Today while reflecting on strong women who have persevered under dire circumstances, I remembered a woman who was the keynote speaker at the Women in Business: Pearls of Wisdom 2010 Conference at Baruch College—but I forgot her name.  Searching my blog for my post on the event—I was the moderator for the panel discussion—I found the name I wanted:  Diane Garnick. 

“About” on her Facebook page describes Garnick as the “Princess of Perseverance,” a good description based on her difficult past that included having her first child at age 15 and then finishing grades 9-12 at high school in two years.  She found work in a bank but could not be promoted because she did not have a degree.  Leaving the bank, she started college at Suffolk Community College, then went on to earn her a degree from Hofstra University then an M.B.A. at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.  Her work at Wall Street companies such as Merrill Lynch & Co. earned respect for her intelligence and ability to manage the business.

When looking for more information on Garnick, I found “Diane Garnick Seeks Lift for Wall Street Women With New Firm,” an article written by Jeff Kearns and Margaret Collins published in Bloomberg Businessweek on January, 20, 2012.  I was very impressed by learning that the tenacious investment strategist had opened an asset management firm, a firm that Garnick hopes will help to balance the much needed gender makeup of Wall Street jobs.

The authors state that Garnick opened Clear Alternatives LLC with three other women and hopes to grow the company to 12 by the end of 2012—the same time she set a goal to have raised at least $500 million in assets under management.

“One of the biggest challenges is for women to find an organization that’s willing to accept them back after they leave the work force to raise children without taking a cut in compensation and responsibility….Our objective is to solve that problem,” Garnick, the active mother of two children, told the authors in a phone interview.

Garnick and Clear Alternatives will serve as a catalyst to hire and inspire women graduates from the best business schools to earn their way up the ladder to senior management roles in financial services.  My hopes are with her!

Tomorrow, I am going to be speaking for a class of second year graduate students at Columbia University’s School of Social Work.  My topic is “The Learning Organization” and I’ll be sharing my experiences as a consultant helping a non-profit take a systems approach and become a learning organization.  My audience of social workers is not interested in clinical work but instead is interested in administrative work in the non-profit area, public management, human resources management, social and economic development, and global and transnational practice.  In addition to the presentation I’ll be making, I am going to recommend a book that will be helpful to this audience and the larger one as well.

The Organization of the Future 2:  Visions, Strategies, and Insights on Managing in a New Era is a collection of 26 informational essays written by great thought leaders, produced by the Leader to Leader Institute, and published by Jossey-Bass in 2009.  (Note:  The institute changed is name to the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute.)  According to the cover, “The book describes how tomorrow’s organizations can chart the path toward growth and prosperity in rapidly changing times and includes amazing examples of how organizations from different sectors have created cultures that are empowering their employees and transforming their industries and communities.”

Editors are two well-known leaders:  Frances Hesselbein and Marshall Goldsmith.  Hesselbein is the founding president and CEO of the institute named after her and is well-known known for her service as CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA for which she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  Goldsmith is one of the top executive coaches in the world and was recognized by the American Management Association as one of 50 great thinkers who have influenced the field of management.

The Leader to Leader Institute was established in 1990, and was then called the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Non-Profit Management.  The more encompassing name furthers the image and the book “furthers its mission—to strengthen the leadership of the social sector—by providing social sector leaders with essential leadership wisdom, inspiration, and resources to lead for innovation and to build vibrant social sector organizations.”

There are five sections in the book:  Part One – Strategy and Vision:  Setting the Direction of the Organization of the Future.  Part Two – Organizational Culture:  Values, Emotions, Hope, Ethics, Spirit, and Behavior.  Part Three – Designing the Organization of the Future.  Part Four – Working Together.  Part Five – Leadership.

When I looked up ‘learning organization’ in the Index, I was referred to pages of an article in Part One “Managing the Whole Mandate for the Twenty-First Century: Ditching the Quick-Fix Approach to Management” by Paul Borawski and Maryann Brennan.  Borawski, executive director and chief strategic officer of the American Society for Quality, and Brennan, principal for Brennan Worldwide, write that “Organizations that rely on quick fixes don’t necessarily learn from their endeavors.”  They go on to state that, “To avoid making the same mistake, you need to share knowledge about what worked and what didn’t throughout your organization so that other functional areas with similar problems can apply the solution.”

Developing a systems approach can foster a learning organization in large as well as small companies.  To make it happen and change to a systems approach to management, the authors of the article describe a process of three stages:
—Decide you believe in a systems approach.
—Help your organization build broad support to view the organization as a system by preparing for an investment of time to learn, experiment, and learn more, and making a commitment to a journey toward performance excellence that will take years.
—Craft a plan on how your organization is going to move from its current state toward a systems approach.

Tomorrow, I am going to recommend the article I referenced and the over 300 pages of other articles in the book to my audience because although a little dated, I believe the thought experts can help the reader learn how to lead with intelligence in order to effectively manage the organization of the future.

Great By Choice:  Uncertainty, Chaos And Luck—Why Some Thrive Despite Them All by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen (HarperBusiness) is the latest of best-sellers on the topic of organizational excellence.  Other books by Collins include Good to Great:  Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t; Built to Last:  Successful Habits of Visionary Companies; and How the Mighty Fall—And Why Some Companies Never Give In.  These well researched and written books contain valuable contributions for CEOs and other executives on how leaders can manage effectively in good and difficult times. 

“Collins on Chaos:  It’s one thing to rise to greatness.  It’s another to do so in a time of upheaval, disruption, and economic turmoil (hello, 2011)” was Fortune Magazine’s cover story on October 17, 2011, a great introduction to the choices that leaders have made for success and that led them to failures.

The bottom line is that no matter the temptation, you can choose to be great and not let events you can’t control impact your pace and your plans.  As companies choose to get the right people on the bus, executives can choose habits that will help their companies be built to last.

The authors of “Great by Choice” identified “The Steady Seven,” top companies that survived successfully in a depressed economy.  “Different companies exposed to the same set of circumstances achieve vastly different results,” Collins writes.  Why?  “Part of the answer lies in the distinctive behavior of their leaders.”

The seven companies that “outperformed their industries by a wide margin” were:

Amgen:  a combination of creativity and discipline
Biomet:  dedication to new iterations of its products
Intel:  moving forward ignoring economic climate
Microsoft:  updating relentlessly and not overextending financially
Progressive Insurance:  not sacrificing underwriting profit for growth
Southwest Airlines:  discipline to hold back in good times
Stryker:  demanding 20% annual net income growth

Twenty-Mile March

Twenty-Mile March is the term Collins uses to define the concept for companies to keep a steady pace no matter the environmental factors.  The analogy Collins used was about the results of two teams led by Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott in 1911 who wanted to be the first ones in modern history to reach the South Pole.  Amundsen and his team survived while Scott and his did not.

Collins writes that, “The 20-Mile March is more than a philosophy.  It’s about having concrete, clear, intelligent and rigorously pursued performance mechanisms that you keep on track.”  Both teams were led by men of around the same ages and same expertise, the teams were similarly outfitted, and they started their hopeful roundtrips of 1,400 miles almost at the same time in the same weather as each other.  It was the behaviors of the leaders that made the difference.  Amundsen made the roundtrip home with his crew; Scott and his crew lay frozen near but not at the South Pole.

What was the difference?  “Amundsen adhered to a regimen of consistent progress, never going too far in good weather, careful to stay far away from the red line of exhaustion that could leave his team exposed, yet pressing ahead in nasty weather to stay on pace.”  The pace he followed was between 15 and 20 miles a day.  Amundsen arrived at the South Pole after keeping up a regimented daily pace in good and bad weather that averaged 15½ per day.

Scott, on the other hand, “would sometimes drive his team to exhaustion on good days and then sit in his tent and complain about the weather on bad days.”  He was erratic about keeping any sort of regimen, responding instead to the climate and energy.  Scott’s behavior led to him and his team not making the trip home.

Five Business Lessons I Learned

1. Set a pace for your company.  How much can you achieve in a quarter? a year?  How will you meet the goals you set?  Stryker CEO John Brown set a 20% net income growth and while he was in charge met that goal more than 90% of the time.

2.  Don’t compete as much as attract.  Many companies want to be number one in an industry.  Attract customers by being the best in what your company is capable of doing, like Southwest Airlines.

3.  Keep growth in the picture.  If consumers aren’t buying your product at the rate you expect, ask yourself, “What area of growth can be developed to offset that income reduction?”  Biogen created new iterations of their products.

4.  Be a leader who is authentic and open to growth.  Was Scott comfortable with marching in spurts and not a consistent pace?  Did anyone on his team lead up and suggest to Scott that there was a better way to make the march to the South Pole?  Did he listen to or ignore any suggestions?

5.  Assess current offerings to see if time to update while not overspending the way Microsoft did.

What are your lessons on the 20-Mile March?

“Writing to Be Heard” was posted on July 16, 2007, the first time I used my blog.  After writing hundreds of posts since then—especially this year—I decided to share my favorite posts of 2011 with you.

The posts below all have a story behind them, a reason to share the information, and a desire to help you on your career journey.  The posts could have been written to address an issue that came up during a coaching or consulting meeting, a topic that was discussed in a management class I teach at the Zicklin School of Business, an opportunity to expand horizons, etc.  The focus of each one is categorized by one or more of the tiles above the post which include Career, Coaching, College, Culture, Economy, Health, Leadership, Life Business, Management, Technology.

Below is a month-by-month list of posts that I hope you will find relevant, inspiring, and even fun.

January 17:  Are You Afraid of Feedback?  The topic emerged from two different threads.  The first was to offer guidance to decision-makers who were working with a very resistant executive.  The second was the loan of an academic colleague’s DVD on feedback.

February 21:  The Price of Ignoring Corporate Culture  As I told my students in an “Organizational Behavior” class, teaching corporate culture is my favorite unit to teach.  It is because of the environment executives create and how it impacts employee’s behavior.  In this particular case, the executive did not take into account his behavior in an established culture.

March 10:  Women’s Month 2011: Shake the World  To acknowledge the progress women make in a range of fields, I wrote about their accomplishments including that of Justine Siegal who had fulfilled her dream of throwing batting practice for the Cleveland Indians in spring training.

April 4:  Lasting Impressions  I am impressed by the number of people who even when we have not seen or spoken with one another for months or years, still remember me and the work I do.  The need to make a good first—and subsequent—impact on everyone you come in touch with is an important part of career development.

May 27:  Shakespeare in a Management Classroom  In April 2010, I attended a workshop on teaching Shakespeare in the workplace.  To my delight and my students’ reluctance, I developed a class session on emotional intelligence by having students get on a stage with a partner and recite excerpts from scenes in Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet, their favorite because they get to yell!

June 17:  Ten Guideposts on Your Reinvention Highway  Exploring a new career can be stressful and tiring.  Since I have reinvented myself a few times—I like to call it evolution—I share ideas on how to practice active patience to realize a new career.

July 7:  Holistic Professional Resume  In addition to teaching a business course, I also teach a program called “SuperCharge Your Career” at Zicklin.  What I don’t see on many resumes is Activities or another heading that can fill out the profile of a candidate and give an interviewer a sense of their lives outside the company.

August 30:  Career as a Farmer:  Sasha J. Farkas  Not everyone wants to work in an office in New York or any urban environment for that matter.  USA Today’s headline on December 26, 2011, “More Young People See Farming Opportunities,” confirmed that those in their 20’s and 30’s who have been downsized or unable to get a job, are seeking ways to survive on a farm.

September 13:  LockerDome:  The Facebook of Team Sports  Gabe Lozano, Co-Founder and CEO of a website for young athletes, read my post Women’s Month 2011: Shake the World and left a comment.  That comment led to a conversation, two interviews—his and Justine Siegal’s—and my own profile on LockerDome’s social media site.

October 29:  Disability:  A Second Career for L.I.R.R. Workers  Last year, I wrote about the ethical behavior of Long Island Railroad workers who claimed disability when they were obviously fine since they played golf sometimes daily.  Recently, I read that the cost of disbursing those on disability can be close to $1 billion.

November 12:  Walking Meetings  One of the many takeaways I had from reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson was learning the pleasures of a walking meeting.  A friend gave me that opportunity and I’m very grateful for it.

December 24:  Dear Santa:  My Wish List  It had been ages since I wrote a “Dear Santa” letter so I put tongue in cheek and infused my humor into the serious requests I made for the greater good—and not just the sweater and earrings I hoped Santa would bring!

Thank you for your time to browse and read my posts.  Looking forward to writing more in 2012!

Very best wishes for a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Gatherings with friends are wonderful memories, gifts have been opened, and my CD of New Orleans Christmas finished with its final tune.  It’s time for me to retreat in order to meditate on my business progress in 2011, set priorities of projects and forecast budgets for 2012.

In most years, I use this ‘down time’ to limit my social engagements so that I have space on my calendar to go through my files and throw out what I no longer need to keep, like tax returns.  I also use the time to develop a quarterly business plan for my company so that I stay on track during the coming year.  Among the resources I will use to focus during my retreat, are questions that I read in a recent newsletter.

Leading News is a newsletter dedicated to helping successful executives become even better leaders by Marshall Goldsmith, America’s pre-eminent executive coach, and Patricia Wheeler, an acclaimed executive coach and Managing Partner of The Levin Group, a global leadership advisory firm.

Goldsmith and Wheeler included in their “Pause and Reflect” section of their newsletter the following questions:

1.  What am I most proud of in 2010?

2.  What am I most looking forward to in 2012?

3.  What are the goals/steps I am dedicated to moving toward in 2012?

These questions are appropriate for anyone from executives to those working to be a leader.  I wish you well and hope that you will take the time to pause and reflect on what 2012 will be like for you.

This week I’ve written posts about business gifts of music, books, plus power and influence.  Today, the ‘business’ gift of coaching is the focus, a practical and meaningful present to give yourself.  If you are interested in coaching with me, the first half-hour of coaching on the phone is complimentary!

“Coaching done well may be the most effective intervention designed for human performance,” Atul Gawande wrote in his article “Personal Best.  Top athletes and singers have coaches.  Should you?” that appeared in the “Annals of Medicine section of The New Yorker on October 3, 2011.  The bio on his website reads that “Gawande is a surgeon, writer, and public health researcher. He practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He is also Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health.”  As the author of The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, a New York Times Bestseller, he shares the importance of following step-by-step procedures to be thorough, efficient, and effective in procedures and projects.

“No matter how well trained people are, few can sustain their best performance on their own. That’s where coaching comes in.”  Gawande writes that after eight years as a surgeon, his “performance in an operating room has reached a plateau.  I’d like to think that it’s a good thing—I’ve arrived at my professional peak.  But mainly it seems as if I’ve just stopped getting better.”

My experience coaching executives, leaders on their way to the executive suite, managers seeking ways to be more productive and profitable, recent M.B.A.s and other graduate students starting out in their career fields, and those looking to enhance their career potential has helped my clients to ‘get better.’  Getting better is a process that makes the client vulnerable and my warning to potential clients is that they will need to “move out of your comfort zone.”

Many corporate employees I know who need coaching refuse to get it.  Executives especially are stubborn to the point that they put the blame on others for a failed initiative and do not clearly see how they are holding back the progress of their small companies or large divisions.  They resist change in order to maintain their image and/or ego and do not take into account the greater good.

In case you are wondering, I follow my own advice.  That is, I have signed up to resume coaching with an excellent coach I worked with previously.  In January, I will undertake a major project and know that my investment in having someone to listen carefully to what I say—and not say— then ask appropriate questions can lead to specific appropriate actions and the realization of my goals.

If you are not interested in my coaching services, you should be wary of other coaches who do not have the specific experience you seek or lead you in the wrong direction.  For instance, when I had a small project, I called a coach who was offering a free session.  When I told her about my interest in starting a career coaching group, she told me that when I started marketing the program I had to offer a guarantee that each person would get a job.  That was not a wise coach who thought strategically since no one could guarantee a job for someone else.  I didn’t follow her advice since I wanted clients who would trust me and could be guaranteed that I would be honest about the career coaching I offered.

 To help you get an idea of what working with a coach is like, you might want to sign up for “Leigh’s Leader Offer” (on the right of this page).  If you are already interested, below is a general overview of my coaching process and session development:

-       Initial Conversation: Each potential client has a half-hour telephone conversation with me to articulate reasons for seeking a coach and identify outcomes from the coaching process.

-       Good Fit Decision: The client and I decide if there is a ‘good fit’ for both ‘coachee’ and coach in order for the coaching process to be successful.  Fees are discussed with the potential client.  Being comfortable talking about what investments in career development are worth is part of the coaching process.

-       Assessments: Client completes appropriate formal self-assessments such as the “Coaching Report for Leaders” or informal assessments such as writing a “Life Story.”

-       Session Focus Form (Optional but suggested): Client writes up their progress in specific areas; this document then becomes the agenda for a coaching session and a way to track progress toward a client’s goals.

-       90-Day Goals: Client sets reasonable expectations for achieving three goals within a 90-day period.

-       Conversation: Client and coach engage in honest interactions during which client is invited to express deep-seeded ideas or wishes. I listen carefully to what is said and not said in order to discern and offer effective strategies for client success.

-       Action steps: Client and coach agree on a series of specific ways to help client get ‘unstuck’ and on track to realize goals.

-       6-Month Planning Guide: Client identifies specific projects and places them on a calendar for completion.

-       In-Between Sessions: Client and coach discuss ideas to help the client build on the insights gained in a coaching session and/or engage in new behaviors to avoid missed opportunities.

Signing up for coaching isn’t major surgery.  All you have to do is e-mail me at Leigh@ltr-nyc.com and we can set up your half-hour complimentary telephone coaching session.

Stuck as to what business gift you can give to a talented college senior?  Or someone who earned an M.B.A but couldn’t land a job in their field of study?  There isn’t a product you can buy for them but there is a way to give them each a gift.

The gift is coming from you, your power and influence to seek out colleagues who are in positions to hire employees for temporary or contract jobs or a full-time position.  For instance, Ken, one of the speakers for my “Organizational Behavior” class, ended his engaging talk by saying he welcomed students to send him their resumes.  He had some contract jobs that he had to fill and, even if he filled those positions, he would send resumes to his colleagues.  That, in itself, was a gift:  the gift of the power the speaker had to hire a student.

Along with some outstanding students in the class, there were also ‘alumni’ who had taken my courses previously who were looking for work.  That was where my influence came in.  I reached out to absolutely outstanding students and sent them Ken’s information.  I knew that the fit for two of the candidates would be an excellent one because of their work ethics, workplace experience, performance in my classes, and eagerness to learn.  I used my influence to help them by sending recommendations of the students to Ken.  But Ken would have hired them anyway.

After six months, the students are enjoying their work—and send me updates regularly to let me be acquainted with how they are doing.  They both enjoy observing and gaining knowledge from their managers, participating in teams, and knowing that there is always more to learn.

One of my students gave me a ‘Thank You’ card recently.  And what he wrote at the end of the message described the value he got and wanted to pass along:  “I hope that in the not so distant future, I will return the favor with some one in a similar position in which I was.”

Who do you know who could use a leg up?  How can you use your power and influence to find the right ladder for a younger person to climb?  The gift of time to find the answers then act on them is one that will always be remembered.

Still looking for a thoughtful gift for a business colleague?  What about a book?  But “What book?” you ask.  A book that will resonate with their personality, performance, and preferences.

Non-fiction books and memoirs are appropriate, especially ones that colleagues or consultants would appreciate.  For instance, a few years ago when I was doing consulting work at a small non-profit, the Executive Director/CEO wrote in the book he gave for Christmas:  “To Leigh:  To another winner from California.  Thank you for all you do for our company and your friendship.”  When I opened the gift from the CEO, a smile came to my face. Seabiscuit:  An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand turned out to be not just a very good read, it was a book about a memorable occasion earlier that year.  During a visit to see my sister Alice in Los Angeles, we saw the movie Seabiscuit, the first time we had seen a movie together in decades.  Sadly, my sister died in November.  When I see the spine of Seabiscuit on my bookshelf, I am reminded of a terrific sister.

After searching lists online of the best business books for 2011 at newspapers, bookstores, and blogs—plus my own library of recent purchases of business books—I’ve come up with a list of books that are arranged in no particular order.

STEVE JOBS by Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster).  A very well-written book that profiles the successful revolutionary guru whose temperamental behavior with Board and staff members was recorded but not ‘investigated’ enough in my opinion.  Isaacson writes that “At a time when the United States is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build creative digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness, imagination and sustained innovation. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology, so he built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.”  Give to peers and direct reports, if they are the type to read an almost 600 page book.

THE PROGRESS PRINCIPLE by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer (Harvard Business Review Press).  When searching for business books by women, this is one of the first ones that I found.  In fact, some lists of business books do not include one publication by a woman.  The results from a husband-and-wife research team “discovered that the key to engagement is feeling that you are making progress. So if you want your staff to feel positive and engaged in their work, help them to make progress—and to recognize the progress they are making. This a pioneering work on employee engagement, with lots of memorable examples culled from those in-the-trenches diary entries.”  Give to yourself and selected peers.

GOOD STRATEGY, BAD STRATEGY:  THE DIFFERENCE AND WHY IT MATTERS by Richard Rumelt (Crown Business).  I was intrigued when I found this book on a Canadian newspaper site because I learned that Henry Mintzberg only reads books by Rumelt, a professor of business and society at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).  A professor of management at McGill University in Montreal, Mintzberg wrote the book Managers Not MBAs:  A Hard Look at the Soft Practice of Managing and Management Development, a book worth a read itself on how experiential learning can provide more insights than an advanced diploma at a business school.  In my experiences, executive clients and business students often overlook strategic thinking—or it goes wrong.  This accessible book is about learning how to do it right.  Give to selected peers, selected direct reports; buy a copy for yourself.

GREAT BY CHOICE:  UNCERTAINTY, CHAOS AND LUCK—WHY SOME THRIVE DESPITE THEM ALL by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen (HarperBusiness).  This book is the latest in a series of best-sellers by Jim Collins; others include Good to Great:  Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t and Built to Last:  Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.  These well researched and written books contain valuable contributions for CEOs and other executives on how leaders can manage effectively in difficult times.  Fortune Magazine’s cover story on the October 17, 2011 issue “Collins on Chaos:  It’s one thing to rise to greatness.  It’s another to do so in a time of upheaval, disruption, and economic turmoil (hello, 2011)” is a great introduction to how you can manage for success.  Give to selected executives, peers, selected direct reports.

MONEY AND POWER:  HOW GOLDMAN SACHS CAME TO RULE THE WORLD by William D. Cohan (Doubleday/Allen Lane).  This is a “…scrupulously balanced if sometimes ponderous history of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. by the author of House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street and The Last Tycoons:  The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.”  Cohan, who was a banker at Lazard when I was a temp, is a brilliant writer whose access to former clients, rivals, plus current and former employees of financial firms produces stories of the evolution of the headline making giants and, in the case of Lazard, the quiet giant of Wall Street.  “Cohan evinces an eye for images and an ear for quotations as he explores Goldman’s ‘schizophrenic’ behavior.”  One former Goldman employee stated, “I saw what they did to their customers. … They’d steal from them, rape them, anything they could do.”  Give any of these to those who will read about 600 pages and M.B.A. finance students who want to be investment bankers.

TELL TO WIN: CONNECT, PERSUADE, AND TRIUMPH WITH THE HIDDEN POWER OF STORY by Peter Guber (Crown Business).  This is an excellent book well worth the reading time.  It is excellent because of Gruber’s storytelling; his stories have helped me look at my re-branding process in a new way.  “Today everyone, whether they know it or not, is in the emotional transportation business. More and more, success is won by creating compelling stories that have the power to move partners, shareholders, customers and employees to action. Simply put, if you can’t tell it, you can’t sell it. And if you can’t sell it, you won’t win.”  Give yourself a copy and see how your stories impact your performance.

AN INVISIBLE THREAD: THE TRUE STORY OF AN 11-YEAR-OLD PANHANDLER, A BUSY SALES EXECUTIVE, AND AN UNLIKELY MEETING WITH DESTINY by Laura Schroff (Howard Books)  When I went to an online bookstore, I keyed in ‘Business Books’ and this was second on the list of results.  I had not seen it on any list but began to read the description and quickly knew that it would be a significant read on what a difference you can make with one person.  “When Schroff first met Maurice on a New York City street corner, she had no idea that she was standing on the brink of an incredible and unlikely friendship that would inevitably change both their lives. As one lunch at McDonald’s with Maurice turns into two, then into a weekly occurrence that is fast growing into an inexplicable connection, Laura learns heart-wrenching details about Maurice’s horrific childhood” and she remembers her own.  It is not about the business of work; it is about the business of taking the time to help save one individual’s world.  Give to colleagues and friends who need to find a meaningful engagement with the world.

Fifteen years ago in the course of my work as director of marketing for an international hotel group, I called my counterpart Marjorie in our London office just before I had an appointment with Mark, the president of our company.

At the start of the meeting, I told him that I had a conversation with Marjorie in London and he mumbled something.

“What was that?” I asked.

“I was wondering if you just had a meeting of the Women’s Auxiliary,” he said with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice

“What?” I asked in a slightly louder voice since I couldn’t believe that he would have said what he did.

“Forget it,” he said and began talking about the business of the day.

I can’t forget.  This encounter was sexist and demeaning, categorizing two of his directors by gender and not by contributors to the organization.  It bothered me because I felt he was making fun of what we might have been discussing when the truth was that we were resolving a business challenge.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, the term “Women’s Auxiliary” refers to women who were seen as secondary, supplemental, the back up and support for what men or an institution were doing—without mostly the opportunity to advance in what they were doing.  For example, there is the Queens Hospital Women’s Auxiliary whose mission is “to raise funds and support health-related programs that benefit the hospital and our community.”  You will find many Women’s Auxiliaries in the armed services, especially during the war years of the 20^th century.  Women did not go into combat; instead they supported the troops by seeing to it that supplies and equipment were in order.

The workplace for women has changed dramatically for women.  There will be a record 18 female CEOs on the Fortune 500 list in January when Virginia Rommety assumes the top position at IBM.  Almost 50% of women are on the management level in organizations.  A majority of those attending and graduating from college are young women.

How did ambitious women advance in their careers?  The Women’s Auxiliary.  The same term that bothered me so much has turned out to be a term I see as what had made women achieve the levels of influence that they have in recent years.  Specifically, women have bonded together to take action as a force to break through the glass ceiling and exert their power to perform on a level playing field with men.

Women advanced on Wall Street, for instance, by taking legal action against companies for discrimination, sexual harassment, etc.  Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s company was sued.  The legal costs of ignoring women in the workplace evolved into companies investing in women by setting up mentoring, educational programs, and conferences.  For instance, “Women on Wall Street” is an informative and inspirational conference hosted by Deutsche Bank since 1995.  I know from attending a few of these that the event is worth going to and that careers have been enhanced.

Another boost on Wall Street is that the members of the Financial Women’s Association volunteer as mentors to female finance majors at the Zicklin School of Business within Baruch College.  Together they partner up to meet and mentor a young woman in high school.  Isn’t that wonderful?

The term Women’s Auxiliary now has a different meaning to me.  It means that women who join together are educating other females—and men—and are changing the profile of business.

The term Women’s Auxiliary also has a personal meaning.  When I was at the hotel company, I made three wonderful friends.  We manage to see each other maybe two or three times a year but to stay connected online.  When we plan a time to meet for lunch or dinner, I bet we are all smiling since we will be gathering for a meeting of the Women’s Auxiliary.

What is the climate of your workplace?  The atmosphere of the Wall Street firm depicted in the excellent movie “Margin Call” sums up what life is like at a very high temperature.  I hope that the environment at your workplace is cooler but it is not “freezing” either because employees are not speaking with each other.

Climate in the workplace refers to the levels of stress, pressure, inconsistency of communications, etc. that can impact the atmosphere for employees.  One person’s depression can cause a workplace to feel a giant grey cloud is hanging over the entire department.  Or, a person who has just gotten engaged to be married can create a joyful atmosphere while sharing the planning of a wedding.

To take the temperature of your environment, arrange an individual meeting with each staff member in your department.  Next, prepare a series of questions such as the ones below—and be prepared for a range of answers.  What you need to listen for very carefully are the answers to hear employee responses to questions they have never been asked.

The questions below are versions of the ones that I used earlier this year.  In this case, a colleague and I interviewed each staff member individually and earned their trust to respond by stating we would only provide the information to those who had requested we do the survey.  My colleague and I both wrote down the replies and afterwards were able to fill in the gaps we each had in particular responses.  Although we scheduled meetings to last about 20 to 30 minutes, some were shorter and some went close to an hour since the individuals had a lot to share with us.

A climate survey is a good assessment to implement if there is an ineffective executive or office manager.  Also, if a manager of a department leaves abruptly or is fired, a climate survey can include a question about what a staff member wants to see in their new manager.

Below are sample questions that can get you started in creating your own workplace climate survey.

What is the word or phrase you would use to describe the climate of your workplace today?

What is the word or phrase you would use to describe the climate of the workplace at the end of the next quarter?  The next year?

What made you choose this?

Every manager creates their workplace climate.  What skills and talents would you like to see in the next manager of the department?

What would you want the next manager to do that would maintain and/or improve the climate?

What could the director of the department do to improve the climate?

What could the human resources department do to improve the climate?

Since all employees contribute to the climate of the workplace, it is also wise to ask “What can you and your colleagues do to improve the workplace climate?”