Joseph W. “Chip” Marshall, vice chairman of Stevens & Lee, gave a lecture titled “A Lifetime of Lessons Learned” on Friday, Feb. 13 as a part of the M&M Mars Executive Lecture series.
Marshall did not focus on regaling the audience with the story of his success and achievements. Instead, he shared the lessons he had learned through his lifetime about being a good leader and running an organization. “Anything I have learned, I don’t offer to you as the truth, but maybe it is something that you can think about,” Marshall said.
Marshall had his share of experiences being the head of an organization. He graduated Temple University with a bachelor’s degree in political science and attended Temple University Law School. After graduating, he worked for the city of Philadelphia on block grant applications before starting his own health care law firm, Coleman & Marshall, with close friend Mitchell Coleman. Marshall is currently the vice chairman of Stevens & Lee as well as a vice chairman of Griffins Finance, an investment bank owned by Stevens & Lee. He has headed many non-profit and civic boards. He finds that working on them is very fulfilling. Marshall most enjoys running Mission Kids in Montgomery County, which is a child advocacy center for victims of sexual abuse. Marshall also sits on university boards on Temple University and Salus University. He believes that being on boards is a great investment in your career.
“Boards are a great way to network, and I think they offer a very helpful context for looking at your own business issues,” Marshall said. He believes that networking is so important in this day and age in the employment world. He said that one doesn’t work for just a single company for 40 years and then retire. “You want to put yourself in the position [that] if lightning strikes, it strikes you,” Marshall stated. Many people move from company to company, and Marshall thinks it is important to give people the opportunities to meet you and see you in a positive light.
Marshall offered several observations he learned while being a leader and working with many boards and organizations over the years. The first observation that he shared was the division of the entities. In every organization, 15 percent of the people are the self-motivated, hardworking go-getters; 15 percent are the people who don’t do their work; and the middle 70 percent are stagnant and need to be motivated. Marshall believes that as a leader, one should focus on the middle 70 percent and how to motivate them because an organization’s success or failure rides on the backs of these people. “You can’t replace this 70 percent, you need to motivate them,” Marshall said.
Another observation that Marshall made is communication is key. “How you communicate, and if you communicate, will ultimately affect whether people follow you,” Marshall said. It is necessary to be able to have an open and honest conversation with the people who are working below you.
As a leader, one must also develop and support the people who are working for you. “It’s a temptation for people like us to want to muscle everything,” Marshall said, “[but] as a leader it’s not my job to do your job; it’s my job to help you do your job better.” Marshall also pointed out the necessity of alignment, transparency and consistency to make an organization flow together and run smoothly. One last observation that he stated was that a vast majority of people do not want to lead; they would rather be led.
Marshall closed out his lecture by offering his own “Chip-isms” that would help future leaders deal with the observations he had just described. “True leaders are not intimidated by a blank piece of paper,” Marshall said. They need to realize that there is no road map for what they are doing. Learning to adapt is essential. This idea flowed into his next “Chip-ism” of good leaders not being afraid to admit they’re wrong. Marshall thinks that the skill that graduates starting a business or organization often lack most is self-reflection. You need to be able to critique yourself in order to lead efficiently.
Marshall’s third “Chip-ism” was to take time for yourself. He believes that being a leader is a 24/7 job, and if you don’t take time for yourself, you won’t be able to lead as well as you would like. Marshall’s last piece of advice stressed the importance of investing in the people working for you. Get to know them and their stories. It’s your responsibility as a leader to push and develop your team. It’s your job to keep everyone focused. “It’s not enough to merely get people on the bus, you need to get them in the right seat.” Marshall said.
