Georgia Magazine - October 2013 - 5

www.georgiamagazine.org
(800) 544-4362, in Georgia; (770) 270-6500

GEORGIA Magazine, the largest-circulation
monthly magazine in the state, is published
by Georgia Electric Membership Corp.
(GEMC), the trade association for Georgia’s
41 consumer-owned electric utilities. On average, more than 500,000 members welcome
the magazine into their homes each month.
Georgia’s not-for-proﬁt electric cooperatives
provide reliable, safe and affordable electric
service to more than 73 percent of the state’s
land area serving 4.5 million residents. For
more information, visit www.georgiaemc.com.
EDITOR Ann Orowski, CCC
MANAGING EDITOR Jennifer Hewett, CCC
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Victoria Scharf DeCastro
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Gayle Hartman
ASSISTANT EDITOR Kevin Braun
ASSISTANT EDITOR Jim Jess
EDITORIAL INTERN Bhavna Dilipkumar
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Stephanie Green, Pamela
A. Keene, Vyvyan Lynn, Megan McKoy-Noe,
Laney K. Partain
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Sharyn Altman,
Mark Bolton, Lisa & Jim Bryant, Cole Cassell,
David Darugh, Pouya Dianat, Bill Durden,
George Gentry, Stephanie Green, Glenn
Grossman, John & Karen Hollingsworth, Beau
Kester, Linda May, Patrick McComas, Megan
McKoy-Noe, Ann Orowski, Craig Scroggs

Laurel George,
(404) 541-0628; Laine Kirby Wood, (770)
289-5700

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES

NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE

National

Country Market, (800) 626-1181
DESIGNERS

Trudie Thibodeaux, Kerstin Weis

SUBSCRIPTIONS

(770) 270-6500

2013 ADVISORY BOARD Juanita Austin, Kelly
Bodner, David Cleveland, Jane F. Garvey,
Kelly Hester, David Murphy, Julie Musselman,
Jim O’Bryan, Hope Paulk, Wendy Sellers,
Lewis Shefﬁeld, Barbara Tapp, Jim Tucker,
Donna Yost
GEORGIA EMC OFFICERS:
CHAIRMAN Alice Mallory, Coweta-Fayette EMC
VICE CHAIRMAN G. Anthony Norton, Snapping

Shoals EMC

SEC.-TREASURER Randy Crenshaw, Irwin
PRESIDENT/CEO, GEMC A. Paul Wood

EMC

GEORGIA Magazine (USPS-473120, ISSN 10615822) is published monthly by Georgia Electric
Membership Corp., P.O. Box 1707, 2100 East
Exchange Place, Tucker, GA 30085. Periodicals
postage paid at Thomaston, GA, and additional
mailing ofﬁces. POSTMASTER: Send changes to
GEORGIA Magazine, P.O. Box 1707, Tucker, GA
30085. Printed in Georgia by Quad/Graphics.
Acceptance of advertising by GEORGIA Magazine does
not imply endorsement by the publisher or Georgia’s
electric membership corporations of the product or
services advertised.
GEORGIA Magazine’s LIABILITY FOR ERRORS IN,
OR OMISSIONS OF, ADVERTISEMENTS, WHETHER
IN CONTRACT OR IN TORT, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO DAMAGES TO THE ADVERTISER’S BUSINESS, SHALL IN NO EVENT EXCEED THE AMOUNT
OF CHARGES FOR THE ADVERTISEMENT THAT WAS
OMITTED OR IN WHICH THE ERROR OCCURRED.

October 2013

Leadership lesson No. 1

ne essential lesson in organizational leadership is so fundamental to success that leaders usually
learn it early. But it is just as easy
to overlook in practice for the same
reason: This lesson is so fundamental
and simple, it should come as second
nature, but it doesn’t.
I was a 33-year-old chief executive ofﬁcer (CEO) at a large electric
co-op in Louisiana when I learned
it. I had been CEO for about six
months. As a fast-growing cooperative, we had an extensive amount of
equipment and facilities that many
other co-ops did not. My predecessor loved photography and printing.
As a result, the cooperative did all its
printing in-house. We had the largest and best cameras available at the
time, and could print high-quality
maps of any size. Even the state of
Louisiana did not have such sophisticated equipment.
All of the cameras and production equipment were housed in a
small cinderblock building at the rear
of the cooperative’s 10-acre ofﬁce
facility. It was a little hard to ﬁnd.
You were not likely to visit unless
you were in desperate need of their
services. You didn’t just happen by,
and very few people did.
On a not-so-busy day during my
ﬁrst six months on the job, I decided to take a walk to the print shop.
I opened the door, stepped in and
greeted Mike, our printer, with a
“Good morning,” and “What are you
working on?”
It took Mike a moment to recover from seeing the new CEO in the
ﬂesh. He was more than delighted to
show me around the little shop and
offered a close-up look at the projMore online at www.georgiamagazine.org

BY PAUL WOOD
President/CEO, Georgia Electric
Membership Corporation

ects he was working on. He turned to
one side of the room as I was examining some of his outstanding work,
and I noticed he was wiping tears
from his eyes. When I glanced back a
second time, he was actually crying. I
was very concerned. “Mike, did I say
something wrong?”
He looked at me with tears
streaming down his cheeks, and said,
“Mr. Wood, I have worked here 25
years, and you are the ﬁrst CEO to
take the time to visit my workshop
on the back side of the property and
ask me about my work.” I shook his
hand and thanked him for the great
job he was doing for the cooperative.
I was a CEO who said, “Thank
you.” It’s as simple as that. A CEO
cannot ask another senior executive (or his wife, as I heard one CEO
tried) to do it for him.
All of us want to be appreciated. None more so than the employee who often feels overlooked.
For many employees, knowing the
boss is grateful for their service and
having the boss tell them so directly
means almost as much as a raise.
The rewards are great for all
when we let others know their contribution to our mutual enterprise is
recognized and appreciated. It’s a
simple and fundamental lesson.

A great gift idea!
Visit www.georgiamag
azine.org to order “It’s
My View,” a hardbound
book featuring 100 of
the magazine readers’
favorite columns.

It’s
My
View
A collection of readers
’ favorite ‘Viewpoint’
columns from GEOR
GIA Magazine

By Paul Wood

President/CEO, Georgia
Electric

Membership Corp.

http://www.georgiamagazine.org http://www.georgiaemc.com http://www.georgiamagazine.org http://www.georgiamagazine.org http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Georgia Magazine - October 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - October 2013