- Brian Engle started his career in real estate development but found his passion working with seniors. He took on leadership roles within his company over 15 years. - Early in his career, Engle felt he had to prove himself and was arrogant. He has since learned to respect his employees' experience and expertise. - Engle improved his leadership skills by getting feedback from employees through reviews and conversations. He had to be humble and open to criticism to learn about his blind spots. - Engle now produces action plans based on employee feedback to continue evolving as a leader. He believes all leaders should solicit critiques from subordinates.

1. Prepaid by:
Rahul Paneliya
Case Study on Leadership Styles

2. Case Study: Leadership Styles
When it comes to his leadership qualities, Brian Engle has come a long way in the last 15 years.
At first, he admits, he probably wasn‟t a good leader at all. In 1992, fresh out of college with an
accounting degree, Engle was hired by The Shelter Group, based in Baltimore. His accounting
skills got him in the door on the real estate development and property management side of the
business, but Engle soon realized he was meant for The Shelter Group‟s senior housing and
services component.
“I liked working with people and I was really proud of the senior housing product the company
was producing at the time,” explains Engle, referring to the Brightview Senior Living
communities that came to fruition nearly a decade ago.
Engle immersed himself in that rapidly evolving enterprise and eventually took the reins of The
Shelter Group‟s senior housing division.
“You could say I grew up within the organization,” he says. “As the company grew, so did I and
my role within it.” But despite the professional epiphany that led him to serving seniors, Engle
wasn‟t as prepared for his first experience as a manager.
“I was a young guy, just out of college and probably felt like I had a lot to prove,” Engle recalls.
“So when I was given my first leadership opportunities, I probably was more arrogant and
defensive than I‟d like to admit. I‟m sure I felt like I had to prove something to the people around
me—that I was worthy of being given a managerial position at such a young age.” But those
days are long gone, says Engle, who is now Brightview Senior Living‟s vice president of
operations.
“My management style has changed dramatically since those early experiences,” he explains. “I
don‟t feel like I have to prove anything anymore.” Engle says he‟s learned over the years to
“respect the folks who work with and for me. I respect the experience and expertise and
everything else they bring to the table.
“I used to think I had to be the expert,” he adds. “I now understand that‟s not my job. If I
surround myself with talented folks, I can be much more effective at doing what I‟m supposed to
do, which is help execute the mission and vision of our organization.”
So how did Engle get away from misguided to masterful? He became a leadership student of the
very people he leads. In other words, he has learned how to become an effective leader—and
continues to hone his leadership skills—by allowing for consistent and honest feedback from his
employees. On the surface, this may sound like an easy process, but executives and experts alike
agree: There‟s nothing easy about opening yourself up to criticism.

3. Checking: Observation
Too may leaders lack self-awareness, he explains. “They don‟t know what‟s in their blind spot.
It‟s easy for everyone around them to see it, but it‟s not so easy for them to see it themselves.
The only way to do that is to ask the people around you.”
If you‟re a CEO, that may mean seeking out a member of your board of directors. Other
executives may want to talk to a colleague, a mentor, or a spouse.
“Ask them, „What am I not seeing about myself that would help me become a better leader?‟”
Peck says. “It takes courage to ask that question, but it needs to be asked.”
Another option: Talk to your staff.
“I often tell clients to get out and talk to their employees,” Peck adds. “When was the last time
most of us sat down and talked with everyone in our organization? It‟s so beneficial: You get
input, gain insight, and you‟re not just sitting in your office reacting 24/7.”
That doesn‟t mean you have to sit down with each staffer individually, Peck explains; focus:
">Lessons in Vulnerability
Engle has done all of the above and then some.
A strong believer in “peer reviews, 360s, 20/20s—whatever you want to call them,” the industry
veteran says he has long “set aside time to talk to the folks who work with me and for me to find
out how I‟m doing.”
However, that‟s not always an easy thing to do, Engle admits.
“It‟s hard to ask those questions and then listen to what people have to say,” he says, especially if
you‟re like most leaders and, when asked to rate yourself on a scale between 1 and 10, you give
yourself the highest possible score.
“Most of us have a rather inflated view of our abilities as leaders,” Engle says. “But you have to
be ready for your peers and your employees to not rate you that highly. You have to be tough
enough to put yourself out there, hear what people have to say about you, and then follow up
with them—to let them know you heard what they said—and plan on doing something with the
information you got.”
Tiffany Tomasso is also a fan of leadership reviews. Tomasso joined McLean, Virginia-based
Sunrise Senior Living 15 years ago and has served as COO since 2003. Sunrise works with
Gallup to conduct annual employee and customer satisfaction surveys. As part of the employee
survey, staff members are asked to evaluate their supervisors, who are then tasked with
producing an impact plan.
“The end result is that we all learn how to become more effective leaders,” Tomasso says. To

4. escape the process unscathed, she adds, leaders “have to be open to not only soliciting the
questions, but listening to the answers. That takes a leader with a certain level of confidence.
You have to be confident enough in who you are and your leadership skills to solicit that kind of
feedback and then make appropriate changes.”
Engle, who says he has learned a lot about himself through such reviews as well as conversations
with coaches, colleagues, and even consultants, agrees: “You have to be humble enough to put
yourself through these kinds of exercises—to ask the tough questions and then listen to what
people have to say—because they can teach you a lot about yourself.”
From Theory to Practice
During his most recent peer review, Engle says he “looked through the comments and feedback
and then stepped back. I met one on one with some of the folks who took the time to fill out the
reviews and dug a little deeper into some of the issues they raised.”
After those meetings, Engle produced what he calls a mini action plan. “I wrote down some of
the highlights, lessons, and surprises as well as some of the things I thought I could do to evolve
and grow into a more effective leader.”
It‟s a process Engle thinks other assisted living executives would do well to duplicate. “As
leaders, we‟re always critiquing our subordinates,” he says, “but we don‟t often let those
subordinates critique us.”
This is particularly important in the assisted living industry, he adds, “which is all about people.
Our job as leaders is to support all of the people working in our communities and in our home
offices, and we can‟t possibly know if we‟re doing that effectively unless we take the time to ask
them and then truly listen to what they have to say.”

5. Solitary Solutions
Not all leadership lessons are learned through the assistance of others. Some lessons leaders must
cull on their own from their experiences as the low person on the totem pole.
That‟s often been the case for Tiffany Tomasso, COO of Sunrise Senior Living, who has worked
in long-term care for 23 years.
“I put myself through college by working at McDonald‟s,” says Tomasso. “I was a shift manager
at 17, so I‟ve been managing people for a long time.” She also learned a lot as an administrator-
in-training at the nursing home she joined just out of school.
“I came up through community operations and I‟m well aware of how we run a senior living
community,” Tomasso says. “I spent a large part of my career working as a department head, an
administrator-in-training, an assistant administrator, an administrator, and so on—so when I
moved into more senior roles, I understood everything that went on below me. I brought that
first-hand, front-line knowledge with me as I moved up within the organization.”
Effective leaders “stay close to the front lines,” she adds. “You can‟t be isolated. You have to be
„where the business is,‟ so to speak.”