Adjunct Access: Sander Flaum,
Adjunct Professor Sander Flaum’s enviable career began with the New York State Democratic committee as Bobby Kennedy’s ethnic issues speechwriter. For many of us, a position like that would be the high point of a career. For Flaum, it was just the first of many highs – and a few lows.
Following the election, Flaum transitioned into the corporate world and began his MBA at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He joined Lederle Laboratories (which merged with Wyeth in 1994) and went to school at night on the GI bill (with a wife and kids at home). Four years later, he graduated magna cum laude.
Fairleigh Dickinson asked Flaum to become an adjunct lecturer. Having been a stutterer his entire life, Flaum viewed lecturing with more than the usual “fear of public speaking.” But, he jumped at the opportunity and the challenge! At the same time, Flaum had been consistently moving up the ranks in Lederle, ultimately becoming Marketing Director of ethical and biologic products. During his 18 years with the company, Flaum introduced a majority of Lederle’s prescription and biologic products. As Flaum modestly puts it, “Every department I headed did pretty well.”
The industry recognized his success and determination, and in the early 1980’s a Lederle competitor tried to recruit Flaum. As he weighed his options Lederle executives assured him that he was next in line for “the big job.” Shockingly, when the new general manager was named, someone else got the title! Flaum was “disheartened and demoralized.” The pass over led to his decision to get out of the industry and move into advertising as executive vice president of Saatchi & Saatchi’s Klemtner Advertising in the spring of 1984.
On Christmas Eve that year, Flaum got a call from a former Lederle board member asking him to lunch. Flaum had been told that the gentleman left the board because he was terminally ill, but he discovered that the gentleman had actually stepped off the board because Flaum was passed over for general manager. Flaum then learned something he was never supposed to know. When Flaum’s name came up for the position, one board member had convinced a majority of members that Flaum’s stuttering was “symptomatic of mental illness.”
Flaum went home sick to his stomach. After years of hard work and triumph after triumph - not to mention a verbal promise of the G.M. position - one board member’s perception of Flaum’s speech impediment had cost him the top job. Instead of sulking and brooding on the revelation, Flaum decided to do something exceptional. He vowed to be “as or more successful than anyone at Lederle.” Flaum did not wait long for vindication: the man chosen to lead Lederle was let go after six months. And when Lederle called with an amazingly generous offer, Flaum said “no thanks” without hesitation.
Sander’s success was further enhanced with his work propelling Saatchi & Saatchi to one of the top five advertising agencies in the world (up from 14). Saatchi & Saatchi’s president had promised Flaum – the heir apparent – that he would retire after two years. Once the company moved into the top five, the president decided to stay indefinitely.
After the “big job” eluded him a second time, Flaum decided to move on to Robert A. Becker - an advertising agency in desperate need of a turnaround. They had been ranked at number 28 in the business, and had just lost their biggest account and half their revenue. As CEO, Flaum took Becker (now Euro RSCG Life) up to number two, beating out Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare in the rankings. Flaum says that Becker “started a new kind of business. Becker became known for creating brand-driving advertising. We did care about winning advertising awards.” In 2002, Medical Advertising News named Becker the agency of the year, and Flaum was named Man of the Year. By the time Flaum left Becker in 2003, seven of the 10 largest pharmaceutical companies were clients, and he had completed his mission of successfully turning around the company.
Flaum was now at a crossroad in his career. He had been CEO, he had success, and he had a stellar reputation. What was next? He decided to follow his dream of launching his own consulting firm. Flaum Partners opened with a focus on transformational thinking for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. He now had the flexibility to lead a company as he saw fit and to avoid the mistakes of executives from his past companies.
Leadership has always fascinated Flaum and his mother is one of his role models. She was “president of this club and president of that group,” he says. He was determined to succeed for her, so he started studying the concept of leadership in high school. He looked everywhere for mentors; he identified them by “their ethics, their principles, how they dealt with people, how they gave credit to others, and how they got the job done.” A wonderful example of Flaum’s ability to identify good leaders comes in the form of Terry Wachalter, Flaum’s partner. Terry Wachalter was Becker’s CFO. When she and Flaum met at Becker in 1988, she had been a bookkeeper with the company since 1973. She had only a high school diploma but was a “financial whiz.” After hiring and firing three high-priced CFOs, Flaum finally talked Wachalter into accepting the role. “She ran the tightest ship around,” Flaum says. Flaum looked past her resume and saw the qualities he knew would make a good leader, and ultimately partner.
It was this passion for leadership that brought him to Fordham. He had been teaching at NYU Stern when he got a call from Dean Ernie Scalberg asking him to launch a course on “urban leadership.” Flaum’s Leadership Forum was born. Students loved listening to leaders from across all business industries, but a few years ago the students began to ask Flaum, “‘You give us these great books, but these are written by old guys for old guys. Aren’t there leadership books for young guys?’ There were not! So, because I’m an old guy, I called my son.”
Jonathon Flaum, Director of the WriteMind Institute for Corporate Contemplation, agreed to co-write a book with his father that would address leadership in a whole new way. They would literally walk around the country and interview leaders. There was one catch. Jonathon said, “Dad, I’ll do the book with you, but you have to interview my leaders and I’ll interview your leaders.” So father and son hiked 100 miles, doing interview after interview, and in 2006, wrote The 100-Mile Walk: A Father and Son on a Quest to Find the Essence of Leadership. Their book won the Hazen-Polsky Prize for outstanding business books and became a best-seller.
The book highlights nine points on which every leader (and aspiring leader) must focus — People, Purpose, Passion, Performance, Persistence, Perspective, Paranoia, Principles, and Practice. To Sander Flaum, “Principles is clearly the number one trait of a leader. You cannot be a leader without followers. You can’t have followers without credibility. People will do a low bow to you but they will laugh behind your back if they don’t believe in you.”
Sander Flaum has overcome obstacles and reached great success through his determination and passion. He embodies those qualities of leadership that many students strive to achieve, and he continues to mentor others in their efforts to meet their own challenges and realize their dreams.
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