Learn How to Lead People to Uncommon Success

The content found in the FUEL to Lead Masterclasses is compiled from experiences with Marion Laboratories and its founder Ewing Marion Kauffman (Mr. K), a young entrepreneur who started a pharmaceutical company that grew to be the envy of the industry. Mr. K later instilled his leadership principles and innovation with Major League Baseball and created the most successful expansion team in history. His success was no coincidence and resulted from his lifelong learning of how to lead people to uncommon success.

Masterclass participants will be introduced to Mr. K’s true, timeless principles and will learn how to get the most from their people. Mr. K always encouraged his associates as leaders to “care about people and expect a lot from them,” and participants will walk away knowing how to lead in this manner, as it regards to developing winning strategy, executing strategy, professional sales and understanding people as individuals. Our goal is to ensure all participants will be powerfully enabled by our FUEL toolset, of over 120 “things to do” to make an immediate difference in your organization.

The open discussions throughout the series will be facilitated by Dr. Myles Gartland, Dean of Rockhurst University’s Helzberg School of Business. Participants will learn from other successful executives and add to their professional network.


FUEL to Lead Masterclasses

Developing Winning Strategies Masterclass

Two, 90-minute webinars on how to simply develop and execute strategies.

August 14 & 16, 2024

Improving Sales Effectiveness Masterclass

Two, 90-minute webinars on the key principles of professional strategy and selling.

September 11 & 13, 2024

Management by Strengths Masterclass

One, 90-minute webinar on how to optimize the diversity of communications styles among teams and customers.

October 4, 2024

Operational Leadership Masterclass

Two, 90-minute webinars that focus on operational excellence and execution.

November 13 & 15, 2024

  • "FUEL provided strategic sales counsel to my team in support of an important national sales meeting. We saw a 6-7% increase in product sales after the sales meeting and secured a $1M+ win with our largest national account. Great results!"

    Stephen Hartley, Vice President of Infection Prevention & Control and Conscious Sedation

  • "After attending the FUEL Operational Leadership Masterclass, I can confidently say it was a transformative experience. The masterclass was thoughtfully structured, ensuring a seamless blend of theoretical concepts and practical applications - a valuable investment for anyone seeking to elevate their operational leadership skills."

    Nathan Nguyen, Medical Information Supervisor at ProPharma Group

  • "Management By Strengths is honored to be associated with FUEL's Masterclasses and share how participants can understand, identify and capitalize on their strengths leading to improved communications, team performance and profitability."

    Mike Postlewait, Founder & CEO at Management By Strengths

  • "The FUEL Masterclass on operational leadership was fast-paced and very helpful. Combining examples from Mr. K's business leadership concepts with practical things to do is a powerful formula. I came away with ideas that I could implement immediately.”

    Beth Heslowitz

  • "Management By Strengths was enlightening and I received great feedback from our Hiring Our Heroes fellows regarding it's real-life applications."

    Jamie Webb, Corporate Fellowship Program Manager at Hiring Our Heroes, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation

  • "FUEL has created something very special! I had never really thought of what I do as sales, but after going through the masterclass, I see I sell to agencies, donors, and volunteers. All great information and I will implement at least one or two of the approaches."

    Benita Weber, Founder and Executive Director at Birthday Connections

Developing Winning Strategies Masterclass

Learn actionable ways to develop and execute winning strategies.

We have all experienced a planning process that ends with a plan that never gets touched again. One of Mr. K’s executive associates described plans as “BS, three-holed-punched.”

Our masterclass will avoid this type of planning. Instead, we discuss approaches that have been proven to be quick, simple and easy to implement. We will focus on successful planning tools, such as:

  • Your customer-driven value discipline

  • Planning for drivers of change in your industry

  • Analytic tools for your market and portfolio product review

  • Addressing problem solving effectively to create winning strategies

  • Tactical innovation and strategic alignment audit

  • Approaches for leading your people through change

  • Organizational structure and strategy in support of your plan

  • Roles and responsibilities

Improving Sales Effectiveness Masterclass

There is a science to successful sales strategies and how to best conduct a sales or account management call. Whether you lead the sales team or not, you’ll benefit from understanding this area of business.

Through this masterclass, you’ll learn:

  • Myths and realities regarding sales, including the characteristics of the best sales professionals

  • How to choose the right sales strategy for your business, based on your product, service and/or customers

  • The five essentials of successful selling:

    • Planning the call

    • Probing for goals and confirmation

    • Presenting goals

    • Identifying cues

    • What to do when the customer is moving toward the sale

    • What to do if the customer is moving away from the sale

  • When and how to close the sale

  • How to put pressure on the right objective

Management By Strengths Masterclass

Build your relationship skills and enable collaboration among team members by focusing on the diversity of individual strengths with this masterclass. Bring a team member!

  • Management by Strengths (MBS) is a proprietary tool that will be a part of the FUEL Masterclasses. MBS helps leaders and teams learn to communicate and collaborate effectively.

  • The core of MBS is developing your ability to understand your dominant communication styles.

  • The four temperaments you will learn to identify vary from individual to individual in terms of how they manage relationships.

  • As a participant, you will be provided with a brief questionnaire that will identify your temperament and how others best communicate with you.

  • You will learn how the MBS tool may be used to help strengthen customer relationships.

Webinar will feature special guest Mike Postlewait, Owner, Management By Strengths

Operational Leadership Masterclass

Successful strategic planning is only the first step in reaching your business objectives.

Executing, or driving operational effectiveness, is the next critical action that an executive must take to reach the organization’s goals. These webinars focus on essential practices for executing strategic plans, such as:

  • Hiring and retaining best practices  

  • Powerful team leadership initiatives 

  • Onboarding best practices 

  • Engaging your team with purpose  

  • Achieving clarity of direction 

  • Conducting ongoing performance counseling that works for you and your team members 

  • Coaching for continuous improvement 

  • Awards and rewards for impact   

  • Maintaining consistent consequences and resources