Harry Cooper, 36, was the manager of a senior residential retirement community in Florida that was recently acquired by a large corporation that owns a chain of retirement homes. Cooper had been promoted from the outside to his position at the home and found it to be a bigger challenge than he’d expected.

Soon after he assumed his duties, Cooper found that he was struggling with a staff with serious morale problems. His 32 employees included five nurses, one visiting doctor, two additional medical staff, two social workers, eight kitchen staff, six housekeepers, an activities director, a volunteer coordinator, three receptionists, a bookkeeper and two assistant administrators. Very few of these people seemed happy with their jobs and there was an underlying current of mistrust of him and the CPA firms that had recently acquired the facility.

Upon hearing about the difficulties he was having, the corporation executives were not at all pleased. While Cooper had a degree in public administration and management from a state college, a senior vice president suggested that perhaps Cooper would benefit from an educational injection that would position him better to deal with the personnel issues. Perhaps Cooper needed to polish up his leadership skills.

Initially, Cooper wasn’t happy about this suggestion, but decided to pursue high level coursework anyway. He ran a search using the words “corporate executive training” and found BusinessEducators.com website. He was impressed with the listings of all types of executive educational courses being offered by top at the finest business schools all over the country.

Soon, he found a 6-day leadership course at a famous east coast business school that featured setting the right goals, communicating ideas, investing in South America and influencing others to execute a plan. He would learn more effective decision making, better use of power and influence, methods of altering behaviors, recasting mindsets, and making organizational change. He would learn new personal negotiation styles and how to invest in and manage relationships for greater impact. He enrolled in the course and enjoyed everything about it, particularly having the opportunity to be instructed by a foremost educational authority in leadership and business.

Upon his return, he immediately began to implement what he’d learned. He met with small groups of his employees, explaining to them that he was invested in their effectiveness and enjoyment of their jobs. When people complained about various issues, he assigned them the job to figure out ways to solve the problems. The workers were taken aback by such an approach, and appreciated that he wanted their input and suggestions. Soon, the community was humming along with both happy residents and satisfied employees, who felt that their contributions were appreciated and their input acknowledged. Complaints became much more unusual and families heard so many good things about the community that frequent vacancies were quickly filled by new residents. By the time he had completed his first year of service, Cooper was well regarded by all, especially the corporate leadership that had originally suggested that he take the leadership course.