A Conversation with Ron Klausner, Chairman of Graduation Alliance
What does great leadership look like? My conversation with Ron explores his principled and values-based approach to leadership—and to life. An approach that’s been a critical prescription for leading companies through successful turnarounds and for living a life of self-actualization. This post—full video interview included at the end—unfolds his leadership journey and the insights he has so generously shared to set other leaders up for success, exemplifying what great leadership looks like, and reminding us to love the journey.
At thirty-three, Ron was CFO of the largest entity of DNB Inc.—and felt like a scorekeeper. What he did with this feeling many thought was crazy—including his own boss, the company president—when Ron approached him seeking out what was viewed as a two-level demotion to pursue his passion of being on the field.
This change had Ron leading a small sales organization holding himself personally accountable to his team’s performance—and Ron felt exhilarated. “Everybody thought, oh my gosh, I got demoted.” Ron continued, “I thought, wow, this is, like, exhilarating! I’m going to demonstrate what I could do and wake up in the morning and be highly accountable.”
“Everybody thought, oh my gosh, I got demoted. I thought, wow, this is, like, exhilarating!”
It was this accountability that led Ron to creating his personal approach to leadership in the early 90s—an approach that includes a set of principles and values—some about the employee, some about the company—about the basic goodness in life, about how to treat people. Having an approach to leadership, Ron believes, is a critical prescription to success and something that extends to life and relationships outside of work as well.
Having an approach to leadership is a critical prescription to success.
Ron has used his approach to leadership to successfully lead and turn around many companies throughout the years, with the latest turnaround being at Graduation Alliance—a company whose mission is to help high school students who left school early earn a fully accredited high school diploma.
Now Chairman of the Board, Ron was brought into Graduation Alliance by venture capitalists in 2015. At that time, the company had been operating for eight years, had 150 graduates, and was hemorrhaging cash. Ten years later, Graduation Alliance has grown revenue twelve- to thirteen-fold organically, maintains strong EBITDA margins, and has just under 7,000 graduates.
Ron says this last turnaround was probably the most fun he’s ever had. He’s found it incredibly rewarding and a lot of fun seeing people throughout the company come to work energized, motivated, and excited, and hearing from an overwhelming number of students and parents commenting on the support they received in achieving this important milestone.
“That, to me, is incredibly rewarding, and a lot, a lot of fun.”
Ron’s leadership philosophy is centered in open and honest communication—something he learned early on in his career from someone who made a profound impact on his life. So profound, in fact, that he did not hesitate when his mentor, Joe, who was in his early eighties, called him up in 2019 with a request to investigate and explore something of materiality.
Even though Ron was leading a company, he felt he had an obligation to Joe because he liked him so much and respected him for so many decades.
“I took the lead because he asked me to take the lead.”
Ron was twenty-six when he first met Joe, the CFO at the corporation and four levels above him. After giving Ron an assignment that he reviewed extensively and really liked, Joe told Ron that in a year’s time he was going to place Ron in a situation to see how he interacted with people much older than he was, and to see how Ron led. Joe liked the body of work Ron returned with and became Ron’s biggest advocate within the corporation.
Joe’s influence in Ron’s life reminds us that the people who shape us most aren’t necessarily the ones who think exactly like we do. “There were facets of him that I highly, highly regarded. And there were facets of him that I didn’t agree with his approach to leadership.”
What Ron learned from Joe wasn’t about replicating someone else’s leadership—it was about extracting the learning from a particular facet of who they were. “Nobody communicated more openly and truthfully than him, even if it was something people just didn’t want to hear. He was extremely direct, and open, respectful, and I said, that’s a way to treat people, even if they don’t like what they hear. Be open and honest.”
To overlook something you highly regard in someone is to miss an integral part of your own journey.
It was what he highly regarded in Joe—his open and honest communication—that inspired Ron’s view of how to treat people, translating not only to how he leads companies but also how he communicates with family, friends, and loved ones. “Do you communicate, truthfully and openly?” he asks. “Or do you not? Do your kids, or do your loved ones, do your family, do your friends—do they believe that you are going to be open and honest? ” To which he says, “Says easy, does hard.”
Ron shares his approach to leadership, believing that clear communication around values and principles sets a tone and sets a stage. He talks about the basics—like treating others with respect, and what it means to have alignment among colleagues, how to prevent business slowdown, and where attention to detail is worth exploration and investigation.
“Treat others with respect. Period.”
Ron’s personal values of open and honest communication, finding joy, pursuing your passion, having more than one thing in life, and personal accountability reveal his approach to not only successfully leading companies, but also to achieving self-actualization.
Great leaders inspire with more than just their words—they inspire with their actions.
Ron talks about the importance of love and connection with family, kids, and grandkids, stating that one thing is insufficient in life. While he loved work and worked very hard, he recognizes that there are other facets of life—including your kids and grandkids—showing that loving work and working hard need not come at the expense of spending time with your kids. In doing so, we discover that all kinds of journeys take place.
Spend time with the people you bring into the world.
He observes that too many people get into the day-to-day of just task doing, losing sight of the beauty of continuous intellectual curiosity. “I’ve learned from a whole lot of people at all different levels, and it’s made me continue to modify and continuously improve.”
He stresses the importance of getting it right versus being right, saying he’s seen too many brilliant people entrenched in being right, as opposed to getting it right.
Ultimately, Ron believes that winning in life isn’t necessarily about waking up one day to a thriving business but about waking up every day to something that gives you great joy to be alive.
“Winning is love the journey. Just absolutely love it”.