Steven Rothstein is the ninth president of the Perkins School for the Blind. Perkins is most famous for being Helen Keller’s school, but most extraordinary for not resting on its laurels. Perkins is extremely active supporting people who are visually or hearing impaired, not just in the United States but internationally and Steven is a great force and great champion for the school. Before joining Perkins, he worked in government, private business and non-profit human service education, including being co-founder of the Citizen’s Energy Corporation, which is a non-profit organization providing millions of dollars in energy and medical benefits to low-income citizens nationally and internationally. In this interview we:
- Hear the the story of Perkins and some of the amazing work they do
- Learn how Perkins moved from being a US-centered organization to working internationally, and the importance of working through local cultures.
- See how they choose which battles to fight – and which ones to let go
- Uncover the deep belief that drives all of Perkins’ strategic decisions
There are people who are in business. And then there are people like Dixon Thayer, who are REALLY in business. Dixon was a key player in the merger between Kimberley Clark and Scott Paper. He led a New Business Operations for Ford Motor Company then led a leveraged buyout of that division. He was then called in to become the CEO of i-Trax, a struggling solutions provider in the health care sector which he turned around and sold to Walgreen’s, a major drugstore company in the US. And he leads his own advisory business, AB3 Resources.
Marshall Goldsmith has been acclaimed by many organizations and institutions as one of the great thinkers in business and in HR. His 2007 book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There was a New York Times bestseller and the Wall Street Journal’s number one business book in 2007, and his most recent book Succession looks like it will have the same level of success. I’m constantly struck by his generosity of spirit as well as his wisdom, and he demonstrates both in this interview.
