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I will never forget the conversation in the car on the way back from a meeting in Montgomery with my then boss. I had been accepted into the graduate school program of my choice and was working full-time in economic development. The graduate program was full-time and a two-hour drive away, but I didn’t want to give up the job.
I waited until about half-way into in to the two and a half hour car ride home, to say. “I want to go back to graduate school.”
“Okay,” my boss said.
“I got accepted.”
“Where?” He said.
“Middle Tennessee State” I said.
“Okay.” he said. “Isn’t that two hours away? Is it an online program?”
“Yes. No.” I said.
“So are you quitting?” He said.
“No, I don’t want to quit. I want to work part-time and go to graduate school.”
“Oh…” He said. “Why do you want to do this?”
“Long term, I’d like to own my own business.” I said.
“Oh….” he said.
I explained to him, that although I loved the work I was doing in economic and workforce development, I didn’t see an opportunity to advance, and even if he left, and even if I had a chance to be considered for his job, I didn’t even know if I would be interested in it. What he did most of the time in his role I wasn’t passionate about doing.
I wanted a way to combine my passions- helping other people find their passion in work coupled with maximizing productivity in the workplace- in a realistic way. And I needed his help.
Our conversation turned into more than one to two word exchanges. It led to me going back to graduate school, working part-time, and starting my own business. This conversation took place almost 5 years ago, and I’m still doing consulting work for him.
I may not have ever taken the risk to pursue my passion had it not been for this boss that was willing to think outside the box with me. He allowed me the opportunity to safely jump off into the unknown by taking an full-time employee-employer relationship, convert it into a part-time one, and then change it yet again to an employer-contractor relationship. Throughout each arrangement, the same work gets done and results (or at least I hope he thinks so) get achieved. I get to spend the majority of my time pursuing my passions through the work with other clients while continuing to pursue passionate areas in the work I do for him.
I wouldn’t have jumped if he hadn’t been willing to jump with me.
Just like I didn’t want to give up my job, I didn’t want to give up my marriage either! My husband was unbelievably supportive (despite his risk aversion) of us in taking the leap. My parents who always taught me I could do anything I wanted if I just put my mind to it encouraged me, and my mentor gave sound and splendid advice about jumping. The board of the organization I worked for has been supportive through these transitions, my brother has been a key critic and bottom-line minded brain behind my plans and my in-laws and parents are always available to keep our child during demanding work times. My friends and colleagues talk ideas with me and motivate my thinking, not to mention help me have a good time while doing it!
What does this have to do with being the COO of Facebook?
Lean In, by Sheryl Sandberg who is the COO of Facebook, is about “Women, Work, and the will to Lead.” Like most books it begins with a dedication. Sandberg writes,
“TO MY PARENTS
For raising me to believe that anything is possible.
AND TO MY HUSBAND
For making everything possible.”
I think she sets the tone of the book as well as who she is with her dedication. I learned more from it than the other pages that followed.
The Bottom-Line
We are who we are and we have the chances that we have, not entirely because of ourselves, but because of others who have supported us along the way. Want to be the next COO of Facebook, or even just a wife and a mom with dream to pursue her passions in and through work? Look around, build your team of cheerleaders, and thank them. They will be the ones that will help you pursue your passions and maintain them.
Who has helped you take the leap into your passion?
I attended a seminar last week discussing ways to improve productivity and communication in the workplace. One thing that stood out to me in the presentation was the emphasis the presenter placed on eliminating stressors so that people could be innovative and creative. He placed a value on innovation and creativity as the only differentiating factors in creating a sustainable advantage.
What if standard or traditional work arrangements are creating workplace stressors and reducing innovation and creativity?
This leads me to consider a tie to a book I mentioned last week, The Elephant and the Flea and its emphasis on employing free agents. Charles Handy writes,
“Meantime, more and more people are going to become aware that their knowledge which drives innovation and creativity has marketable value. They will be reluctant to sell it for a time-based contract, a wage or a salary. They will want to charge a fee or a royalty, a percentage of the profits. The difference is that a salary is paid for time spent, whereas a fee is money paid for work produced, irrespective of the time spent on it.” (italics mine.)
The beauty of this model is that you not only get results, but you get people who are less stressed because they are in control of their own situation, which allows them to be creative and innovative and produce better results. It also may cost you less. Many who charge a fee for work produced don’t come with the added cost of a benefit package.
Or consider the FutureWork Institute described in the book Now You See It. Describing the founder of the institutes philosophy, the author Cathy Davidson writes,
“The workplace of the future had to start taking into account the life desires, not just the work ambitions, of workers. She was convinced that the best, most creative workers in the future might not be workaholics with the eighty-hour workweeks, but people who had figured out what way they love to work and how they work best.”
My two year old snoring is eliminating my stress and fostering my creativity…
As I sit hear writing this post on a Saturday at home, my two year old is asleep in my lap. Although it took a little maneuvering to get him situated so that I can type, I can’t help but think that creativity does come when we are in control of when and how work gets done. But maybe that’s the point… blurring the lines of work and life so much that you don’t realize to consider it work, which fosters creativity and innovation. What could eliminate stress and make writing more enjoyable than two year old contently asleep in your lap?
What way do you love to work and how do you work best?
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I spent the whole month of January last year blogging about New Year’s Resolution-ish posts tied mostly to goal setting. You can check them all out here:
Strategic Resolutions
Your Stop Doing List (The article by Jim Collins linked in this post is one of my absolute favs)
Goal Setting- A Series
Goal Setting- Diminishing Returns
Goal Setting- Feedback
Although I’m not going to spend the whole month of January this year talking about making yourself over with goal setting, (because by the time we get to the end of January we will probably have ditched most of our New Year’s Resolutions anyway according to the research) I am going to to attempt to keep myself from ditching mine by going public with my goals for 2013.
In addition to the research driven topics I talked about in 2012 to improve your goal commitment, publicly declaring your goals has proven to help goal commitment and achievement.
Here are mine:
1. Maximize productivity in the morning. I am, by far, the most productive in the morning if I will just take what seems to be the small but actual a huge step of getting my two feet to hit the floor. This year, I’m committing myself to get up at 5 AM at least three times a week for a workout, a devotion, no rushed feeling while getting my little one ready, and time in the office early to get started. I want to spend the hour I get to the office early these three times or more a week writing and reading about career and leadership topics. Long term, I want to write a book and have it published on career development.
2. Grow company revenue by 30% or more in 2013. I spent quite a bit of time last week looking over the business development activities I engaged in and analyzing what results those activities created. With this, I have come to the conclusion that this a challenging yet reachable goal. I have set mini goals/tasks in each area of my business to help reach this target. For example, make four initial contacts with a new business prospect each month. In order to keep up with these targets and tasks, I have created a simple spreadsheet (that I actually use with some of my coaching clients).
Here’s an example of what it looks like:
