Great People: Kristine Woolsey, Woolsey Studio

Kristine Woolsey, by trade, is an architect and educator in Phoenix. However, if you have visited one of the homes she has designed or even spent time with her, you, like me, would probably think of her as an artist.

Kristine invited me on a tour of her homes once and I was—well, the only word is “moved” but it seems sadly lacking—when I walked into the spaces she had designed. I was not surprised, because I knew she was a gifted architect, but I did not expect the strength of positive emotion in the spaces she created.

Her spaces are like great art. When I walk into a gallery of exceptional work, the emotion can leap out and envelope me. It can be sadness, joy, cynicism, or irreverence, but the energy is palpable. When I walked into each of the Woolsey homes, confidence and a quiet joy leapt out at me. Again, those are not perfect words to express the exact feelings but if you can imagine a self-assured and contented home, then you are getting close. Each home was different in personality, but in each home there was an ease of fitting in the space, a flow, and a sense of natural health.

Afterwards, I remember telling Kristine that no matter what else she does in her life, she must always design and create spaces (as if she didn’t know that). Her gift is such an incredible one that the world would be less if she stopped working.

Kristine has been gracious enough to share her work with me, allow me to work with her team, welcome me into her home, and refer me to her colleagues. She is one of the entrepreneurs I have had the good fortune to work with that has helped me fully understand and appreciate the passion and the sacrifice of the business owner. Kristine’s gift of design stays with me and I remember it as I coach. Through her I see the great responsibility of our work: it is how we give back to the world. Kristine is living proof.

Thank you, Kristine.

Great People: Jim Phelps, Discover Financial Services

Call centers can be tough places to work. It can be a churn environment, where employees are easily replaced if they do not hit their benchmarks. Imagine for a moment what it is like to be a leader there…

Now imagine a leader who faces the challenges of a call center environment with a commitment to the employees, finding every opportunity to expose them to professional development—speakers, books, seminars, forums, and, yes, coaching. It is a risky endeavor to invest in the softer side of personnel management in a business so heavily dependent on numerical results. It requires courage and strength to balance both the inflexible financial goals and the endlessly malleable needs of people. Jim Phelps is this leader at Discover Financial Services, here in Phoenix.

Discover, who happens to have a number of people who have worked there for 20+ years (in this day and age!!!), provides its employees with educational opportunities both internally and externally. Jim refuses to let his employees get complacent about the opportunities available. He is a champion for continuing professional development and makes sure there are plenty of options available to Phoenix employees.

Jim also provides a model for community involvement, especially with Habitat for Humanity and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He devotes his time, his energy, and his handyman abilities whenever he gets the opportunity. With this commitment to service, Jim promotes a vision of the workplace as a means for personal and societal transformation.

I owe Jim a HUGE thank you for the wonderful coaching opportunities he has sent my way. The people from Jim’s team that I have worked with have been an inspiring group (see Coaching Clients blog). Jim’s commitment and courage to invest in those people inspire me.

Thank you, Jim.

Great People: Coaching Clients

There is really only one problem with being a coach, and that is my inability to tell the stories of the wonderful people I work with. Coach confidentiality demands that I keep the amazing stories to myself, so a grateful tribute to the folks who really help me make my personal contribution to the world is not as exciting as it should be.

I would like to share with you their stories of survival, their dreams of making the world a better place, their side-splitting anecdotes, their headaches, and most of all, their successes. They turned to me to get over a bump or improve their game or work out a relationship. They tell me “Mission Accomplished” and I can see it in their eyes and sense it in the way they walk. However, I wonder if they know how they have changed me as well.

Every coaching “job” is a relationship. Relationships are, by definition, a connection that runs both ways. Each coaching client changes me a little bit, too. I grow wiser, I learn new lingo, I explore organizational dynamics through a fresh angle, I hear about new restaurants, technologies, or other trends. After 10 years I can see that my new clients are benefitting greatly from my former clients’ influence on me.

Coaching is the gift I have been given to share, but it would be meaningless without someone to receive it. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to organizations and individual’s lives through coaching.

Thank you coaching clients.  

Great People: Nora Hannah, Experience Matters

Nora Hannah is a story teller. She is the Owner/CEO of Landiscor Aerial Information and Chief Consortium Officer at Experience Matters. Through the years, she has shared some extraordinary, some touching, and some compelling stories with me. Nora was one of the first people that Jim Myers put me in contact with 10 years ago. She mentored me early on and we worked together on various projects through the years. The most important story Nora told me, she told me by her actions: service is everyone's responsibility.

Nora is a leader in business, a mother, and a pillar of the community. She is a past Athena award winner, which pretty much equates her with Wonder Woman in my book. In fact, I was a guest at Nora's table for my first Athena Awards luncheon. Each nominee introduced was more amazing than the last: full-time, high-level jobs, healthy families, AND extraordinary service records. How did these women find time to brush their teeth? One of the last women was introduced with an incredible list of accomplishments. The final comment about her was that in her spare time, she liked to run marathons. Nora keeps good company.

Now that Nora's children are in college, she has expanded her already-impressive service resume to help run Experience Matters in Phoenix. (Check it out at experiencematteraz.org) I appreciate that Nora prioritizes service as just another facet of life--not reserved for Christmas, when your kids reach a certain age, church, or when you can afford to create a foundation--but every day in every aspect of our being. We all have something more to give and receive in connection with our greater community.

One of Nora's comments to me early on was that no matter how much you offer people, the first thing to remember is that they cannot be hungry. (Makes sense--I am not a reasonable person when my belly rumbles.) The first act of service my company took was to write a check to St. Mary's Food Bank. Any day when I feel lack, I try to write a check to St. Mary's to remember my blessings and share with others. My service has grown into other areas now and I have to credit Nora for that. Nora takes a long view of life and business. She sees the whole picture of how an individual fits with a company and how that company fits with a community. That vision is inspiring to me and a gift to the Valley.

Thank you Nora.

Great People? Thank You Anyway

My first client (who I will leave un-named for obvious reasons) turned out to be not-so-great. The work was not what I expected after we set the plan in place. They never paid what they agreed to. I spent months spinning my wheels on their project, but we got nowhere. Yet, I have much for which to be grateful to them.

First of all, I knew these folks at my old job, and when I told them I was leaving, they said, "Are you doing something on your own? If you do, we want to talk to you." I did not know at that time what I was going to do, but hearing those words from a business associate was a terrific vote of confidence in my half-baked plans.

Secondly, the slow unraveling of the relationship was a wake-up call about clear communication up front. We had a lovely contract in place to "keep the lawyers out," as the client said, but there was never any statement of work or outcomes or measures that I find so critical to my clients today. I knew we needed that kind of document but thought the relationship would make all of that "stuff" work out. Now, I protect the relationship with my clients by making sure of that "stuff" up front and in writing.

Finally, if something about the relationship with a prospective client feels off, I listen to my intuition. I set my intention, after my first client, to only work with wonderful people. I like to work with people who seek better communication because they want to positively impact the world for themselves and others. The people I work with have integrity and care about doing the right thing. I have been fortunate enough to have found dozens of such clients in my ten years.

In some blogs to come, I will mention some of these wonderful clients by name not only to thank them for their business, but also for being such great people. It is ironic that I owe a debt of gratitude for all of these great clients to the one who wasn't so great. So thank you un-named client, you set me on the right path.

Great People: Max Hammond, Artist Extraordinaire

I have written about Max Hammond before (check out last fall's "Backflip off the Front"), but there is always more to say about my entrepreneurial colleague, personal abstract artist, and friend.

Gesture, 2011

Being a full-time artist is no picnic, the starving artist metaphor is popular for a reason. Max has been creating fine art for more than two decades and his majestic, abstract paintings bear out his technical ability and artistic vision. Max, as an entrepreneur, has been my sounding board and a member of my advisory team since the beginning. Where I am a pragmatist, Max is a dreamer.  Our business vices and virtues compliment each other.

Max once painted a mural that took up half of a large public space--we're talking 360 degrees here in about 1000 square feet. Think of the vision it takes to imagine a plain space, with nooks and crannies and pillars included, into art that moves the audience. Now imagine you had to split the space with an artist whose style was polar opposite of your own. How would you make that work? What would you do? What colors would use? What feeling would you create? Max's work was fanciful, colorful, inspiring and fun. He created transitions to the the other artwork that were reminiscent of yin and yang. Not a bad mix for an environment that was supposed to foster creativity and cooperation.

I believe every business owner should have a business relationship with an artist of some kind: musician, sculptor, painter, or rock star to stretch our thinking. My breakfasts with Max always leave me thinking about something new or something old in a different way. The best part about it is that Max doesn't try to stretch my thinking or make me a different person, he is just himself. That's what friends do, I suppose.

Thanks Max.

Great People: Amy

On the first day of first grade, a new girl got on the bus. She was brown-eyed and brown-haired just like me and dressed in a red and white dress. I knew right then that she was my friend. I was right--for more than 35 years now.

I keep reading about twins research that indicates that parenting has little effect on adult personality or outcomes for their children. The research says that about 50% of what makes up your personality, you were born with. The other roughly 50% of influence is chance and your childhood peers. I owe my childhood peers alot.

My childhood peer group changed a little over time like most do, but Amy was there from first grade on. We rode the school bus together and had spats like little kids do. Then we would race to the playground and play victim so other friends would agree with us. I learned to be fast. We played "king of the mountain" after school behind the old community building at 4-H meetings and we camped by the creek on the farm. Older, we talked about boys, teachers, friends, and everything else. Sometimes, we spent more time with other people, but Amy was a mooring for me.

Amy is as good of a person as you can imagine: helpful, giving, and kind. She is amazingly strong, yet she has a wicked sense of humor and is not afraid to clown around with little kids, old folks, and peers alike. She found her calling as a nurse and her patients are better off for it.

As we got older I moved away. Careers, babies, husbands, life happened. I try to see Amy each summer I go home. This summer her oldest daughter married and I was unprepared for the emotion of the wedding. Amy was a champ: giggling and joyful, yet calm and collected.

I am grateful for the 50% of influence Amy and my childhood peers had on my upbringing. Were it not for that foundation, entrepreneurship would not have been nearly so manageable or nearly so funny.

Thanks Amy.