Courtesy / Luke's Lobster
Luke's Lobster founder and CEO Luke Holden
Updated: October 19, 2021
Not so lonely at the top: Maine CEOs get advice from good sources — each other
Courtesy / L.L.Bean Inc.
L.L.Bean president and CEO Steve Smith created an informal group of CEOs to problem solve, commiserate and help each other.
By Jessica Hall
When Steve Smith moved back to Maine in 2015 to become president and CEO of L.L.Bean Inc., he wanted to connect with Portland-area leaders to learn from them and build ties with the community.
“I found myself meeting CEOs at events but wanting a connection,” Smith said. “There were people ahead of me in their careers and I could learn from that. So, I reached out to them."
What started as his desire to pick the brains of fellow chief executives has grown into an informal group with eight to 10 core members, who meet locally at least once a quarter to share ideas, problem solve, commiserate and help each other.
“Being in a small city, one of the beauties is that you can get a group like this together,” Smith said.
The group doesn’t have a name. It just appears as “Portland Leaders” on Smith’s calendar.
The logistics of getting so many power brokers in one room several times a year falls to their executive assistants, who now all know each other. Before the pandemic, the CEO group would have lunches at Union restaurant in Portland, with different leaders joining as they could.
“We would meet for lunch and talk about what we were working on or had concerns about. Even though we’re all in different industries, we all were working on the same things. We had the same issues — talent, recruiting, trailing spouses or restructuring headquarters,” Smith said.
“There’s very much an emotional component and a psychological component. There are business issues that CEOs deal with and it’s hard to be vulnerable and ask questions inside your own business. To have a network like this is incredible. Like any type of support network in society, you can be vulnerable, be insecure, ask questions you can’t normally ask and it’s all for the betterment of self and company and society,” Smith said.
He’s a better leader because of lessons learned from the group.
“I’m learning from peers and seeing how they behave and think and act has made me a better leader. Being around people with more experience than you makes you better,” Smith said.
During COVID-19, the group has swelled to include more executives, as well as more virtual meetings or phone calls to tackle pandemic-level problems. At its largest, the group has included almost 60 people, Smith said.
The group also has created other spinoffs, with the companies’ chief financial officers, chief marketing officers, and diversity officers all having their own separate meetings and talks.
Group rallies for pandemic response
“When the pandemic hit, the idea was all about ‘bending the curve,’ and there were serious concerns we needed to tackle,” Smith said.
He rallied the core members, expanded the CEO base to more industries, and invited experts to pop in. They've included key figures such as Gov. Janet Mills, Maine Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Heather Johnson, Dora Anne Mills, chief health improvement officer at MaineHealth, and Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We got people together and said ‘How can we be of service? We have thousands of employees and thousands of customers,’” Smith said.
Portland Leaders met on a biweekly basis throughout 2020. The companies started sharing “best practices” on communications strategies, worker outreach and emergency responses. L.L.Bean, for example, shared lessons about pandemic responses that it had learned during the SARS and H1N1 public health crises.
The CEOs took seriously the effort to support vaccinations and help protect their communities of employees and customers.
"During the pandemic, Steve brought leaders together. He was humble and showed vulnerability which is something we all needed to see while also leading teams and not knowing all the answers. When the world was on fire, Steve had the awareness to bring leaders together to share ideas,” said Luke Holden, founder and chief executive of Luke’s Lobster.
“That had a multiplying effect on the people we serve and work with. I was blown away by that exemplary model of leadership and his natural gravitation towards serving best he could. I've always admired and tried to role model how balanced Steve is around family, work and person, but in this example he stood 10 feet tall for me."
With the pandemic creating unprecedented challenges for companies, customers and employees, having a group to exchange ideas and problem-solve was crucial.
“It’s immensely helpful to compare notes and experiences, but it became acutely important during times of change and the pandemic,” said Michael Simonds, chief operating officer of Unum Group (NYSE: UNM).
File photo
Mike Simonds
“We have really impressive leaders in our state in business, education, government and nonprofits. I’ve seen a lot of courage and humility in the group. Watching people in retail and healthcare who had such immediate and impressive and direct exposure to the pandemic — that was courage,” Simonds said.
Lately, the issues tackled by the CEOs have centered around longer-term needs, such as vaccinations, masking, flexible work locations and scheduling, Smith said.
Another rallying point was the summer of 2020 and the protests surrounding deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. The CEOs felt they needed to respond and help create change in a positive way.
The group worked with Quincy Hentzel, CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, to help create a statement in solidarity against racial and social injustice that was signed by more than 400 companies.
Having the connections already made the work go more quickly and reach the companies more fully. The work was embraced by the CEOs and taken to heart, Smith said. Their diversity efforts continue and remain at the top of the list of priorities, he said.
Lessons learned
Michael Vail, president of Hannaford Supermarkets, said it has helped to talk to others who have similar roles and similar pressures.
“We have great jobs in the community, but we can be isolated at times. This is a really safe group to talk to and use as a sounding board,” Vail said. “It’s helped me have a broader view of the community and what the community needs. Having perspective from other CEOs and other industries has broadened my view of need and service.”
Simonds, meanwhile, said he has learned the importance of patience from others in the group.
“There’s so much ambiguity in life and business and you can’t sort it out immediately. The group has taught me to solve the problems that can be solved and have patience with the rest,” he said.
Melissa Smith, chair and CEO of WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX), said the group gave her a deeper connection to Maine and its community.
“Most of my world of business happens outside of Maine. This gives me that sense of community where I live,” WEX’s Smith said.
“All of business comes from relationships and relationships are building blocks. This helps us make really quick connections to people and ideas,” she added. “Any of these networks is humanizing what you’re going through. Having people in similar roles, having similar stressors. People want to have a connection.”
File Photo / Tim Greenway
WEX Chair and CEO Melissa Smith
Simonds echoed Smith's comments. “Maine is very special in this regard. There’s a sense of community. And these leaders share and open up at pretty high levels, it’s very special,” he said. “We have emails that fly around on issues someone may be facing. Everyone is busy with pretty full agendas, but you send an email on a crisis and the group will get back to you in 10 minutes. It’s pretty incredible.”
Vail added, “It’s a great example of investing in relationships. I know I could pick up the phone and they would be there for me and I’d be there for them.”
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Anonymous
October 25, 2021
This approach to learning and sharing is exactly one of the elements of Fully Human Leadership.
Having worked with Steve, I know the integrity and humility and smarts about leading. So good to read about this.
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