Business Connection; 0225

Business connection is made by MDC to serve all of our diverse communities and is made possible by the generous support of our members. Thank you. Business connection starts now. Hello I'm Jeff Salk and welcome to business connection on tonight's program a leadership tips from the Dale Carnegie program and how one Maryland community is bringing new life to its downtown area. But first breaking the cycle of poverty in Baltimore Joining us now from the new Our Daily Bread employment center Marianne O'Donnell the director of Community Services for Catholic Charities of Maryland. Marianne thanks for being with us. Thank you Jeff thanks so much for letting us talk a little bit about this new project. Well we're glad to do it and what stage is the new project in looks like you're about ready to go there. We are ready to go. We

actually the last couple days have moved most of the staff in the building and many of the clients from Christopher place employment Academy and Monday will be our first day of meal service here so we are ready. So our daily bread has been of feeding the hungry in Baltimore for two decades now. How is this new facility going to differ. This new facility differs because it's no longer about offering just food. It's about offering services and opportunities for people to change their lives. So that's the real difference it's our commitment to helping to break the poverty cycle and the commitment was there before and some of the programs were there before. But but it's correct me if I'm wrong the idea is that it's in a more integrated setting. That's right Jeff it's in a one stop kind of setting we've had these programs and locations all across Baltimore now we're bringing them together under one roof where people can see one another moving forward and

changing their lives and the hope is that that will be an incentive and a motivator for many more people to talk a little. If you would about the need and the extent of the issues that are faced in the communities that you serve relative to the resources the you have to try to deal with it. Well currently we feed about eight hundred people a day at our daily bread. So obviously the need of individuals needing food is very high. And so in this facility we hope that we can begin to reduce those numbers because people coming in the building can receive other services get a job and hopefully be able to move toward self-sufficiency at the Christopher place employment academy that we've been running for 10 years. We can house about 40 men and we serve about 60 men every year trying to take them from homelessness to home ownership. And the important thing there is to bring the men in.

Give them a structured program with life skills and then a job so they can be on their own. Now we will be able to serve about one hundred twenty men in this facility. We have 60 beds going up from the 40 beds. So we hope that we really are able to make more of a major impact in the community. Or are some people more interested in old than the additional services and I guess obviously if you're hungry that's what you want today. And the other stuff is a harder sell in some way. Absolutely I mean definitely a lot of people coming in want food for the day and they're not thinking about the next step. And I think they're always going to be some individuals who are going to need just food and may not be ready to take advantage of other services. But our hope is by putting all of these services in one location people will see others getting jobs going out moving on their own being self-sufficient. We specifically put the Christopher place employment Academy in here so

individuals eating in the dining room could see them getting a job coming down in a shirt and tie every day and going off to work and they're just that third fourth fifth time of talking with someone or seeing someone who they may have seen on the streets themselves that it might that might be their chance to say now I'm ready now I'll do it I'll make that commitment to change to get a job there have to be some jobs out there to get in. Obviously the economy's been rolling along pretty well the unemployment rate in this state is quite low but. But Baltimore City has a higher unemployment rate and how much of a challenge is that. It's a challenge we really want employers who are willing to work with us in this commitment. We have gone out and cultivated employers in all different tiers of employment. Some of our individuals are low skilled and others are very high skilled. So we really need individuals not only from Baltimore City because we are able to employ some of these clients in the other counties Baltimore County Harford County.

We need people to come and work with us on this project because by employing these men they not only get a job but there is a major contribution made to the city. Our men who are out working are paying taxes paying child support and making a major contribution I believe to the life of Baltimore City and any county that they may work in. And that's what it's all about. Let me ask about the location itself there's been some concerns or complaints in the press about the new new location being too close to the prison complex and I know people getting out of prison re-entering society or a group of individuals that you're trying to reach. Absolutely we serve probably 90 percent of our clients do have some criminal background or have been involved with the criminal justice system in some form or another. I think the important fact here is that this building the way it was built how it looks and what we're able to do inside the building is to address the dignity of the individuals and

that's the most important thing and doing it on this location is going to allow us to do it better than in the smaller location where we were before. Just a minute or so left it as you've been in this line of work for some time. What what works best where have you seen a program that really gets results and you get some immediate gratification out of it and and where there are situations where problems or more difficult to solve quickly. Well I think the issue of structure is incredibly important to be able to to have a program that provides a great deal of structure that provides relationships whether they be with staff other clients or individuals who serve as mentors and sponsors because it is that whole accountability finding ways that you can help people look inside themselves and be accountable for themselves and sometimes we need somebody else to sort of push us and support us

in that. And I think by doing that and letting people know that you value them and that they have the worth inside them and we can give you all the tools but you're the ones that have to make the change. And when that all comes together that's when I think we can be most successful. Marianne O'Donnell director of Community Services for Catholic Charities Marianne thanks so much for your time we appreciate it. Thank you Jeff. And coming up doing business the Dale Carnegie way. Also a new regional leader for the nation's largest nonprofit health system. Plus how one small Maryland town is bringing new life to its downtown just stay with us you're watching business connection. I counted 60 Singer-Songwriter done up to one of his greatest hits. Join the door and his friends find a Donovan concert.

The Donovan concert live in L.A. Wednesday night at 10:00 on MPE. It's a retirement road map and a reality check that you can do all the financial planning in the world. But if you don't have a sense of where you're going you're going to be in trouble. Author Nancy Schlossberg talks about retirement challenges. Bob said we've been together too much during the week. She disappears on the weekend and offers tips so you can retire smart and retire happy. Sunday morning at 8:00 on AM Peetie and I'd imagine it was great. Sunday afternoon at 3:00 on NPT

Ascension Health has named a new regional leader the nation's largest Catholic and nonprofit health system has elevated St. Agnes health care CEO Bonnie Phipps to oversee operations in Washington as well. And Miss Phipps joins us in the studio to Al congratulations. Thank you. So how how does the new appointment change what you do at St. Agnes. Well it modifies it somewhat in that I'm now expected to spend about 30 percent of my time dealing with the Baltimore-Washington market as a whole rather than just focused 100 percent on St. Agnes. So I've had to backfill a little bit with some support at St. Agnes but I think it gives me a really good opportunity to be able to join these two markets together and be able to serve the population a whole lot better. And St. Agnes has been a busy place and it's getting bigger it's getting busier and we're about to embark on a major expansion construction project. We have one hundred eighty six million dollar project on the books so it's very busy now and it's going to get

much much busier. How how is the Washington Hospital different. The payment system is the largest difference Marilyn is very different in that we are the only remaining state in the United States. Washington is under the other payment system for Medicare and Medicaid. The politics are very different as you can imagine in Washington than in Baltimore. Services are relatively the same we have the same population that we draw from Perm employees so pay scales are the same but very different environments from political and reimbursement. Let's talk about that for a second if we can because on our political program state circle tomorrow we're also focusing on health care. And Maryland has the health services cost review commission and hospital rates are set. And there's the ability to recover something for uncompensated care. Is the current system an asset going forward or is it something that ought to be looked at and revised.

I believe it's a significant asset. I'm new to Baltimore and to Baltimore or Maryland health care reimbursement systems I spent 30 years in health care and other parts of the country. And to have a system that recognizes that hospitals hospital specifically like St. Agnes do you treat a population that is underserved and to have that built into the rates and have some support for serving the poor which is what a Catholic institution really focuses on I think is a significant asset I hope we're able to retain it. What's the relationship between Saint Agnes and other Catholic. Based institutions speaking of St. Joe's where you have a new relationship there are others as well. All right we just announced the relationship with St. Joe's in January. It will be an affiliation not a merger where we'll work together on four different areas of cardiac services which the Jazz is very well known for. We'll do some ambulatory services together likely radiology and other diagnostic services will be doing a physician enterprise program together we both have a relatively large employed

position base and then the one thing that I'm really most excited about what brought us together is we'll start doing our outreach together so our mission based services and we think by coming together will be able to use the same resources to reach a whole lot more people. So both institutions are putting resources into a new entity. Yes. Is that the vehicle for for reaching out. Yes where we're going to use that for community services but we also are going to be reaching out through Mission Health Partners which is that vehicle to the other Catholic facilities in Baltimore and Washington and hopefully develop a major Catholic health care system in the metropolitan area. Hard pressed to think of a for profit hospital around here so we have a lot of nonprofit community based hospitals how does it differ running a Catholic institution. And actually I think there's only one for profit in Maryland which is also very unique to this environment in other parts of the country you have a lot more. The big difference is we're all focused on community support and making

sure we take care of folks who need our care. The Catholic hospitals I think are more driven by the mission to be sure that we respect what the sisters brought to the organization St. Agnes is the oldest Catholic Hospital in Baltimore and we have 12 sisters there who constantly remind us that we need to respect the individual that we need to be compassionate that we need to be good stewards of our resources so they set out goals for us and it's our responsibility to follow those goals. We're talking about a regulated hospital environment environment in Maryland one of the things that's regulated is open heart surgery and over the years Saint Agnes I know has been pushing for a program other institutions it's been concentrated in other hospitals on the theory that the more of it you do the better you are now St. Joseph has that as you mentioned to me that St. Agnes going forward won't be pushing as hard to get a program. We will not be pushing to get a program but it really is not driven by the affiliation with St. Joseph's.

We looked at that early last year. The numbers of procedures are dropping precipitously largely because of the use of angioplasty. The numbers really demonstrate that if you do a certain number of procedures you get much better outcomes so we're going to be very happy I think at this point do an angioplasty in pursuing open heart heart Bonnie Phipps chief executive officer of St. Agnes healthcare. Congratulations again I thank you for being with thanks very much. Several local businesses in area have joined forces to revitalize the downtown area in hopes of bringing more customers to town. Are you a lot of office visits this small piece of Americana to discuss changes over the years and their upcoming plans. Well Jeff I'm here on Main Street in Mount Airy where there's been a strong emphasis to tour in this downtown area into a popular shopping destination and there are several folks who are behind this strong push Joining me now to talk a little bit more about this is Carol Kay Hall from the main event. Carol you're also the

president of the downtown business association. When did this whole movement begin for you guys. Well we started in 2001 helping a core group of us put together from the downtown business association filled out the applications organized ourselves and actually we had some members go down to Annapolis and testify. And it's a process it's a grant process and you have to have your ducks in a row and you have to be very meticulous but it's pretty big for us to be able to Main Street designated in the United States and where among a prestigious group and we're very proud of ourselves. What do you hope. Thing to do because this is my first time here in Mount Airy specifically here on this main street area it's a nice little sleepy town what are you hoping to do to draw customers a part of it is just proving the appearances you know signage sidewalks facade renovation that sort of thing too to make it attractive to shoppers to come downtown. But it's been a turn in the last couple years. The downtown area people are going to malls less.

They're finding customer service in the little shops. People are becoming more loyal to you know individual shop owners and supporting local businesses and it's a wonderful trend very very excited. And speaking of local businesses you own the main event behind us you've been here six years now. What's the experience been like for you here in this. It's been very positive I have wonderful friendships here. I have business owners in the store that we were a party supply store for the local folks. We do event decorating all over Maryland balloon drops releases that kind of thing. And then a year and a half ago my husband joined me in the business and we have a party rental business too so we do tents tables chairs linens everything you need for events and it was named after main street we're on Main Street the main event and I really love this. All right Carol thank you so much we're going to go over here and speak with you who is the owner of crafts and collectibles. I've been here for quite some time 30 years this is your building over here tell us a little bit about your story. My store's gift and collectible business.

We have everything you can imagine you want to collect. Give us a gift sent your home been on Main Street now 30 years in June. What are some of the changes that you've seen a lot a lot a lot of changes. Well I was actually born and raised here in Mount Airy So I remember when everything was on Main Street and then everything kind of went to the shopping centers outside of town in our biggest emphasis now is to get people to come back downtown on Main Street for the small town atmosphere type shopping and bring the kids back in and let them know what the small taste of the hometown Theo is. Kara was talking a little bit about the main street Marilyn designation you're involved with that I guess are going to be getting a little state assistance to help redecorate or revitalize your building. Yes I actually applied for the state assistance for the architect and the facade grants. And I was chosen from the state and the architect has redesigned the front of my building and now we're just waiting to submit everything to the

committee to see if we get approved to start working on the facade or not. It's tough going. And real quickly we'll get over to Alice Kenefick Alycia with the candy bar over there. It's about why you decided to set up shop here in Mount Airy. Well I saw that military was starting to grow downtown and I wanted to be a part of it and my kids always hang down here. So I wanted them to be positive in the community and this is really turned out to be great for them. And a lot of the kids who come down here want to work at the candy store. It was like yeah we're going to visit it after we're done speaking with you great. Yeah right. Alice thank you so much for speaking with us we appreciate that. And that's the latest here from Main Street in Mount Airy Jeff I'm going to send it back to you in the studio. I want to thank you what are the secrets to leadership success and how have those business skills changed over the years. We had a chance recently to sit down with Jack messenger of Dale Carnegie training. Jack thanks for being with us. It's my pleasure. Dale Carnegie passed away I think 50 years ago so the first question is how much of what

he taught is relevant in a faster paced business world today. It's amazing how long a legacy can last when you give something to people that. Always seems to be fresh and new and in demand. And although we're in a connected world technologically still the best connection is the human connection and the companies that are optimistic about the future and who believe in their people will always recognize the need for people connection skills communications human relations and leadership. The classic book How to Win Friends And Influence People. That was in the 1930s and a lot of that the interpersonal stuff never changes what's the key takeaway from that book. Well actually it's the thing that sparked me to get into this business about 25 years ago I read two chapters and knew it something I wanted and needed. I went to two classes out of 14 knew it was something I wanted to do with the rest of my life. And.

It's built on three concepts. The first one is look if we're going to work together in a more productive environment the first thing that we had better be able to do is develop our relationship enhance that relationship. So there are nine principles that help us to at least be able to talk with one another on a friendly level if we can do that long enough and we can say to each other you know I think we can do business together. The length of that then builds into the next 12 principals which then is the development of respect and trust. So if you've got a friendly environment built on respect and trust you can do a whole lot of things a whole lot better. And then the final leg of that is building leadership skills where we have the ability to influence behaviors and attitudes of others. Leadership is one of the courses that you teach. Yes. The question is Can leadership actually be taught or is it something that people are born with. The age old question we feel it can be developed in the 25 years I've been in the business. And our company has been in business now for

95 years. We've seen real evidence that in the companies and clients that we have that we have been very successful in developing their leadership over these many years. Some people have a strong desire to to run the ship to be the leader some people would would rather be in the background but sometimes you're thrust into a leadership role. What kind of advice would you offer somebody in that situation. Take our leadership training for managers course. One of the things we first try to explain and sell them on the idea and they'll actually go through some exercises to prove this to themselves is that there's a distinct difference between leading and managing. We manage processes that's the day to day activities that we do and how we do it. But then there's the people side of that which means the people that report to us. Do we put them in situations and circumstances and give them the tools in which to be

successful. So as a leader myself it's not only important that I know how to do my work but I'm also able to involve other people and enable them to do their work very syncs successfully and that we can all be productive together. It's a lot of it. Talking about things that people ought to do so do this as opposed to don't do that. It's the magic of training a time space a learning was a concept originally created by Dale Carnegie and it was simply based on a set if we can put you in an spiraling learning environment for a day or an evening give you some activities to work on between now and next week. There's that practice portion of skill development. Then we come back we debrief it and you get some strong coaching from a very highly trained training specialist. We then acquire new skills. So it's a cycle of accelerated development where with the right attitude in the right environment with the right coaching and

practice we develop new habits and skills. Are there some old habits that perhaps perhaps people have to learn. I don't know. But rather than on learning. We just suggest well let's try this as an option. Whatever you're successful with I never argue with success whatever works works. And if it works in terms of getting results where as a leader I'm getting the right work done and people feel inspired and participating and motivated and empowered to do their work. And I think we're on the right track. So is teaching new as opposed to on learning you know. Right. Jack messenger of Dale Carnegie Thanks for being with us. It's been my pleasure. Thank you. And that's our program tomorrow on State circle at this time a look back at the career of Congressman Perrin Mitchell. Thanks for watching business connections and have a good business connection is a production of Maryland

Public Television in association with the University of Maryland. Robert Smith School of Business. And. Business connection is me. Nice and easy to serve all of our diverse community and is made possible by the generous support of our members. Thank you.