David Novak 0:04 

Welcome to How leaders lead where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple, you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. Well, my guest today is Diana Murphy, managing director of a private equity firm called Rock Solid holdings, and the former president of the United States Golf Association. She also serves on the boards of AIG, landstar Synovus, and the Atlanta Braves. And it's no surprise, because she's a phenomenal leader, who really knows how to get people working together and adds value to everything she touches. Everybody talks about collaboration these days, but Diana has always had it in her DNA. teams who can collaborate well tend to do better work in less time. And they have more fun doing it, too. If you want to tap into the power of collaboration for your own team and career, you're going to get a ton of insight from Diana today. And if you're a golfer, make sure you catch her story about Arnold Palmer playing golf with her husband on their wedding day. Let's get to it. Here's my conversation with my good friend head soon to be yours, Diana Murphy

there's one thing we both absolutely have in common. And that's our love for the game of golf. When did you first catch the bug?

Diana Murphy 1:36 

Oh, my goodness, I caught the bug from my big brother who's eight years older than I am. And we were growing up in a small town in West Virginia, Princeton, West Virginia. And he decided that our backyard was a perfect driving range. So he would take me out there while he wanted to hit balls and teach me how to hold a club and swing a golf club. And so that was really my first introduction. My father was a big big golfer, from England. But unfortunately, he passed away when I was an infant. And so my big brother Tom decided that's okay, I'm going to teach you how to play this game that our dad loved. And so he did. And I was awful at it. But I loved miniature golf and, and honestly, I didn't really recognize the importance of the game until I had graduated from college and got into business. And I did not like that one strategic planning meeting when we were off site, and everybody left after lunch to go play golf except me. So that's when I took it very seriously and said, Wait a minute, I need lessons I need to figure this game out. And it's just been such a wonderful gift. Both from a family perspective. And also, obviously from a business perspective. So it's, I'm hooked.

David Novak 2:58 

Well, I'm glad you did it. Because I sure enjoy playing with you and you got a great game. And I know you're working on trying to make it better, like all of us. Absolutely. I want to talk about your time as the president of the USGA in a bit, but first give us a snapshot of rock solid holdings and, and the business that you're leading today.

Diana Murphy 3:18 

I basically have been had a very checkered career, starting in journalism at the Baltimore Sun and after working in sales and marketing and running the business side of the newspaper company, I thought I was taking a leave of absence. Fun got recruited to be a partner at a private equity fund in Jacksonville, Florida called Chartwell capital. And so three other partners and I had a great run in the late 80s, early 90s, with mid to later stage investments in the southeast. And after that, I decided to start my own private equity fund, and continue to invest in the southeast. And so that's what I've been doing for a while, took a little bit of a hiatus when I got recruited to run the Georgia Research Alliance Venture Fund, which was also just a delightful experience of startups in the technology and, and life sciences areas for our research universities here in the state of Georgia. So I got to do that for about five years and then had to give it up because this crazy USGA role as an executive committee member had grown from that to being a championship chairman and then ultimately, to being president for two years.

David Novak 4:40 

Well, I gotta ask you, you know, that's really kind of a strange background where you go from being in journalism, then you get into the investment business, uh, you know, how come you got recruited to do that with a journalism background?

Diana Murphy 4:52 

Really good question. As I was running the business side of the newspaper company, one of the other three partners knew me from Alex Brown and Legg Mason area in Baltimore, where we had some publications that we had sold. And so through that relationship, and knowing that I was involved in a corporate board in Jacksonville, Florida, he said, You're going to Jacksonville anyway, why don't you come and look at a media research company that we're considering investing in. And that was one of their first investments called strategic Media Research. He said, Just Would you look at this business plan while you're on a so called leave of absence, which I was doing, because my husband at the time was president, the USGA. So I did and I looked at the research company and said, you know, that they really do have some interesting technology here and ended up meeting the chairman founder, and got recruited to go be their interim CEO in Chicago for about nine months, and basically helped the founder transition into more of a founder role and build a traditional board and get some more investors. And from there, they said, Okay, how about joining us as being a partner with private equity. So I literally David, as you can imagine, learned, with everything, it seems like in my career, as I'm doing it, I'm learning more and more about what the heck I got myself into.

David Novak 6:19 

Well, that's a great story. It's,

Diana Murphy 6:21 

it was fun. And there's a lot of similarities in almost everything I've done, which is mostly, hopefully recognizing talent, and other people and helping them be the best they can be.

David Novak 6:33 

You know, you're the non executive chairman of landstar. And you're also on the boards of AIG and Synovus. Financial Corp, what's the biggest leadership lesson you've learned, as of late being associated with these great companies?

Diana Murphy 6:49 

I think it's a very important role that we play and corporate America as a board, and there's obviously their traditional governance roles that we play for all shareholders. But for me, personally, in every board, and I, I just said yes to one more. So I, this week, it's been announced that I'm one of the five board members on the Atlanta Braves holdings, which just spun out from Liberty Media. And I'm tickled with that, obviously, because I'm a noxious brace, man. But I would say the the common denominator with all of those areas, for me, personally, is again, recognizing the skill set that you have in the management team. If there are voids, how do you help them grow or read, you know, fill those voids, and most importantly, how you help the CEO be the very best he or she can be? And again, that's, that's what gets me up every day. I love that more than anything else.

David Novak 7:55 

Where did you get this passion to, you know, develop leaders and make sure that the company is doing the same, because I've talked to you before, and this is something that you really are very committed to,

Diana Murphy 8:09 

I don't know exactly where I got it, I, I was raised in a very loving funfilled. Italian environment, my, with my mother, being a widow and raising two small children, my grandmother moved in with us. So I had two very strong dynamite Italian women as my parents, if you will, and a feisty Big Brother. And I think we just being around a loving environment, a giving back environment, something that just, you know, how can we make each other be the best that we can be? That's just always been something that I was raised with. And I'm very passionate about giving back whether that's from a business perspective, or even more importantly, from a community perspective and any way that I can. So I, I think that's maybe my North Star as much as anything else.

David Novak 9:09 

That's great. And when you think of yourself as a leader, what do you think separates you from from other people? I mean, what is it about you that people will take a shot with you to go try something that's totally new? You move into different areas very quickly and learn on the go. What is it that drives people to say, hey, I want to give Diana a shot at this.

Diana Murphy 9:33 

I have no idea. I I'm probably more amazed by that than then you are and I? In all seriousness, I don't describe myself as a leader. I don't think of myself necessarily as that but that's substage obviously, you become one. I am a pretty good Lister and I'm quite good at reading people's personal data. Nowadays and needs and maybe what they're saying, or, perhaps more importantly, what they're not saying sometimes. So I, I suspect that's maybe helped me along the way. But honestly, I'm not sure I don't have to ask other people that when

David Novak 10:15 

well, you're definitely humble, that's for sure it now when you think about the people that you select for leaders, or if you're, let's say you're on a search committee for a CEO, what would be the number one thing that you would look for and the person that you had hired a lead enterprise

Diana Murphy 10:31 

integrity, authentic personality, a similar value system to the company in which he or she would be considering to join but pretty basic personality traits that are actually similar to why we love the game of golf, right? I mean, it is the honesty, it's the integrity, it's, it's the desire to be the best you can be, but not at the expense of someone else. And so I would say authentic, thoughtful, but also recognizing your strengths and perhaps your weaknesses. So you'd know, as a leader, how how to augment what you're going to be bringing to the table, and what types of people you need around you so that the team can be successful, not just you.

David Novak 11:21 

You mentioned earlier, he got your journalism degree from West Virginia University. By the way, I got mine at the University of Missouri. So we have that in common as well. Yeah. What was your first job out of college?

Diana Murphy 11:32 

Well, I was actually two years into college, when I found out that at WVU, my speech pathology degree was going to be six years instead of four. And I only had money for four years. So going into my junior year, I switched to journalism, which meant I had to take 25 hours a semester for two years to graduate with a journalism degree and, and I went to work the summers for a radio station and a television station in Baltimore. So those were the first two jobs actually in journalism. And they were one was on the research side, and then the other was on the journalism side, and I, I realized that I was actually could make more money on the sales side. And so and I didn't really have a lot of interest in being in front of the camera. So I was very excited when I could get the big girl, if you will, from an advertising perspective in our market at the time, which was the the major daily newspaper, and it had morning and evening editions. And so this, you know, dates me, obviously, but we had a great time because I was, I don't know, it wasn't even 2829 When I was managing several 100 salespeople and helping the competition, see their weaknesses, helping the newspaper grow and, and beating on all of our goals most of the time. So,

David Novak 13:03 

so you, you lead a huge sales organization very early in your career, and 2829 years old, what everybody has to motivate a sales force as you move up into most organizations, what did you learn about how to really pull that lever with your, with your sales team to get them fired up and ready to go out there and, you know, drive the sales.

Diana Murphy 13:26 

You know, money is obviously a key motivator and making sure that that we had individual sales goals for every individual was part of it. But the secret sauce, I think that really worked, at least for me was having a group goal. And so that every quarter if we as an entity met our goals. They got to choose whether they all wanted additional compensation financially, or if that additional comp could go into a literally a party. And so for, I don't know how many 15 quarters or so they always we always made our goals and we always put the money towards a crab feast on a ship in the Inner Harbor, involved to war and it was hard show crabs, ice cream, lots of potato chips, and always a great band that would start with the song celebration. So

David Novak 14:27 

that's great. So now I've got the secret start. Get hard shelled crabs. I love it. They

Diana Murphy 14:33 

go and I'm my mouth is watering as I'm talking about it. I miss those things.

David Novak 14:38 

As you were coming up, Diana who modeled good leadership for you. And what's the big lesson that they taught you?

Diana Murphy 14:47 

You know, I think my probably the first example of leadership. I wouldn't have even understood what that was but was my mother. She never saw any challenge that she couldn't figure out how Out of face. And obviously, we had some pretty tough times and struggle for her to raise a family and also work outside the home. But she never told me I couldn't do anything. And she encouraged me to do anything I could, but that I had to work really hard that nothing would happen without hard work. And so, Mom was, you know, by far my most significant role model, my grandmother was tenacious and straight over from Italy. And mother, fortunately, you know, claimed us but, but I would say she in particular, as I got older, sometimes in business, you learn what not to do by how you're manage. So I would say, particularly early in my career, I didn't necessarily have sterling leaders that were worthy of emulating, other than I learned pretty quickly what I didn't want to do, or how I didn't want to manage, but that was, that was great. And that worked well. And I again, in the publishing world, you know, we've got seven unions, we had picket lines, sometimes during strikes, I mean, it was and I was one of very few women in any type of management role. And typically, most of the employees age have their daughters or granddaughters and recognizing that and just trying to be friendly with them, and understanding, you know, if they're going to be working on Saturday morning, on a holiday at five in the morning, then I'm going to be bringing muffins to them and talking to them on the line and just, you know, get to know them as, as individuals. So again, it was just building relationships with people. As my career evolved. One of probably my best mentors, happened to be my husband, because I had the opportunity of working with him for 10 years, before we ever knew each other personally, and he is your quintessential Southern gentleman, who's extremely bright, but very gentle, and his own style of leadership. And so I'd say to this day, I, I learned every day from just observing how reg deals with issues.

David Novak 17:11 

That's fantastic. And you know, you bring up a really good point, you can learn a lot from the people who really aren't that good a leader, you know, learn what not to do. So what advice would you give to someone who's coming up in business and they're working for somebody that hates they just don't really feel good about? How do you work through that? And what should you do? Well, I

Diana Murphy 17:34 

think you decide how, how bad is it? And in the grand scheme of things, right? If you really love what you're doing, if if you are making a difference. I think just having a pretty honest conversation with that person about saying, you know, I respond a lot better when you don't yell at me or do this or whatever it is. Can we work out a plan where, where this is a win win for both of us because I love my job, I want to stay here. And I want to grow and I want you to teach me but right now it's it's not working and just hopefully allow some self awareness with the other the other person and I would hope that that would work most of the time.

Koula Callahan 18:21 

Have you ever wondered what David is thinking as he interviews our guests each week? Or have you been interested in hearing David's take on some of the questions that he asks his guest? Well, I do and I know a lot of you do, too. My name is Kula Callaghan. And together with David I host the three more questions podcasts that airs every Monday. These episodes are just about 15 minutes. And in them I asked David three questions that dive deeper into the themes of his episode with his guests. David shares incredible insights and stories from his career leading yum brands. And all of His answers are super practical and inspiring. Like this great insight David shared and one of our most recent, three more questions episodes.

David Novak 19:04 

One of the huge traits that people need today more so than ever is the ability to collaborate, the ability to get all those opinions out on the table, so that you can really make the very best decisions and that that collaboration skill is something that every leader really needs to needs to develop. And, you know, that's why I think a very important question to ask as a leader is what do you think?

Koula Callahan 19:30 

Get the three more questions podcasts in your feed each Monday and dive even deeper into the episodes you know and love. Just subscribe to how leaders lead wherever you get your podcasts

David Novak 19:48 

you climbed the ranks and became a senior VP at the Baltimore Sun. But then after 15 years with the company, you decided to take a leave of absence. You know, tell us about what drove that decision. She,

Diana Murphy 20:00 

that was the scariest decision I've ever made. I have always worked literally, as a Girl Scout, you know, selling cookies and getting in trouble because we sold too many cookies. And my mother had to take a day off to deliver them or

David Novak 20:18 

after scoring a heck of a salesperson, I can tell you that

Diana Murphy 20:21 

I've been I've, I've had some fun with it. But I was in sales, going through junior high in high school, because, again, my brother was in college. And of course, I thought he needed extra money to survive college. So my mother and my grandmother and I had a baking establishment in our home. And after school, I had the afternoon, early evening shift, mother had the late shift, my grandmother had the day shift, I sold the products that we made. And again, they're all Italian breads and pet Saleae. And you name it, but anyway, I, I'm sold it, we would package it, you know, and I would deliver it to the school and the teachers each day. So that was part of of that journey, I guess very early on, but I loved it. And the leave of absence was because my husband was the CEO of the National Geographic Society, and President of the USGA, at the same time, and something had to give right you couldn't have two executives and, you know, working 20 473 jobs, in his case with two leadership roles. So he encouraged me to consider a leave of absence. But again, I had never not worked since I was very, very young. And that was hard. I mean, it was very frightening for me, but you know, again, it was trusting him and understanding that, you know, this would be probably a healthy thing for me. And of course, it was incredibly healthy for at least nine months or so when, you know, I learned how to be a better daughter, aunt, cousin, you know, whatever else that I wasn't doing, introduce myself to a gym for the first time. You know, just things that other people do all the time. But I didn't know because I was working all the time.

David Novak 22:13 

You then go on and spend 20 years with USGA serving on various committees, including the executive committee, what kept you engaged and committed to that organization for so long,

Diana Murphy 22:24 

I learned about the organization, as a spouse when reg was was president and the friendships that we made and then realizing the difference that the organization was making, and giving back to the game of golf and growing the game of golf was something that I got hooked on pretty quickly, was very involved in Boys and Girls Clubs and the first tee and so it was a natural progression for me to to stay when his predecessor Judy bill, the first female president of the SGA, followed him and asked me if I would stay on for her tenure and beyond the membership marketing communications committees for the USGA, and you just you can't tell Judy bill now. So I had an opportunity of doing that, and, and then I really did think my time was over what the USGA as an entity, love the game. And by then Richard and I were playing a lot of golf together, which was

David Novak 23:26 

terrific. But then in 2016, you become the president of the USGA. Now, what's something that you moved into that role? Because you'd served on the executive committee had been in various other committee positions. What was something about, you know, moving into that role that caught you by surprise, something that you didn't expect?

Diana Murphy 23:45 

Well, I didn't expect to be asked to join the executive committee. So that was, that's what floored me. In fact, a friend of yours Walter driver, introduced the idea and said, Yeah, I'm on the nominating committee. And I'd like for you to be interviewed for the executive committee. And I just thought he was kidding. And then when I realized he wasn't kidding, I thought for sure, my husband would say, oh, maybe not. Let's talk about this. So you know, the time commitment. And so I paused for a night and was pretty sure Rachel is going to say, you don't want to do that. And and Raj said, No, I think you should do it. You'd be perfect for it. So to answer your question, I, I think what they were looking for at the what I know they were looking for at the time was to augment the board with perhaps more business focused executives. They had some wonderful talented executive committee members that came up through their traditional state golf associations, where of course I didn't, but I was one of the few coming in from business at that time in 2011. And it was pretty clear when I joined that there are a couple of challenges there that I needed to get there. were involved in and I did. You know, there was some folks who wanted to change the organization turn it upside down, and it needed to evolve, but it didn't need to be turned inside out.

David Novak 25:12 

That's interesting, because that happens in organizations where you have people wanting to go a direction, where you innately just know it's not right. It's not right. How do you handle it? Well, I,

Diana Murphy 25:22 

let's just say through communication, I mean, it was a 20 472 week effort of communicating with everybody involved of what was right and what was wrong and what was going on. And, ultimately, you know, there was a vote, and it was a unanimous vote that my initiative with the help of others certainly was going to win. And so basically, what they that did, David was reset, and allowed me to become more of, I guess, the leader within the organization to help it turn from an organization that was being managed more by the Executive Committee than it was by the leadership there. And so my last three or four years, there was really spent on taking the executive director and helping him again, surround himself with talent in areas that he might not be particularly really strong in, but recognizing that this is a business, this is not just a golfing Association, it's the governing body of golf. And so we needed to augment, you know, different areas of skill sets. And he did a great job, he learned a lot. This is Mike Davis, you know, really thoroughly enjoyed working with him couldn't have been more proud with how he grew. And the people that he brought in, I remember he saying, are we ready to hire, hire this guy who was our head of people development. And I said, we can't not hire and we are more than ready, because you're ready. So by the time I left, I would say the organization was was structured correctly, where the executive committee was starting to become more in a governance role leading and helping management laid, but that the management team was in fact in charge. So yeah, I'm kind of proud of that one. And I'm really proud of helping get the rules of golf changed to where they make a little bit more sense, and are a little less legalese. And a little bit more common sense.

David Novak 27:25 

That's great, you know, give us a snapshot of the USGA, and all that it's

Unknown Speaker 27:29 

responsible for,

Diana Murphy 27:31 

oh, my goodness, it's, you know, it has, by definition, being part with the RNA, the governance, if you will, of the game of golf, globally, that's a major responsibility and, and whether that is the rules of golf, or handicapping, or equipment and standards, I mean, all of those are just fundamental tools that define our sport. And so that's a very important part of it. But in addition to that, running, yeah, the 15 championships, the the majors now, and one of the ones that we were voted on when I was involved was the adaptive open, which is so exciting for good golfers that may have some type of handicap, but you know, love the game and are fiercely competitive. So between our opens and our amateur championships, along with the government side of it, the USGA I think is, you know, primed to continue to grow and make a huge difference in the game. And I know the current leadership's very passionate about continuing to grow the game and introduce the game to, to younger people and making sure that that's sustainable through their careers. So that you know, not just through grade school or junior high, but through high school, and if not college, then you know, having access to playing golf, if they're not in college, so that those are some of the, I think the goals of the current administration and and I just want to get my handicap down.

David Novak 29:05 

You're only one of the two females I've think that have been the president of the USGA and is now 129 year history. When was that most challenging for you being a female? And and in what ways if any, did it work to your advantage?

Diana Murphy 29:23 

I'd say recognizing that that was a AHA issue for others. was maybe eye opening for me. I was in a local grocery store, in our in our community one day, shortly after being it was public that I was the president and this woman stopped me and she said, Oh, my goodness, my husband told me who you are. And I said, I'm just Diana, you tell me who are you and let's talk and she said, No, no, you are really important. You are like the second woman I'm president of the USGA. And I said, Yes, ma'am. And she said, just don't screw it up. This is a big deal. Don't screw it up. I said, Okay. Yes, ma'am. I will. Do you play golf? She says no. But I, my husband told me how important this is. So, you know, those are conversations you don't usually have in a grocery store. I'm thinking, Oh, my goodness, don't mess this up, Diana. So I, you know, I think I was the right person at the right time. I'm pretty sure I wasn't selected because I was a female. But that being said, you know, there's a lot of female executive committee members before me and after me, and currently there, and it really wasn't a challenge other than, you know, perhaps social media, because again, I I was somewhat naive, very naive to that. And when people started to do some pretty mean spirited things on social media about being a female president, the SGA. That was hurtful, right? I mean, you don't, you don't realize how mean that can be if you're naive to it, and I clearly was, so that would, I think that was probably the only challenge I had was just maybe get a little thicker skin and, and I own it. And, again, I was just representing one of 15 executive committee members, that was the whole team that did a great job, and I just honored to be part of it. And we, you know, made some very special friends, as I know, you do we all have through this crazy game of golf. So it certainly gave me more than than I gave it, but but I hope it's a little bit better from my tenure there.

David Novak 31:42 

Now I know is part of your vision, you had a few major tenants and one of those was to you call it the plus one objective. And you challenge the USGA members to go plus one explain what that is, you're pretty

Diana Murphy 31:57 

good researcher yourself, you know. Plus one was was something that that I actually was very passionate about, as you know, a plus one golfer is an elite exceptional golfer with a handicap of plus one or higher, I knew I was never going to be a plus one. And most people aren't. But I use that phrase in that term as an opportunity to introduce the point that how do we grow the game individually. And my whole premise was, let's introduce the game of golf in some form to one person, at least have one plus one, if you will, and one additional person in your own personal life, that you either introduce how to play, or watch the game, or why read about the history of the game or read some other wonderful stories about some of the legends of the game, or go to the USGA museum and see it but just do something with someone else to introduce the game of golf to them the way my brother did to me in our backyard. And I was pretty excited about that. I heard from several companies where they, you know, they challenged their entire staff to see if we'd have the most blessed ones. And it wasn't something that was a USGA sponsored initiative. So you know, I think they thought, oh, gosh, what did she do? It was a Diana initiative. So it didn't get the trademark of USGA, but I think it's, it's something we all should do, right? We should have a plus one every year, and then follow them and see, you know, how are they doing? Or have they picked up the game? My plus one this year is my assistant, Maggie, who came from Scotland, but never played the game, never went to a golf event, never picked up a club. And now she is an avid fan of the sport. And next year, I'm pretty sure she'll be swinging a golf club with mesa.

David Novak 33:59 

That's great. You know, another one of your tenants was the you said that the game should be displayed with more positivity. What did you mean by that?

Diana Murphy 34:09 

Well, we get so negative on ourselves, first of all, right? I mean, when you have a bad shot or a bad round, and you come home and you're in a bad mood, I mean, really, in the grand scheme of things, is that the worst thing you can say about your day, because you're shot a bad round. And so again, I don't mean to be pollyannish about it, but I think leaving around and saying what did I do well, and how do I build off that or how many good shots did I have? Or how many fewer putts did I make or fewer strokes that I have and one putts did I make anything that can just turn around your own mindset so that it doesn't beat you up? But in fact, you can be positive about your own game. That's one part of it. The other part of it is playing with people that You wouldn't normally know or see or you know, even get to know using the opportunity between each shot and forget about yourself a little bit and get to know the person you're playing with, you know, I mean, that's, that's just a delightful way to get to know someone, and in my private equity time, we would never invest in, and an entrepreneur unless we had a chance to play at least nine holes with them, because that was a really good way to tell if they knew how to add. And if they threw their clubs, and

David Novak 35:30 

just you could learn a lot,

Diana Murphy 35:32 

a lot one way or the others.

David Novak 35:34 

The other thing that I was interested in learning, and I think you're really, were ahead of your time on this one, because this is a big buzzword now. But you talked about within the USGA, the importance of collaboration, versus any one individual now, collaboration is what's everybody's talking about now as being one of those traits that you need to have as a leader? What was it that drove you to that? That approach and that mindset,

Diana Murphy 36:03 

the more you can get a group together and work together for a common goal that's positive and share the success of that? Why would you want to be part of that, and you're going to be much more successful with more people around. So to be able to collaborate in any way with the game of golf, I thought was really very important. I mean, we had to collaborate with the RNA to have agreement on changing the rules of golf. So that was a forced collaboration. But to recognize that there were a lot of entities out there that wanted to grow the game, one of the ones that, that I had the opportunity to be part of at the very beginning, thanks to both the PGA of America and Augusta National was drive chip and putt. And my goodness talk about a collaboration that's been a huge success is just figuring out an opportunity. Let's bring these three entities together, what can each group do to, you know, provide a success for Drive chip and putt and then let's introduce it to the to the world. And the success of that, I guess, speaks for itself. But why wouldn't we want to collaborate, I guess is my point. If it's a game we love, silly not to. And, you know, it's not we're not competing against each other, we're trying to help each other add to the value of the sport and to protect the sport and grow the sport. Because I do think it is one of the unique sports of all time.

Alan Mulally 37:35 

We'll be back with the rest of my conversation with Diana Murphy in just a moment. When Alan Mulally took over as CEO of Ford Motor Company in 2006. They were bleeding cash to the tune of a $17 billion loss. And they needed to shock the system. It was Alan's leadership and his working together principles that made all the difference. Everywhere that I served, the first thing we did was we look at reality, we looked at what status was. And then we put together that strategy. And in the Ford case, there was no working together, because every country had their own Ford company. So there's no synergy on the product on marketing and sales. Really Yes. And within two years, we had one plan for every aspect of the business. And that's why we made so much progress. So fast, go from a $17 billion loss to within I think two years, a $9 billion profit.

David Novak 38:37 

So if you want to create a more collaborative team who works together to achieve big time results, then you're going to love my conversation with Alan Mulally episode 146 here on how leaders lead.

He also partnered with Augusta National and the PGA to launch the Latin America Amateur Championship. But what was the biggest challenge getting that off the ground?

Diana Murphy 39:07 

Yeah, the Latin American amateur was was a great opportunity. Obviously the introduced the sport to an area that was underdeveloped. And with the RNA and Augusta National, the USGA joined forces and said okay, we can really put our resources to help run professional tournaments. I mean, obviously we run 1517 Now, championships a year at the USGA. So how can we do that and underserved areas like Latin America and help them run some earlier competitions to get the best that they can and building their own core group to compete in these national championships and you know, again, that's been a tremendous success walking Neiman was was the young man that one the Latin American amateur when I was president and you know has gone on to do extremely well and wish him all the best in his his journeys, but I think that that's been a another terrific success for the collaboration, as you said, of, of the different entities.

David Novak 40:18 

You know, this has been so much fun, Diane, and I want to have some more with my lightning round of questions. Are you ready for this? I guess, What's one word others would use to describe you? Authentic? What would you say is the one word that best describes you?

Diana Murphy 40:34 

Persistent.

David Novak 40:35 

If you could be one person for a day besides yourself, who would it be?

Diana Murphy 40:40 

That's a tough one. But the first person that came to mind when you said that was Arnold Palmer.

David Novak 40:46 

What's your biggest pet peeve?

Diana Murphy 40:51 

Just honesty.

David Novak 40:52 

What's your dream car? And what's the fastest you've ever driven one.

Diana Murphy 40:57 

I have it and it's a 911. And I can't tell you how fast I've ever driven.

David Novak 41:04 

I understand you love to drive fast cars. So that's great. Yeah,

Diana Murphy 41:09 

I love speed. Yeah,

David Novak 41:11 

describe your last I can't believe this is happening to me moment.

Diana Murphy 41:16 

When I was asked to go on the Braves board of directors.

David Novak 41:20 

Where's your happy place?

Diana Murphy 41:22 

It's on the beach on Sea Island just walking up and down the beach or it's on my screen porch. Looking at the Moorish of the Golden Isles on St. Simons Island.

David Novak 41:33 

If I turned on the radio in your car, your 911 What would I hear?

Diana Murphy 41:39 

Luther Vandross or Motown?

David Novak 41:42 

What's something about you that few people would know

Diana Murphy 41:45 

that I am an exceptionally good hair cutter. And if all other careers failed, I can make a living cutting hair. My grandfather was a barber.

David Novak 41:57 

That's great. Well, that's the end of the lightning round. Very well done. Just a few more questions for you. And we'll wrap this up. You know, one point as I understand that, Diana, you said your dream force was to play with REG Arnold Palmer and Davis Love the third. Did that ever happen before Arnold Palmer passed away?

Diana Murphy 42:18 

No, I really had a chance to know Arnold. He played golf with my husband on our wedding day. So that's a whole nother story with President Bush. And Griffin Bill judge belt. So that was the introduction to Arnold Palmer book. Over the years, I did have the opportunity to spend some quality time with both Arnold winning. Davis is a neighbor. I've watched him play since he was in college. I've watched his kids grow up now and watch true play. But no, I never quite had that foursome. But I did my mind a lot. So when I fall asleep, you know, I can dream about it.

David Novak 42:55 

So Reg, played with Arnold Palmer on your wedding day, did he make it to the church on time?

Diana Murphy 43:02 

He did. And as only the president the United States can do somehow the president found out that it was Reggie his wedding day because reg wasn't going to tell him. But after they're around a golf at caves Valley and Baltimore President had a wedding invitation that he had signed for hay and Barbara, and gave it to Griffin Bill who signed something very nice. And then he handed it over to Arnold Palmer. And Arnold said Dear Diana, God, I hope reg plays better tonight than he did today. Love. That is great. I can't make it up.

David Novak 43:40 

I'm sure that you know it was Arnold. Right? Yeah, absolutely. You've had such a great career and have made an impact on the lives of so many people. Curiously, what's your unfinished business?

Diana Murphy 43:52 

Oh, goodness, it's a lot of unfinished business that I hope I've made an impact. I don't think you really realize you've made an impact until sometimes you leave an organization. I certainly am very involved in the the boards that I'm have the honor of serving and, and want to continue to help in any way I can with that. The nonprofit's that I'm involved in, in our our family foundation is is really important to me. So continuing to make sure that they're doing the right things and health and in different areas in our community that I'm passionate about. Getting my golf score below, you know, double or triple digits on some great golf courses and getting my handicap to single digit would be very important, unfinished business.

David Novak 44:47 

What's one piece of advice you've given to someone who you know wants to be a better leader? Yeah.

Diana Murphy 44:53 

Recognizing that what you do and how you do what impact exe, more people than you think. So being thoughtful and kind about anything you do, you know, and try to be positive and not critical or negative, whether you're giving feedback to someone that you're managing or helping somebody that it needs your help, or a friend that, you know, is just hanging out. But trying to be thoughtful and kind and, and maybe listen a little bit more, would be some advice, I guess I would always go,

David Novak 45:29 

Well, Diane, I always think it's important for leaders to walk the talk, and you are very thoughtful, you're very kind, and you're such a good listener. And you're the kind of person that people want to be around. They just gravitate to you because of who you are, and how you conduct yourself. And I want to thank you so much for taking the time to be on this podcast with me and share, share your stories and your insights.

Diana Murphy 45:58 

Wow, that's very kind words from you, and I appreciate them immensely coming from you. So thank you, David. It's been a delight.

David Novak 46:16 

Diana talks about the importance of authenticity for leaders and boy, she really does walk the talk. She's 100% comfortable in her own skin, with that uncanny mix of competence and humility that all the great leaders I know tend to have. And I gotta say, her entire career is proof positive that collaboration is a powerful force. From her early days managing and sales team, to navigating the internal and external challenges that the USGA is clear that for her to best success is the kind you reach together. That's a big takeaway for anyone who wants to grow as a leader. It's your job to help get people collaborating and helping each other succeed. So this week, take a look at the goals you and your team have right now. What's a collective goal that can motivate everyone, not just to reach the goal, but also to help each other succeed together? When you unlock that kind of collaborative spirit in your group, you'll find it so much easier to get big things done together. So do you want to know how leaders lead? What we learned today is that great leaders understand the power of collaboration. Coming up next on how leaders lead is our best of quarter three episode featuring our favorite insights from all our guests from the last three months like this from Best Selling Author, Patrick Lencioni.

Patrick Lencioni 47:42 

You know, people talk about servant leadership. I don't really like that term, David, because it implies that there's another kind like, well, there's servant leadership, and then there's now all leadership ought to be servant leadership. So you should go into it because you care more about loving others and building them up. And in doing that you feel like that's your purpose. So be

David Novak 48:03 

sure to come back again next week to an episode chock full of leadership insights. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader you can be