William Baker, Ph.D., Fordham’s Claudio Acquaviva Chair and Journalist-In-Residence, is the host of a new documentary program about kindness and leadership that premieres this Sunday, Nov. 23 at 10 p.m. on WNET-TV, Channel 13.
The one-hour special, “Leading With Kindness,” offers an inside look at the success of corporate executives whose creative leadership style includes being kind to their employees, and who have achieved stellar results in business because of it. The special is based on Baker’s book, Leading With Kindness: How Good People Consistently Get Superior Results (AMACOM, 2008), co-authored with Michael O’Malley.
The documentary profiles top company executives Tim Armstrong, president of North American sales for Google; Murray Martin, chief executive officer of Pitney Bowes; Eileen Fisher, founder of Eileen Fisher Company; and Joseph Polisi, president of the Juilliard School, among others. The successful leaders dispel the notion that a boss has to be imperious to succeed.
The program also features employees who describe in their own words what they think makes their companies so successful.
Baker, who holds his chair in the Graduate School of Education (GSE), is president emeritus of Thirteen/WNET.