Posted on May 13, 2012 by Cynthia Pladziewicz

Changing the Boardroom One Awesome Woman at a Time

melisa%20denis-1.pngThis morning I received another email from Melisa Denis, Senior Partner at KPMG and President of The Board Connection. It struck me that I've been getting these emails for two years now, week in and week out without fail. They start with a heading such as "New Board Opportunity-Global Glassware Company" and are followed by Melisa's request to "contact me if you have the required credentials." Many of the opportunities come through her fellow visionaries at the fifteen regional groups (such as The Board Connection) who comprise a network called InterOrganization Network (ION).

This morning I responded to Melisa's email and thanked her. I just can't believe how consistently committed she is. Her reply: "Changing the boardroom one awesome woman at a time." 

Here's the other part that inspires me. Melisa's passion is not about her personal ambitions. As a Partner at KPMG, Melisa can't serve as an outside director on a public corporate board. What I've noticed though is that in her life and in her work she is fueled by a strong system of beliefs and values. One of her core beliefs is that diversity matters to all of us.  She says: 

On any board of directors, if you can only fill the room with people who think like you, how can you get the best result for customers, shareholders, and everyone in between?  Women think differently,--That difference adds value.  It is that diversity that makes a board stronger.

So this morning I would like to help find find a few more awesome women. Do you know any? Perhaps you?

If so, check out The ION website to learn more about the whys and hows of corporate board membership and how to join with Melisa and men and women like her across the country.  They are changing the boardroom-- one awesome woman at a time.  

Posted on May 08, 2012 by Cynthia Pladziewicz

Leading From Your Strengths

rocky steps.jpgIn two weeks I'm headed to Philadelphia to speak to the Philadelphia Bar Association's Women in the Profession Committee and to the Professional Development Consortium Philadelphia City Group.  We will be talking about how to leverage personal strengths to lead effectively and to find more fulfilment and happiness at work.  While there are many ways to identify your top strengths, my "go to" assessment is the Clifton Strengthsfinder™.  
Here's why I love it so much:
  • It is highly validated and researched. The Strengthsfinder assessment is owned by Gallup, the polling people. Over 10,000,000 people have taken the assessment and all the results are in one database. For that reason this is one of the best researched assessments out there. So even though you can buy this assessment for the price of a book, about $20, I find it more useful than many assessments that cost much more.
  • Each profile is unique:  The odds of 2 people having the same profile are 1 in 3,000,000.  That may be why the results usually resonate so strongly with my coaching and consulting clients.  
  • It's all about the good stuff:  This assessment tells you where are you especially strong.  It does not tell you your weaknesses. Of course, everyone's greatest strengths can be overused. That's why the reports contain some great learning around how not to do too much of a good thing.  
  • And the good stuff is really what matters most.  The researchers at Gallup have found that there is no particular set of strengths that make people successful; rather, the secret is knowing what your strengths are, using them as much as possible in your work, and delegating to, or partnering with, others who have needed strengths that you do not. There are actually people out there who love to do what you loathe. It made me very happy (and it made my assistant happy too) when I first discovered that. It turns out that she loved doing things that I hated to do and vice versa. So until I realized that, I was periodically "rewarding" her by giving her projects I would love, but that made her climb the walls. Taking the assessment put the kibosh on that and we were both much happier. 
  • By sharing their strengths profiles with each other, people who will be working together over time really get to know, understand and appreciate each other much more quickly than they would otherwise. 
  • For many, knowing your strengths makes you feel good about who you are, more self accepting and confident.  
How to take the assessment:
  • Buy a book that contains a code for the Strengthsfinder ™  assessment.  
  • Click this link to see the books that contain the code. You can also buy a copy on Amazon for Kindle and get a code emailed to you immediately (for those of you who do not count patience among your strengths).  
  • Once you have a code, do the following:
    • Go to the Strengthsfinder website
    • Click the appropriate box based on the book you purchased
    • Click "enter your access code"
    • Fill out the registration and click submit
    • Follow the remaining instructions
    • Be sure to download the PDF report from Gallup and to use the "Ideas for Action"

Photo by skinnylawyer

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Cynthia Pladziewicz

What Elephants are Roaming Through Your Organization?

ele.pngWhat do you need to be talking about in your organization that is only discussed behind closed doors? Last week I attended the Power of Self Leadership program and participated in an exercise called "Naming Elephants" based on the book of the same name. You've likely heard the saying that "there is an elephant in the middle of the room and no one is talking about it." The elephant is the obvious problem that we all know exists, yet don't mention, often because we fear retribution or embarrassment.  

Some common elephants:

  1. It becomes normal to deviate from the rules.  Everyone knows the meeting starts 10 minutes late. The deadline is not the real deadline. It's ok to run over budget; in fact it's good. You will get more money next year!
  2. Not walking the talk. A leader says that he values all opinions, but tunes out or retaliates when an opposing view is expressed.
  3. Arrogance becomes the norm.  The company has a policy about expenses.  Some adhere; others do not. Leaders claim a high level of ethics, but accept perks from vendors.   
  4. Clever talk is valued over action. The "game" in the organization is to sound smart, tear down other's ideas, use the biggest words. Results are underappreciated.
  5. The system is broken. Top leadership does not set the vision or micromanages rather than developing managers. Those whose job it is to serve customers, don't know what to do. Middle managers are pulled in multiple directions, accomplishing little.

What elephants roam your organization?  Here's a hint, what do people talk about behind closed doors? In the coffee room? On texts or emails during a meeting? Leave a comment or drop me a note. I would love to hear from you and share some common elephants on a future post.

 

 

Posted on April 01, 2012 by Cynthia Pladziewicz

8 Things Legal Administrators Can Do to Develop New Attorneys

Business Men Talking.jpg

Tracy Spore is President of the Dallas Association of Legal Administrators and Office Manager at Bowman & Brooke Dallas. Tracy asked me to advise her professional group on how they can help develop young lawyers. Her request reminded me of how tough it was for me starting out as a new lawyer and how much support I received. I hope the article for DALA, which is exerpted below, will offer some helpful ideas for legal professionals who work with new lawyers:


Attorney Development:  Is There an App for That?

Compared to many other entry-level professionals with whom I've worked, new lawyers are less prepared to practice their craft.  Until our IT departments come out with a smart phone application to bring them along, they will need your guidance just as I did.  Here are a few ideas for how to do just that:

  1. If you have the good fortune to work for a firm with personnel dedicated to lawyer development, look for ways to team with them to grow young lawyers.  As Chief Development Officer with a large law firm, I worked closely with my firm’s administrative leaders to make sure our lawyers got the full benefit of the training and resources available to them.  Our efforts ran in both directions.  I worked hard to make sure new lawyers received the full benefit of our technology and knew how to work better with our staff.  Our IT group, HR and staff leadership worked with me to make sure that I hit the right chords with our new lawyers in preparing them to effectively work with all of our firm’s resources, especially our incredible human resources.
  2. Point new lawyers to the local bar association for great development resources. Local bar associations provide great resources for new lawyers.  For example, the Dallas Bar Association offers a year-long structured transition to law program that pairs an experienced lawyer mentor to each new attorney.  In addition local bars often discount membership fees for new lawyers, making bar membership a bargain.  If your firm does not have a formal training program, this resource will be particularly valuable.
  3. Understand lawyer personalities.  As a group, lawyers are more time urgent, pessimistic, skeptical, sensitive to criticism and independently minded than the typical person.  I recommend taking a look at Dr. Larry Richard’s article Herding Cats: The Lawyer Personality Revealed to learn more. For those of us working with lawyers, tact, responsiveness to time demands, resilience and adaptability go a long way towards forging relationships. 
  4. Be a Mentor.  Firms often understand the need for attorney mentors. I would take it a step further. Newer attorneys need business mentors as well. This person may well be you. 
  5. Use a coach to manage individual and firm developmental challenges. When people and organizations need to change to meet the demands of the marketplace, good coaches can often get them there more quickly and with less effort. In many corporations, coaching is an investment made in top leaders and high potentials to help the organization grow and thrive. You can find more information on lawyer coaching in my American Lawyer Daily article, Do Lawyers Need a Coach?
  6. Ask new lawyers if they want to know more about the business of law.  When a new lawyer comes to you for help in opening a file, running a conflict, understanding billing and collections, dealing with a personnel issue, etc., it’s a great time to ask if they would be interested in knowing more about how this particular aspect of the practice works. 
  7. Client Development is key. The biggest complaint I receive from the young partners I coach is that they are ill prepared to develop clients and yet are expected to do so fairly quickly after entering the partnership. Engaging your marketing personnel, senior lawyers and others in helping young lawyers understand business development early in their careers is critical for their long-term success and for that of your firm. 
  8. Encourage your staff to offer help when they see a better way. In my experience lawyers are not very good at asking for help in understanding what they do not know. Reinforce to young lawyers the wisdom that your staff provides and the firm’s expectation that they will respect and utilize the wise people you have put in place to help them. 

In today’s fast paced and constantly changing law firm environment, young lawyers must hit the ground running and develop quickly. And yes, there is an app for that;  it’s you. 

 

Photograph by Victor1558.

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Cynthia Pladziewicz

Transcending Failure: How to Come Back Even Stronger

J._K._Rowling_reading.jpg

We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have the power within us to transform our lives.  

 

J.K. Rowling

OK, I admit it.  I've read every Harry Potter book.  I covet Dumbledore's pet phoenix Fawkes who transcends the flames to rise anew from the ashes.  I love the idea that each of us transcends failure to give birth to something new and wonderful.  

On Friday and Saturday, outstanding women lawyers from across the US and Canada gathered in Dallas to renew and energize each other. They joined my colleague Cordell Parvin, Lisa Dawson from Lexblog and me for a roundtable discussion, leadership and business development coaching, strengths assessments, and a generally fun Texas weekend.  A common theme among many of these highly successful women was a sense of not yet having done enough and a disappointment in continuing to fail along the way.

During the course of the weekend, Cordell recirculated one of my favorite TED talks, JK Rowling's 2008 Harvard University commencement address. It resonated with me as I considered my own failures. Here's what I took away from Rowling:

  1.  Face your fear of failure head on.  Rowling faced her own fear of failure in giving the Harvard address. Despite her considerable accomplishments, she endured weeks of sleep deprivation and nausea in anticipation of giving the speech.  I've felt like that too.....many times.  
  2. The greatest failure is living someone else's life.  She reminds us that there is an "uneasy balance" between what we want for ourselves and what our parents expected of us.  Rowling chose her own course (writing novels) over the more secure vocational training her parents (who had been poor) preferred. Fortunately for all of us, her choice worked out. 
  3. Take responsibility for your circumstances. My favorite Rowling quote:  "There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction." We each steer our own course as adults and that's a good thing.  It means you have the power to grow and change.
  4. You can rise from the ashes.  As a poor, jobless, young single mother, Rowling experienced poverty.  She acknowledges that poverty itself is a dark, stressful, depressing, humiliating experience which is "romanticized only by fools." I think that is true of our failures. Although I am grateful to have not known poverty, I have known all of these feelings. Her story inspires me to transcend failure.
  5.  No one is immune from failure.  She reminds these Harvard students that their talent and intelligence do not innoculate them from the "caprice of the fates." In my years as a practicing psychologist I worked with many physically beautiful, wealthy, successful people. Some, like Rowling, were famous. None of this matters when our own failure and darkness sets in. As Rowling notes, often "life is difficult, complicated and beyond anyone's control."
  6. Failure is relative.  No matter how sucessful they are by conventional measures, many people feel like failures.  Someone will always look subjectively more successful in comparison. "Your conception of failure may not be too far removed from the average person's idea of success, so high have you already flown."
  7. Failure can set us free to risk attempting our biggest dreams.  By "stripping away the inessential".....(things like pride and ego), failure can breed deterimination to succeed. When Rowling realized she had survived her greatest fear, impoverishment, she was able to risk writing, what she felt she was meant to do.  I see this with some of my successful clients who have lost a job.  When they face this greatest fear, they feel free to pursue a passion they would never have dared to otherwise pursue.
  8. Failure shows us our strengths.  Tackling failure brings out your inner will and discipline and secures your knowledge that you can survive your worst fears.  This knowledge that you have emerged from your most feared setbacks introduces you to your strongest most resillient self.  It is a painfully won gift that per Rowling is "worth more than any other qualification I have ever earned."  
  9. Failure points us to our true friends.  Rowling notes that during her darkest times she had friends who never abandoned her. When she became successful, she "rewarded" them by assigning their names to some of the Death Eaters in the Harry Potter books. They stayed with her through that too!
  10. Failure reminds us that we have the power within us to transform our lives. Just like the phoenix Fawkes, we rise again and again.  

As she closes, Rowling takes us back to the ultimate successes in life that we often take for granted.  

Life is not a checklist of acquisitions or achievement.  

Rather, we succeed each time we touch the life of another by our existance. I was touched this weekend by the lives of some incredible women and one guy.  Thank you....you know who you are....... and I promise not to name any Death Eaters after you.

 

Photo by Amanda Hatfield.  

 

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Cynthia Pladziewicz

Number One Concern for 4 Generations of Lawyers? It's the Economy Stupid!

Fifty-year lawyer Rust Reid smiles when he remembers his starting salary as a newly-minted attorney:

"New lawyers were more like apprentices, paid about the same as public school teachers and worth a lot less."

Recently Reid and I participated in a panel discussion at the Dallas Bar Association featuring perspectives from four generations of lawyers. The number one issue across the board? The economy.

Here's how it played out among the generations.

Gen Y.  This generation was born between 1980 and 2000 (lawyers age 31 and under). Gen Y'er Erin Callahan is a recent graduate of SMU Dedman Law School. Like many new graduates, she plans to hang out a shingle. Acoording to Callahan, the biggest stress among her peers is debt; the national average is $70,000 in debt for new grads of public law schools and $90,000 for private law school grads. Some of her classmates have student loan debt as high as $200,000 with no job in sight. 

Gen X. Penny Blackwell is a Partner with GreenbergTraurig and President of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers. Penny graduated in 2000 when top law school graduates received a $40,000 raise after accepting jobs with big law firms and before reporting for day one of work. They never expected to be paid that well and felt tremendous pressure to produce. Today, the pressure contines. Even though many would trade dollars for time, they don't want to give up the seat at the table that equity partnership brings. And they worry about the new lawyers coming behind them who are starting solo practices. Blackwell and other bar leaders fear these lawyers will not get the training and mentoring they need. She believes the Bar must take on the challenge of helping them succeed.  

Boomers:  Ike Vanden Eykel is a hard-working baby boomer, CEO of a prestigious family law firm, Koons Fuller, and Immediate Past President of the Dallas Bar Association. He wonders where the new lawyers are who are willing to work as hard as his generation.  I too am a baby boomer and Vanden Eykel's concern is one I've heard often from my cohorts.  He acknowledges that:

"Many younger lawyers look at the "dysfunctional" lives baby boomers have created and say "no thanks."

But his experience is that they don't really want to say "no thanks" to the corresponding incomes that baby boomers have generated. Boomer lawyers are also worried about retirement.  Will they have the needed savings?  And will they really be happy to let go of the reins? For many the answer is no.  

Matures:  These lawyers are 66 and over. Many have postponed retirement due to inadequate savings and stock market declines. They are known for their loyaly, modesty and hard work ethic.  Panelist Rust Reid exempliefies this generation. He continues to practice law today with the same firm where he began his career, Thompson & Knight. He doesn't much like the billable hour and recalls the time in his career when lawyers resisted recording time. In 1960 when he started his career, billing was determined by the value to the client. He concedes that firms could afford to worry less about billing then since new atttorneys at top firms were paid the equivilant of $40,000 in today's dollars; time to learn and train was built into the salary structure then.  And with less debt than today's graduates, the finanical pressure on the new lawyer was less as well.  

I left the panel that day with mixed feelings.  I know that the newest generation of lawyers haa a rough road ahead. Not only will they struggle with student debt and perhaps fewer opportunities for legal employment; they also may not have access to the mentoring and training that lawyers of my generation received. On the other hand, the enthusiasm and commitment to the profession that I hear from Callahan and many of her cohorts is reminiscent of another generation of lawyers, the ones who mentored me. One in particular comes to mind. His name........ Rust Reid.

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Cynthia Pladziewicz

Microaggressions: How we unintentionally injure our friends and clients

Everyone has experienced it, a brief back-handed slight wrapped in the form of praise. Sara Martin writes in this month's issue of Monitor on Psychology about the ways in which these sometimes unintentional acts leave lasting damage. She points by way of example to the "praise" that others have bestowed on Asian-American educator and author, Dr. Derald Wing Sue with repect to his "excellent" English language skills. According to SuThumbnail image for diversity.jpge, such statements only serve to remind him that he is a "perpetual alien in my own country." 

As professionals, most of us do not intend aggression or ill-will towards our clients and colleagues.  It's just hard sometimes to understand what it's like to be in the other person's shoes.  What are some of the most common microaggressions you can look out for?  Here are a few suggested by Sue, Martin and others:

  • Praising the English language skills of Asian-Americans
  • Praising the articulateness of an African-American
  • Suggest that a position could be filled by a "qualified" member of any diverse group (as if that's an anomoly)
  • Speaking louder to someone who is blind
  • Commenting on the hairstyles, weight or attire of female employees
  • ignoring the partner of gay, lesbian and transgendered clients in invitations or conversation
  • Assuming that a female partner does not want to work on a weekend when a new opportunity comes along
  • Asking a Latino where he was born
  • Suggesting that "white men" view the world in a particular way
  • Suggesting that a man's taking paternity leave is not as legitimate as a woman taking maternity leave

Have you experienced a microaggression?  Let me know.  I would love to share an expanded list in a future blog.  

 

Thanks to Sanjay for the great photo.  

 

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Cynthia Pladziewicz

Do Women Wait Too Long Before Claiming Power?

shoes.jpg

Do women handle recognition and power differently than men?

In a recent interview, Karen Moses, Chief Operating Officer of Australia's Origin Energy put it this way:  

The key difference I see between men and women at work is that the men are prepared to demand to be heard and recognized before they have demonstrated their worth.  Women wait to be recognized well past the time when their value is clear to everyone around them.  
I encourage women to accept that they have an equal right to be there, to recognize the value of their contribution and to not apologize for their difference.  

Moses really hits it on the head.  Women on the whole undervalue their contributions and are more likely to stand back and wait for someone (often a male leader) to recognize them.  Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we valiantly lead and encourage our peers, craft novel solutions to all sorts of dilemnas, bravely take on flying monkeys and witches, yet wait for the man behind the curtain to “grant” us the power that we carried inside us from the very beginning.  


Why is it that women hold back?  Do we avoid, fear, even disdain power?  In her book Powering Up, Anne Doyle quotes Kim Campbell, former prime minister of Canada and a woman with a great attitude towards power: 

 

I love power.  I want it.  I'm power hungry. Not for myself but because when I have power I can accomplish things.  I can serve my community, I can help open doors for deserving people and I can influence decisions.  If you think you would exercise it ethically, don’t disdain power.  You must embrace it as the essential currency for making things happen.”

Put that way, embracing power seems much more authentic and congruent with my values.  What do you think?

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Cynthia Pladziewicz

A Landmaam and an Engineer: Investing in the Next Generation of Women Leaders

g2e22e20000000000004e0fee540c16331dc1fe07fe94f803649f5d30c1.jpgRecently I spoke to an impressive group of women leaders attending the Women's Energy Network North Texas leadership conference.  As I looked out on this successful group of women, I couldn't help but think how proud June Brooks (pictured here) would have been.  I was privileged to know Mrs. Brooks in the 1970's when I was a young woman coming of age in the oil patch town of Ardmore, Oklahoma.   An accomplished speaker who proudly introduced herself as a "landmaam," she was the only woman delegate to the World Petroleum Congress held in Tokyo in 1975.  For those not familiar with the term, a landman refers to men and women who handle the business end of oil, gas and mineral production. In the 1970's, most landmen were in fact men. So back then knowing a landmaam, much less one who had travelled from Ardmore all the way to Japan, was important to aspiring young women like me.  

Today, more women have entered the energy industry, but few hold top leadership positions. That's why it mattered deeply that Lisa Stewart gave a good part of her day to speak to the Women's Energy Network leadership group. Stewart, a petroleum engineer by training, Founder and CEO of Sheridan Production Partners and former President of El Paso Exploration & Production, spoke with wisdom, humility, humor and grace. (How could you expect anything less from a woman who named her company after her yellow labrador retriever?) But what mattered more than her words was her presence.  This is a woman who has a lot on her mind at the moment, including how to invest almost $3 billion in capital.  She could have met with the group by video conference or rushed in and out.  But she didn't do that.  So her presence sent a message that was more important than any words she, or those of us following her at the podium, could express:

You can do it.  Your leadership matters.  You are someone I'm willing to invest in.

Really the same message June Brooks sent back in 1975. 

So thanks to June Brooks and thanks to Lisa Stewart.  I think your investment is going to pay off.  

 

Posted on June 25, 2011 by Cynthia Pladziewicz

Women Lawyers: So many achievers, where are the leaders?

AnneDoyle5_72.jpgAnne Doyle, author of Powering Up, a new field guide for women leaders, asks:  

So many achievers, where are the leaders?

Her question is particularly relevant for women lawyers. In a nation where women have comprised half of law school graduates for the past 10 years, a percentage that has steadily increased from 35% in 1985, how is it that so few women fill leadership positions in law firms, industry and government? A recent survey by the National Association of Women Lawyers revealed that only 15% of equity partners in America's largest law firms are women, a number that has changed very little over the past five years. And, according to the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, only one in five Fortune 500 General Counsel is a woman. Women comprise half of American voting public, yet women comprise less then 18% of the U.S. Congress.

At a reception sponsored by Marsha Clark, former President of EDS's health care unit, I joined a group of men and women leaders who gathered to discuss these questions with Doyle, a Hall of Fame sports journalist and former auto industry leader. When it comes to moving from achiever to leader, Doyle speaks from experience. Today women sports broadcasters are commonplace, but when Doyle entered the profession, some sports teams threatened to close locker rooms to reporters altogether rather than admitting her.  Doyle persevered, succeeded and now shares her own insights and those of over 125 women leaders she interviewed for her book.

How do women achievers become leaders?  Doyle's research suggests seven components:

  1. Discover your purpose.  Know who you are, whom and what you care about deeply and lead from that awareness.
  2. Raise your voice. Get past your fears, especially of criticism from others, polish up your communications skills and share your vision.
  3. Break the rules.  Doyle says that women leaders break the rules, but they do that with skill and knowledge.  
  4. Claim power.  Don't wait for someone to give you power.  You have to claim it.
  5. Drink at dangerous waters. Travel, spend time with diverse people, interact with your rivals and take risks.  According to Doyle, it is in these "dangerous waters" that leadership is forged.
  6. Get back in the saddle.  Welcome and learn from setbacks and keep moving.
  7. Embrace the strength of your "womaninity."  To fully understand this concept, you need to read the book.  But here's the gist:  Effective women leaders don't try to be one of the guys. Rather they "relax into their own skin" and bring to the leadership table their unique skills and strengths. They often approach things differently than the guys would, but are equally or more effective.  

Why is it important for women to lead?  Doyle says "size matters."  Citing a 2009 report published by Ernst & Young, Doyle reminds us that when female leadership reaches a critical mass in an organization, specifically one-third of the highest level leaders, bottom line performance increases significantly.  For the typical law firm management committee, that translates to 3 to 4 women members.

Doyle closes her book with a quote from poet and author Maya Angelou that pretty much sums it all up:

If you're born a girl, grow up and live long enough, you can become an old female.  But to become a woman is a serious matter.  A woman takes responsibility for the time she takes up and the space she occupies.

Maya Angelou

If your firm or organization has more than one-third women in top leadership positions, I would love to feature you in my blog and share with others what your experience has been.