I recently organized a reception to introduce prospective members to the DC-Chapter of the Women Presidents’ Organization. In addition to discussing the awesome organization and the power of peer advising, I wanted to provide some business value at the session. To that end, I invited Gloria Bohan, Founder and CEO of Omega World Travel, to an informal discussion about how innovation helped her grow the business she founded over 34 years ago into its current 800+ employees and over $1B in sales.
Gloria never really set off to start her own business. She became enamored with cruising on her honeymoon. They had been upgraded to a suite on the QE2 and had such a delightful time, Gloria caught the cruising bug. The next cruise she took, however, didn’t include an upgrade to a suite, but she couldn’t help but notice all the upgraded travel agents. She wanted what they had – access to travel opportunities. And that is how the idea for Omega World Travel was born. As she framed it, “Inspiration carries us where we didn’t even know we wanted to go”.
Over the 34+ years that Gloria operated and grew her company, innovation in all forms was at the core of the company’s success. Gloria credits their “gearshift” mentality – flexibility with ability to change directions – as crucial to survival and sustainable growth. They had to continually understand and tap into their clients’ evolving needs. She also saw huge benefits in making everyone in the company think entrepreneurial – a philosophy that we both share.
In fact, attitude is so important at Omega World Travel that Gloria wore a pin given to all employees that has the word “Attitude” on it as a reminder. She shared her belief that it is up to you to “decide how you’re going to meet challenges.” Indeed, the right attitude coupled with action can make all the difference!
We were privileged to participate in the launch of the newest ACTiVATE program at Texas State. My former co-instructor here in Maryland, Terry Chase Hazell, is leading up the awesome instructional team there and has done a fantastic job recruiting a sharp group of incredible women to join our ACTiVATE community.
ACTiVATE at Texas State
In the all-day session we led, we focused on helping them get to know each other and build community while exploring their personal goals for starting their own business. In addition to having a lot of fun, we saw some real potential. I have no doubt there will be some great new technology-based businesses coming out of that program.
At the end of the day (which FLEW by!), I asked the ladies how the day would have been different if it had been mixed gender. While I’ve seen first-hand the benefits of having ACTiVATE be a women’s-only program, I was honestly pleasantly surprised by some of their answers.
If the class had included both men and women, all agreed that the day would have had a different dynamic. One woman observed that when men are in the room, some women tend to let them take over, especially when they’re unsure about something. Having men in the room can make them more self-conscious, especially when learning new skills or trying something new – like starting a tech business.
With the single-gender focus, the women noted the free flow of ideas as well as the team spirit that began to develop among these accomplished, driven women. One woman mentioned that they “get” each other – the decisions they’ve made and challenges they’ve experienced throughout their lives and careers. Certainly, as we all agreed, the volume level in the room throughout the day remained at a higher level than it would have in mixed company.
The day left us all energized and pleased to welcome our Texas friends into the ACTiVATE community of women entrepreneurs. The whole trip left me personally jazzed about the program and prospects of helping it continue to expand.
I get frustrated every time I hear stories of women who are unwilling to help other women. In fact, I’ve heard hushed confessions from successful women who have realized that they are actually harder on other women than on men in the same role, such as competitors or potential partners – even customers. Why is that? I think I’ve figured it out.
Success Scarcity.
Although it isn’t limited to women, success scarcity is an inherent and subconscious belief that someone else’s achievement will somehow limit our ability to be successful.
It doesn’t.
I see this, unfortunately, among many women’s groups. If you stop and look, collaboration among women’s groups is unfortunately uncommon. Tsk, tsk. There’s no shortage of success opportunities, ladies!
To the contrary, I’m a true believer in the old adage that success begets success and that someone else’s success can rub off on you. Being around and learning from successful people actually does increase your success while does nothing to diminish their accomplishment. After all, a lighted candle loses nothing by lighting another.
The other excuse I have heard is I worked hard without any help so you should to.
Ok – I admit – after paying my way through college by working nonstop since I was 15 (the first time I took more than 1 week off work was when I gave birth!), I carried this concept with me for a while.
I could do it, why can’t <insert name>.
A good friend helped me see that I really did get more help than I thought, by way of encouragement from friends and family. What I retained in my mind as “without any help” was really just without any monetary help, but plenty of love and emotional support. My thinking now is that is almost more important!
So the next time someone asks you for help, or you see someone struggling whom you can assist with your experience and advice, reach out to them. If your company has a women’s support or leadership support group, get involved. Whether you need it or not, or know it or not, helping others to be successful almost always ensures your own success in ways you can’t even imagine. Iif you’re not paying attention, you might not even see it but I guarantee you, it’s there.
The energy level went up in the room here at the World Business Forum when Kevin Roberts, CEO of one of the worlds leading creative agencies, Saatchi & Saatchi, stepped onto the stage. From the videos he showed (see below), it is clear they really have down the formula for eliciting memorable emotion in advertising campaigns.
One of his first points was the progression of the whole marketing landscape. We have moved from an attention economy, where an ad’s role was just to get your attention, to the attraction economy where we are now. From here, he posited our future as the participation economy. More and more, people want to be active in the market, not just be fed what they should think and do. Pull, not push.
Kevin talked about the use of sites like YouTube as key to our marketing future. Judging from what he described as the response to the video shown below, I believe him! Using social media technologies, mass marketing is back but this time we don’t have to pay for it. Consumers want to be engaged. The goal is to give the consumer an idea and let them run with it. It is not about a market, it’s about a movement. Powerful.
The justification for this comes only when you measure marketing in a new way, using a new definition for ROI – return on involvement. His point is that when you approach a consumer with a rational message, it leads them to conclusions but when you hit them with an emotional message, they are led to action.
He also talked about how ‘brands’ as we know them are on the way out. Although they are built on respect, his term – lovemarks – are built on respect and love. A lovemark extends beyond traditional brand benefit – he asserts that it yields loyalty beyond reason. That level of loyalty should translate to real bottom line benefits if you’re delivering on your promise.
So do your customers view you as a brand or a lovemark? How do you know?
I knew from the moment Patrick Lencioni walked on stage and warned the audience about his ADD tendencies (look! A bird!) I was going to like him. My first instinct was dead-on and as he went on to compare parenting to business (which validated MY BOOK), I began to like him more and more .
Although I’ve read his book, The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, many times, and even used it with my management team many years ago, he still managed to share the material in a fresh and engaging manner.
Since I don’t want to reiterate the whole book here (it’s a good one so go buy it and read it!), I wanted to share the couple of nuggets that I took away that I don’t remember reading in the book:
Trust on a team is the crucial foundation of a good team and one way that it shows itself is through vulnerability. A group that can be vulnerable with each other has trust.
Managers and CEOs are often afraid to over-communicate. He compared it to the husband whose wife asks “Honey, do you love me?” and to which he replies “I told you when we got married that I loved you. I promise to let you know if it changes.” He asserted that employees actually need to hear something 7 times before it really sinks in.
Conflict based on trust is the pursuit of the best answer. Conflict without trust is politics. (LOVE THIS!)
When you avoid addressing a difficult performance issue because you don’t like conflict or you’re afraid you’ll hurt someone’s feelings, you’re really being selfish.
Lack on conflict leads to no commitment. If folks don’t weigh in on a decision, they don’t buy in, either. The leader’s job is actually to pull out conflict in order to encourage buy in.
His casual manner, funny stories, and practical advice made for a worthwhile session. He was, in my opinion, one of the top sessions of the day.
Bill George, former CEO of Medtronics and now Harvard professor, was a great choice to open the World Business Forum 2009. Having attended a reception he threw for the Blogger’s last night (where he gave us a signed copy of this book, 7 Lessons for Leading in a Crisis), I was able to catch a glimpse into his philosophies and ideas. I have to admit, I liked what I heard.
He came right out with an unfortunately very male analogy, saying that being a leader us like being a great athlete. Sometimes your throw touchdowns and other times its interceptions. The parallel was drawn to both the leader and that athlete doing the best they can under the circumstances they had. Obviously he’s not a Dallas Cowboys fan, but I digress. The point he was making is that failure comes with the territory and it doesn’t necessarily mean the end of a career.
He then got talking about our current economic crisis. He felt strongly that it isn’t over yet but, and I love this analogy, he said “A smooth sea never created a great mariner.” He asserted that a crisis really creates opportunities for leaders to really shine. I agree – it is all in how you look at it and the attitude you choose.
He reiterated over and over that one of our biggest challenges was in creating jobs, asserting that small businesses were indeed our best option for doing so. I took it as a call for entrepreneurship and couldn’t agree more. He actually said that instead of spending money to bail out GM, we should be taking that money and investing in start-up companies. I, of course, know several entrepreneurs who would wholeheartedly support that agenda.
He then spent some time giving us a preview of his 7 lessons for leading in a crisis, which are:
- Face reality, starting with yourself
- Don’t be Atlas – get the world off your shoulders (another very male analogy)
- Dig deep for the root cause
- Get ready for the long haul
- Never waste a good crisis
- You’re in the spotlight – follow “true north”
- Go on the offense (versus defense) – focus on winning now
One of the last comments he made (more than once) was that markets never come back the same after crisis. To me, I think this provides the perfect opportunity for innovation.
Lastly, he got on a soap box I often frequent: you don’t have to be the one to change the world on your own, but you do have to do your part. Kind of like my snowflake story. We both agree – you should never doubt your role in changing the world because you do have a role, no matter how big or small.
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