Liz Sobe has joined Robinson + Cole as Director of Business Development. Ms. Sobe is a growth-driven leader with more than 25 years of experience driving strategic growth and delivering value for lawyers, legal professionals, and clients through seamless collaboration with firm-wide business operations teams.
Read more about Ms. Sobe here.
Summer travel season has arrived and with it comes opportunities to catch up on New York Times bestsellers, beach reads, and books for personal growth written by modern thought leaders. This holiday weekend, Alexander Group team members are sharing the books they are reading for pleasure, personal enrichment and professional development.
Recommended by: John Lamar, Managing Director
Book Description:
Many of us assume the more successful we are, the less susceptible we become to the sense of professional and social irrelevance that often accompanies aging. But the truth is, the greater our achievements and our attachment to them, the more we notice our decline, and the more painful it is when it occurs.
What can we do, starting now, to make our older years a time of happiness, purpose, and yes, success?
At the height of his career at the age of 50, Arthur Brooks embarked on a seven-year journey to discover how to transform his future from one of disappointment over waning abilities into an opportunity for progress. From Strength to Strength is the result, a practical roadmap for the rest of your life.
Drawing on social science, philosophy, biography, theology, and Eastern wisdom, as well as dozens of interviews with everyday men and women, Brooks’ books for personal growth show us that true life success is well within our reach. By refocusing on certain priorities and habits that anyone can learn, such as deep wisdom, detachment from empty rewards, connection and service to others, and spiritual progress, we can set ourselves up for increased happiness.
Recommended by: Jean Lenzner, Managing Director
Managing Director Jean Lenzner is a voracious reader and the ultimate TAG source for book recommendations from every literary genre, not just books for personal growth.
Audiobook Description:
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today
“I would gladly listen to anything with Meryl Streep as the narrator. This explores love, family dynamics and the lives people lived before marriage.”
Favorite Fiction Empowerment Book Description:
Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.
But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.
“A young American woman coming of age novel set against the backdrop of the of the Vietnam War.”
Favorite Non-Fiction Personal Growth Book Description:
Many tales from the Jazz Age reek of crime and corruption. But perhaps the era’s greatest political fiasco—one that resulted in a nationwide scandal, a public reckoning at the Department of Justice, the rise of J. Edgar Hoover, and an Oscar-winning film—has long been lost to the annals of history. In Crooked, Nathan Masters restores this story of murderers, con artists, secret lovers, spies, bootleggers, and corrupt politicians to its full, page-turning glory.
Newly elected to the Senate on a promise to root out corruption, Burton “Boxcar Burt” Wheeler sets his sights on ousting Attorney General Harry Daugherty, puppet-master behind President Harding’s unlikely rise to power. Daugherty is famous for doing whatever it takes to keep his boss in power, and his cozy relations with bootleggers and other scofflaws have long spawned rumors of impropriety. But when his constant companion and trusted fixer, Jess Smith, is found dead of a gunshot wound in the apartment the two men share, Daugherty is suddenly thrust into the spotlight, exposing the rot consuming the Harding administration to a shocked public.
Determined to uncover the truth in the ensuing investigation, Wheeler takes the prosecutorial reins and subpoenas a rogue’s gallery of witnesses—convicted felons, shady detectives, disgraced officials—to expose the attorney general’s treachery and solve the riddle of Jess Smith’s suspicious death. With the muckraking senator hot on his trail, Daugherty turns to his greatest weapon, the nascent Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose eager second-in-command, J. Edgar Hoover, sees opportunity amidst the chaos.
“Jazz Age story of corruption and scandal perpetrated by our most corrupt US Attorney General and a US senator who goes against all odds in his fight to bring him down, while also documenting the rise of J. Edgar Hoover. Hard to believe this book is non-fiction.”
Recommended by: Sarah Mitchell, Director
Book Description:
Meet Casey Han: a strong-willed, Queens-bred daughter of Korean immigrants immersed in a glamorous Manhattan lifestyle she can’t afford. Casey is eager to make it on her own, away from the judgements of her parents’ tight-knit community, but she soon finds that her Princeton economics degree isn’t enough to rid her of ever-growing credit card debt and a toxic boyfriend. When a chance encounter with an old friend lands her a new opportunity, she’s determined to carve a space for herself in a glittering world of privilege, power, and wealth—but at what cost?
Set in a city where millionaires scramble for the free lunches the poor are too proud to accept, this sharp-eyed epic of love, greed, and ambition is a compelling portrait of intergenerational strife, immigrant struggle, and social and economic mobility. Addictively enjoyable, Min Jin Lee’s bestselling debut Free Food for Millionaires exposes the intricate layers of a community clinging to its old ways in a city packed with haves and have-nots.
“I’m always reading fiction! I try to read for an hour every night before bedtime – my brain appreciates going somewhere a little less real at the end of the day before sleep. Up next in my queue is Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee. She wrote Pachinko – I read that book last year and never got it out of my mind. Right behind it is South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami, one of my top five novelists of all time.”
Recommended by: Abby Buchold, Senior Research Associate
Book Description:
Two newlyweds are searching for their dream house visit the remote home of a renowned psychiatrist who disappeared four years prior. They wind up stuck there overnight due to a bad snowstorm. While looking for something to read to pass the time, Tricia finds a secret room containing audio transcripts for all of the doctor’s patients. Tricia listens to the tapes and discovers the horrific events leading up to Dr. Hale’s disappearance. All will be revealed when she listens to the final tape.
“I have not gotten very far into the book yet, but I’m thinking it will be a good mystery for summer with plenty of twists and turns.”
Recommended by: Jodi Smith, Manager of Administration Support
Book Description:
Dramatically improve workplace relationships simply by learning your coworkers’ language of appreciation.
This audiobook will give you the tools to improve staff morale, create a more positive workplace, and increase employee engagement. How? By teaching you to effectively communicate authentic appreciation and encouragement to employees, co-workers, and leaders. Most relational problems in organizations flow from this question: do people feel appreciated? This audiobook will help you answer “Yes!”
A bestseller on the list of books for personal growth—having sold over 300,000 copies and translated into 16 languages—this audiobook has proven to be effective and valuable in diverse settings. Its principles about human behavior have helped businesses, non-profits, hospitals, schools, government agencies, and organizations with remote workers.
When supervisors and colleagues understand their coworkers’ primary and secondary languages, as well as the specific actions they desire, they can effectively communicate authentic appreciation, thus creating healthy work relationships and raising the level of performance across an entire team or organization.
Books on personal growth can offer valuable insights that extend beyond individual development—they can also shape leadership skills and enhance professional effectiveness. The Alexander Group is a global executive search firm dedicated to finding transformative leaders. We understand the power of continuous learning. Whether aiming for personal growth or seeking executive insights, these books can provide the inspiration and guidance needed to thrive in your personal and professional journey.
We can support your next C-level search. Contact us to explore how our executive search expertise can connect you with transformational opportunities that align with your vision of success.
As graduates across the country turn their tassels and embark on life’s next chapter, The Alexander Group team is applauding their efforts with collective words of wisdom.
Our thoughts for 2024 graduates veer more toward the practical, but we also value resilience, a trait needed no matter where you are in life.
John Lamar, Managing Director
Q: What are two to three practical tips you employ that makes you successful at your job?
A: Try to exercise every day. It’s a great reliever of stress.
Communicate with clients every day. Past, present and future clients. It is what I do, and it is how I try to set an example. Jane does it, Johnny does it and Amanda does it. It’s so important for any person in business.
We all make mistakes. Admit it. Apologize for it and move on.
Jane Howze, Managing Director
Q: What’s a practical tip you employ that makes you successful at your job?
A: Over communicate. No one complains about over communication.
John Mann, Managing Director
Q: What are two to three practical tips you employ that makes you successful at your job?
A: Maintain a sense of urgency and anticipate and exceed your client’s expectations; take leadership, ownership and responsibility in your career and work; find a career that you enjoy (I know it’s cliché, but true).
Kyle Robinson, Director of Research
Q: What’s a practical tip you employ that makes you successful at your job?
A: Best tip I could give: utilize a second brain.
Don’t try and remember all the tasks and deadlines you have, both professionally and personally.
As soon as a thought pops into your mind, write it down in your second brain (a notebook, the notes app on your phone, your calendar) and reference it later when either finishing your day or planning the next.
De-clutter your mind so that you can be more intentional with your daily projects.
Jacqueline Griffin, Director of Accounting and Administration
-How have you fostered resilience throughout your career? Why is resilience important?
By adapting to change and developing a growth mindset by believing in my ability to learn and grow from experiences. View change and challenges as opportunities to develop rather than obstacles.
Resilience is important because it enables one to overcome obstacles and pursue goals with confidence and determination.
William Lepiesza, Director
Q: What are two to three practical tips you employ that makes you successful at your job?
A: Put in the time upfront to ensure success at the end: conduct thorough due diligence, know your client as well or better than they know themselves, and do your best to anticipate where problems or issues might occur
When issues or obstacles do arise, don’t simply communicate problems, communicate solutions: don’t leave it up to the client to figure out the answer, provide alternative paths, and recommendations to overcome hurdles.
There are many external factors and things we can’t control, so do your absolute best to control the things that you can.
Sarah Mitchell, Director
Q: What’s a practical tip you employ that makes you successful at your job?
A: Don’t forget to find inspiration and fulfillment outside of your job.
It can be from family, a rich social life, making art, a physical practice (yoga, running, team sports, weightlifting, whatever), adventure travel, and so on. Finding a sense of self-value outside of your job will help you weather the inevitable ups and downs in your career. And beyond that, it will lead you being a more authentic, inspired, and interesting person–that’s the kind of person others want to work with.
Beth Ehrgott, Managing Director
Q: How have you fostered resilience throughout your career? Why is resilience important?
A: A few thoughts:
Aristotle quote:
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
And these are my own thoughts:
You will have to fight to have a seat at the table…and then keep it. Be resilient and relentless.
You will be pushed to your limits and resilience and being relentless will empower you with the mindset to embrace setbacks as opportunities.
Show up everyday and there will always be adversity and more to learn and conquer.
Commit to lifelong learning.
Always act with integrity and compassion and they must never be compromised.
Anthony Ott, Senior Associate
Q: What’s a practical tip you employ that makes you successful at your job?
A: Find the right balance between pushing boundaries and drawing from life’s lessons. You must do both.
The only way to create life lessons is by pushing the boundaries. It will always be a consistent pendulum swing. Life lessons learned can shape how you should push the boundaries. Pushing those boundaries will shape new life lessons.
You will never know if you don’t try. Always be willing to set your pride aside, make necessary adjustments, then push the boundaries again.
Jonathan Daniels, Associate
Q: What are two to three practical tips you employ that makes you successful at your job?
A: Use a calendar for everything in your life, and proactively plan your days. I have missed lots of events and deadlines because I was not organized. Today, my calendar helps keep me on track for everything I need to accomplish, a good record for follow-up with clients, and plan trips with friends.
Proactively Communicate. Despite Elon Musk’s best efforts, we cannot read minds yet. Always share updates with your supervisor, clients, and other stakeholders so they are aware of your work and can better partner with you.
Assume Positive Intent. Life is too short to worry about other people. Be kind, do your best, and always assume others are doing the same.
Document everything. You will forget your notes and you will need to show proof to others. Clients and Courts alike need paper trails.
HOUSTON—As a leading provider of executive search firm services, The Alexander Group celebrates its 40th anniversary by continuing to evolve and grow with the integration of sister firm Alex & Red and the launch of its Professional Services Division. The integration of Alex & Red into The Alexander Group expands the firm’s ability to provide a holistic solution to recruiting high-quality executives across an organization unrelated to its size. The merger is effective March 13, 2024.
The Alexander Group, led by Managing Directors Jane Howze and John Lamar, established Alex & Red in 2011, with The Alexander Group’s executive John Mann at the helm, to help entrepreneurial organizations recruit their leaders, as well as recruit future C-Suite leaders for existing clients. Under Mann’s leadership, Alex & Red was an immediate success, building a national client base in multiple industries and functional areas. The firm was recognized for successfully completing “hard to fill” positions with superior talent.
“Prior to the creation of Alex & Red, our clients asked us to help them recruit outstanding mid-level managers who would be future C-Suite leaders. At the time, we hadn’t focused on how few options our clients had for getting the quality of search The Alexander Group offers at the Board and C-suite level for mid-management positions. Combining Alex & Red’s success with ours, we can better serve our clients by offering an integrated firm that fills all their leadership needs,” said John Lamar.
Lamar adds, “In addition to offering clients one home for all their executive needs, the merger allows the firm to tailor search teams with uniquely broad industry, capabilities, and functional search experience.
“I was privileged to build and lead the team at Alex & Red that brought The Alexander Group’s commitment to client service and excellence to younger and more entrepreneurial companies. As a result, both Alex & Red and its clients have grown in a very short time to the point that it makes sense to integrate both firms into a seamless organization that will fulfill all our clients’ needs,” said John Mann, Managing Director, The Alexander Group.
Alex & Red Managing Director Jonathan Verlander joins The Alexander Group’s robust staff of executive search consultants including founder Jane Howze, CEO John Lamar, Managing Director and Chief Client Officer Amanda Brady, and Director of Research, Kyle Robinson.
Established in 1984, The Alexander Group has provided top-tier executive search firm services for over 40 years, positioning itself as an industry-leading global executive search firm. Specializing in Board and C-Suite searches across a wide array of industries—including Legal and Professional Services, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Financial Services, Industrial and Manufacturing, Energy, and Not-For-Profit—the firm is recognized for its commitment to long-term client relationships, a highly acclaimed research capability, and a dedication to recruiting leaders who make a difference.
Much has been written lately about emotional intelligence and the role it plays in a successful career. But what is emotional intelligence? I suppose I could take the position that the U.S. Supreme Court took with pornography: “I can’t define what [it] is…but I know it when I see it.”
Let me start by saying what emotional intelligence is NOT.
There is substantial disagreement over what emotional intelligence is, how it is measured, and whether it can be taught. Emotional intelligence starts with reading the environment, listening to your audience, and assessing the appropriate response based on spoken and unspoken prompts. Here are five ways that it or the lack thereof has played out in the interview process.
These are obviously blunders that require you to bury your face in your hands. But the news is not all bad. Many executives have highly developed emotional intelligence.
The company culture conversation isn’t anything new, but as employment rates stay low and the remote versus in-office debate volleys back and forth, it’s a discussion here to stay.
Intentionality is at the core of building company culture; sometimes, the strongest advocates for culture come from inside the building. Often, the best response leadership can give its employees is to listen and empower employees to suggest and implement plans. This approach isn’t just about the warm fuzzies; Gallup reports an eighty-five percent net profit increase over five years within companies that build a strong culture.
So, what does this look like in a real-time, tangible way? With offices and time zones spread across the country, The Alexander Group, like many other professional services firms, asked the same question, with leadership actively listening and welcoming ideas.
The results?
Well, for one, you will find most of us gathered or in front of our computers the third Thursday of every month for happy hour, a 60-minute opportunity to chat, laugh and discover new things about each other. The Alexander Group’s Anthony Ott spearheads the monthly event, drawing from experiences at a former employer.
“We have our heads down, working so hard that it’s nice to take a breath and get to know each other better,” associate Anthony Ott said. “We talk about non-work things and that helps build camaraderie, empowerment and trust.”
Ott uses an app that randomly selects the various groups each month, making sure at least one member of leadership is included, supplying the teams with ice breakers, trivia, quizzes and other conversation starters should they be needed. The Alexander Group is a gregarious bunch, so while the trivia has largely gone untouched, the spirit behind happy hour is thriving. The four to six people per group allows for conversation in a small setting, which is also by design.
“Having a small group is more conducive to really talking with each other. It allows us to see another side of a co-worker they may not normally see because we’re in a work mindset,” Ott said. “We all have a common denominator, and this gives a chance to expand culture and team building.”
Sociologist Tracy Brower studies work-life happiness and fulfillment and calls this “Social Capital,” the ability to form fulfilling relationships, generate new ideas and ask advice for how to get things done within the organization.
“Strong cultures also have intricate webbing of social capital—the networks of people across the organization. To maintain positive cultures in hybrid/remote working situations, leaders need to be intentional about encouraging people to build their networks,” Brower said. “They can do this by connecting people across departments, providing for cross-functional learning opportunities and creating time for people to have virtual coffee or networking discussions with colleagues across the company.”
The happy hours are in addition to monthly catered lunches where staff is encouraged to catch up over a meal, group outings to play darts or Top Golf and annual company retreats. Many of The Alexander Group team members, including managing director John Lamar, are based in California, so the West Coast contingent makes it a priority to gather in person a few times a year.
“It’s so much fun to meet in person, give them a hug and spend that time together,” Ott said.
A by-product of leadership-supported gatherings is the framework of a safe space to exchange ideas and encourage mentorship. Employees who know they are seen and heard feel valued, and that means greater staff retention.
McKinsey & Company study authors Terra Allas and Brooke Weddle say connection building helps meet the psychological and emotional needs of employees. They suggest setting up regular/daily meetings at the beginning of each day, allowing time for socializing and creating regular events to build social connections. McKinsey research shows society is a key source of meaning for employees, along with company, customer, team, and individual.
Indeed, that is what Pax8 CEO John Street finds with his employees. Street prioritizes inclusivity within his company, connecting every day with someone on his staff in a meaningful way.
“Creating a feeling of belonging locally, regionally and globally is priceless, and sustaining that feeling requires an inclusive approach and active commitment from leaders. For example, I make it a practice to call one employee each day and ask, “What’s going on in your world? What are you thinking about?” These discussions help me signal to every employee that they belong and are valued,” Street said in a January 2023 Forbes Magazine article. “Embedding inclusion and belonging is a core tenet of employee recruitment and retention.”
Indeed, Ott, knowing he was heard and supported by leadership, was motivated to expand the social capital plans at The Alexander Group. Next steps include one-on-one exchanges where team members can dedicate time for business development, marketing and organizational ideas and a quarterly exchange of constructive firm-wide suggestions.
“Empowered employees feel like they have a voice. We all come from different places and have different ideas. We all have something to offer,” Ott said.
Street has also found an energized employee base by listening to his staff. They feel encouraged and see themselves rising within Street’s IT company.
“When employees know their voices are being heard, they not only feel engaged but are actually engaged. Innovations rise to the top, and the individuals who bring great ideas to the table often become future leaders in the organization. Because they deeply understand the importance of being heard, these new leaders will then continue to prioritize listening to team members. Leaders can encourage employees to speak up in a variety of ways, like physical or virtual suggestion boxes, surveys or simply asking them directly,” Street said.
Every company is different, so if happy hour and axe throwing aren’t exactly the social experiences your team would appreciate, human resources expert Renee Cocchi says what’s most important is choosing activities that will help teams get closer to each other, be happier and more comfortable in the workplace so they can produce their best work. Planning to get social? Cocchi offers these tips when adding events to the culture-building event calendar:
