Why do you stay?

I celebrated my work anniversary yesterday at Community Partners of Dallas.

12 Years.

Of course, I had forgotten about it.  Luckily for me, my assistant Danni is in charge of recognizing all staff members' work anniversaries, so I had a card and a sign and everyone at the office saying nice things and/or emailing me.

I need to explain that prior to coming to CPD, I had never been in the same place longer than 2 or 3 years.  While I loved many of my past jobs and bosses (still do -- some of them are my best friends), there was always something missing. 

And I hate to admit it, but the thing that was missing was me. 

My old jobs were jobs -- by that I mean that I showed up (most of the time) and did what was required.  Some days were inspiring, but mostly it was rote.  Come in, make coffee, do what was required, and watch the clock until time to go home. 

You may be thinking -- well, that is probably because in those other jobs Paige wasn't the boss, so yes of course it was rote because someone else was telling her what to do.  And yes, there is some truth to that, but CPD was not my first job as CEO for a non-profit.  And in one of the jobs I even started my own company and was my own boss, so nobody was telling me what to do.

I already told you -- I was missing.

When I came to interview for this job I just knew it was for me.  I knew I could do what was asked of me by the board.  I knew how to tell the story of our kids.  I knew how to evaluate programs and decide how to make them better.  I just knew I was in it.

I wasn't missing anymore.  When I'm not at work, I'm thinking about it.  And I'm grateful to have found a whole lot of great people to join me here -- both staff members and volunteers.

Twelve years is a long-ass time, but even now I'm still in it.

Gov Christie Just Missed Our Board Retreat

CPD was open late last night.

We had our every-other-year board member retreat and really had a great turnout.  20 of our 28 members were with us, along with our trainer Helen Holman, and a few of our staff members.  Wendy Krispin did the catering (delish) and we made the board members act like they were a group of volunteers coming in to see the agency for the first time.

We gave them the whole ball of wax – made them stand in the lobby until everyone arrived, fill out and sign the volunteer paperwork, tour and listen to what we call the “spiel” from Vanessa, watch the short video – then put them to work counting a school supply and a sock donation.  Then we ate dinner and the training began.

I think they really enjoyed it and I think it was fun for them to see our staff members doing their “normal” jobs.  And it was certainly fun for me to hear the board members talk about ideas to help us raise more money. 

Can I hear a Woo Hoo from Joanna Clarke, please?

A grand time had by all.

So I got home late last night and turned on the TV – right in the beginning of Chris Christie’s speech at the Republican National Convention.

Governor Christie talked about his late mother and how one of her questions was “Do you want to be loved or do you want to be respected?”  Here’s the transcript from the speech:

And the greatest lesson that mom ever taught me though was this one. She told me there would be times in your life when you have to choose between being loved and being respected.  Now she said to always pick being respected. She told me that love without respect was always fleeting, but that respect could grow into real and lasting love. Now, of course, she was talking about women.

But I have learned over time that it applies just as much to leadership.

I agree. 

When people agree to serve on a non-profit board or to work for a non-profit, people are tempted to try to be “loved” – do and say anything to bring in the money or the volunteers, change the programs to “fit” what donors want, see another charity doing something that’s working and decide that you have to do that too (so you duplicate a program service), etc.

Be respected and the love will come.  It has for CPD.

It Shows.

My brother and I went down to the Neiman Marcus downtown on December 26.  We went because our mother had given me a bottle of perfume and my brother a bottle of cologne and we wanted to smell them before opening the package in case we wanted to trade them in for a smell that we preferred.

The store wasn’t too crowded (the reason we chose to go downtown instead of to NorthPark) and it was fun to see the store and look around a little.  The thing that stood out to me was the gal who was working at the men’s cologne counter.  She was darling and sweet and even though she knew that we weren’t going to buy anything, she went out of her way to make sure that we had a great experience – even providing my brother with some great samples of other colognes that she made up herself while we waited and chatted.  She had just gotten a new puppy and so we talked about that, about my brother’s dog (the best dog in the world, bar none), etc.  She had worked both Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas, so she had not been able to see her out-of-town family for the holiday.

Many other people in her situation would not have been so nice – see what happens the next time you go to the Post Office – but is the difference because of the NM training, or is it the individual?

Now I know that Neiman Marcus has great customer service and training for their employees (I am a product of their training – it was my first job after college.), and NM is known the world over for it.  The Container Store is another example of great training, combined with an employee-first culture.  But the more I think about it, I think the individual employee is what makes the difference.

You can give someone the best training in the world, but if they are an unhappy person, it will show.  If they are a person who feels put-upon, woe-is-me, what’s-in-it-for-me, and so on, they are never going to be the right employee.

So, let’s surround ourselves with happy people in 2012.  It shows.