Nido Qubein's "Connection" Quotient As a Leader: What's Your Communication Style?

It all started with one of those out-of-control emails that got forwarded along the Internet to family and friends.  John Cole, a big cheese at the Veteran's Administration (actually the Director of Benefits Academy for the US Department of Veterans Affairs www.VBA.VA.gov) and father of a recent graduate of High Point University, Hillary Cole, sent an email to his former military buddies updating them on his life and whereabouts. In that email, he mentioned how pleased he was with his daughter Hillary's recent experience at High Point University (www.highpoint.edu), where an admired consultant and speaker in my industry, Dr. Nido Qubein, serves as president.

My husband, a recipient of Mr. Cole's email, forwarded the note to me because of the Nido Qubein connection. In fact, along with a group of other members of the Speakers Roundtable (www.SpeakersRoundtable.org), I was scheduled to tour the High Point campus in late August. And as Paul Harvey would say, "Here's the rest of the story."

After learning of the connection between my husband and Mr. Cole, Dr. Qubein made arrangements for Hillary Cole to meet my husband and chat on campus. 

Why would he go to the trouble?  Eighteen months into his tenure there—where Dr. Qubein has raised a $100 million and spent $82 million in renovations, breathing new life and excitement into the student body—why would he take the time to ensure that a 22-year-old former student has a chat with her father's old army buddy? 

That's his nature as a leader. 

Here's how Hillary and her dad first connected with Dr. Qubein.  After my recent trip to High Point, John Cole called to confirm the signicant connection and impact Dr. Qubein is making in the lives of students and parents alike. 

"During Hillary's first couple of years at the university, I was always proud of her education at High Point. But after Dr. Qubein took over in her junior year, I quickly noticed a marked change. The buildings, the atmosphere, the campus—it all took on a new life.  Hillary sent me a copy of his tape series.  And I began to listen to him on the way to and from High Point to pick her up.   I got to know him from those tapes.  So the next time I was on campus, I saw him out walking, recognized him from his photos, and decided to introduce myself.  I said, 'Hi, I'm John Cole.  I'm known by many titles, but here I'm just Hillary's dad.'

Dr. Qubein smiled, shook my hand, and said, 'And around here I'm just known as the president of Hillary's school.'"

Yep, that's Dr. Qubein.  That's connection with a father's pride.  And that's why kids are standing in line to enroll at High Point University.

My colleague Terry Paulson also blogged about his trip to High Point:  http://terrypaulson.typepad.com/leaderline/2006/08/president_nido_.html
Read Bert Decker's observations at http://deckercommunications.typepad.com/experience/2006/09/the_great_commu.html

Comments

[bdecker]

What a story, Dianna. Here is another take on Nido's great communications, at
http://deckercommunications.typepad.com/
Bert

[Terry Paulson]

You captured clearly what makes Nido such a great leader. It's the 100 little things that he does that comes from a heart of service. He doesn't just do this to make HPU number one; he does it to make a difference to students. His heart is in the right place. This is just one more example.