Vince Molinaro

Vince Molinaro
Vince Molinaro in 2014
Born	Venanzio Molinaro 1962 (age 52–53)
Residence	Toronto, Ontario
Alma mater	Brock University McMaster University University of Toronto (PhD 1997)
Occupation	business strategist author speaker
Website
www.theleadershipcontract.com

Venanzio "Vince" Molinaro (born 1962) is a business strategist, public speaker, and author of three books, most notably The Leadership Contract, which argues that too many employees slip into leadership positions without adequate consideration, resulting in a poor outcome. He claims a better outcome for those that instead make a conscious decision to take on the role, by going so far as to write down, sign, and date an explicit "leadership contract" with herself or himself.^[1][2][3][4]

Early life, education, and career

Molinaro has degrees from Brock University and McMaster University and received his doctorate from the Department of Education, University of Toronto.^[1] For doctoral research he interviewed four employees and their co-workers about an approach to work which was based not on materialism but on substance, spirituality, reflective practice, and on building strong relationships with others. The resulting doctoral thesis was entitled Holism at work, exploring the experiences of individuals creating a new holistic story of work.^[5]

In 2008 Molinaro became Managing Director of Leadership Solutions at Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions.^[1]

Publications

Books

Molinaro's first two books, The Leadership Gap and Leadership Solutions were co-authored with David S. Weiss and Liane Davey.^[2][3]

The Leadership Gap ranked #3 on list of best selling business books by the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail in May 2011.^[6] It claims that the growth of an organization can outstrip its capacity to cultivate a sufficient quantity of leaders, and that this "leadership gap" can be corrosive. The book proposes a system for identifying high priority gaps and filling them. Reviewing the book in the Journal of Organizational Excellence, LaRoi Lawton said, "The highly motivated, self-directed reader can gain a great deal of learning and other results from using the guidelines and materials in this timely book."^[7] The book has influenced business authors Garth Johns and Jennifer Britton. Garth Johns includes the methods in his book Common Sense Leadership^[8] and Jennifer J. Britton in her book From One to Many.^[9] Writing about the book in CMA Management magazine, Robert Coleman stated "Building leadership capacity for the future can be a challenge, and pundits have started to jump into the fray..."^[10] The book review in the same issue comments that "The Leadership Gap provides a road map for creating such an [leadership development] environment."^[11]

Leadership Solutions "challenges the conventional focus on individual leadership development. By highlighting the critical role of culture and organizational practices, it provides the pathway to build the leadership capacity of your organization".^[12]

His most recent book The Leadership Contract claims the majority of employees accept leadership positions without "reading the fine print." He draws on an analogy of web site users who accept the terms of service of the site without ever reading them.^[4]:6 He advocates that an employee who wants to cut through bureaucratic sclerotics and make changes in their organizations instead make a conscious decision to lead, going so far as to write down, sign, and date an explicit "leadership contract" with herself or himself.^[4]:155 Molinaro suggest the contract contain clauses on four aspects of this commitment:

1. Make the decision to lead - don't just drift into it.
2. Step up the obligations of leaders have to the stakeholders of their organizations (customers, employees, investors, community, etc.) including the obligation to act ethically.
3. Resolve to put in the hard work required to overcome obstacles to change
4. Build connections to others in the organization for mutual support

The book ranked #4 on The New York Times Best Seller list in the Hard cover business books category for the month of September 2013^[13] and #3 in the Advice, how-to, & miscellaneous category for August 2013.^[14] In a five-star review at Goodreads, Carolyn Kost found the book inspiring.^[15] Writing for Inc. magazine, Minda Zetlin comments that making these four commitments may determine effectiveness.^[16] In a review for a Colorado State University magazine, Sara Daubert says the book "offers practical suggestions" but cautions that some of the examples are "more remedial" in nature and that some are "lengthy and lack relevance."^[17]

Articles

Notable articles from Molinaro include three in the book The Trainer's Portable Mentor edited by Terrence L. Gargiulo, namely "The Synergy of Co-Facilitation: Creating Powerful Learning Experiences", "The Integrated Approach to Leadership Development" (with David Weiss), and "The Trainer as a CAPABLE Leader" (also with Weiss).^[18] For the Banff Centre, he wrote "Driving Employee Engagment", again with Weiss.^[19] Nick Morgan, reviewing Molinaro's blog for Forbes, observed: "Vince's blog will make any leader stop and think about the predominant model of leadership that still exists today."^[20] He has authored two articles for Harvard Business Review namely "Do Millennials Really Want Their Bosses to Call Their Parents?"^[21] and "Why a Corporate Scandal Will Follow You Even If You Weren’t Involved."^[22]

Public speaking

Molinaro frequently gives keynote speeches at business conferences. Topics include how to identify and learn from the best companies,^[23] his belief that the ability to lead is not a trait of a special few, but something that is in everyone,^[24] and how businesses can cultivate leadership.^[25][26]

Notes

External links

• Official channel on YouTube