A Parks Family Affair

I have found the most rewarding thing that has ever happen to me professionally was not a promotion that I received at work or was not an achievement that I received in school; I can actually say that I am most proud of is I have completed a goal of mine which was to finish a half marathon. 13.1 miles…my sister Brandi Parks Lane inspired me to do this task. The reason why this was so important is because I never doubted that I could run the half marathon I just didn’t want to train. Yet, it was the training that was so therapeutic not just for my physical shape to finish the race but my mental emancipation to know that I could do anything that I set my mind to. The amount of people that have sent congratulations really surprise me and then I realized the power of inspiration is much greater than one’s resume.

The amount of strength that is from the women in my family starting with my grandmother is a lineage of strength that inspires me. I can truly say that inspiring others is what leadership is all about. I actually thought it was my resume or accomplishments in the classroom or achievements at work that inspired people, but that didn’t inspire others it may have pleased my family or even me but it never inspired others. So my learned lesson is be an inspiration to someone and don’t shortchange the talents you are given. You will be amazed on who needed to be inspired by you.

Rothwell Hall on the campus on Arkansas Tech University

As director of development at Philander Smith College and the founder of Parks Professional Group, a firm that focuses on public speaking and management consulting services, Rodney Parks often has occasion to speak to young men and women about how to be successful.

When speaking to students, Parks, who was recently named chairman of the state banking board, passes on three premises which he said have served him well and are the result of lessons passed on from his family and personal experiences.

“I tell them to root themselves into something that is permanently sustainable — No. 1 of which is faith. Never stop the desire to learn,” Parks said. “And always see the childlike innocence in the oldest and most accomplished of individuals so you will never be intimidated by someone’s wealth, status or anything else that is different than you. All of us are somebody’s child with ambitions and goals. If you always see that, no one is more important than the other and at the same time everybody is important.”

Parks, who now lives in Little Rock with his wife Carmen and their twin daughters, Kennedy and Olivia, had his sights set on a career in business from an early age and at Russellville High School was a member of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA).

“Maybe I’ve been successful (as a young member of FBLA),” he said. “I’d have rather been an NBA basketball player, but my jump shot did not allow that to take place. In high school I was not as confident as I am now, but I always thought that I had a voice to give to the conversations that were out there.”

Parks said his confidence soared at ATU, where he served as Student Government Association president and earned a degree in economics and finance. With the option to attend several other schools, including Vanderbilt and the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Parks said staying at home and attending Tech was one of the best decisions of his life.

“I got the individual recognition that I had been seeking years earlier at Tech through student government, fraternity and political involvement,” Parks said. “And also having a car — thanks Dad — and traveling the state allowed me to meet all of my peers at other colleges, which gave me an even greater sense of my capacity.”

Parks credits his family, especially his grandmother Thelma Sandidge, who passed away last year at age 99, with setting the foundation for his confidence to emerge at Tech.

“She was one of those grandmothers that spoke in parables all the time,” Parks said. “The one thing she always used to tell me that made me do very well with people was ‘It doesn’t take all day to know people.’ That sense of perception and knowing how to navigate various people is something I carried from her. … Those parables she always spoke in were so rooted in me that I know it’s the spring of where my confidence and sense of who I am in this world comes from.”

One important lesson Parks has learned is success is not necessarily a finish line, but more about gaining a capacity to adapt. In his professional life, Parks had a six-month period when he was unemployed and wound up selling cars at one point.

“It was very therapeutic for me because it got me back to being around people and doing what I do best — helping others clarify their thoughts to make good decisions,” Parks said. “Anytime you get knocked down and you keep going, that’s what allows you to have a testimony of faith as to why it is you’re not in a ditch somewhere or living in a hovel. Basically it’s ‘how’d you get your strength back? … It’s that first step. How’d you do it? The car lot was that first step and everything else fell into place.”

Parks credits his ability to persevere in the face of adversity to his parents, who inspired him with their handling of the suicide of his younger brother Greg in 1997. Greg suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and ended his life because he feared his inability to control himself, Parks said.

“I think he recognized that he couldn’t control his thoughts and that scared him because he didn’t want to hurt anybody,” Parks said.

Parks said his parents — Glenn and Jean Parks — provided the example for the rest of his family to continue after Greg’s death.

“The spiritual and mental strength of my mother and father during that time transitioned the entire family to know there was absolutely nothing that God does that is not part of his plan,” Parks said. “There was never a question ‘Why?’ That experience allowed all of us in my family to be advocates for mental illness without shame, with humility, without foolish pride and with strength and humbleness.”

The family established a scholarship for students focused on behavioral sciences at ATU in memory of Greg in 2003.

Parks said his brother is the main reason he was interested in giving back and providing guidance for young people. Parks said his brother was selfless, where he felt he was the opposite when he was younger.

“I have learned that I cannot take it with me and that it is very rewarding to share and give my talents away because it comes back three to five times greater than it is given,” Parks said. “Growing up like I did, I did not participate in study groups in high school or even in college which means I put a lot of pressure on myself, which at times made me selfish because of how hard I had to work. As outgoing as I was, I was guarded in what I would share because I worked so hard. My brother always had more fun than I did. I so desperately wanted to be like that. Since his passing, I have learned that my fun is actually when I do share what I’m blessed to know or understand. I hate that my brother is not physically here to see that I have finally learned what he shared with me.”

Though he lives in Little Rock now, Parks said he visits often and his children love visiting the Arkansas River Valley.

“They’d like to live up here,” he said. “They say we have better fishing up here. They want to fish more. They like the mountains up here,” Parks said. “The joy of being raised in a small town is how much you value community. That basis of community is family. If you have a strong family, you have a strong community.”

RODNEY O. PARKS ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF ARKANSAS STATE BANKING BOARD

Rodney O. Parks of Little Rock Arkansas was elected Chairman of the Arkansas State Banking Board on January 18, 2012. The Arkansas State Banking Board, in accordance with policy accurately and fairly consider all applications and proposed regulations presented in a proper and timely manner and to ensure the continuance of safe and sound financial practices in the state chartered banking industry of Arkansas. The Arkansas State Bank Department and the State Banking Board have responsibility for the issuance of new charters, authorization of branches, and other applications relating to ownership and structure of banks and bank holding companies. In order to discharge their statutory responsibilities, the State Banking Board, Bank Commissioner and bank examiners periodically conduct investigations, hold hearings and perform allocations necessary to discharge these responsibilities. These banks and other entities hold assets of over $33 billion.

Mr. Parks worked in the banking industry for 20 years before becoming the Director of Development for Philander Smith College and Founder/Managing Principal of the Parks Professional Group, a public speaking|management consulting firm.

Mr. Parks was appointed by Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe in 2009 to serve a five year team ending in 2013. Prior to service on the State Banking Board, Mr. Parks was appointed in 2004 by then Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to the Arkansas District Judges Retirement System as a Trustee. Mr. Parks is a 1991 graduate of Arkansas Tech University and was its Alumni Association President in 2004. Mr. Parks is a 2007 40 Under 40 honoree by Arkansas Business and a 2007 graduate of Leadership Arkansas, sponsored by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.

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Collaborative Leadership In (Higher Education) Development covers target groups such as private colleges, public universities and other non-profit organizations. The issues reviewed will be internal-external communications, campaign direction (The President of the school or the Consultant), Relationship Responsibility (Individual or Institution) and collaborative leadership trends.
Collaborative Leadership is an emerging body of theory and management practice which is focused on the leadership skills and attributes need to deliver results across organizational boundaries. In her 1994 Harvard Business Review article “Collaborative Advantage”, Rosabeth Moss Kanter talks about leaders who recognize that there are critical business relationships “that cannot be controlled by formal systems but require (a) dense web of interpersonal connections…”. And in a book published in that same year Chrislip and Larson looked at the attributes of great civic leaders in communities across the United States and found some similar attributes. “Collaboration needs a different kind of leadership; it needs leaders who can safeguard the process, facilitate interaction and patiently deal with high levels of frustration”.

Hank Rubin author and President of the Institute of Collaborative Leadership has written “A collaboration is a purposeful relationship in which all parties strategically choose to cooperate in order to accomplish a shared outcome.” In his book “Collaborative Leadership: Developing Effective Partnerships for Communities and Schools” Rubin asks “Who is a collaborative leader?” and answers “You are a collaborative leader once you have accepted responsibility for building – or helping to ensure the success of – a heterogeneous team to accomplish a shared purpose . Your tools are (1) the purposeful exercise of your behavior, communication, and organizational resources in order to affect the perspective, beliefs, and behaviors of another person (generally a collaborative partner) to influence that person’s relationship with you and your collaborative enterprise and (2) the structure and climate of an environment that supports the collaborative relationship.”

David Archer and Alex Cameron in their book Collaborative Leadership: How to succeed in an interconnected world, identify the basic task of the collaborative leader as the delivery of results across boundaries between different organizations. They say “Getting value from difference is at the heart of the collaborative leader’s task… they have to learn to share control, and to trust a partner to deliver, even though that partner may operate very differently from themselves.”

The focus of this presentation will be a backdrop of higher education and how we succeed in a global marketplace. The amount of successful relationships that one has to have to professionally develop has grown from previous years. These relationships, internally and externally gives colleagues a measure of your capacity. Do you work in a vacuum or are you connected? That is the question. How can you bring value and solutions to a conversation, committee or organization?This presentation answers these questions.

The presentation looks at “direction” from a capital campaign perspective, a case statement, a brand and vision goal and personnel involved in this process. Who is the person with the best idea to be followed: the president or the consultant? One vantage point is internally focused and is based on experience, authority and a captive audience. The other vantage point is externally based and is focused on trends, analytics and a selective audience. What value and perspective do you bring to this process? This presentation answers that question and explains the worth of feedback.

Relationship responsibility is critical in collaborative leadership development. Are key relationships being managed by the institution or individuals? In a collaborative environment, the relationship is shared to produce better results. From computer applications to organizational development, the tension between “open architecture” and “structured environment” determines how relationship responsibility is handled.

Lastly, we will review collaborative leadership trends. As Rod Newing writing in a Financial Times supplement special report says “If collaboration is to be effective, each party must recognize and respect the different culture of the other”. And traditional development paths don’t prepare leaders well for this “traditional management development is based on giving potential managers a team of people and a set of resources to control – and success is rewarded with more people and more resources to control. By contrast, collaboration requires managers to achieve success through people and resources outside their control and for this they have had no preparation”.

Rodney O. Parks is the Director of Development at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas. He leads in area of major gifts, planned giving, annual giving and governmental relations. He gives guidance in advancement services, marketing and alumni cultivation. His leadership has led the school to its most major and planned gifts in its history and led to securing $1 million in two years in governmental appropriations. His guidance has yielded an increased alumni participation rate of 4% in 2008 to 19% in 2011. PSC has received approximately $2 million in the past two years from various foundations who have embraced our mission and been successful in fulfilling a $300,000 challenge grant in seven months when we had three years to complete.
Mr. Parks had a successful 20 year banking career before joining PSC. His highly developed interpersonal skills have led to promotions in positions of leadership and management where he has been able to continuously deliver measurable and profitable results. As an active community member in the State of Arkansas, his leadership qualities have been noted by the following organizations:
• Vice Chairman – State Banking Board of Arkansas (2011)
• Leadership Arkansas Class I (2007)
• Arkansas Business 40 Under 40 (2007)
• Former Board of Trustees – Arkansas District Judges Retirement System (2005)
• Former President – Arkansas Tech University Alumni Association (2003)

Since joining Philander Smith College in 2008, his leadership has also been noted within the Council For Advancement And Support Of Education (CASE):
• Professional Speaker, “Collaborative Leadership In Development” CASE Fusion Dist III & IV Conference – New Orleans-February 2011.
• Professional Speaker, “Marketing & Branding For Planned Giving” CASE District IV Conference – Fort Worth TX March 2012
• 2011 Nominee CASE Conference District IV Rising Star Award.
• Chair, Planned Giving Track for CASE District IV 2012 Conference – Fort Worth TX

Faculty, Workshop for Newcomers in Development—Spring Session 2012/Introduction to Personal Solicitation – Denver CO

The National Leadership Index 2009 by Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership notes that 69% of Americans say there is a leadership crisis today.  Yet 87% say today’s problems can be solved through effective leadership.  Leadership is recognizing the transformative environment we are in.  This transformation is evident in economic, generational and demographic shifts in the state, nation and the world.  There is talk of wealth, capital and labor redistribution, but the real redistribution will be of talent and leadership.  Some seek a return to normal without realizing that constant change has become the new normal, which will require new leadership.

The measures of new leadership will be in stewardship/philanthropy, new capital generation and new client production.  Some traits that spur on this kind of leadership are risk and failure.  Risk is the calculation of uncertain outcomes, and failure is when the desired outcome is accepted as unmet.  New leaders see risk and failure as opportunities to fix systemic problems, change thought processes and develop new models.  New leadership is rooted in education, innovation and creative thought.  It seeks wise counsel and is refined through mentoring and coaching.   It nurtures belief systems, analyzes variables and communicates with vision and direction; but most importantly new leadership is the ability to recognize transformation.  This allows change to be used as a catalyst to new achievements, results, and profits. It is my belief that the most prominent leaders of the future will emerge from new backgrounds and unexpected fields. It will not be as much about their background or experience as it will be about their ability to thrive and excel in uncharted challenges and situations.

In this current economic environment, all forms of businesses and organizations will only be able to prosper with new critical analysis.  The natural progression of this economic transformation will lead to consolidation, collaboration and more conservative business practices.  New leadership will become the invaluable commodity required to build the capacity that will be needed to create the new economy of the future.

It is imperative to recognize how generational transformation is also taking place; alternating society with new communication methods, voting patterns, technology and marketing to various segments and sub-segments of the population.  The younger generation will be pressed to adhere to the previous leadership models and social norms of the past.  New leadership will not be rigidly bound by the “lines” of the past: racial, socio-economic and cultural.

New talent pools are developing as leadership has become more diverse.  Historically, diversity has been a domestic issue with the focus being African-Americans, but in a global economy this focus includes persons from all races, most predominately from Latin America and Asian countries.  New leadership recognizes how demographic shifts have an effect on its community.  For the external consumer market, two questions arise: “How are you recognizing this new demographic consumer?”, and “What is the strategy to market to them?”  For the internal business market, the question is, “Does the board and management team reflect the community where it serves?”  An inability to recognize these shifts or passively wait for the return of the old way is a failure of leadership.

We have a capacity that has guided us from an agricultural based, to an industrial based to the present service based economy with each generation building upon the previous generation’s work.  Every demographic has added to the wealth of our country.  It is new leadership that must apply new applications.  These applications would include increased collaborations, open and transparent feedback and customer centric focus throughout organizations.  This new leadership will restart the economy, reexamine previously held beliefs and resolve former conflicts.  This recent crisis of confidence and economy will be the spark that ignites this generation to its leadership potential.

Parks Professional Group is pleased to announce that we have achieved several social media goals recently.  Our LinkedIn number just crossed 1,000 over the Thanksgiving weekend.  Our Facebook Business page had over 100 likes in its first month.  Our Flickr page has over 300  views in three months.  Our updated website has received 320 visits and 1,600 page views with an average of five page views a visit.  Our top ten markets on brand penetration are as follows:  Little Rock, Fayetteville/Fort Smith (Northwest Arkansas), Atlanta, Washington DC, Dallas, Jonesboro (Northeast Arkansas), Kansas City, Houston, Austin and Chicago.

Parks Professional Group is a public speaking and management consulting firm with over 20 years of finance, leadership and management development experience. We are experts in banking, financial education and business productivity.  We offer professional speaking/management consulting services that include keynote presentations, panel discussions and facilitation.  Our services are modeled on being strategic, articulate and effective.  We seek to give you a return on your investment that can be measured in productivity, application and engagement.  If you are looking for a professional speaker/consultant who can deliver value to your event/company, we are ready to work for you.

Helping Build Your Potential: Public Speaking — 1) Never memorize your presentation, be knowledgeable of the content 2) Know your bullet points, cold 3) Seek feedback, do Q&A’s….

Helping Build Your Potential: Public Speaking– 1) Keywords – Work your keywords throughout your presentation. 2) Points – Either do a single focus point presentation or keep your points to no more than five (preferably three). 3) Listen – Watch panel/expect discussions to gain depth of subject matter: Squawk Box on CNBC, NFL Live on ESPN, The View and Sunday morning political shows…

Helping Build Your Potential: Public Speaking — 1) Panel Discussions – Never be the loudest on the panel 2) Keynote presentation – Never be monotone 3) Seminars – Never be on time, be early…

Educate Invest Grow Newsletter Spring 2011

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