  J. Lee’s industry experience includes over twenty years in manufacturing and distribution. He has held executive positions in marketing, logistics, and general management. His consulting experience includes executive coaching and leadership development engagements with Life Church, Nokia, FedEx-Kinko’s, RadioShack, Siemens, Penson Financial Services, Vendor Resource Management, Reynolds Metals, Ball Container, Camp Fire Boys and Girls, Valor Telecom, City of Arlington, City of Southlake, and the US Army Corps of Engineers.  Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions. During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.    In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst, www.hrcatalystconsulting.com