A Pipeline of Dreams

I passed a van with a Career Builder sign on it while walking home from my chiropractor a little while ago.  The sign said something like “Dreams have low ROI.”  I guess that’s true if you have a career path that you walk on alone.

My sales and marketing guys taught me to think in terms of a pipeline.  It’s moving things through the pipeline that creates value, they say.  I realized that was what the Career Builder sign was missing.  It’s really dreams that are flying loose, that aren’t part of a pipeline, that have low ROI.

I have a pipeline of dreams.  One just move a little closer to reality.  it took Jessica, the Vision Mover (and programmer extraordinaire) to understand it enough to say, of course we can do that.  And Heather, the Conductor (and amazing database whiz) to say, I’ve got just the program for that.  And Dr. Jack, the Curator (and resident Wizard) to unlock the doors to the vault of wisdom I want our users to have access to.  Now I know it is truly a dream moving down the pipeline.

The Importance of Having a Curator on the Team

Happy Labor Day to all who are off today.  As an entrepreneur (who at one time in my life was not only a union member, but the grievance chairman for my location!) I’m celebrating my ability to work today.  And mostly, I’m celebrating that at least one of my team is right there with me going back and forth over the web working on presentations with me.

A couple of hours ago I was working on a presentation for a panel on talent management.  I found an old handout I’d used before and sent it to Jackfor his opinion.  He IMed back, “I have something better” and this is what he sent:

Develop and Keep Your Best Employees. Follow The Ten Commandments for Running an Organization:

1. Assume that your staff has the best interests of the organization in their intentions.
2. Be forgiving, even when they make mistakes.
3. Be merciful when they make big mistakes.
4. Be compassionate: don’t place them in tempting circumstances.
5. Be gracious, even to those who don’t return it.
6. Be slow to anger when people disobey.
7. Be abundantly kind and assume people mean well.
8. Never renege on your word.
9. Remember the times when people do something right.
10. Always allow people to repent their error, carelessness or apathy and forgive them.

At the end of the list was my name.  I don’t remember writing it though I have no doubt that I did.

This is the advantage of having a Curator on any corporate team.  Curators are amazing.  They know what’s worth saving and what’s worth tossing out and when they save something they can actually find it.  They’re the corporate keepers of the wisdom and I fear they are an endangered species, allowed to leave organizations without passing on the keys to the kingdom.

The Curator

Thank you, Jack valued friend and team member.  You make this entrepreneurial life so much easier.

Advice to a Young Entrepreneur

I love getting emails like this one from Lissette, a freshman at the Art Institute of Charlotte majoring in Fashion Marketing and Management, especially when I’m feeling like I have something to pass on.

She said:

My reason for writing to you is because im doing a project about my career, which is creating my own shoe line and opening my own store as well. My professor has asked me to interview someone that is related to what i want to do, which is to become a CEO just like yourself. I know you are a busy person but i would appreciate it if you may answer some of the questions that are fundamental to my project and most importantly to my dream career.

These were her questions and my answers.

1) For what company(s) do you have the title of CEO?

Wow – who has the time to be CEO of more than one? Ok, so I sent her my updated bio, which I realized I never updated here. <updates bio>

2) What steps did you have to take to become a CEO? Can you please include any education that may have helped you in becoming a CEO? If you didn’t receive any college education, would you say that it is necessary?

Nothing prepares you to be an entrepreneur like just doing it. I have a lot of education which was necessary for developing our products but for shoe design you need to be artistic and know what women will buy. Hang out with entrepreneurs whenever you can and you’ll pick up a lot of good stuff.

3) What skills do you think one should have to become a successful CEO?

You need to be a Founder. (There are some things on my blog about that.) A huge amount of energy. (I work very long hours most days.) PR is expensive so learn to write well so you can get free PR while you are developing your business.

4) What is your advice in how to start gaining experience?

Do anything you can – make things and sell them. Get other people involved with you.

5) Any additional advice you could give me that could help me in reaching my goals?

Fashion is high risk and you’ll need investors. Figure out how to find the people who invest in this stuff. Read trade journals, Womens Wear Daily (I am assuming they still print it – it was the big paper a long time ago), Wall Street Journal. Save money now! You’ll need it to get started.

—

So now I am thinking, have I taken my own advice? And if I knew then what I know now, would I have done it?

Actually, all the advice I ever got on careers was to get a job that didn’t interfere with being a mother. (Yes, that was a very long time ago.) I was never very good at listening to people who said I couldn’t do something and that’s probably helped more than anything. Without persistence, being an entrepreneur is impossible.

And yes, I would have done it. When the mission is that powerful, there’s no saying no.

I hope Lissette just says yes.

Team Time

“In effective teams, people are able to share time appropriately. They cooperate over it and in the act of sharing it they actually cause it to expand.” - Dr. Janice Presser

Apparently I said that a while back because I found it quoted (with appropriate attribution no less!) last night. I checked with the person who quoted me so I could remember what I meant when I wrote it and fortunately I haven’t changed my mind about that. Sales meeting yesterday was a great example: no two people with the same Role. At the end, the newest person was marveling over how much had been accomplished. And, interestingly enough, because so much was going on, there were times when not everyone was in the conference room.

No matter how well I *know* this stuff, it is always a miracle to me. It’s sort of like being pregnant and at the moment of birth everyone goes ooo and ahhh like they couldn’t figure out what was going to happen. This is simple. You are pregnant, you get a baby (or occasionally more than one.) You are a functional team, you create more resources for everyone, part of which is the magic of expanded, sacred, shared time.