Last Friday, I keynoted the CXO NOW’s  power hour for women in leadership across the country. I was asked in January to speak so my topic was Impression Management. But the world changed, and my topic evolved to the title above. The last two months are by far the most challenging of my professional life. While my family is happy and healthy, which is my top priority – my patience is thin, the mental gymnastics are high, and I am exhausted. I am not alone with these issues as working women and working mothers are increasing in popularity – over half of the workforce is female and 73% of mothers are working.

So, why am I singling out the working mothers? Because it’s hard – we were exhausted before this COVID environment rocked our professional and personal lives. We were living in two siloed environments of work and home. Most of us outsourced a majority of our lives, cooking, cleaning, teaching, landscaping, etc.

Overnight we became teachers, cooks, cleaners, technology experts, and commander in chief of the household. I am not ashamed to say that I personally have not printed anything in years and I don’t even know how a printer works. That is how outsourced my life was two months ago.

So what do we need now? Employers, we need you to look at how you are doing business with women. There are insurmountable data surrounding women’s inequality at work and at home. Now that both of these worlds are colliding, it’s a perfect storm for working women.

 

If you find your company is beginning to look at layoffs, start making sure that it isn’t impacting women unfairly. Recently the Labor Department published some alarming statistics regarding layoffs disproportionally impacting African Americans, Latinos, and women.  As employers, we need to be aware and make adjustments to ensure that there is equity across all employees.  Create actionable and equitable policies for all

 

employees.

Consider offering more flexible timelines for work that isn’t mandatory. The world is moving at a slower pace which offers businesses a more fluid timeline. Reprioritize what is necessary and let the rest slide. And just a note to employees – it doesn’t all have to been done tomorrow. Prioritization should happen twice a day in times of change. Once in the morning and again in the evening.

Engage your employees in an empathic manner. Even if you cannot relate to what is happening to 73% of mothers with children in the home that are working, a simple nudge of “good job” or a meaningful “how are you doing?” can make a difference in the day.  I often greet employees children over the phone, which is something I wouldn’t have even thought of doing two months ago. Employees, let your boss know your limits and offer realistic timeframes for completing tasks. You can also help with setting expectations.

Also, let’s be real for a minute – video conferencing isn’t necessary for every meeting. If you are communicating data or bullet points to an individual, an email will suffice and offers flexibility to the individual on the other end. Video conferencing is great for building consensus and influencing individuals, but a video conference only to communicate data is annoying and a waste of time.

In short, be the boss you would like to work for right now and do not undermind the grief we are all experiencing as a society. Most of us are in a season of grieving. We may have experienced loss in different areas with some of us losing loved ones. But all of us are losing our way of life, even if it does end up being a temporary loss – it’s a loss all the same. I would urge you to recognize this loss as an employer and not push your stress to your team. Instead elevate the stress to create awareness and equity for those around  in the C-Suite. When the world looks back on COVID 19, I hope the silver lining will be how many women held this country together, both at home and at work.

 

 

 

 

 

This is part three of four regarding military men and the lessons I learned.

“Excuses are for people that need them”, said my former CEO, Art Lucas, to a former colleague of mine. She had explained that she was running behind because of the nightmares of Atlanta traffic. Art Lucas was former Army and took zero excuses from anyone. You have a target and whether the target was a time, a number, or a place, the objective was to meet it. Excuses were just distractions or obstacles to overcome while meeting your target. Obstacles in any pursuit, are to be anticipated.

Much like Meridian Group, Art Lucas started as a small one-man business in 1970. Art had the important vision of helping military personnel transition to the civilian workforce after completing their military service. Lucky for me, later Art expanded his business to included executive search as well as expanded his footprint to include 17 offices worldwide. I started working there in early 2005.

Art was an early riser and he was one of the first at the office which was one of the few things we had in common, albeit my objective was to beat traffic into the office. He, like many successful CEO’s, knew the importance of starting your day early. Because our days started at a similar time, and my cubical was on the same floor as his office, we often met in the lobby or taking the stairs up to the office. Sometimes I’d take the elevator, but most of the time I take the steps to get the blood going after spending 25 minutes in the car. It’s amazing what you can learn from someone just by taking the stairs or rising early. Those were probably the only two things Art and I had in common at the time.

A good CEO looks to find common ground amongst their ranks. He would occasionally stop by my desk to ask me what I thought as an associate regarding whatever policy du jour change. So as a junior associate, I was able to know the CEO at a different level than most. If our paths didn’t cross in the stairway, in the lobby, or at my desk, I would poke my head into his office once a week to say hello. If I caught him early enough, he was usually gazing over a map of the low country, near Savannah. Outside of his family, it was clear that Art was passionate about four things to me, the military, his employees, breaking the socioeconomic divide in Atlanta, and acquiring land in coastal Georgia. Art wisely started a company that could aid him in all four of these passions.

Art taught me what it meant to be a charitable company. Without a doubt, Art had revenue targets and high expectations of his employees, but he also wanted to provide an avenue to give back. This was my first introduction to corporate charitable causes in a time when this wasn’t popular to infuse into a corporate culture. He would promote paid internships for high performing, low-income teens in summer internships with our company and with our clients. I was able to act as a mentor to a teen over the summer months and it aided in my development as a whole person.

To me at the time, Art was an insanely smart man with an MBA from Thunderbird to match. But reflecting on it, he may have just been of average intelligence but of extraordinary discipline. His discipline carried him from a one-person shop to 17 offices internationally and an eventual buy-out from a PE firm. He relocated to coastal Georgia in 2010 to pursue his passion for acquiring real estate.

I ended up leaving the firm after he sold. At the time I felt like the magic was gone, but now I think to realize it was less about the magic and more about the identity. When you know who you are working for and what they are passionate about, it gives you a sense of ownership in the company.

I visited Art several years ago and I asked him if he missed the recruiting business. Without pause, he said, “I miss knowing that the work I did on a daily basis provided for so many employees and their families; that my work, directly and indirectly, helped so many people make a good life.”

Art left behind a legacy of talented, disciplined recruiting professionals. I was fortunate that his military style and discipline resonated with me and even luckier our paths crossed frequently so that I could see the embodiment of executive corporate leadership at a young stage in my career. It has shaped every aspect of my professional life. Art was also right because excuses are for people that need them.

EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED LEADERSHIP

 

“Don’t let your emotions undermine your business”, is what I was told by a 40 something male boss when I was an early 20’s something emotional female. “Operate under facts and data and your business life will be more fruitful”, he said. At the time, I thought he was being insensitive but later learned that he was indeed correct.

What happens when a leader allows their emotions to compromise their business? Nothing good, I can tell you that. And chances are that the leader is immensely insecure which compromises the business in its entirety. I am not suggesting that the leader act as if emotions don’t matter. I am suggesting that leaders should have the ability to manage their own emotions and also be able to influence and recognize others’ emotions. By recognizing the emotions of others, a true leader can then fully utilize facts and data to influence the emotions of others on their team. And by managing their own emotions, a leader can overcome many business obstacles.

 

Managing your emotions may be a hard business habit to break. It took me several years in my late 20’s to really understand how to take criticism as a compliment. While I still haven’t mastered managing my emotions, I do consider myself ahead of the game. Here are a few thought processes to help you manage your emotions:

 

Evaluate – take the time to (as objectively) evaluate the scenario. When I have harsh feedback, instead of immediately responding, my canned response is, “let me get back to you on that.” In some circumstances, it’s something I can resolve in a brisk walk and in others I need to sleep on it.

Resolve – be active in finding the solution to the scenario to cause the emotion. This will help you work through the process of your emotions as well as give you a positive experience in finding a solution

Communicate – While working toward the solution, clearly articulate in a non-emotional manner your methodology in your scenario. This will give the critic the opportunity to understand why and lead to less friction in the future.

 

Understand that emotions were developed as survival mechanisms and are hardwired into our biology, just like metabolic processes and muscular reflexes, so it is okay and biologically correct to experience emotions.  When I experience a leader that rules by emotion, I know that they will not be in that role for long. Ruling without facts and data and running on an emotional high only suffices the need for yourself and not the business at hand. It’s best to take a pause, evaluate, communicate, and move along.