Leadership Lessons From Utah's Cream Of The Crop.

• Author: Miller, Derek

The end-of-the-year provides an opportunity for reflection-finding inspiration in successes, lessons in defeats, and making plans for growth in the coming year. It's also an opportunity to learn from others, to take their wisdom and experience, and blend it with our own to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead.

One of the many opportunities I've had as president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber is the chance to meet with local business and community leaders from across the state. It's important to hear their leadership philosophy, learn their best practices, and gain from the rich experiences that have influenced their success. From these interviews, I have gathered wisdom that I would like to share with you as you plan for a bold and promising new year.

Set clear company values

Steve Starks, president at the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies says he'd like to think of himself as a "leader among a group of really good leaders." He said that his leadership philosophy was really informed by Larry Miller because "he believed that if you empower people closest to the business and give them autonomy as if they owned it, they will be more successful."

Starks told me: "The Miller family is very clear on the values they want the businesses to be operated by and we emphasize those values. We try to do the right thing for the right reasons. If we're clear on what the values are, if we provide the support and autonomy for the right people to be able to do their jobs at all levels of the organization, we believe that we will flourish. So that will create better collaboration and opportunities for people to innovate and we encourage that all throughout the organization. To me, I think a leader creates an environment where good ideas can rise to the top and even bad ideas can be floated out there."

Hire people smarter than you

With more than 30 years of experience managing and marketing shopping centers, Linda Wardell, the general manager at City Creek Center, one of the largest mixed-use downtown redevelopment projects in the nation, has a collaborative leadership style. She says: "I believe the way that we succeed is [by better] working together. What I've learned over time is that I'm not afraid to hire people much, much smarter than I am. There are certainly some people on our team that are at the top of their game in their fields of expertise and I have the utmost respect for them. What I bring to the table for them is the ability to help...