Leaders in the Limelight: Michael Lesker

My name: Michael Lesker

My company: SiriusXM Satellite Radio

My title: Senior Director, ListenerCare Learning

My location: New York City

 

Best business advice I ever received: It’s not about you. It’s about them. As a facilitator,nobody cares what you’d like them to do. Nobody cares what you think. Nobody caresabout your product or service.

What they care about, forthe most part, are themselves. (That’s not to say they’re not interested in whatyou had for breakfast or what kind of car you drive. Of course they are. And soare you, or you wouldn’t be reading this profile!)

It simply means that whenyou’re standing there at the front of the room or sitting at the head of the conferencetable, try introducing an activity by saying “We’re going to do this,” rather than“I would like (or need) you to do this.” Nobody cares about your wants or needs.It’s truly about them and their shared experience with others in the room. Or, atleast, it should be.

Not to minimize the veryimportant role you play as a facilitator, but you’re just the host of a potlucklearning party where everybody is invited to bring their best casserole. The samething applies to eLearning! It should be about learners going on their own voyagesof self-discovery through your content. It shouldn’t be about what you want themto learn.

Most daring personal career move: Saying no to people accustomed to hearing yes.

What I’m most proud of: My failures. I didn’t realize it at the time, but each becamea pivotal, transformational moment on the way to something bigger and invariablymuch better. All my greatest successes and best ideas have sprung from the ashesof the monumental and crushing failures that preceded them. It’s a cliché to sayso, but you learn from your mistakes and you grow from them.

I suppose that’s why clichéshave become clichés: They speak to fundamental truths. And the truth is this: Rarelydoes a program or an initiative hit the mark right away. That’s why restaurantshave soft openings and why Broadway shows have previews, and why I went on a lotof really bad dates before I met my wife.

Currentworkplace challenge: We createlearning solutions for our call center agents, but we rely upon a team of third-partytrainers to deliver that training. Auditing their performance and ensuring curriculum compliance is our biggestchallenge, along with devising innovative ways to motivate, mentor, and coach otherpeople’s employees.

Something people don’t know about me: I maynever be able to use this again when playing Three Truths and a Lie, but I heldGwyneth Paltrow in my arms. It’s true! I was an apprentice at the Williamstown TheatreFestival at the time, and her mom (Blythe Danner) was a featured artist. One ofthe apprentices’ primary roles (in addition to building sets and staffing the boxoffice) was to babysit Gwyneth on the theater’s lawn while Mom was in rehearsal.Of course, Gwyneth was just five or six years old at the time and probably has norecollection of this, and would likely deny ever having met me. (And that’s OK;I wasn’t crazy about Iron Man 3, so Ithink we’re even!)