Dixie PIMA Fall Conference report: leadership tools for the supplier of choice.

What does it take in today's market to be the supplier of choice? What leadership tools increase your ability to creatively respond to the challenges? Nearly 200 industry colleagues gathered in Orange Beach, Alabama to discover answers to these questions.

PIMA's Dixie Southeastern and Southern Divisions and Sales Society hosted their 2001 Fail Conference September 23-25 at Perdido Beach Resort. Attendees were treated to a half-dozen timely, thought provoking sessions offering practical take-home tools. The scope of these sessions ranged from rules and tools for leadership to the energy crisis to how paper customers look at suppliers. Featured sessions were the Keynote Address with Barre R. Mitchell of Bowater Inc., 2001-2002 PIMA National President; and an inspirational session with consultant and author Dr. Nate Booth.

MITCHELL: FINDING THE TIME

Mitchell opened his presentation by pointing out a paradox in the current leadership environment. There is an increasing need for leadership development while time available tot training is decreasing. How do you create more time in your already overcrowded day? Drawing on the 80/20 rule, Mitchell recommended elimininating the lowest 10% priority of work. (Some of iris suggestions appear in the box below.)

Once you have the extra time, you need to know where it is best spent. Mitchell recommended developing a list of leadership attributes, deciding as a management team which are critical, important, or lower priority issues. Don't concentrate on the critical issues; attributes deemed "important" offer the greatest potential for improvement.

Mitchell also stressed the need to shift management focus from bossing to coaching. While traditional management style has emphasized planning, organizing, and controlling, coaching stresses empowering, influencing, and facilitating employees to do their best.

BOOTH: A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE

Dr. Nate Booth's management session was both entertaining and informative. He began the session with a short quiz: Choose any whole number between 2 and 9. Multiply by 9. Add the digits of the resulting integer. Subtract 5. Convert your answer to a letter: 1 = A, 2 = B, 3 = C, etc. Think of a country beginning with that letter. Take the final letter of that country and think of an animal starting with that letter. Finally, take the final letter of that animal and think of a color beginning with that letter. Unless you have done this before, you are most likely thinking of an orange kangaroo in Denmark.

Amazing! Astounding! And confusing if you don't know the underlying principle. This was precisely Booth's point: principles we don't understand offer confusing results. For the rest of the afternoon, the audience garnered tips and techniques from the interactive seminar to understand and employ the principle of the "diamond rule." Whereas the golden rule advises treating others as you would like to be treated, the diamond rule revises that sentiment to say, "Treat others in the unique way they would like to be treated." By determining exactly what your customers want, you can provide the highest level of service.

Other conference sessions included Energize Your Response, to the Energy Crisis with strategies from Michael Mann from Enron and Mark Tice of Coral Site Advantage. Attendees offered high marks to Greg Hamer of Pratt Industries and Tom Licht from Smurfit-Stone Container, presenting The Supplier of choice from a Customer's Perspective. Two popular panel presentations rounded out the schedule. One featured eight members of Couch Pit University, an organization of experienced papermakers. The panelists: Jerry Bolin of Albany International, Ken Brown of Visy Paper; Richard Cook from Aston JWI, Steve Farmer of International Paper, John Martin from Riverwood, D.D. Smith of Buckman Labs, Wayne Taunton (retired), and Cecil Terry (retired) answered audience questions from their combined 291 years of industry expertise.

The final session was a Mill Managers Panel. Moderator Nicki Slusser (International Paper) and panelists Jim Emerson (Weyerhaeuser), Charlie Hedges (Georgia-Pacific), Howard Johnson (Bowater Newsprint), Greg Martin (Alabama River Pulp), and Ed Pumphrey (Georgia-Pacific) shared their experiences with customer service.

As well as educational sessions, the Dixie Fall Conference offered excellent networking opportunities on the golf course, in the Hospitality Center or at dinner each evening.

RELATED ARTICLE: Create more time in your day.

Read e-mail messages in reverse order Don't read e-mail messages from anyone you don't recognize Eliminate unimportant reports Be taken off distribution lists of limited value Make shorter phone calls Follow up only on important calls Leave automatic e-mail & phone messages when traveling

Make plans now to attend Dixie PIMA 2002, September 25-27 at the Kingston Plantation, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.