EPISODE #8: ROB IVY, CFO, LEE COMPANY- HOW VALUES ANCHOR AN ORGANIZATION DURING UNSTABLE TIMES

Mr. Ivy is a strategic all-purpose executive with 25 years’ experience across a diverse set of industries. He has extensive experience managing various administrative and support services functions and has a track record of driving results by creating clarity, developing staff, and leading change. 

Rob leads Lee Company’s Support Services group, composed of five departments: Accounting & Finance, IT, People Services, Learning & Development, and Risk Management. He works alongside other senior executives to develop and implement financial and operational strategies across the organization. Rob also serves as a member of the company’s Board of Directors.  In addition to his work at Lee Company, Rob serves as a board member for the Williamson County Chamber of Commerce, as a speaker coach for TEDx Nashville, and as a discipleship teacher at Forest Hills Baptist Church. Prior to joining Lee Company in October 2015, Rob spent 5 years as CFO of the YMCA of Middle Tennessee where he served as a catalyst for significant organizational change. 

Connect with Rob Ivy on Linkedin.

LEADING FORWARD with Christie Berger

Highlights: "How Values Anchor an Organization during Unstable Times"

• Lee Company is dedicated to providing a workplace where employees can thrive and to give thoughtful and reliable solutions to customers
• Making sure employees are safe in the office and in the field, is most important.
• Anticipating change is necessary for any leader, while it is difficult to predict a pandemic, a leader must have a contingency plan and be looking for change indicators on the horizon.
• Sharing reminders of things that are always stable in the company inspires confidence in your team.
• A leader cannot do everything in the organization, it is necessary to trust your team to perform without you.
• COVID has pushed supervisors to trust their team more. Under that pressure, Lee Company has been fortunate to have their team rise to the occasion.
• Learning to delegate and trust while monitoring team member performance, is a skill every leader must master. 
• Achievement alone isn’t good enough: the end doesn’t justify the means in leadership.
• Listening to care is greater than listening to solve a problem.
• Lead from your role and “rolling up your sleeves” is not always the best approach. 
• Everyone on your team should participate in how we [the organization] got there, to have true success.
• Creating Clarity: Making complex things simple; through process & improvement and managing the data.
• The lack of skilled labor is a major hurdle that anyone in the skilled trade faces.
• The southeast migration, people moving to the southeast, is the largest advantage that skilled labor has an opportunity to serve.
• Not everyone needs to go to college, and young people must be exposed to this opportunity. 
• The TEDx Nashville platform is centered around informing and making people think, without politics, in a concise manner.