By Steve Moran

Jodi Guffee is the Chief Operations Officer at Radiant Senior Living. At an early age volunteering in senior care communities, Jodi developed a passion for seniors and experience in the senior care industry. As the COO she leads operations and marketing for 18 communities. 

1. What is the most important leadership lesson you have learned?

Listen and allow individuals and teams to come up with their own solutions to problems.

Implement suggestions if reasonable. Revisit at 30 days for success or changes needed. Affirm their efforts to seek solutions. Ask questions without dictating.

2. What has surprised you most about being a leader?

That so many confirm their admiration and value my leadership when I question myself daily.

3. What is the best leadership advice anyone ever gave you?

Be vulnerable enough to listen without an immediate answer.

4. When you are faced with impossible challenges where do you find strength?

God only and always!

5. If you were to compare yourself with a historical, movie, or storybook character as a metaphor for how you lead who would it be and why?

Ronald Reagan. He inspired people to go above and beyond and believe in the โ€œimpossible.โ€

 

The Series: I am constantly stressed that I canโ€™t interview as many people as I would like. I borrowed this idea from a friend of New York Times writer Paula Span (with permission of course).