The path to greatness

             Women in Leadership
                     A speaker series
            @ Concordia University



Today was the monthly Speaker Series at Concordia with guests Ms. Michelle Krejci, Executive Director Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders Foundation and Ms. Sylvia Acevedo, CEO and Founder CommuniCard LLC.  Once the public presentation was done, I was invited to attend lunch with these wonderful women and some of Concordia's undergraduate business students.

I was really intreagued by many things these women shared, and we got to dialogue about the balance of a career's expectations, the expected roles in families, and how in many families there is even an active role reversal.  (I have to give props to a recent ABJ article that said just as women should be respected in the board room, men should have respect if choosing to stay with the family).  Anyways...

One thing Michelle said, and something I heard from Mr. Arpey (AA President) was that they went into their work without a final goal.  Mr. Arpey shared about how he just did the best he could with what he was given.  Michelle focused on the relational side of this, talking about the importance of a valued network.

I do development work.  Those who make the field feel sleezy are manipulative and make relationships based on a donor's capacity.  (FYI-I've never looked at my work this way, and I assign the same value to all who cross my path).   Anywho... I was thinking about the relational nature of my job, and how I, also, am not driven with a be all end all job at the end of this MBA experience.  More, I just want the environment that encourages me to grow, learn, and impact the most people with the most good. 

So I was thinking about how often in business there is a transactional nature to relationships.  Given the philosophies I have now shared, I think you know I don't buy into that.  Sometimes that makes the nature of my job challenging... its about time I really start impacting that bottom line.  But then, when you are transactional in your profession or career- its like you play and use that card, and then its gone.  Sure you got the sale, but did you treat the person with respect- did you leave the door open to other potential possibilities of what that person means to you or to your organization further down the road.

As a woman I know there are still those times I actually hit those glass ceilings.  Its real.  And even though I don't have an end goal, I know there is a strong purpose.  (I feel a bit like I'm rambling, and that's because I'm trying to finish before I have to be somewhere).  I just wanted to share the perspective that in a career, we are no longer about the accomplishments.  We aren't even about the money, the prestige or accolades.  We are about relationship.  We are about the journey.  We strengthen our impact as we walk alongside our friends, colleagues and fellow professionals.  Knowing that I could not do fundraising alone.  This is a partnership of missions, as I assume all jobs are.  And it is important to remember that it isn't necessarily a driven end, but its the people we come in contact with, the relationships we develop, paired with honest hard work are really what help us, Mr. Arpey, Ms.Krejci, and Ms. Acevedo to all achieve greatness.

It's not you... it's me

Some have noticed I'm not writing as often lately.  I've been trying to consider the reasons, and have determined a couple of culprits.  First of all, Gmail has gone and switched things up on me.  I blog under my personal email address, but now anytime I sign in to check my school email it signs me out, and I really am just that lazy that I hate to sign back into my personal (not checked very often) email just to blog.  (You may be asking how someone this lazy is going through to get my MBA and work full time.  I like to think of it more as I am prioritizing... rather than sheer laziness).

Another is, there's not all that much to write home about right now.  There is a ton of work going on between the two classes, which is keeping me busier that any other semester has (Sorry to drop that bomb, Cohorts II, III and IV).  Right now is about plowing through and just trying to keep a steady plan in place to make sure everything happens and gets done.  I meet with my group every Wednesday and we google chat once a week to finish our weekly group case studies.  In Economics, Marketing and Competitive Strategy we have been assigned new teams to work on a final project, and we've now got a project underway and timeline laid out.

And lastly, I am a positive person, so I've been trying to find the frame to describe the current dynamic in my cohor.  So to say, enthusiasm is a little wained.  Its hard when you really hit it off with the Program Director, and then there is a leadership change.  I've had an independent meeting with the new director and am allowing her the right to build a separate and different relationship.  I like some of the ideas she has about taking this group to the next level.  All the same, you have to recognize how hard it is when you sign a two year commitment of your life to one style of leadership and direction of the program, and then there is a change, and not all the time are there clear communications about the changes.  I'd really say communication is 95% of it.

I also sense our cohort is falling into a place where if things don't go a certain way, they really voice their opposition.  So honestly, right now I'm not sure about the relationship between our cohort in general and the administrations view of us.  I asked one student their suggestion of what we do to turn this around.  They said, "Walk away."  I don't want to walk away- I have way too much invested.  I am also too invested not only to leave the program physically but to leave the program mentally.  I feel like it would be a cop out for me to check out.  I signed on to be the first cohort- I knew there would be bumps.  I said I would be committed to working them out.  Some may feel the bumps we are hitting are ones that could be avoidable.  May that be the case or not, we have got to find a way to come to partner with the university in sights of something greater.  I want to stay committed to the success of the name of this program, and don't feel that it's too late to change.

I was hesitant about writing this honestly about where I am in the program, but as this is a chronicle of my journey, I have to remind myself that sometimes there is the mire we have to work through.  It isn't always easy.  I know its pretty frustrating how the program seems to be going the last 4 months or so, but so much more than our education, we have the opportunity of real world experience.  We get to see what its like when two groups have a similar goal but life happens on the way there.  We get  to learn temperance, mediation, and what it will look like to be cooperative in spite of obstacles.  I'm hoping not only to feel my MBA's worth at the end of this road, but I'm committed to the rich knowledge that will come along with that journey.

They often ask me how I do it... here's what school is lately throwing my way, and how I fit it all in.

Semester IV is off with a bang.  I'm taking two classes- both with focuses on Strategy.  So I'm going into the second week of class and still am not REALLY sure even of the name of the classes I am taking.  Part of that has to do with one of the professors who has the Concordia course title on some of his documents and Operations Strategy on others.  I'm too busy to really sort it out, but it is a little bit of a nuisance.

This week I had over 100 pages of reading.  There were assignments to read both chapter twos in each text book.  There was an article "Are you a Strategist or just a Manager?", there were three case studies- Mystic Monk Coffee, Whole Foods Market, and Sensormatic.  For Whole Foods we had to write an Executive Summary (most of us in the class still don't know what an executive summary really is), and then we had to come together with our group to write a Case Study synopsis over the Sensormatic Case.

This was really tricky, and I knew it was going to be.  This last weekend was my husband's and my 5th wedding anniversary.  To celebrate we took off Friday night to Six Flags and from there headed up to Arkansas to visit the in-laws on their 30 acre ranch.  They are really in the country so I knew my connectivity would be limited, so I tried to organize our team with rotational assignments based on the syllabus I had in an excel doc.  I was hopeful we could at least know who was doing what for the paper due the following week before I left.  Call it the joys of being the first cohort through, but after I left, one of my friends saw that an updated syllabus was reporting an extra section that needed to be covered, and now that had to be assigned as well.

I have a wonderful team to work with, and they ended up getting together yesterday at 2:00PM just as I was headed home back through Dallas.  We were able to clarify what all we still needed in order to turn in a completed project the following night.  To make it through this semester they've determined to meet weekly... I think life's just about to take it to the next level...

I made it home after 8 hours of driving, and still had to read two of the case studies, write my summary with bullet points, and write an Executive Summary over the 40 page Whole Foods case study.  I was able to crank out about 4 pages for the exec. summary and 3 pages for the article summary, just in time to shower at 11:45PM and get in bed by midnight.

I've looked at the syllabus, and its going to be pretty intensive up front with group papers written weekly.  On top of that are a few additional individual case studies for the other class, and don't forget the plethora of other projects waiting in the wings!  Add into that a girls trip to Dallas, this weekend, and in a couple more weeks a trip to New Mexico for the Hot Air Balloon Festival. 

I already get told that I do too much... often by people who don't see more than my Facebook posts.  With this semester staring me down, I know I'll have to use my time very wisely. 

So because I get asked quite a bit, how do I do all that I do, I have decided to share my weekly schedule.  I may not describe exactly how, but it does the when part:

Monday- 7:30-5:30 work, every other Monday- Homegroup with church
Tuesday 7:30-4:30 work, 6:00-10:00 Class
Wednesday 7:30-5:30 work, Evenings meet with cohort group
Thursday7:30-5:30 work, Game night with friends
Friday 8:00-1200 work (generally there are additional work activities that tie me up til 3 or so) (Make time for Nap) (start cleaning house)
Saturday- exhausted and unmotivated (might take a trip somewhere) Must force myself to do some reading/homework
Sunday- Morning -church, Afternoon- make time for nap/ homework, Evening- Matt plays softball and I like to go and support him in something he likes to do... and I always aim to get in bed by 10, but its always 11:30PM... and tired as I am- its then time to start the rat race all over again.

What I consider important is relationships and life.  School is not life.  I make time for a game night, because I need friends.  Ever so often - you have to get out of town just to keep things from getting stale.  I like making time for Bible study with other believers, because nothing screams a sinful life other than a half full spiritual tank with energy on empty and the carnal nature takes root.  My husband is my first priority, and even though I have a hard time paying attention to the softball games, I know it means something to be investing my time into the things he likes, him and this life we continue to build together. 

Its not easy to just fit school in there, but you can make time.  Just like the early investment, the education will pay off, and all the more, the earlier you can get it done.  I don't have kids- and that's how I know this is largely possible for me.  I also know others in my class swinging in their kid's baseball tournaments, tennis matches, family memories and vacations.  It can be done.  Plus- the saying is largely true... you can live through anything for a year... or two!