Working to Be a Leader

Last year at this same time, I was on a flight from Athens, Greece, back to New York City.  With me was my niece Tomi Sue Henderson, a veterinarian who lives in a town of 146 located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California.

This year, during spring break at Zicklin School of Business where I teach, I had planned to visit Tomi Sue’s father, my brother, in his small town near in the southern part of Oregon.  The launch of Temping with Tycoons and the state of the economy made me decide to stay in my big city hometown of New York.

So instead of sharing a travel report from a trip this year, I’ll reflect on some memories from last year—and tie in my report with how I feel about the economy.

Here’s a picture taken at Santorini on the last day of our “Grecian Delight” tour.  Tomi Sue has her arm around me on what was a gorgeous spring day on this “volanic” island.

You’ll notice the mostly white houses of the town of Fira clustered together at the top and down the steep incline to Tomi Sue’s right.  On Santorini, Mykonos, and other Greek islands we visited, home owners are required to paint their houses at regular intervals.  Tourists who arrive by ship or air are a major source of income for Greece, meaning that maintaining an immaculate impression at each port-of-call is an absolute necessity.

Off to my left you’ll see the steep drop off of land into the Aegean.  Santorini is believed by some to be the site of the “Lost Continent of Atlantis,” a legendary island that one day just sunk into the sea.

Santorini earned this reputation because around 1450 B.C., a catastrophe happened.  The volcano on the island erupted, the center of the island collapsed into the sea, and earthquakes reverberated throughout the Aegean, toppling some advanced civilizations as far away as the island of Crete.

The edge that we’re standing on around the sunken watery center of the island is called the caldera.  A caldera is formed by the collapse of land after a volcano erupts. 

Caldera is also a good term for what I see when thinking about what happened to the economy.  There’s been an earthquake on Wall Street that is still reverberating across the land with more layoffs at companies, foreclosures of homes, and individuals who will have to settle for “survival jobs.” 

We’re on the edge looking out from the caldera to the center of the economy, hoping that it will rise up and renew itself to restore faith in our financial system as well as opportunities get off the “career bridge” and into meaningful work.

I still want to visit my brother and I also want to return to Greece.  That’s why I’m hoping that the Wall Street we lost will be rebuilt with a solid foundation for a stronger economy and more jobs.

Wednesday, April 22, is Administrative Professionals Day.  Previously National Secretary’s Day, it is a time set aside to recognize the work of those who have jobs as secretaries, administrative assistants, receptionists, and other administrative support professionals.

Cathleen Benko, Vice Chairman and Chief Talent Officer, Deloitte, LLP, was one of the speakers during the Women on Wall Street 2007 event.   One thing I remember about her contributions to the evening’s program was that she told the audience of 98% women that she had attended Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School.  Benko then went on to earn a science degree from Ramapo College and later a master of business administration from Harvard Business School.

“It’s a Foot in the Door, But to Where Else?” was the headline in Eilene Zimmerman’s “Career Couch” column in The New York Times on November 2, 2008.  I saved her column because I agreed that “Administrative assistants see the big picture at a company, and thus may earn promotions.”

Obviously, having good secretarial skills worked for Benko.  And Zimmerman’s advice to her readers is on-target.  I know that for a fact because working as a secretary was an effective “bridge” in my career.

My father preached (yes, that is the correct word) that he didn’t care about the fact that I wanted to be a teacher, I needed to learn typing and shorthand.  That way, he assured me, I could always get a job.

Now, I’ve met a few women who have told me that their fathers told them not to learn how to type and take shorthand.  Once they got a job, they fathers assured them, they would be assigned a secretary to do the work for them.

My high school typing teacher was a retired Marine and such a large presence that I forget who taught me shorthand (I later used the basics to create my own way of taking notes).

My next older sister handed me my first job as a temporary secretary when I was in college.  She was sick one day and asked me to go into the office for her.  I did.  That was it.  Yet, later in my life, working as a temporary or permanent secretary helped not just pay the bills but helped in my business education.

When I was sharing the environment with those at a university, computer company, rent-a-car company, marketing firm, investment bank, etc. I was not just answering phones or typing letters.  I was observing those around me do their jobs, trying to understand how business was being conducted, and learning as much as I could about the product being sold.

The “career” bridge worked for me.  In our current economy, being an administrative assistant might be a good investment.

Last week, I launched my latest level playing field special report with you in mind.

“Temping with Tycoons:  Reinvention Lessons for the Laid off Leader” was written to share with you my experiences 20 years ago working as a temporary secretary at the Wall Street investment bank Lazard Freres.

“Why is that relevant now?” you might be asking.

The main reason is because temping was a way that I gained knowledge to reinvent myself as a leadership coach and management consultant.  Wherever you work, you can use the workplace as a training room—a place to hone your skills for when the economy gets better.

Another reason is that leadership behaviors on Wall Street haven’t changed that much in two decades.

To download a PDF of “Temping with Tycoons,” click here.

To get a preview, continue on through the Reader’s Guide:
Working to Win   These pages put the topic of reinvention into the context of the worst economy since the Great Depression.  And what you can do to survive these difficult times.

Lesson #1:  Risking the Unknown.  Get out of your comfort zone—like I did at a company whose name I couldn’t pronounce and whose business I didn’t understand.

Lesson #2:   Managing Yourself.  Set up your own rules of acceptable behavior, especially helpful if you find yourself working in a master-servant environment.

Lesson #3:  The Young and the Entitled.  Name your workplace environment after a soap opera to summarize the behaviors of difficult people.

Lesson #4:  Organizational Behavior.  To remain detached, ask yourself questions like, “Do you need a penis to run a calculator?” When the company where you are working is considered by New York Woman one of, “The 15 Worst Places to Work,” the answer could be obvious.

Lesson #5:  Talent Development.  Educate others and teach those who are willing to learn knowing that your chances are better with lower income students at a 2-year college than they are with bankers.

Lesson #6: Executive Leadership.  Remain cool when a partner places a brown paper bag containing his morning stool sample on the corner of your desk.

Lesson #7:  Return on Investment.  See the bigger picture and be grateful for what you’ve learned.  Then reinvent yourself for the new economy.

Most importantly:  share with others what you’ve learned.

Click here to view my Recession Seminars  that give you the opportunity to learn how to develop your own reinvention initiative.

A New York Minute is a very, very short period of time.  According to Wikipedia, “The term refers to the common perception that the people in New York City are hurried and impatient.”

I write about this topic to give hope and advice to those who are looking for work.  You never know what can happen in a New York, London, Detroit, or anywhere Minute—if you have patience.  (And some New Yorkers do have patience!)

One New York Minute occurred on Thursday, August 21, 2008, while I was in my office.  When I checked my e-mail, I saw that there was a message from a professor I knew who taught in the Management Department at theZicklin School of Business within Baruch College, part of the City University of New York.

His message read something like, “Respond ASAP” and below his words was a message from one of his colleagues stating the need for an Adjunct Instructor to teach an undergraduate course on “Employee Development and Training” that started the following Thursday.

Without hesitation and maybe not in this order, I replied to my colleague to say, “Thanks,” then contacted his colleague to apply for the job.

This is the subject line of an email I wrote to my business coach a few minutes later, “Name someone you know teaching at Zicklin School of Business.”  The body of my message read, “Yes, it’s me…..Just what I was missing from my career.  WOW!!  Filing out the paperwork on Tuesday, beginning next Thursday evening.”

The rest is history.  The first semester went very well and this second class is also going well.  Most evenings, I leave class saying to myself, “I love these students.”  Teaching is my passion and I have students hungry to benefit from the expertise and experiences I share with them.

“What I was missing from my career” was a platform, a place from which I could transfer the knowledge I had gained developing, teaching, and training adults on how to improve their workplace skills and leadership capabilities to those who could benefit. 

Like every “New York Minute” this one was years in the making.  While waiting for it to happen, I was patient and involved in other activities.

The professor who sent me the initial email and I met about seven years earlier when I was designing and presenting a “Train-the-Trainer” program for instructors in the Continuing and Professional Studies at Baruch.  We kept in touch, I lectured for his classes and taught a leadership module in one of his courses, he recommended me to be the moderator for a panel at Baruch’s “Women in Business” program, etc.

I told you that I was patient.  It was a ”New York Minute” in October 1989 that took me on this path.  At that time, I was temping at an investment bank with some extremely rude executives who had M.B.A.s   I turned the anger I felt into the decision that one day I wanted to train leaders on how to be more effective and respectful.

My company Leadership Training Room evolved out of that New York Minute.  And so did being an Adjunct Instructor at the Zicklin School of Business, the nation’s most diverse campus.

Be open and ready for your own New York Minute.  And keep staying engaged in what you truly care about so that you can savor that time.

“How much blame do business schools deserve for the current economic crisis?”

Below are the answers as of 9:00 a.m., Monday, April 6, from a poll you can access by clicking on the ”HBR Debate:  How to Fix Business Schools.”  You can find it on the Harvard Business Review home page.  Click on the words HBR Debate and you’ll arrive at the Harvard Publishing site where there’s an ongoing blog with “an impressive roster of experts to lead the debate.”

My vote is counted in this breakdown of 214 responses:

Most of the blame; they’re teaching the wrong things.  17% (36 votes)

Some of the blame; they’re not teaching everything they need to.  50% (106 votes)

None of the blame; it’s not what they teach but who’s being taught.  34% (72 votes)

My vote was the middle ground. The wheels of the economy are still churning so something is working.  But business schools do deserve some of the blame.  From my experiences working with business school graduates and teaching business school students, I believe that graduates are not adequately prepared for their roles as managers and leaders. 

Briefly, the initials M.B.A. go to their heads.  They lose track of the impact of their actions on others in both the short- and the long-term.  Someone who starts business school as Bobby can graduate as Robert—and forget the lessons he learned working his way into college.

Will write more later. Wanted to post this to give you the chance to weigh in at HBR.

Here’s a sad statistic:  50% of youth under the age of 21 in an urban inner city were found to experience the sudden unexpected death of a close relative or friend. 

Last Friday, April 3, Robin Goodman, Ph.D., was the guest speaker at the Women’s Issues Committee of the New York City Chapter of the Employee Assistance Professionals Association.  When Lynda Johnson, my Co-Chair of the Committee, first heard about the work Robin does at A Caring Hand last fall, she was intent on getting Robin on our schedule of presenters.  Glad that we did.  But also sad that there is such a need for these services.  The statistic above combined with the latest news about parents shooting their children or a brother beheading his sister are troubling. 

Robin is the Director of A Caring Hand, The Billy Esposito Foundation Bereavement Center.  She speaks to a wide range of audiences on the services that can help children and their families through their grief journeys.  Parents often don’t know what to tell their children after a husband, sister, or other loved one dies.

During her presentation, Robin shared with us valuable information about how children understand death and their reactions to grief.  She also shared ways to create a framework to foster positive emotional health that can last a lifetime. 

Often, a child is not able to talk about their grief.  Robin led those in attendance through a short guided visualization then invited us to use crayons, colored pencils, or water colors to draw who or what we saw.

This was a very powerful experience for me; one that brought back memories of a brother who died when I was just five-years-old.  After he died, I would ask my mother, “Where’s Johnny?”  She would tell me that he was, ”with Jesus,” or “up in Mary’s room behind the clock.”  Robin stressed the need to be direct with children and explain the loss in terms that children can understand.

A Caring Hand offers a “Child and Family Bereavement Group” free of charge.

For further information, call A Caring Hand at 212-229-2273 or email RobinGoodman@acaringhand.org

I know who caused the global financial crisis.  I met him in 1994 at the very private Wall Street investment bank where we both worked.  He was young then, fresh out of business school with an M.B.A. in finance no doubt.  I have no doubt because he shuffled through the corridors with his head bowed looking intently at his pocket calculator, like a rabbi studying the Talmud (if I saw the M.B.A. today, I’d describe him as a passenger in a crowded, stalled subway train intent on finding a tune on his iPod).

Since my desk was outside that of a partner, I could hear the M.B.A. describe this new product that promised to bring in high returns.  The product that this associate “derived” was a derivative.

The fragile state of our global economy is due in part to complicated financial products such as derivatives, products developed through mathematical models with little awareness of their long-term impact on markets or individuals.

“Derivatives are dangerous,” Warren Buffet, Chairman, CEO, and Head of Investing of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., wrote in his company’s 2008 report.  ”They have dramatically increased the leverage and risks in our financial system.  They have made it almost impossible for investors to understand and analyze our largest commercial banks and investment banks.”

I’m not an economist and won’t go further because, well, I’m not an economist.  I’m a management consultant and leadership coach.   And I’ve earned a reputation for being very effective in part because of my expertise, education, and experiences.  (The other parts are a fierce sense of humor, innovative solutions, and practical perspective.)

The primary contributor—and enhancer—to my now current professional status was the time I spent as a temporary secretary at the investment bank Lazard Freres & Co. and observed people like the above-mentioned M.B.A., partners, secretaries, etc.

The reason I temped at Lazard was because I needed a job.  What started as a two-week assignment on August 21, 1989, somehow evolved into over five years working with top bankers on Wall Street.   Well, I know exactly why my time there extended over months, then quarters, then years.

There was a recession in the early 1990’s and temping with tycoons was a way to get a regular paycheck, explore opportunities and face challenges to reinvent myself, and learn about leadership and business.

How I got my education in the workplace was being aware of what was going on around me, making notes like a student in graduate school.  To read more about my journey at Lazard, download the PDF of LTR’s level playing field special report “Temping with Tycoons:  Reinvention Lessons for the Laid Off Leader.”

temping-with-tycoons-by-leigh-henderson.pdf

This professional “time out” to temp greatly increased my awareness about organizational behavior and employee needs.  It also prepared me for the work I do today helping leaders level their playing fields of obstacles blocking optimum performance and career advancment.

My success coaching leaders and educating students who are leaders-to-be at the Zicklin School of Business is best summed up in one core message.  I suggest to individuals to pick their heads, remove their hands from their keyboards and their ears from their cell phones in order to become aware of their environment and the people who occupy that space.  Then I invite them to think about how their decisions will impact not just their performances and satisfy their needs but how their actions will radiate out to the employees at their workplace and in the world beyond their corporate walls.

That’s good advice for anyone.