Heather Eldred » executive

Making decisions is an integral part of being a leader

Heather — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 22:14:15 +0000

Decision making is a key component to our lives and a daily element of successful leadership. The quality of decisions and the ability to make one (as opposed to being continually un-decided) shapes our lives and our careers. I’ve personally honed my decision making skills by the following: 1) A lot of practice making decisions and not being stifled by indecision (remember NOT making a decision is still making a decision, you just had no input into the outcome). 2) Learning to focus on the 80/20, the 20% of the facts that are actually relevant to the effectiveness of the decision, quickly discounting the red herrings and fluff. 3) Finally, the most important thing I’ve learned is to trust my intuition. While I generally have little time to make a decision and nearly always have to make it based on not enough information and not enough time, the gut reflex will generally get me there, even if I have little empirical data to support the instinct. I’ve learned to take a moment and ensure I’m making a decision from a place that is positive, won’t have any large unintended negative impacts and that feels genuine to myself. This article from Deepak Chopra discusses how to make great decisions. https://www.deepakchopra.com/blog/view/1412/_the_secret_to_making_good_decisions

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

Heather — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 04:28:04 +0000

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 over the last two days and admittedly got very little “real” work done. As you can imagine for someone whose work week is 32 hours, this could be a problem. But alas, I am not freaking out (well maybe tomorrow when I have seven of those structured communications (aka meetings) and still have the to-do list. And yet, I know that the “work” I did through connecting these last two days was more valuable than anything else I had on my very long to-do list. These discussions were not structured and they had no purpose except to connect on a personal level (how’s the kids?) and catch up on work related topics. Through this materialized some incredible impromptu brainstorming which gave birth to so many epiphanies that I can’t figure out what I want to get started on first! I am invigorated, passionate and I think the folks I talked to probably feel the same. Lesson of the day: stopping to chat for a few moments or picking up the phone for an unplanned, no agenda discussion is an important, no an essential – element of being successful in business.

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The 80/20 Principal

Heather — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 01:35:26 +0000

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 the job or don’t really know how to do un-do it. Historically, achieving the ‘American Dream’ has involved working your ass off, making sacrifices and ultimately choosing career as a priority over the rest of the areas of your life. I’m living proof that there is a better way. I’m an executive of a large company and I work 32 hours a week. I’ve come a long way from 60 hour a week burn out, plugged in 24/7. While it has been work in progress (and still is), the principal below started me moving in the right direction. Ironically I researched the principal in order to become more successful in running the business and ultimately became more successful in running myself. The 80/20 principal is my go-to theory on how to live a balanced life. What is the 80/20 principal? The 80/20 Rule means that in anything a few (20 percent) are vital and many (80 percent) are trivial. In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth. Pareto’s Principle or Pareto’s Law, as it is sometimes called, can be a very effective tool to help you manage your business and life effectively. The main premise behind the theory is that if you focus on the 20 percent that matters (and only pay minor attention to the 80 percent that is trivial), you can do a lot less and achieve the highest results. Before I even knew anything about this theory, I started unconsciously applying this is my business life. I remember being a fresh analyst and working with a guy that had multiple MBAs and seemed brilliant (just ask him!). He worked 12-15 hour days for weeks, developing a rate development model that he would later need to defend in court. He spent so much time on the minutiae and then ran out of time and spent very little time on the two variables that greatly impacted the resulting rates. I remember thinking (although I was new and really didn’t know much about the subject matter) that there was something wrong with this picture. Sure enough, in court, he got torn apart on the two major variables and very little time was spent all the elements that he had spent so much time on (because they really didn’t have much impact on the overall result!). After that, I started looking at my business cases from a view of […]

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Hang Your Ass Over the Edge

Heather — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 18:35:50 +0000

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 it has to do with many people’s tendency to stay in their comfort zone. We all get pigeon holed to a certain extent and when we excel in one area, we are less likely to branch out and take a risk on something that we could fail at. Our co-workers and managers may see us as the “go-to” for one area but may not see our potential in other areas. The key to success (in all areas of life I think) is to constantly grow, take on new challenges and expand not only our abilities, but also how people see us. So what to do? Hang your ass over the edge. Just a bit. Or a lot. For my own and my employee’s personal growth, I always encourage half the ass on and half the ass off. Meaning; stay half way in your comfort zone – an area that you are confident you can be successful, but the other half needs to be hanging out there. Here are some ideas: 1) Special Project: The easiest way to get out there is to volunteer to work on a project that isn’t in your particular area. An example could be a financial analyst or accountant that volunteers to collect market data for a new product offering. As an analyst, you likely have the fundamental skills of collecting and analyzing data, but chances are you haven’t looked at data this way and peers likely don’t envision you beyond your number crunching self. To be successful, you’ll need to be a bit vulnerable and humble and realize that you don’t know everything (it would be like an engineer doing a business case!). Do your research (Google baby!) and ask for advice or mentoring from someone that does have this experience. This method shows a great deal of respect for the individual you seek out, it creates new business (and sometimes personal) relationships that will be fruitful for your future success and you get to see a part of the business through someone else’s eyes. Maybe you are a consumer or retail sales manager that wants to take a shot at the business side of things. Discuss your desire to dip your toe in that end of the pool with your boss or peers that are in the business sales world. Find a project you can team up with someone already successful in this area. An operations guy that thinks he could have a future in management. Volunteer […]

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Reclaim your life and become successful in business

Heather — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 01:53:07 +0000

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 have – become successful in business and still have a balanced, passionate life. Since this is my first entry, I’ll tell you a bit about me. I have been an executive working at multiple large businesses for 5 years and owned an Executive Consulting firm for three years. I started in business as an accounting clerk before I had a degree. I swear to you that I had absolutely no grand plan to climb the corporate ladder – it sort of just happened to me. By the time I was 33, I was a vice president working for a large telecommunications company. Growing up in a small town in Idaho where most folks are below the poverty level, this was the American dream. I made it. I wasn’t just making six figures; I was make 2x six figures plus some. I had it all… or so you would have thought. I loved my job but I finally got so burned out from working 60+ hours a week and trying to be a good mom, friend, daughter, etc. that I never had a second for myself. So I got my bonus in 2010, went off the deep end and quit my job. People thought I was crazy! I didn’t have a spouse with a job, had no other income and not very much in the nest egg department. What I did have was a mortgage, 2 small children to care for and a sense that if I didn’t get out now, I would screw up my kids and never recover. So I did it and it all worked out, because I knew deep down that it would. I was to the point, where I had my Acura MDX and my Harley Davidson and all the other toys on Craig’s list. I started figuring out where we could cut down and get by on a lot less money. I took a 3 month sabbatical. I spent time with my kids (real engaged time, not the kind you have after working 12 hours and you see their lips moving but really can’t muster the energy to care about the girl in his class that was such a pain). I started going to the gym, worked in my flower beds, climbed mountains, went to see my family in Idaho, rode my motorcycle, sat on my back deck with a cup of coffee or wine– every […]

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