In today’s fast-paced and competitive business landscape, the role of a leader has evolved beyond simply driving profits and achieving targets. More and more, businesses are recognizing the importance of values-driven leadership — a style of leadership that emphasizes the alignment of personal and organizational values to create a positive impact on employees, stakeholders and society as a whole.
In early December, as part of the NIU Executive MBA’s (EMBA) “Executive in Residence” speaker series event at our Naperville campus, a very special, values-driven business leader and NIU alumnus, Dennis Barsema, shared some tips about what has led to his success. In both a laugh-out-loud and tear-jerking presentation, current EMBA students and alumni listened to some of Barsema’s business and personal values which have served as his guideposts.
Denise Schoenbachler, interim dean of the College of Business, who has known Barsema for decades, introduced this charismatic leader. She spoke briefly about Barsema’s professional background, including his time at Redback Networks, where he served as president and CEO, and led the company through rapid growth and one of the most successful IPOs in Wall Street history. Barsema has also served as an instructor in the College of Business and has spent a considerable amount of time meeting with and mentoring business students.
Both Barsema and his wife Stacey have generously given their time and expertise to NIU, where Dennis serves on the NIU board of trustees and Stacey serves on the NIU Foundation board of directors. The Barsema’s ongoing support of NIU also includes the largest gift in NIU history to build a new College of Business building, Barsema Hall.
According to Schoenbachler, when Barsema lectures, he is sure to “guide [people] in [their] leadership and personal journey,” and she assured the audience that Barsema “walks the walk.”
“I’m not qualified to tell you how to lead, so I’m going to tell you how I lead. And if something I do makes sense for you, awesome,” said Barsema. He then offered a simple definition of leadership: credibility and vision. He teaches leadership on the NIU campus and believes “everyone can be a leader if you find something you care about.”
The first thing Barsema said he learned from a leadership standpoint is to be excited about what you are doing or leading.
“You won’t lead if you don’t want to,” he said, going on to address the importance of defining or talking about your purpose, the “why,” in addition to the “what” and the “how” of leadership.
Barsema quoted Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech as one of the most important speeches ever given in the history of the United States. He noted that themes in this work coincide with authors Barry Posner and James Kouzes’ philosophies about leadership being “the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations.”
“Every great leader possesses a set of core values that guide their decision-making and actions,” Barsema said. “My job as a leader is inspiration. Inspire people who want to unite in order to reach our goal, in order to reach purpose. Inspiration is what we do as leaders. We need to understand how,” said Barsema.
Values-driven leadership emphasizes ethical behavior, transparency and a genuine concern for the well-being of employees, customers and the broader society. Leaders who prioritize values seek to align their actions and decisions with these principles, demonstrating integrity and authenticity in their leadership approach.
Barsema shared that he had developed a list of his values when he was about 25 years old, and shared a story about one particularly challenging situation that came up in his life.
“Life is not straight, life has twists and curves. When we get lost driving, we use a map. When you get lost in your personal life, what’s going to get you back on the road back on the right path? Your values. I still read my values every day. They are in my closet on my dresser.” Barsema said.
He then explained how his values have changed over time, but that 10 values have been at the core of his life for many decades. “1) Live a life that makes God happy. 2) My relationship with Stacey (his wife) is sacred. 3) Have purpose to my life by serving others every day. 4) Be a teacher and role model to my children and others. 5) Be an influencer of positive things in our world. 6) Allow only positive influences into my life. 7) Spend time on real friendships. 8) Don’t let material possessions define who I am. 9) Know that only I am responsible for my happiness. 10) Do not judge others. Be humble. Be kind.”
Amidst the many words of wisdom Barsema shared that evening, perhaps the most impactful was his story about a personal challenge that he overcame, which ultimately led to one of the Wall Street’s most successful business transactions while he was CEO at Redback Networks.
“I stutter. I stuttered my whole life. When I graduated from [NIU], I couldn’t put three words back to back. So, what did I do? Again, I live my life with no escape routes, I got into sales. I figured if I was going to learn to communicate, and I was going to learn to speak, I was going to have to do it in order to be successful as a salesperson,” Barsema said as the crowd chuckled at his humor. “I [once] had a choice to sell [a] company, but I also had the opportunity to take the company public. I felt that the maximum shareholder value would come from public markets. I was afraid of IPO because of the road show and being able to adequately showcase the investment potential of our company. I was afraid to do that because of my stuttering.”
At the time, Barsema’s wife Stacy encouraged him to hire a speech coach in preparation for that public speaking, and he did. In fact, he rehearsed his road show presentation 100 times, internally and to himself in a mirror, before his time on the road ever began. And after the road show ended, on the day the company went public, all the institutional investors he had presented to participated in the IPO.
“The valuation of our company at the end of the day had increased significantly,” Barsema said. He told the audience that had he let the fear of his stuttering drive his decision, he would not have done the IPO.
“Don’t let fear drive your decisions,” Barsema said, and “failure is just data. I would much rather see us make mistakes than stand still because we are frozen in fear.” Fortunately for the company, Barsema faced his fears head-on and success followed.
Barsema is an incredibly inspirational business leader who embodies values-driven leadership and is a true testament to the power of aligning personal values with business endeavors. His story is one to celebrate, and it serves as a reminder that success is not just measured by financial achievements but also by the professional and personal obstacles we can overcome and the positive influence we can have on others and the world around us.
“It is always an honor and a pleasure to hear Dennis speak,” said Schoenbachler. “Every time I have the chance to hear Dennis speak, and I have done so many times, I take away something that helps me personally and professionally. This presentation was no exception. The students, staff and alumni in the room that evening had an incredible opportunity to learn from an authentic values-driven leader.”
