Local author shares keys to effective leadership

Canton High School alum Dr. Kristin Stockus Noone recently celebrated the release of her first book, Leading with Vision, Integrity, and Inspiration, in which she draws on her strong background as a business leader with years of experience in the field of education. A professor at Quincy College, Noone combines both worlds in her book, which Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company published last month.

Born and raised in Canton, Noone attended the Hansen Elementary School and Galvin Middle School, and graduated from CHS, where she was a member of the Class of 1988. She went on to Northeastern University and earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing. At the University of Phoenix, she received an MBA and a doctorate in business administration.

Dr. Kristin Stockus Noone

Growing up, Noone always thought she would have her own business. “That was a goal of mine,” she said. At Northeastern, she was inspired by one of her professors, who taught organizational behavior, which dealt with managing and motivating employees as well as human resources issues. “He just made me love learning so much,” she said. “The whole class was just so enthralled with him.”

Early on, Noone started a consulting business in Arizona and focused primarily on marketing, assisting clients in a variety of industries, including construction and local politics. She worked with Brock Supply Company, an automotive parts company, for nine years as their marketing manager. Locally, she served as the vice president and president of the Canton Alliance for Public Education (CAPE).

Noone ended her consulting business in 2009, following the market crash, and focused on finishing her dissertation.  She had plenty of business experience, but without any teaching experience, she found it difficult to be hired in education. Her solution was to contact someone at Curry College after learning that they had also graduated from Northeastern. Noone’s strategy paid off and she started teaching classes at Curry, then moved on to Bunker Hill Community College, and ultimately Quincy College. She is presently in her seventh year at Quincy, where she is a full-time tenured faculty member.

“I love teaching,” Noone said. “It is the best. It’s just so fun — making the connections with the students and getting them excited about education and how they can benefit from it.”

She said that students love the Macroeconomics course that she teaches, in part because she explains how the economies of countries around the world are connected and how events in one country may affect the economy of a distant country. She finds that that leads students to do their own research in order to learn more.

‘They come in with no knowledge and now they’re searching for that knowledge,” she said. “I really enjoy seeing that.”

Leading with Vision, Integrity and Inspiration came out of a bachelor’s program that Noone helped launch at Quincy College. After looking at research that Noone and other QC educators did, the college created a Leadership Strategies course based on what people in the workforce needed. Noone found good books for the course, but wanted something that would not focus on a single strategy for everyone. She taught the leadership course once and knew that she wanted to write the book and what she wanted it to cover.

“Every person has different styles that would better fit them, based on their personalities,” Noone said. “I wanted to create a book where people were able to figure out what their personality type was, what their core values are, and look at different leadership styles.”

The three principles in the title of the book are essential to leadership. “Vision is about not just your vision as a leader and where you want to go, but helping your followers see that vision and join onto that vision,” Noone said. “Where do you want the organization to go? How do you want to help your company get there in a positive way for your employees?” That section of the book stresses the need to move a company or business forward but in a way that is beneficial for all of the stakeholders, not just the organization.

Noone talks about leading others and businesses in an ethical way in the section devoted to integrity. The focus is on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and helping the current workforce see the benefits of having a diverse workforce and ensuring that there is equity and inclusion in that workforce.

In the leading with inspiration section of the book, Noone discusses how leaders should communicate their message in a way that’s clear as well as the importance of listening to employees. “The biggest piece is the motivating, engaging, and empowering employees,” she said, “helping them succeed and not just do well for the organization, but do well for themselves.”

Noone included QR codes in her book to link readers to a variety of free resources, such as personality tests and skills assessments. One of the codes will take readers to a live document that can be downloaded, allowing people to create their own leadership plan.

Noone discusses growth mindset in the book — the idea of not being locked into what someone thinks is right, but rather being open to hearing what others have to say. “You should constantly be trying to see what you’re not seeing,” Noone explained. Another chapter discusses the economic implications of bad leadership.

There is a section in which people are asked to write their own obituary. “Sounds like a very morbid thing, but studies have shown that if you can reflect on how you want the end of your life to look, and consider how you want people to perceive you, you can make drastically positive changes in your life,” Noone said.

Noone explained that while she wrote the book for students, Leading with Vision, Integrity and Inspiration is meant to be used by anyone in a leadership position or hoping to move into one, and also for anyone who wants to understand themselves better. One of her goals is to have people understand who they are and master the leadership style that is best for them. Once they do that, she said, they will be able to learn about other styles and how to use them, depending on the situation, the job, or their team of colleagues.

“One of the biggest underlying points is, it doesn’t matter where you start; it’s that you are willing to go through the process to try to get better,” she said.

Vision, Integrity, and Inspiration is available for purchase through Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

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Posted by Mary Ann Price on Oct 19 2023. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.