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Do IT this week: Layering
Bath Township man uses what he's learned from diverse careers to teach others how to lead
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Monday, Feb 09, 2009
Ned Parks is a Bath Township Renaissance man.
The 51-year-old has been a police officer, an Army helicopter pilot who flew along the demilitarized zone in South Korea, head of his own aviation company, a minister at East Market Street United Church of Christ, a radio talk-show host, and now, a leadership/management trainer.
In recent years, Parks has spent time on cruise ships, teaching leadership and other business courses across the Atlantic, in the Mediterranean and in the Far East, for an Italian cruise ship company.
One of his clients these days is the Kent State Main and Stark Campus Corporate and Community Services Department.
He began teaching in the Army and loved it.
Parks, who operates New Directions Learning & Development out of his Bath Township home, was a part-time Bath Township police officer while in his 20s, but says he got a chance to see the bigger world when he joined the Army.
Asked to deliver a one-sentence management lecture, he quickly answers with this response: ''Be honest at all cost.''
Today, Parks talks about his work and his life.
Q: What do you see that is wrong with management in most organizations?
A: Even at the highest levels, I see a lack of passion to be the best leader one can be. This desire for mediocrity filters down through the rest of the organization.
Q: Is there a simple fix to get workers to trust managers?
A: Believe it or not, there is. Always tell the truth. Follow up. Hold yourself accountable. Be proactive in accepting responsibility. This might not sound easy, but it is. The hard part is holding yourself accountable. If you do that, then it is real easy to do the rest.
Q: How did being an Army helicopter pilot teach you to train people to be better managers?
A: When flying a helicopter, if you violate any of the four steps above, there is real good chance you can get killed. Apply them to a normal work environment and you will in the long run always succeed.
Q: Did flying above the terrain help you in your current work?
A: It forced me to think very fast, weigh my options and take the correct course. I must have done OK, because I have 4,000 accident-free hours, including 2,000 hours teaching.
Q: You became an instant minister. Did you ever have trouble getting parishioners to trust you and did you have to use any of your own leadership training techniques from the pulpit?
A: Yes, I did and yes, I did, and it was not always successful. Church leadership is very, very different from other venues.
Q: When you are on a cruise ship teaching a course in management, do you do it wearing shorts and a ball cap on a shuffleboard court or is it in a classroom?
A: I am the only guy on board wearing a tie and a suit in the middle of the day. We work in a very well-equipped classroom and it is all very professional, just like with any client.
Q: There must be some stunning things that have happened during classes you teach on beautiful cruises in beautiful places. Tell me a short tale of one of them.
A: When the schedule allows, I am able to get off and enjoy the ports of call. So far, my favorites have been Malta; Barcelona; Da Nang, Vietnam; and La Havre, France.
Q: Chris Farley's Matt Foley character from ''Saturday Night Live,'' the motivational speaker, comes to mind when you hear about people who talk on cruise ships to groups. But you do not call yourself a motivational speaker. How do you describe what it is you do?
A: Educator with passion, and I insist I
give the participants simple and easy tools they can begin to use the next day to become better managers and leaders.
Q: Did being a Bath Township police officer help give you much background and experience for what you are doing now?
A: Being a police officer allowed me to study people under pressure. It also taught me how to think on my feet to say just the right thing to get out of tough situations or to calm someone down. I am able to pass that on to people. Maybe the best thing it taught me was how to ask questions, which I believe is both a skill and an art that every leader should learn well.
Q: What Bible verse means the most to you?
A: The Sermon on the Mount.
Q: When you were at a crossroads in your 20s as a police officer, you had the chance to go to the Army to be a helicopter pilot. Your father, a World War II veteran, the late Don Parks, gave you some important words of advice that still resonate with you today. What were they?
A: I told him I had been accepted in the officer flight training program and said I was not sure if I would accept it because I was settled into being a police officer. He told me that being a police officer was a good and honorable profession and that I could see the world from the inside of a police car. Or, I could see the world. I made up my mind right then and there and went to the Army. . . . I share the story because often we are at a crossroads in our life and it is important for people to help us see the options but not tell us what to do.
Q: Are there some people who should not be in management, or can anyone be trained to lead people?
A: There are a ton of people that should not be in management and they are those that think they know how to manage and don't want to learn how to do their own job better, or those that are dishonest or lack ethics.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
Ned Parks is a Bath Township Renaissance man.
Get the full article here.
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