Working to Be a Leader

In February 1982, I was working as the Administrative Assistant to the Vice President of Public Affairs at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.  The job felt like a good fit for someone who wanted to use her writing skills and transition into a corporate job.  (A few years as an elementary school teacher taught me that the playground/playing field was not big enough for my skills and interests.)  My then husband was in a Ph.D. program on campus and that, too, made the position a good one.  (FYI:  Today my ex-husband is an esteemed professor of English Literature at a very good college.)

 “March is Women’s Month at Brandeis” was the headline on a brochure that caught my attention one day as I was going through the VP’s mail.  I carefully read the list of all the events being scheduled throughout the month and looked for one I could attend.  “What about a program for the women who work on campus!”  I thought after not finding even one program. “Don’t we exist?”

Leigh (l), Moderator, "9 to 5 The Brandeis Way"

 Taking the initiative, I met with a Women’s Studies professor and proposed a panel discussion called, “9 to 5 The Brandeis Way.”  We discussed my idea of having women I knew from different departments share their stories about job sharing, part-time work, and other experiences of being employed at the university.

 “If one person shows up for the program, consider yourself lucky,” the professor kindly cautioned.  Her words made me more determined to develop an audience.  I created a flyer and posted it around campus, submitted a news release to the local paper, contacted professors I knew, and tried to be positive that in addition to the panelists and my then husband, other people would attend the event.

 Seventy-five staff, students, and faculty showed up for “9 to 5 The Brandeis Way,” the first of what became a series of panel discussions on workplace issues.  The event was a success and, as my career evolved, a path I continued to travel.

 Thursday, March 18, 5:30p.m.-8:30p.m. The Fourth Annual “Pearls of Wisdom” Women’s Leadership Conference, Baruch College.

This is my third time as moderator of the panel and I’m very enthused about the executives that the “Women in Business” committee has selected. The keynote speaker is Diane Garnick, Investment Strategist, Invesco Ltd. Panelists include Heather Maloney, Executive Director, Hope & Heroes Children’s Cancer Fund; Lenore Jarvis, President, Professional Women in Construction National; and Virginia McNeil Montangue, President of NY Coalition of 100 Black Women. The event is free to students (dinner with wine included). For more information, visit Baruch’s “Women in Business” website at http://baruchwib.webs.com/ or contact Sufia Farha, President, Women in Business, at sufia.farha@gmail.com

 Tuesday, March 23, 1:00p.m.-3:30p.m. “It’s Not Over: You Still Have a Chance! Reinvention and Resilience in the Older Worker” hosted by the Employee Assistance Professionals Association-New York City Chapter (EAPA-NYC).

As Co-Chair of the EAPA-Women’s Issues Committee, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on the multigenerational workplace last year. This year, the panel is focused on ways those 40 and over can remain positive and competitive in the job market. Lynda Johnson, my Co-Chair, will welcome the audience. The panel I’ll moderate includes Jane Cranston, Managing Director, Executive Coach NY; Doris Traub, Traub & Traub, P.C., attorney specializing in age discrimination in the workplace; and Wendy Lewis, President, Wendy Lewis & Co. Ltd, a Global Aesthetics Consultancy—an image enhancement consultant dubbed “The Knife Coach®” by the media. The fee for the event is $20 for a guest. To confirm times and get location, please contact Barbara Friesner at barbara@agewiseliving.com

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There:  How Successful People Become Even More Successful! written by Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter (Hyperion, 2007, 256 pgs.) contains practical wisdom from one of the world’s premier executive coaches and author on executive performance.

Since I just read Goldsmith and Reiter’s newest book:  Mojo:  How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back If You Lose It  (Hyperion, 2009, 205 pages) and realized that before I write my review of that one, I wanted to post this entry. 

 Goldsmith’s methods for changing behavior are straightforward.  For instance, one of the 360 assessments he uses consists of gathering feedback on an executive’s behavior from meaningful colleagues and constituencies.  The client is asked to listen carefully to how others experience his behavior, formulate ways to improve interactions, give thanks for the feedback, apologize where needed, and practice feed-forward.

There are other parts of his book that I will highlight in future posts, but I want to focuse on the group exercise in feed-forward that Goldsmith conducted at a meeting I attended of the New York City Chapter of the International Coach Foundation.  I also used this exercise during one of the management classes I teach at the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College.  In both cases, I found the exercise to be a worthwhile endeavor.

Here’s how the feed-forward process works.

1.  Identify one behavior you want to change in your life.  The behavior change should bring about a positive difference in your life.

2.  Describe the behavior you want to change in a one-on-one dialogue with someone:  a spouse, child, best friend, or coworker—or in the case of the ICF-NYC meeting, a perfect stranger would do.

3.  Ask that person for two suggestions for the future that might help you achieve a positive change in your selected behavior.

4.  Listen attentively to the suggestions.  Take notes if you like.  Your only ground rule:  You are not allowed to judge, rate, or critique the suggestions in any way.  And you are not even to say anything positive such as, “That’s a good idea.”  The only response you’re permitted is, “Thank you.” 

You can then repeat the process with someone else—until you have a good sample of ideas to improve your behavior.

One book that I found very helpful—especially for those at the beginning of your careers—was one written by Goldsmith—and other well-known executives.  The book is Learning Journeys: Top Management Experts Share Hard-Earned Lessons on Becoming Great Mentors and Leaders by Marshall Goldsmith (Davies-Black Publishing, 2000).  Read a chapter at a time, do the exercises, and reflect on how you can be a better leader.

If you practice feed-forward, let me know how effective it was  by sending an e-mail to Leigh@ltr-nyc.com

Sunday evening—or maybe it was early Monday morning—I was browsing channels on my radio (I don’t have a TV, my PC was turned off, and audio files are  too large for my Palm Centro) and stopped when to listen to a business report on the benefits of keeping a journal in a job search.  This interested me because the reporter (whose name I thought was Steve Greenberg but am not certain) mentioned that there is research to validate this statement.  Doing a quick search on the website of WCBS NEWSRADIO and a general search of the web, I couldn’t find the audio of the report or a reference to the research.  If you know of any, please let me know.  I’ll continue to search and let you know as well.

The topic was so close to my own way of processing stressful situations, that I remember the essence of what was reported.  That is, job seekers who keep a journal are in better emotional shape for the next interview than those who do not keep a journal.  There could have been a statement that the research showed those who keep a journal are more likely to land a job offer.  That would make sense but I’m not certain about that fact.

What I do know is that journal writing is a helpful tool to process emotions.  If you are able to “debrief” an interview while being  100% candid and honest  about your strengths and challenges, chances are that the next interview will be a better one.   You’ve taken the time to reflect on what you did well and what you did not so well.  Possibly, you are more honest with yourself writing in a journal than you could have been having a conversation with a significant other or a good friend.  A journal doesn’t judge or hold accountable.  That blank piece of paper you fill up is for you and feedback is what you, not a journal, generates.

Journal writing is a tool that can aid in recording sentences that you can practice for your next interview at the same company (think positive) or for a first interview at another company.  Jotting down small talk or ice breakers (”What a great day” or “Snowing again! When is this going to stop?  Do you know it snowed in Dallas?”) or key phrases you want to include in a conversation (”I’m a multi-tasker” or “Focus is a key to productivity”) can reinforce what you want to practice when meeting someone new in their office—or when networking at a professional meeting.

What would be helpful as well is to write out what the interviewer asked you specifically and how they asked the questions.  That is, was their wording “canned” or did it seem targeted to you as a potential candidate whose resume they had read thoroughly?  Were they fully present for you or did they toss questions your way while looking at their computer screen or checking their IPhone messages?  Writing about how you could interject their activities into a positive statement can be wonderful preparation for your next encounter with a distracted interviewer.  What do I mean by a positive statement?  “You’re great at multi-tasking.  That’s a great skill and one I’m certain to learn when I am working in your area/on your team/in the company to be as efficient as possible.”  That could make the interviewer blush that he was noticed multi-tasking or that she was caught checking e-mails to confirm her next interview.

Although I will continue searching for this research, I feel comfortable posting this entry on my blog because the information is solid and helpful to those looking to ace a job interview.  My own journals date back to the time I was a junior at the University of California at Berkeley about— well, a long time ago.  Through the years, okay decades, I’ve taught journal writing to students in adult education courses and to individuals.  To this day, I still go to my journal to write about a coaching or consulting client, letting my creativity flow so that I can come up with new ideas to reduce their obstacles blocking optimum performance or break down challenges executives are facing with behavior in the organization.  If you’re interested in learning how to make the most of your journal writing during a job search or preparing to pitch a client, contact me at leigh@ltr-nyc.com  for a free half-hour consultation.

Saturday, I was looking through the latest Dell catalog searching for a lightweight laptop with a screen larger than 10″.  Oh, and one that I could customize with a bright green or a rich blue color from Dell’s design studio.

“Get caught red-handed with NEW OPI designs” caught my attention on page 17.  OPI, as any woman would know if they get manicures, is the polish most often used in nail salons.  The company’s lucious and whimsical colors are six of “NEW Dell-exclusive OPI Design Studio laptop designs” that for $85 you can get applied on  select Dell laptops. 

Although I don’t get manicures in a salon, I do know something about OPI.  In 2006, I was a contributing writer for PINK Magazine, a monthly publication for professional women.   My role was to help identify a leading female executive then interview the woman and write up my notes for PINK’s monthly e-newsletter.  When I got the assignment to interview an executive at OPI, I was a little hesitant to take the assignment as I didn’t think the topic was, well serious enough.  During the interview, however, I remember sitting hunched over the desk where my telephone was located and frantically writing notes on this interesting field.  After my interview was published, the editor of PINK raved about the tone and thought it some of my best work.  You can be the judge as below is the article that appeared in PINK’s e-newsletter for August 2006.  You can also find a PDF of the article at my website:  http://www.ltr-nyc.com/Online_InPrint.html

Now I need to go to the Dell website and see if I want to apply one of the OPI colors to the laptop I just might buy.

THE CULTURE OF COLOR: Suzi Weiss Fischmann, OPI Products, Inc.  by Leigh Henderson

PINK: What was your career path?

SWF: “Bottom up.” I grew up working in the family clothing manufacturing business in New York City. In 1982, I move to Los Angeles to work in another family business, Odontorium Products Inc., that provided lotion, remover and implements for nails. We were successful and decided we wanted something for the customer to take home. In 1989, OPI rolled out 30 colorful shades of nail lacquer.

PINK: You are also Artistic Director. Why that additional title?

SWF: I design every color like an artist. The name comes first – six of us get together to brainstorm – and then we work on the ingredients to get the color to live up to the name.

PINK: What’s OPI’s growth secret?

SWF: Great marketing. The first time a customer buys our product is on impulse. The second time is because of quality. Madonna wore OPI’s Italian Love Affair when she married Guy Ritchie and sales soared for that color afterwards in London. Sharon Stone had on Innsbruck Bronze

PINK: What the biggest challenge are you facing today?

SWF: Pressure to be environmentally friendly. Regulatory agencies don’t do quantitative risk assessment and do not differentiate the potential risk of minute amounts of ingredients from two pounds. The European Union’s rules and regulations are a nightmare. Hopefully, in the next five years we’ll find a balance so that we’ll be approved to use very small amounts of ingredients in a safe way for our customers.

PINK: What’s your management style?

SWF: We have 350 employees in the Los Angeles office and my management approach is, “the door is open.” I’m very low key, I delegate, and work closely with the vice presidents of marketing and advertising. I want to provide inspiration and allow my employees creative freedom.

PINK: If you wanted to ask for a raise what color would you wear?

SWF: Red. It represents chic, Rita Hayworth, Hollywood. It’s also my favorite color to wear.

PINK: What’s the secret of your success?

SWF: I create every color collection as if I’d never done one before. The day I don’t, I won’t do it anymore. I get my inspiration every day from my husband and my daughter, 13, and a son who is 10.

PINK Points:  With every bottle of Red-y to Help purchased, $1.00 will be donated to the American Red Cross.

When a Colts fan was on her way out of the restaurant where I was watching Super Bowl XLIV, this woman made it a point to stop next to me, touch my shoulder and say with a big smile on her face and a smirk in her voice, “The Colts really are the best team.  The Saints don’t have a chance in hell to beat the Colts.”  Obviously, she hadn’t read the e-mail I had received from a friend in NOLA.

“It is hard to express the wonderful effect the Saints have had on our community – it has brought us all together in the glow of their achievement, and we are awash in black and gold and ‘Who Dat’.  I am sure the intense and widespread emotional involvement is directly related to the depth of commitment we have made to the recovery and improvement of NOLA. So many things are coming back but not there yet, but here is one area where success is palpable and was a long time coming (43 years!).  And it’s wonderful Lagniappe that Drew Brees is such a fine  human being – not just a great quarterback.”  Suzy Mague, a woman I met when volunteering in NOLA after Hurricane Katrina, pinpointed what was going to help the Saints win the Super Bowl:  the collective belief in success by those in the Gulf Coast region.

Lagniappe is a term used in Louisiana which  means “”something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure.”  What the Saints gave the city of New Orleans were gifts of hope, commitment to a goal, and success against great odds to even reach the Super Bowl.  What the city of New Orleans gave back was their enthusiastic support and hope that the area’s recovery would be as successful as that of their Saints.

 The consensus was that the Colts were the better team, Peyton Manning the best quarterback ever, the defense so strong that Manning had only been sacked 10 times all season, and on and on.  My clapping and cheering for the Saints when they were behind 10-0 in the first quarter did give me pause.  Yet, as is the nature of a 60-minute game, there was still a chance.  In football, you have to play the game to the very last second even if your team is losing 54-0.  The Saints went the distance in great form.

To lead off the second half of the game, Saints’ Coach Sean Payton used a tactic that brought his team success:  a practiced  surprise.  For the first time in Super Bowl history, a team started the third quarter with an onside kick.  The Saints punter made a short kick (more than 10 yards) to the Colts, a Colts player touched then lost the ball, a Saints player recovered the ball, and the Saints earned very good field position.  The Saints had practiced this surprise over and over again during the week leading up to the big game.  The timing made history, shifted the momentum to the Saints, and helped them come away with a 31-17 victory.

Today I wish that I could call the Colts fan who told me to give up on the Saints because they didn’t have a chance.  There is always a chance, always an opportunity to succeed whether on the football field, a baseball diamond, or the workplace playing field.  Give yourself a chance by practicing a surprise that can get you noticed,  realize the potential you have as a leader and become an outstanding team player for your followers while working to be a leader.

Miss me?  My last post was on December 10, 2009, around the time when I began working on another level playing field special report.  Almost finalized, it will be availabe  at the Leadership Training Room website in early February.

The report contains almost 11,000 words that I’ve crafted into a letter and six essays about the impact of the Great Recession on lives, my own included.  Great Recession (two words, 15 characters with the space) is  better to use in a 20-page report than writing out the worst economy since the Great Depression (six words and 40 characters with spaces). 

The level playing field special reports I write are based on workplace behavior and the impact of external factors on an individual’s performance.  My reports are positioned to inform, educate, and enlighten readers on topics that resonant with them and can help further their careers.  The youngest of nine children, my older siblings loved to tell me, “Children are to be seen and not heard.”  Well, I’m being heard now on an international stage like this blog and enjoying writing to be heard by you and others.

What I’ve also been doing since I last posted a blog entry is volunteering the area of human resources for organizations.  The work has included collaborating with other volunteers in the process to fill a position:  developing an accurate position description, reviewing and evaluating resumes, identifying the first and second tier candidates to be called in for interviews, and interviewing a series of professionals to filter out the one we feel has the credentials and the ‘good fit’ demeanor to be hired.

Although I’ve hired people previously, the hiring process during the Great Recession has been different.  It’s different because I’m sensing desperation by how words are strung together.  Very determined to get a job since being laid off or fearing being laid off, the tone of a candidate’s writing often gives off a feel of, “It’s all about me and you should hire me because I am so great and I really need this job!”

How do I know that?  Well, in one very long cover letter, the writer composed 12 sentences and they all focused on her.  “I am…”   “I have…”  “I worked…” “I look forward…” was what I read and thought, “What about how her skills, knowledge, and experiences apply to and can benefit our organization?”

Hers was not the only cover written that way.  Many came in with a form cover letter with obviously only the inner address and salutation changed—which is not good form from my perspective.  What I wanted to read in their sentences was that the prospective candidate had done their research:  been to our website, searched periodicals online that could provide them more background, and then could translate this information into words that created a relationship between our needs and their backgrounds.

Resumes, also, left a lot to be desired.   Proof and proof again.  Use the “Grammar Check” in Word.  Punctuate consistently in descriptions and bullets.  Be accurate with the tense:  all past or all present tense.  Etc., etc., etc.

Finally, if you want to be heard and be seriously considered to be hired for a position, use the appropriate wording to describe what you do.  We, charged with hiring an employee, need to trust that an individual expressing an interest in being a candidate and possibly ‘the one’  hired, has documented authentically what she has done and is capable of doing from the first day on the job.

Whether you are in the process of developing a cover letter or resume—or an 11,000 word paper—write so that you are heard.   Now, it’s time for me to go resume finalizing my next level playing field special report.

A leader’s position carries with it responsibility to inspire followers and use power wisely.  It also includes teaching others to jump barriers and give up their silo thinking in order to explore new possibilities.

A few years ago when I was at a friend’s apartment, I noticed that her dog, a big German Shepard that stood maybe 24” high, was confined to the living room by a piece of wood placed at each doorway.  The barrier was only 18” inches high – a height the dog could have walked or jumped over with ease.

I knew this because my dog Emelie, a mix of Border collie and Samoyed raised exploring beaches and mountain paths, easily jumped the piece of wood.  In fact, she roamed all over the house, jumping or knocking down the barrier if it got in her way.  The other dog, who only got out to a small yard three times a day, looked at Emelie, whined, and after a couple of times testing her freedom and being disciplined for doing so, was too afraid to venture forth into risking another jump.

An executive coaching client recently commented to me that she values my creative input because her staff can’t see or won’t speak up about the ‘possibilities’ of a situation.  She is a ‘roamer’ but her staff uses what I call ‘silo thinking’ – confining their perspective to a narrow column of influence.   A silo is a structure used to store materials, in this picture it is grain on a farm.

Grain silos on a farm

Silo thinking in followers means that instead of looking out to the horizon, employees see the walls of the job description, the risks of speaking up, and the fear of going out of their comfort zones to explore unknown territory.  They’ll share ideas with peers but won’t speak up at meetings or with their managers.

The influence of their corporate climate, consequences of making a mistake in front of others, and their own ‘mental training’ are just some reasons for their ‘silo’ thinking.  It could be age – never being asked before for creative ideas – or conditioning over the years by being told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it instead of being empowered to individualize their work.  Or the fact that people don’t want to expand for fear of the repercussions of what new activities they might be asked to participant in or that they would have to move out of their usual role to take on leadership themselves of an initiative.

My client consistently strives to inspire, model creative thinking, and provide opportunities for staff input.  She is persistent in efforts to overcome her staff’s ‘silo thinking’ and resistance to jump barriers.  However, with each subtle shift in behavior from individuals, my client gains confidence to continue her efforts to engage her staff in barrier jumping behavior.

On Sunday, November 1, over 42,000 registered runners in the New York City Marathon sped, ran, walked, or limped through the streets of the five boroughs. As the premium runners raced their way through Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan, the majority of runners ran at a slower pace.

Runners nearing the finish line

As in years past, I like to watch the runners as they near the finish line, specifically those who take four or more hours to finish the 26.2 mile course—a course the leaders had run in just over two hours.

This year, I found a place behind a barricade just past the 26 mile sign in Central Park.  That vantage point gave me the opportunity to slap hands with runners zooming with enthusiasm that they were close to reaching  their goal or dragging with focused determination that they would reach the finish line even if they had to crawl.

Many of those going past had their names on their t-shirts, a way to tell the total crowd of over a million cheerleaders along the route that they wanted a shout out of, “Hi, Amy (or Frances or Tim or…). Keep going. You’re doing great.”

One man was more direct with not just his want for a shout out but a need to be encouraged. On this man’s shirt was a directive, “Yell, Hi, Art!”

Of course, I, as did others around me, did yell, “Hi, Art!”

My working to be a leader lesson from Art:  identify what you need from others then make it clear how they can fill that need for you.

Last week, I spoke on the topic of “Social Media and Your Job Search:  A Strategic Approach” on Jane Cranston’s “Great Job In Tough Times” tele-seminar. 

 The positive responses to my talk inspired me repeat the program—and to offer a series of tele-seminars on the four major social media platforms.

Please click here to see a full menu of courses listed on the Public Seminars page of my website.  The titles include:

LinkedIn 101:  The Basics to Realize Returns on Relationships

Facebook 101:  How to Establish Online Work/Life Balance

Twitter 101 and You Tube Basics:  How to Make Your Tweets and Videos Remarkable.

If you don’t see what you want here, contact me at Leigh@ltr-nyc.com to discuss a customized tele-seminar or in-person workshop for a group of individuals or your company (programs for business will be on the next schedule).

What role does social media play in your job search?  Do you have a strategic plan for how you want to build your online presence by using the most popular social media sites?

On Wednesday, October 21, from 8:00-9:00 p.m. EDT, I will be speaking on the topic of  “Social Media and Your Job Search:  A Strategic Approach” with my long-time colleague and good friend Jane Cranston, executive career coach and author of “Great Job in Tough Times” and tele-seminar series leader.

While Jane moderates and contributes her wisdom, I will guide you through understanding the role social media plays in your job search, specifically addressing these topics:

• A strategy for creating your online professional presence.
• The basics of:

              LinkedIn:  Business attire

              Twitter:  Business casual

              Facebook:  Work/life balance

             YouTube:  A great video is worth a thousand clicks

• Managing your career with social media

If you’re sitting in front of a computer with Internet access during this call, that’s great.  We’ll show you some live examples.  If you’re not able to be in front of a computer, don’t worry.  We’ll talk you through the examples.

To register for this tele-seminar, please go to Jane’s website Great Job in Tough Times.  Aren’t available to be on the tele-seminar next Wednesday evening?  Register anyway so that you will have access to listen to the recorded session at your convenience.

It will be my pleasure to join Jane next Wednesday to talk about, “Social Media and Your Job Search” and share with listeners what we collectively know can help you in your job search.