The ZANDAN Brand

Serial entrepreneur Peter Zandan exemplifies how creativity, collaboration and community involvement are keys to successful leadership in the 21st century.

Written by Diana Dawson and photographed by Matthew Mahon

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LEARNING TO LEAD

Lee Walker says his coffee chats about leadership or anything else with Zandan are never brief because no one stirs his imagination as that man does.
 
“Peter Zandan is at heart an artist, which is to say that his brand of leadership is not formula-driven but is imagination-based,” says Walker, chairman of the Capital Metro board and former president of Dell Computer Corp. “His leadership style combines boldness, imagination and artistry with a carefully reasoned information-based approach. He likes to disrupt the normal with that entirely fresh way of thinking that is his distinctive trademark.”
 
Zandan says his leadership style developed through trial and error and with the maturity of self-awareness. When he saw a leader whom he admired, he tried to adapt characteristics of that person that fit his needs. His collaborative approach he credits to Walker. “He gets people to the table and gets them to make decisions,’’ Zandan says. “That fit my personality and was very affirming that you can have an impact by being inclusive and collaborative.”
 
His entrepreneurial Uncle Saul taught Zandan to simplify and brought him back to earth when deals loomed large. Zandan remembers when venture capitalists were offering him options in his own company, Intelliquest. “Uncle Saul said, ‘Why would you want to buy back something you already own?’ He brought it down to the basics.”
 
A lifelong learner, Zandan continues to recognize mentors when he sees them and to learn from others. At Public Strategies, he’s enhanced his art of gifted listening by watching Founder and Chairman Jack Martin in action. And his lesson from the late Ann Richards, his colleague at Public Strategies? “She was the advocate of be who you are and let it rip,” he says with a grin.
 
“You take pieces from everyone,” he advises. “There are a few people who really catch your attention. Sometimes you’re at a point when you envy them and want to bring that characteristic into your mix. You have to be authentic, though. Every time I ever tried to be something I’m not, it’s been uncomfortable and unsatisfying. The issue is to be as self-aware as possible and to find your own voice and rhythm.”
 
After a lifetime of being the boss, Zandan says he’s finally an employee at Public Strategies. But McKinnon sees him as far more than that.
 
“We started Public Strategies with a few broke-down political consultants, and it went from three or four people to 150 employees,” says McKinnon, who currently serves as media adviser for Sen. John McCain and was chief media adviser to President George W. Bush. “Peter taught us to run it as a business. We became a real blue-chip, high-level communications firm and sold a year ago for $90 million. Peter helped us get there when we didn’t know what the hell we were doing.”
 
Those who’ve worked with Zandan paint his portrait in the same way: A creative visionary who can see things others may not, shape the company or project for success and do it in a way that leaves stakeholders smiling.
 
“I think leadership is something that’s earned. I don’t think you can claim it for yourself,” Zandan muses. “People have to emerge as leaders. It’s not their plan. It’s others’ plan for them.”

By coloring outside the lines and zigging when others zagged, Zandan has helped draw a new picture of the 21st century leader.

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