On July 11, the first day he was named president of Allied Insurance, Kirt Walker began a 24-hour barnstorming tour of the company’s five regional offices.

From Sacramento, Calif., where he had been vice president of Allied’s Pacific Coast office for five years, Walker hopped on a commercial flight to Denver. He took another commercial flight to Lincoln, Neb. and then drove the final stretch to Des Moines, which is home to two regional offices. At each stop, he introduced himself and offered an explanation of the leadership changes in person.

“People want to see their leaders,” he said. In the weeks since, he has visited most of Allied’s 17 smaller offices, which manage the insurer’s claims and services businesses, and has plans to visit all of them in the coming months.

J. Erik Fyrwald, who on July 1 was named group vice president of DuPont Co.’s Agriculture and Nutrition division, has mirrored Walker’s strategy. Since that date, Fyrwald, 44, has traveled tens of thousands of miles, visiting customers throughout the United States, Europe and South America. DuPont’s Agriculture & Nutrition Group includes Des Moines-based Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.

Makings personnel changes at the executive level of any company is delicate, and challenges abound for newly appointed leaders. In addition to their growing responsibilities, new leaders can find their authority threatened by other workers and face other pressures. Even in the best of times, when their companies aren’t facing outside difficulties, new leaders often find themselves needing to quickly learn aspects of the business they previously weren’t familiar with.

For Fyrwald, that has meant an almost crash course in the complexities of biotechnology, which is growing increasingly important to DuPont as it searches for ways to produce both existing and new products using renewable resources, including an effort to improve the taste of soybeans for use in milk and other foods.

Fyrwald earned a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware in 1981 and joined the company shortly afterward. He worked his way up the materials side of DuPont’s businesses, managing the production of polymers in Asia and later worldwide. He also spent time running DuPont’s resins operations in the Americas. Prior to 1998, when he was named vice president of corporate plans and business development, he had almost no experience with biotechnology.

“I am trying to get a sense for why Pioneer has been so successful and what we need to do to keep it moving in the right direction,” he said of his frequent travels. He has also spent a great deal of time with Pioneer’s scientists, touring research laboratories, listening and observing – skills he learned early on at the age of 23, when he was named production supervisor of a DuPont chemical plant in Texas that was involved in nylon production.

“I am still getting a full understanding of the business,” he said. “I still need to learn a lot.”

To help, Fyrwald has relied on a core group of other leaders, both at DuPont’s headquarters in Wilmington, Del., where he spends one day a week, and at Pioneer’s offices and research facilities in Johnston, where he is now based.

“The most important thing is getting the right team with the right capabilities in place, one that you can have confidence in,” he said.

In the summer of 2002, advertising and public relations companies in Central Iowa and around the nation were suffering through one of the worst economic climates since World War II. Bob Hunderfund, the leader of The Integer Group’s Midwest office, was replaced by Frank Maher, who had been president of CMF&Z, which collapsed in bankruptcy shortly after Maher’s departure.

“In the first 12 months, everybody is checking out every word you say and every step you take to assess what type of leader you’ll be,” said Maher. “My approach has been one of trying to understand everyone’s issues and the opportunities that exist. We have 120 associates, and I literally have met with every single person. I continue to cycle around and keep meeting people. You learn a lot.”

The efforts of Walker, Fyrwald and Maher so far have followed textbook procedures for building support and laying the foundation for strength, leadership coaches said.

“They need a core group of people around them to make things happen,” said Pam Woods, founder of Smart Worklife Solutions, which provides coaching for executives and businesses. Woods is also director of human resources at Business Publications Corp., which owns the Des Moines Business Record. “They need to know who is going really help them achieve their vision and strategy. Who’s a player, who can they rely on.”

The first thing Maher said he did at Integer was assure people, “that the change is for the better, and that if we work together, things will get to where they need to be,” he said.

He also led an effort to start an employee satisfaction survey, handled by an outside firm, to learn more about the company and find areas where improvements can be made.

When he has questions, Maher turns to Russ Klein, who on June 2 was named chief marketing officer of Burger King Corp. Maher met Klein 15 years ago, and the two have maintained a sort of mentoring relationship ever since.

“We’re great friends and have been able to help each other along the way,” Maher said. “Aside from that, I’ve also been lucky to have some great bosses and co-workers that I can bounce stuff off of.”

At Allied, Walker has been working to learn Allied’s organization from both the top and the ground levels. During his first six weeks as president, he formed a series of focus groups. Each group had no more than three individuals, and was made up of workers from all levels of the company. He asked those employees what they liked most of Allied and what they liked least.

Walker’s predecessor, Stephen Rasmussen, was promoted to run three of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.’s property and casualty businesses. Nationwide is Allied’s corporate parent. The pair worked out a 100-day transition plan. As part of that, the two spend at least one hour a week discussing issues, Walker said.

“We talk about what’s going on and what’s happened,” he said.

His challenges so far?

“Trying to find enough time to be involved in everything I want to be involved in,” he said.

Most new leaders are eager to get involved in the community outside work, both to grow personally and to promote their firms. Walker accepted an invitation to be a trustee at Grand View College. Rob Oltjen, who has been president of the Iowa branch of Bank of America for a little more than a year, has joined the boards of four community organizations to meet influential citizens, learn more about Greater Des Moines and get involved.

Another outlet that new, and in particular, young leaders are turning to is the Young President’s Organization, which has an Iowa branch. In Iowa, YPO has 69 members. The group, whose membership is limited to leaders of companies with more than 50 workers and total payroll of $1 million annually, was founded roughly 50 years ago to help young leaders find avenues for support. Both Oltjen and Maher are members.

“What you have are a bunch of individuals who are in the exact same place in life and experience the same issues that you do,” Maher said. “It’s a sounding board, quite frankly, second to none.”

Next week, the Business Record will examine ways companies groom workers for future leadership positions.