Peter Popper People Report: Leaders with Ideas

Continuously striving to improve using energy and mental agility, I find the company members and the portfolio of high-powered speakers of this conference bring stimulating critical perspectives to our business. I also like the pace that comes with a 1½-day conference rather than the typical three to four day sagas that simply don't hold my interest. You ever wake up one morning at a conference and wonder why am I spending another day here? Couldn't I just go ahead and go the dentist? Not at this conference!

Here are my top takeaways/ideas from this year's conference (These are my synthesized ideas, not quotes):

Tough Love: Leaders love what they're doing every day and they infect their employees with a love virus. The employees in turn spread the virus to customers and guests. John Izzo, 'Creating Inspiring Workplaces'

Hunger: Humanity has a duty to feed the hungry children. Hospitality is proactively engaged in eliminating this menace and its profound effects. Teachers tell us that hungry children are poor learners. Anything less than the total elimination of hunger in the U.S. is a betrayal of our collective responsibility. Bill Shore, Executive Director, Share Our Strength

ESL: Our Leap-Frog Program touches not only our employees but their entire families as well. The return on investment is excellent. What would be the cost of not doing this? Jose Gomez, Director of Diversity, Brinker International

20.60.20: At Applebee's we strive to keep the top 80 percent of our workforce which are performing at satisfactory to outstanding levels. It costs nearly $30,000 to replace a manager. We measure our success by how many of our top performers we retain. Lou Kaucic, Chief People Officer, Applebee's International

Organizing: Increasingly employees demand dignity in their jobs. They will vote against management not simply because they want higher wages or benefits, but rather because they feel their management does not respect them. Rick Berman, President, Berman and Company

Leadership: Without CEO buy-in all we're doing here is having a conversation. CEOs are the lynchpins that move visions forward. You must help them get it. Only when they are vested in the process, will your shared vision move forward. Roger Herman, 'Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People'

Are we being served? Our top and senior management areas are suffering with high turnover, creating leadership gaps. It is critical that we develop middle managers from within our industry to fill these slots. As leaders our legacy must be that we develop those who will carry forward our visions. Kathleen Wood, President, The Elliot Leadership Institute

I applaud Joni Doolin, People Report CEO, for being a champion and daring others to strive for best people practices within our industry. Her face, along with her team, should be seen on a box of Wheaties. Yet, I believe it is not enough that we compare ourselves to one another. To be truly great, our companies must step up to measure themselves and their accomplishments against world-class companies. Do we dare to get on the stage with Malcolm Baldrige Award applicants and past recipients? Such a journey to excellence is daunting and arduous, and thereby all the more worthy. I challenge all People Report winners to raise the bar even higher. Where leaders dare to go, others emulate and follow.

You can learn more about the conference and view a number of presentations by visiting www.peoplereport.com. To learn more about Malcolm Baldrige visit www.RestaurantU.com, open up Quick Links, and click on Malcolm Baldrige for a hyper-link to world-class standards. To learn more about the humanitarian efforts of Share Our Strength, click on SOS in the Quick Links area to activate a hyper-link to the SOS welcome page. Whatever else you do, get connected and get in the game.