Running Head: LEADERSHIP IN THE AMERICAN RED CROSS

Leadership in the American Red Cross Assessing a Career in Business

Alberto Samayoa

Business 1010: Introduction to Business Summer 2019

LEADERSHIP IN THE AMERICAN REDCROSS

Leadership in the American Red Cross Assessing a Career in Business

This paper examines to better understand what the leading role of the Chief

Executive Officer of the American Red Cross exactly entails. The American Red Cross is

one of the nation’s foremost humanitarian organizations, that is dedicated to helping

people in need throughout the United States and, is connected with other Red Cross

networks throughout the world. It is dependent on the many generous donations of

time, blood, and money from the American public to support the lifesaving services and

programs. The American Red Cross is mainly a volunteer emergency service

organization in the United States with more than 263 chapters and 58 regions

nationwide.

Job Description

Responsible for representing the American Red Cross nationwide. The Chief

Executive Officer will focus on the execution of the core mission, fundraising and

external relations. Represent and act as an ambassador of the Red Cross for the media,

donors and across the nation communities nationwide. Manage the involvement of

programs and the resilience of programs working with community partners to ensure

that communities build local capacity prepare for, prevent, respond and recover from

disasters. Ensure that the volunteer force of youth and young adults are engaged and

retained with service plans (Cox, L). Is accountable for achieving performance targets of
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service delivery, funding, revenue, and expense targets. Backed with a proven track

record in raising significant financial resources (Bloomberg). In management experience

a minimum of seven years of directing a workforce and program management

responsibilities.

General Career Path

To understand the general career path for this advanced career I approached it

by searching the journey that Gail McGovern took to get here. Before joining the Red

Cross came from a cross connection of being on a total of six different Board Members

in six different organizations that spanned over eight different industries. She has

served and before that she had served as President of Fidelity of personal investments.

She was a senior officer of Vice President at AT&T for in the consumer markets division

(Gail McGovern).

General Education Experience

Ms. McGovern persuade and education that would later be best served for the

public. As a Professor of Marketing at the Harvard Business School. She has a Bachelor

of Arts from John Hopkins University and an MBA from Columbia University, and has

been recognized as an alumna of the year from both universities. Currently she is a

member of the board of trustees for Johns Hopkins Medicine, she also serves on the

board of directors of DTE Energy and PayPal. A minimum of ten years of related
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experience in a for profit or non-for-profit in business, sales and corporate

administration (Reardon, E).

Average Salary

The president and CEO of the American Red Cross has a base income to the tune

of $500,000 without a pay increase since she had joined in 2008. This was in range for

executives of a large non-profit organization like the Red Cross, that is a $3.3 billion

organization (Red Cross Statement on Inaccurate Viral Email on Charity CEO Pay).

Career Outlook

By being a leading the American Red Cross is dedicated to helping those in need

throughout the United States and, in association with other Red Cross networks, that

are throughout the world. The Company depends on the many generous contributions

of time, blood, and money from the American public. If one shares our passion of

helping people, join us in the excellent career opportunity.

Bio of Someone in the Profession

In an interview that was done with Gail McGovern and a radio talk show hosted

by Laura Cox Kaplan on She Said /She Said in 2018. During her tenure, McGovern has

overseen the American Red Cross response to multiple high-profile disasters across the

country and around the world, including the Haiti earthquake in 2010, the Japan
LEADERSHIP IN THE AMERICAN REDCROSS

earthquake and tsunami on 2011, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, hurricanes, floods, wildfires,

home fires and other local disasters that affect our country each year. Ms. McGovern is

the longest serving female CEO since its founding in 1836 only second to Clara Barton

who had twenty-three year run with the American Red Cross (Cox, L).

Pro’s and Con’s

The CEO is the backbone of a company. He or she is the reason for the success of

the organization and the people working in it. This can be a consuming and demanding

job, and, in this section, I will discuss the Pros and Cons of becoming a CEO. The Pros

of this kind of position is the status of having authority of decision making. Along with

authority there is high status you get respect and honor of the employees working in

the organization. A CEO has a complete knowledge about the affairs of the company all

information must be given updates of the situations within the company and without.

The capability of a CEO increases your earning power and may give you high packages

with a lot of benefits and perks. Even in small businesses the CEO is the highest paid

job position.

Along with the pros everything has its disadvantages the Cons of being a CEO it

is difficult to reach such a high office. It is not easy and involves a lot of hard work, it

may require sleepless nights. The feeling of loneliness may arise because there may be

nobody to turn to because you are the one people are supposed to turn to. Mistakes are
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a natural part of learning and sometimes you might make them unintentionally. There

may be times when you want to throw in the towel or even feel like throwing some

people out of the organization but all you could do is to be calm and kind. You must

accept that it will not always be a win-win situation for you.

My “Fit” in this Career

After doing my research of what the responsibilities and requirements of a CEO

are, I had been enlightening and eye opening, to learn even what the roles of leadership

are tasked with. As far as how well suited I am for this position is very minimal. My

personally might me suited with leadership, people oriented, a team player, and a

passion for service. Despite having these characteristics, the real disconnect is where the

sheer amount of experience is what makes me not ideal for the job. I think that with due

time and a much better education, then maybe I could be better suited to fulfill this

position.
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References

Bloomberg. (Accessed on July 24, 2019). Retrieved from

https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=38115

11&privcapId=159989

Cox, L. (2018). She Said / She Said [Podcast] Retrieved from

https://shesaidshesaidpodcast.com/episodes/leading-from-the-heart-at-the-

american-red-cross/

Gail McGovern. (Accessed on July 24, 2019). Retrieved from

https://www.redcross.org/about-us/who-we-are/leadership/gail-j-mcgovern.html

Reardon, E. (2019). Regional Chief Executive Officer Retrieved from

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/regional-chief-executive-officer-san-

francisco-ca-at-american-red-cross-1168207780

Red Cross Statement on Inaccurate Viral Email on Charity CEO Pay. (Accessed on July

24, 2019). Retrieved from https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-

events/press-release/red-cross-statement-on-inaccurate-viral-email-on-charity-

ceo-pay.html