Category Archives: Executive with a Life

I deserve to be the boss! Try running your own race..

"I am in competition with no one. I run my own race. I have no desire to play the game of being better than anyone, in any way, shape or form.  I just aim to improve, to be better than I was before.   That’s me and I am free.” ~ Jenny G. Perry One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen people make in trying to get ahead in business is to have this attitude. Because I have a MBA, 20 years’ experience, my Dad owns the company, etc., I should already be running the place.  This attitude won’t Read more [...]

Think Like a High Achiever – More on the 80/20 principal

Guys, check out this great article by Britton Brown.  It has some great tips on how to apply the 80/20 principal to your life.  Here are a few of the highlights: 1) Treat each day at work like you are going on vacation.  Only do the things that absolutely have to get done.  I do this and it works! 2) As I've said before, he discusses focussing on the most important tasks (he calls them big rocks) and to get these out of the way early on in the day.  I always have the first hour of my day Read more [...]

Shit Rolls Down Hill

This topic seems quite apt for this week. It simply was the week of "shit rolling down shill". And frankly that can never be a good thing. I've seen stressed out managers bringing wrath down to their staff. I've had high level managers send a nasty emails to entry-level gals in accounting. I myself have started a whole rash of "shit rolling" when I tried to impart a sense of urgency to one of my staff on a big project we are working on. He apparently construed this as "an ultimatum" and conveyed Read more [...]

Communicate for success- a/k/a catch up, connect, chat

Today I learned (or maybe remembered) a truly critical element to being successful in business (and everywhere) - communication! I'm not talking about formal communication or a communication plan or any other type of structured meetings, emails, newsbreaks, etc.  Those are all very important. But today I remembered about just plain ole' pick up the phone, stop by the office, go out for a drink catching up with your co-worker communication. I had about nine of these conversations with folks Read more [...]

Live a Happier Life – apply 80/20 Law to Life

Short as life is, we make it still shorter by the careless waste of time.  -Victor Hugo Check out this arctile by Billy Shall:  http://billyshall.com/blog/post/paretos-principle Here are the higlights. With Pareto's Principle you can: Accomplish More in Less Time By focusing on activities that produce the most results and eliminating or outsourcing trivial activities, you can free more of your time while accomlishing more. Reason: 20% of activities produce 80% of results. Improve your Read more [...]

The 80/20 Principal

One of the biggest challenges people face is how to balance work, family, friends, spirituality, obligations and play.  As you become more successful, learning how to do this juggling act is even more critical.  Let's face it, most C-level business execs are not happy people.  They are stressed, unhealthy and increasingly frazzled keeping up in the ever increasing frenzy of the "rat race".  Even if they have time to stop and realize that they are these things, most figure it is just part of Read more [...]

Hang Your Ass Over the Edge

I get asked often by frustrated, hard-working, high achieving business people what they are doing wrong that they haven't achieved the success that they feel should be theirs. They desire to move up the corporate ladder but seem to have moved up as far as they can go. Maybe they are stereotyped as a "finance guy" or "salesperson" or the "ops type". Nothing wrong with any of these but getting to the top requires knowledge & experience in many facets of the organization. Often times, I think Read more [...]

Reclaim your life and become successful in business

Ok, so why read a blog from me about being successful in business and having a balanced, passionate life?  Well, I’d say it’s because I’ve pulled it off.  I am a 39 year old COO of a large company.  I’m a single Mom of two kids (one of which is a teenager).  AND.. I work 4 days a week.  Not 60 hours crammed into 4 days, I mean 32 hours a week – really.  I run a large company, run a family and have a life. I haven’t gotten it all figured out but certainly have achieved what few Read more [...]