PASADENA
STAR-NEWS

Businesses face new strategies,

speaker asserts

Cal State LA. professor cites technology in

address to Leadership Pasadena grads

By Virginia McCrum

staff writer

PASADENA — Modern technology is reshap­ing new millennia leaders and forcing them to become more strategic, the keynote speaker of Leadership Pasadena's graduation ceremonies emphasized Friday to this year's class of 22 who gath­ered at the Pasadena Civic  Auditorium. "While the basics of leader­ ship have not changed, mod­ern technology has had a major impact on leadership to the extent that we may differ­entiate new millennia and old millennia leadership from now  on,"

William Cohen, pro­fessor of leadership and mar­keting at Cal State Los Ange­les, told the graduates.

"The performance attributes of the new millennia leader are more demanding than they have ever been, and the need for such leaders has greatly increased over the last 50 years," added the retired Air Force major general and author of several books on business and leadership.

"If you don't understand how to lead a diverse work force today, not only can you have labor unrest, in an orga­nization dealing with the gov­ernment, you may be subject to fines or punitive actions," Cohen warned. ”Perhaps even more importantly, you aren't going to be able to take advan­tage of this diversity, and many of your competitors will You are going to be at a definite competitive disadvan­tage."

After congratulating the group of San Gabriel Valley movers arid shakers
 for taking the first  step  in their own leadership development by completing the sixth-month course, Cohen advised the graduates to broaden into other spheres.
    “I believe that now that you have graduated from this program, your education as a leader really begins," he said.

Cohen offered the gradu­ates three tips beyond their program:

• Develop a second exper­tise well outside primary focus.

• Broaden reading to other areas.

• Challenge self by responding to opinions about global interests in business, politics and society  in newspapers and do so in writing.

"Do these three things, arid I will promise that you will have the capability of becoming the kind of new millennia leader that any organization desper­ately wants, desperately needs," Cohen concluded.

Julia Gaskill, 50, is a com­munity volunteer and activist who lives in La Canada Flintridge and was one of the leaders graduating from the nonprofit group program Fri­day.

"We didn't always agree, but the thoughtful sequencing of workshops allowed us to problem solve and move forward/' she said of the program. "And what did it all add up to? Con­nections: with self, with each other and with the greater, com­munity."

Gaskill was chosen by her class to present an overview of the six-week class project on affordable housing, during which the group created a polit­ical action committee on the topic and managed to get the issue on the city council's agen­da.

"We did in six weeks, what it takes most organizations to pull off in a year," Gaskillj said.

Graduate Jerven Carter, president and chief executive officer of Always Dawn Inc. in Pasadena, is credited with choosing the affordable hous­ing topic.

'' "What I am most proud of is the model we exhibited for diverse groups to come togeth­er, create a shared vision, a mutually satisfying solution to a problem and appreciate the varied

contributions of the individuals," he said. "It is time to stop carving up¹ our city and give up the frustration and dis­satisfaction that comes along with it."

To learn more about the nonprofit program that helps cultivate new community-based leaders, call (626) 535-5275.