Christina: [00:00:00] Welcome to the taking the lead podcast, where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Hapner with my cohost, Wesley Hoskins and Timothy Cuneo. Welcome back to season two, everybody. I
Leslie: can't believe we made it season two. We've got a great lineup, lots of things. Uh, in store. We're going to continue talking to clients and team members and, and everybody
Christina: else.
And. We also have another big event coming up, which is. Because it's and brew.
Leslie: Am I right? Bargained for is happening in person this year? Yes.
Christina: I mean, I've never been because this will be my first Bergen brew at leader dog, so,
Leslie: so much fun. It's a great outdoor event. It happens here in Rochester Hills, Michigan.
So if you are local, please come check it out. June. I believe he can get tickets already
Christina: online. Yes. And they have a 5k and you can also do the virtual. So even if you're not in [00:01:00] the area and you want to participate in the 5k, you can do the virtual 5k walk, run, whatever it may be. Right. I'm assuming you will
Leslie: be doing a virtual 5k.
I
Timothy: will be doing a virtual 5k. I'm sorry. I can't fly up there, but.
Leslie: I know, but we are going to be bringing Timothy up this summer. We're super excited to be doing that. So we will look forward to that and we'll let everybody know when that's going to happen. Yes. All right. Well, kicking us off in season two, we plan to dive even more into the world of blindness and the stories again, of our amazing clients, our team members, our volunteers, and our donors.
And of course there is no better way to start off season two then with our fearless leader. Yes. Joining us
Christina: today is president and CEO Susan Day. So he's been with the leader dog since 2004 and has worked in nonprofit for over 30 years. Under Sue's leadership leader, dog has made significant advancements.
Sue was leader dog's first ever chief financial officer, and she is now the first [00:02:00] female president and CEO Sue's successes include, but are not limited to the creation of the leader, dog foundation, the successful completion of the largest capital campaign in leader dog's history and the expansion of leader dogs volunteer.
And most recently during the COVID-19 pandemic Sue's leadership resulted in leader dogs for the blind being the first guide dog organization in north America to serve clients on campus during the pandemic. Not only did Sue focus on later dog, but her conviction in partnership within the guide dog industry resulted in leader dogs, supplying 10 dogs to a Canadian guide dog organization that could not get canines for training during the pandemic.
I'm so
Timothy: excited to welcome Sue to the podcast. And the first question. What made you come and want to join the leader, dog team
Sue: Timothy for the question and thank you for having me today. And I just want to clarify the whole 30 years in nonprofits. I started when I was 10, just[00:03:00]
Um, so I came to leader dog because I was recruited. At the time I was the chief financial officer at the American red cross in Detroit and had been there for almost 10 years. And our recruiter called and said, You know, somebody gave us your name and leader dogs for the blind and Rochester Hills is looking for a chief financial officer and I live on the west side.
So I knew of leader dogs for the blind. I had never driven by, I, I didn't know anyone personally who used a leader dog, but had a sense of what they did and I wasn't looking, but I said, well, I'm never one to pass up a potential opportunity. So I'll listen to what you have to say. And I was fortunate in going through the process to be the person selected.
And so here I am, 18 years later, this is the longest I've been at any organization during my career. And it's been amazing to be part of this organization. So,
Christina: I mean, that's an amazing story to say [00:04:00] that you're recruited. And then this is the longest organization you've been at. So what does it mean to you to be the CEO at leader, dog, and even more kind of, what does a day in your life look like as a CEO?
Sue: As I said, I started as the chief financial officer. So I was in that role for eight years. Never aspired to be the CEO, but you know, when there was transition at that level, it seemed the right thing to do. And, um, so now I've been in that role for 10 years and it's very different as you might expect from, from the chief financial officer.
And no day, like most people know, no two days look online, which is good because I always tell people I haven't gotten bored yet, which is pretty good in 18 years. So it's really awesome. You know, most of my days are with people meeting. Events breakfast meetings, lunch meetings, whether it's board members, people that report directly to me, meeting with our [00:05:00] clients pre pandemic, I'll clarify always so much happening on campus.
And I know Christina, you haven't experienced that yet, but I mean, typically, and Leslie knows this every day. Visitors, whether it's donors, lions, clubs, people from the community coming to see puppies and the canine development center. It's very busy and because we're supported a hundred percent by philanthro.
You know, it's really important that we connect with our donors and the community and all the people who are so interested in us because we need their support, whether they're donating financially, they're giving of their time, their expertise. And so my time is really, I would say split between governance, which is the board and the board committees and individual board members.
And philanthropy again, whether that's lines, clubs, individual donors, corporate donors, events, those kinds of things. So it's really fun. And that's been a [00:06:00] challenge obviously during the pandemic because we've been virtual and the campus has been closed until this week. Monday, right. We opened the lobby doors.
So that's yeah,
Leslie: that is so exciting. It kind of feels like the light at the end of the tunnel. We're finally here. I love that you were recruited and kind of fell in love, just like everybody else. We talk about all the time. How, if we can just get people to campus. People fall in love with our mission.
They meet our clients, they see the dogs and the love and care that goes into leader dog. So I love that. That's absolutely how you joined the team as well, because I think that's how we all kind of got involved.
Sue: I absolutely agree with you and it's, it's true. We hear it all the time. Once people get on campus.
I had no idea how right, how large that you have, uh, uh, two full-time vets and a veterinary clinic and a cryogenics play happened $250, like just, and I was the same way again, never having been there in person, just amazed. And then obviously the other amazing part is that right. Human [00:07:00] animal connection.
And, and to see, and, and again, I always tell, especially new teammates. We have such an advantage because everybody who comes to campus works for us. Volunteers for us visit us, gets to see the mission happen right in front of them. And I think it's really important for people engaging with us and for team members who don't have the advantage of working directly with the dogs or the clients.
They still get to be part of it every day. And I think that's really, really great. I think that's so
Leslie: true. And it's really shown through every career or job at leader, dog, everybody is working for the same mission and everybody is really motivated and driven and clients say all the time. Everybody's just so nice.
Everyone's so nice and so happy. And really they are cause it's a positive place to work. We're seeing the difference that we're making, um, which is really
Christina: incredible. And I mean, for me, I know I started during the pandemic, but I've been able to shadow teams throughout my [00:08:00] day. Everybody blows me away. I did not know half of the things.
I mean, I was one of those person who I came on campus. I got a tour the first day and I was like, I am going to be lost for a long time. I'm not know where I'm going. I mean, still, sometimes I am. I'm like, okay, what direction is this person's office? But it's amazing to see all the different teams work. I think you've shared on now all of the teams in my time so far, and it's absolutely amazing.
Timothy: Yeah. So you've been there for eight, 10 years. So what has changed in those 18 years under your leadership?
Sue: Well, I would say like many nonprofit organizations when I started with leader dog, it was, I don't know why you want to call it, you know, more of a homegrown, not really with a lot of what we'd call business practices.
And not that, that was a bad thing. It was just. So for example, right? We didn't have an HR department. We didn't have an it team. We had, I don't know, three people in [00:09:00] philanthropy.
Um, and so a lot of those pieces just didn't exist. And that was one of the things. Right. They why they wanted a CFO to ensure that from a business perspective, all those pieces were in place. So kind of formalizing all of those things. So that was in my role as CFO, a big part of what has. And then as I moved into the CEO role, really our whole governance structure, um, which I'm really excited about.
We have an amazing board and a lot of committees, a lot of the work is done by committees. And so really, I feel like our process, we have people ask all the time for. How are we doing this and how are we doing that? Because our governance structure is really solid and we're able to attract really talented, engaged people to our board.
And that makes a huge difference. So that's been a big change from, from what it was, um, when I started 18 years [00:10:00] ago. And then, you know, relative to the program, I think just, um, and leader, Doug was always wanting to continuously improve and do more. You know, now O and M is right. It started 20 years ago. So just before I got there, prison puppies started just when I got there.
And camp didn't exist. Uh, GPS, you know, didn't exist for our clients in terms of us doing that. So listening to the clients, the residents had just opened the new residents. When I started now, we've gone through the canine development center renovation. So a lot of improvement that way, you know, and, and even as we look at the guide dog, Timothy.
I don't know what your experience has been, but you know, we didn't really do home deliveries, um, classes now three weeks instead of four weeks. We can do a hybrid, right? You come to leader dog for a week and a half, and then you go home. So trying to be client-centric and meet clients where they are, it has been really important.
I think [00:11:00] that staff is
Leslie: absolutely yet. We do exit interviews. We ask them. All the time we're doing surveys. Like how can we improve? What can we do better? And that's where change comes from all the time. I'm constantly encouraging clients like, oh, you didn't like the bathroom, put it on the exit survey.
That'll get it fixed because it's true. Like any little thing we want to make our building more accessible. We want the training to be more accessible. We just want it to be. To each person so that it's going to work for them and benefit them. But you mentioned the canine development center and you were a critical piece in creating this new state of the art building for our dogs.
Why was that project so important?
Sue: Um, well, I, it wasn't me, right? It's it's always a team effort. And again, this was, this was a huge undertaking, uh, you know, by the board and. By the team. And, uh, you know, we planned, it would be a two year campaign. It was two and a half years, 14 and a half million dollars, which was more than had ever been raised in our history.
Uh, and, um, you know, we, we, we raised it all, [00:12:00] uh, which was great. It was, it was desperately needed. So our canine center at the time was really three, one building with two ad-ons all at different times. And so dated three different HPAC systems and the housing units for the dogs while they met the standards that were required to meet through the international guide dog Federation, which is our accrediting body.
Those units were three feet by three feet by three feet high. And for the breeds of dogs that we use labs, shepherds, golden retrievers, they really was not adequate. And they were lined up in rows and the dogs looked at brick walls in front of them on the sides of them. They couldn't see other dogs. They could only see people when somebody walked in front.
So these, these puppies really right. Come to us at 12, 14 months, they've been in homes or, you know, raised in a much different environment. And now they're in this environment with other dogs and people they don't know. [00:13:00] And then there's this sort of isolation factor and it's, it's like anything else. It's like hospital systems, things change over time.
And so it was really time for us to update that. And it was hard for our puppy raisers. To bring their dogs and know that again, our team does a great job, keeping it clean, taking the dogs out and all those pieces, but still they were spending time in those housing units. And that was. So it was really critical for the wellbeing of the dogs.
And so to now see the canine center and when it was completed, it was state-of-the-art because we went to the UK and we looked at facilities and, uh, animal shelters, and to really be able to do the best we could, and to now have the villages that we have, where we can cohabitate dogs and, you know, none of them get the hematomas on their head from hitting the top of the.
Uh, is just so much music piped [00:14:00] in all those pieces. And so it, it was a critical piece. It was, I felt something that we had to do, uh, to really ensure the wellbeing of our dogs and the success of our dogs.
Christina: Yeah. The first time I was in the canine center, I remember hearing that music and I was like, oh my gosh, this is so calming.
And then someone explained, you know, why they play that type of music. And I, I mean, every little last detail was really thought out with that project. And I was blown away when I was going on my first tour. It was. This is all in this building and it just flows so seamlessly. Um, and I know none of that was possible without donors and Sue.
I know lions are such a huge part of our mission and you are aligning yourself. So why was it so important for you to be a
Sue: lion? So I think there's sort of two whys in your question. Um, so why is it important and then why did I become a lion? Right. So we, our organization, which. [00:15:00] Probably no was formed by three lions.
And at that time there was only one guy Doug school in the country. So they had a friend who was blind and had applied at that school and was declared. So they said, well, we're just going to start our own school so we can help our friends. And if you know anything about lions, that's so typical, right.
They just, they just do to help. And so they started leader dogs for the blind in 1939. And here we are 80 plus years later, very successful, you know, one of the largest guy, Doug schools in the country. And we always say they are part of the fabric of who we are and. They comprised most of our board for many years, they were, my understanding is years and years ago, almost a hundred percent of the financial support for the organization and are still a significant amount of the financials.
But they do so much more than financially support us. So many of our clients are [00:16:00] referred by lions. We hear stories all the time. You know, I was in a booth in a restaurant and a guy came and sat down and said, you know, do you know about leader dogs for the blind? I'm a lion and you need to go there. And they're just wonderful, wonderful people.
They are first responders they're over in Ukraine. You know, any disaster that happens. I mean, this is an international organization. But they're boots on the ground. And so not only are they international, but they're local and they'll do right. Somebody needs $50 or they need a cab ride to get to their hearing appointment or their eye appointment, or, you know, so again, they just, they want to help.
They don't do it for recognition. They do it because there's a social aspect to it. And because. They want to help people. And so being part of the fabric of our organization and because we're funded by nearly 5,000 clubs around the country, as well as lions in other countries, Canada, Spain, Mexico, you know, we want them to know [00:17:00] that, that we support them as well.
But why I wanted to become a lion is because what an honor to be part of an international humanitarian group that does such amazing. Very humbly and they do it every single day. And they're
Leslie: so creative with the way that they do later in the season. We're going to welcome Beth Slade, who is the, the director of philanthropy lions focused, um, and social share a little bit more.
But absolutely. I love hearing about the lions also. So many of our clients are Alliance, which I think is really cool too. So it kind of goes across the. So
Sue: Timothy, are you Alliant? Do you like, do you know Alliance in your community? I mean, it happens a lot.
Timothy: Yes. There's several around my area. I'm contacted the, the, the one in Atlanta.
They want me to come and do a speaking engagement. Now, since I've done dinner than a dark, I'm ready to go down there and talk to
Sue: them. You'll have a wonderful time and they will [00:18:00] have lots of questions for you. We
Leslie: have all the answers. Well, good thing. We always drill you all the time from all the questions we've asked you.
But I'm curious though, you've been at leader dog now for 18 years. What keeps you motivated and passionate about what you do and what leader dog does?
Sue: Again, it's the mission. And like I said, I haven't gotten bored yet. It's just, it's so unique. I was at the red cross, which is also a wonderful organization.
And before I got recruited to leader dog, I thought I would retire there, but that human animal bond and to, you know, talk to people like Timothy, right. To hear their stories, whatever happened for them to lose their vision and go through, you know, in many cases, depression, anger, all those emotions and not know where to turn.
And then to find leader dog, whether it's through Elian or friend or. And come and literally get back their independence, their confidence, their [00:19:00] life. It's just so it's so motivating. And I think for all of us, again, volunteers, the people that work there, that's what keeps us going every day. I always say, if you're having a bad day, just go right.
Go to the canine center, go down. Cause normally we have clients in class. And so you can. Chat with the client. And, um, and, and I have to thank Timothy and I wrote the clients because I so appreciate how open and sharing people are, um, to tell their story and, you know, let us understand what this means to them.
So it it's makes you want to get up and come to work every day when you love what you do. It makes it really easy. It's not work. I absolutely
Leslie: agree
Christina: with that. Yeah. And I mean, everyone that I have met, I mean from day one, I did not expect, I mean, I've worked in other industries in, I've never met people that were so nice on my first day.[00:20:00]
And he, I even started during the pandemic, but so many people that came to my orientation and said, hello, and then. Stop by my office. Sometimes I thought I was Leslie because we do share an office, but then they were like, oh, are you Christina? Are you new? And just everyone was just so welcoming and inviting me into their space and into their department and even clients.
I mean, the first time I got to do client interviews and interview client, Hearing it, their interactions with our team members and our volunteers and meeting our volunteers. I've gotten to spend more time with some of our volunteers as well. It's just such a family environment, Sue for you. How does that feel to have this type of culture and how do you encourage this type
Sue: of culture?
I think that's exactly what we want, because again, we're all. We should all be working collectively towards the same goals and motivated to get there and be supportive of one another. And regardless of what our piece of that [00:21:00] puzzle is, it takes all of us doing what we do to make it all happen. And so I, I think that's, we couldn't ask for anything better.
We. As you know, Christina, the senior team meets with all of our new hires to be able to write, put names and faces together. Learn a little bit about what attracted them to leader dog. Let them learn a little bit about the leadership team. We always talk about open door. We want to hear from you just like Leslie, you referenced clients.
We do the same thing with our team and it's true. Who better to tell us? How we could do something better or more efficiently or more effectively than somebody who's doing the job every day. And so I think having that open door and encouraging those conversations, and then when people come forward and making suggestions, they know that they're heard, you know, we either they see something happen because of it.
Or then they understand, oh no, we can't do that. Or we're going to do it later, whatever the case may be. And [00:22:00] again, bringing people together, working towards a common goal, I think it's. And I, I guess that'd be a question for you, Christina. Your role's a little different, but for some people who started during the pandemic, It's been a little tougher because our all team meetings have been virtual for two years, although April's com person we hope.
Um, and so there's been not the same level of connectivity. And again, all of those events that I talked about and the activities that happen on campus haven't happened. So there's been a little bit more disconnect. I don't
Christina: feel that way because I have come from other organizations. People don't know your name for a long time, or they don't even know what you do, or they, you know, you get somebody's email and they think you're in this department.
So to have people that, I mean, from the get-go even. It wasn't in person schedule teams meeting and meet that way. I mean, and I was even talking to Leslie the other day. I was like, it is so nice to see more people on campus. I was like, it's, it's funny because I feel [00:23:00] like sometimes I'm relearning people because for the longest time I saw them with a mask on and I'm like, oh, I feel bad if I like don't recognize you right away.
Um, but it's just amazing. I was amazing. People were even letting me shadow. You know, mass and during the pandemic distance. And it was just nice that everyone was just so open. Um, so I mean, I'm excited for what's to come because I've already been overwhelmed with how welcoming everybody
Sue: has been. That's great to hear.
Yeah, I, I just think it's, um, and you know, we talked about the canine centers, so, and Leslie, you mentioned right. All the details. So many of those came from the team because we asked what, what do we need? And so, so much of what you see over there that wasn't right. The leadership, figuring it out. It was the team saying, well, if we did this or we had this tool or we could do it this way, it would be better.
So again, I think working towards the common goal. We saw it in spades during the pandemic, right. [00:24:00] Team members who couldn't be on campus coming in and helping take care of the dogs and the puppies and supporting one another. We have, you know, like Leslie and you and the training teams, supporting philanthropy at events and that cross, you know, work collaboration.
It does bring everybody together again, working towards that at end of.
Leslie: Yeah. I say all the time in presentations, how proud I am to be a part of the leader dog team, especially during the pandemic, it was all hands on deck for everything. Our instructors were still getting out there and doing home deliveries when they could, our O and M specialists were out there working in homes as well.
Everybody got so creative. We were coming up with virtual options. Like everybody just was involved. They wanted to keep clients engaged. They wanted to keep team members engaged. Um, and I think that really speaks to your leadership of that. That was a priority. Um, and continues to be so, so I think it's really cool just to have personal relationships with the senior management team to walk on campus and, you know, [00:25:00] hijab, Hey Donnie.
And, and they say, hi, Leslie. And they know me back, which is really cool because I know a lot of organizations, one that's not possible just because of the size, but it's a priority here at leader dog to get to know one another, no matter what. In which you're at. And I think that's really cool and something definitely be proud of
Timothy: was there for my, uh, getting glacier.
Uh, I was impressed when I was eating lunch one day and Sue Daniels came down there and lunch with us. I mean, she took the time of her day, even though she's got so much to do. And it was other people in. You know, and a higher management also came down then impressed me at that moment because it made me feel like I was somebody of importance to this organization.
When the top president is here, having lunch with me, that made me feel I was part of something. And I went on to tell you that I appreciate you doing that. So it really, it really touches.
Sue: Oh, well, it's absolutely my pleasure. And you are somebody important to the organization [00:26:00] to Timothy? All of our clients are, I try to, I try to have at least one meal with every class, if, if I can.
Um, and poor Dina sometimes, you know, I'm signed up for like three things and then I may have to cancel two and, but, um, I want to, to be able to talk to our clients. I want to ask those questions. I like to hear, you know, where they're from and is this their first time and how did they hear about leader dog?
And, you know, what's been good and encourage them to stay in touch with us. And because again, as Leslie mentioned earlier, that's how. Improve. That's how we can continue to make sure that we're providing the best possible experience for our clients, whether they, they get their dog at home or whether they come to leader dog.
And I'm, again, just so inspired because. I think our clients are very courageous. And I know Timothy's going to say, no, that's not [00:27:00] true because that's what our clients always say, but I'm going to disagree with you because it's hard to imagine the journey that most of you have gone through and you're so willing to share.
And it's, it's amazing. So to be part of that, um, and be able to share that over lunch is great.
Leslie: Absolutely. You are all over the place. You're constantly busy. You're trying to engage with all of these different people and important things. But among that, you also serve for three years as the chair of the council of us dog guide schools, which I believe is now the council of north American dog guide schools.
So in earlier in the introduction, we mentioned your commitment to partnership within the industry. Can you tell us a little bit more about your commitment and conviction and why that is so important?
Sue: Sure. Well, this, as most of you know, the guide dog industry is a small industry, um, is so we're the only school in Michigan, you know, it's [00:28:00] 12 in the country, some countries around the world do not have a guide dog school.
So, so it's a small industry and. So why, why not share best practices? Why not? It actually kind of started when I was in the CFO role. So data and metrics, and you can only compare your performance to your own performance for so long, and then it doesn't really have any meaning. And we had no metrics to compare other than.
Just incidental with, with the other guy, dog organizations. So that's where we started. And we, when we got the, the group to agree on six key metrics and how they would be calculated and that we would use an outside company and we'd share those anonymously so that we could all see the results. And one individual I remember said to me, well, I.
I wouldn't want like leader, dog to sort of use that information. Like there's so much better than another school. And I said, that's not, I intent. I just want to [00:29:00] know how we stack up. We could be doing really well in some areas, but we could not be doing so great in other areas. And, and then I, we could have a conversation.
Well, why, why aren't we doing as well? Why is the success rate of our dogs lower? What, what are these other schools do? Differently better, obviously. Um, so it started there and I think, you know, again, collectively we have a stronger voice, so relative to advocacy, um, the whole airline situation and the fake service dogs.
So as a group, you know, we've weighed in, on some of those issues and that's more impactful than if we each did it individually. Uh, and. We there's plenty of people who, who need our assistance. Um, so Y we're not really in competition. We wouldn't share private information of clients or donors, but there's plenty of financial support and there's plenty of people who need our assistance.
So why not share best practices and [00:30:00] see how we can improve. As an industry overall. And so that's taken some time, but really has, I think, moved our industry forward. And as you said, we, we did invite the Canadian schools, um, probably three years ago and now have, have changed the name of the organization.
So I think that's really exciting. Yeah, that is so true.
Christina: Sometimes all working together is better for everybody. And so of course we have to end with asking you, what does the future hold
Sue: for a leader? Well, interesting question. I think it's very exciting. We're um, in the middle of working on our next three year strategic plan, and I think that's good timing with the hopefully end of the pandemic, but, um, we want to, you know, our goals are to serve more people again, to improve our quality, um, to ensure that we are sustainable into the future.
Um, one of our clients who has also been on our board, [00:31:00] And I tell them this all the time. I just, he's always in the back of my mind, he got his first dog from us in 1958 when he was in law school. And he just had to retire his ninth dog from us. And, you know, so he, he went through law school. He was a circuit court judge.
Then he went into retirement and we've been. With him, that whole journey. And so we need to be here, not just today for the service that we provide today, but for the future, for all of our clients, whatever their journey is. And so I see us serving more people and continuing to always try and improve the quality of our service so that we can partner and walk alongside our clients on their.
Leslie: I love that. And I'm so excited for the future of leader, dog. Thank you so much, Sue, for being with us [00:32:00] today. We really appreciate it. And thank you so much to our listeners for listening to the taking the lead podcast. I'm Leslie Hoskins with hosts, Christina Hepner and Timothy Cuneo. We hope you enjoy learning about our president and CEO and her impact on leader dog.
Please join us next week as we continue to do. Overall deployment.
Christina: If you'd like to learn more about a final leader dog, you can head to leader, dog.org or call us at (888) 777-5332. And don't forget, you can reach us if you have any questions or ideas for us@takingtheleadatleaderdog.org. And if you like today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever podcasts .