I first met Dane Woll at a luncheon where I was struck by his smile and his whole body laugh, constantly on the verge of launching. I now know that both are genuine and come from a man who says, "As we become leaders we find new things frightening; we continue to look ahead anyway and we grow."
I understand the source of the smile and laughter. Woll is hopelessly in love with his work, his organization and its mission.
As the CEO of the Tucson YMCA, he leads a staff of 600 paid and 2,000 volunteer staff serving 200,000 Pima County residents each year — one in five residents. And no matter how hard I tried, I could not get him to take much, if any, credit for the accomplishments during his tenure.
 Dane Woll |
His passion for the Y fits with his passion for health and wellness. As we began, Dane cited a quote, "I’m tired of hearing about the obesity epidemic. What we have is an epidemic of inactivity." He tracks his own steps with a pedometer and remarks that if we could simply take 2,000 more steps each day, we could halt, and maybe even reverse, the obesity epidemic and resulting chronic disease.
Woll grew up with the Y. Through middle school he attended Y summer camp, where his father was a director. He played basketball at the Y and rode that ball to a degree at California Lutheran University (all the while secretly harboring UCLA envy).
His degree is in history with a minor in physical education. He dreamed of playing professional basketball and in his junior year considered teaching history because in high school, he "had one of those teachers that inspires you." By the time he graduated there were 300 applicants for every teaching position.
He pursued what he knew: the Y. At the time he figured, "for the short term this will make a lot of sense — but probably not for the long term. In the 1970s Dane became the program director for the YMCA in Long Beach, Calif.
He joined the Y to work with families, send kids to camp and later to provide childcare. Few people may be aware the Y is the largest licensed child care provider, locally and nationally.
Woll didn’t see himself as an
administrator.
"At the time, I didn’t like budgets or fundraising," he remarked, "So today I have a $12 million budget and significant fundraising responsibility. Go figure!
He walked stepping stones to the CEO position. In 1991 he was hired as director to close the downtown Y and open up the Lohse Family YMCA. He served as chief operating officer for six years, at which time the board began a national search for a new CEO.
"I had proven myself as an operating guy, but had to prove to the board that I had the vision to lead and that I was the right guy to be the face and voice of the Y," he said.
He was chosen in part he says because "I can see the big picture and guide the Y on its mission — To build strong kids, strong families, and strong communities."
Woll advises that to succeed in a C-level job, you should "Firmly believe in the goals of your organization. You have to be passionate about that. Hire and motivate the best team. Paint the picture that others will see." He went on, "You’ll be disappointed if money is your sole motivation."
With respect to his own decision he says, "I was at the point personally where I knew it was time to take that leap.
"Everyone in the organization," he continued, "must see who we are and how each of them fits in."
This too was how Woll describes the culture he and others work so hard to build at the Y.
"Whether they (the employees) think I am a good guy or not is not the question," he said. "The important question is whether the Y is a place where they want to work."
Woll works with eight different boards, including six branch boards that ensure each community has a voice in its own Y. In practice he considers the more than 200 policy-setting board members "one of our greatest strengths."
The growth of the nonprofit community presents additional challenges. Today, with more than 3,000 nonprofits competing for time, attention and money, Woll must find a way for the Y to differentiate itself from others.
I asked him what keeps him up at night.
"It’s nice to make payroll," Woll said. "Tough times impact the nonprofit sector by driving up the costs of doing business. And still we need to hold to our pledge: No child will be turned away for lack of ability to pay."
When he needs a dose of sanity, Woll said, "I walk down to the childcare center and watch teachers interacting; I watch story time; there are really great things that happen in a Y. I must remember to stop and smell the roses from time to time."
It was 3:30 and his pedometer registered about 3,200 steps — still about 5,000 to go for a good day!
Finally, I asked about the laugh and the smile.
"It’s easy to be this happy when you are surrounded by people like this," he said.
Contact Gary Hirsch at gary.hirsch@vistage.com or (520) 225-0373 to suggest a CEO or business owner for a future "Inner-view." Hirsch is a group chair and executive coach with Vistage International - www.vistage.com - and leads a group of CEOs, company presidents and business owners who meet monthly. Inner-view appears the second and fourth week of each month in Inside Tucson Business.
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