Blog

Most teams don’t miss goals. They miss alignment.

Here’s the simple framework I use with leaders at Better You Coaching to get teams rowing in the same direction:

1) Start with outcomes, not tasks. Pick three business results that matter this quarter and write them in plain English that your newest hire can understand.  State what you want to achieve, not what to avoid.

2) Co-create the measures. Ask your team, “How will we measure success and know that we’re winning?” Agree on two leading indicators and one lagging result for each outcome.  Make sure these are appropriate and achievable.

An example of a leading indicator in a customer success organization is completing onboarding.  A lagging indicator is customer retention.

Teams can understand their individual goals and still work at cross-purposes. Aligning on priorities and measures creates a shared understanding  of what success looks like and how everyone contributes to it. This co-creation process starts everyone with the same understanding.

3) Target and stretch. Set a target and stretch measure for each goal. The target defines success the stretch represents exceptional performance. Celebrate achieving the target, and recognize the extra effort and results when the team reaches the stretch.

4) Assign clear ownership. One person owns each outcome. Everyone contributes; one person is accountable.

5) Build a 30/60/90 plan. Map first steps, key interlocks, and decision dates. Use a simple R/Y/G (red/yellow/green) status so risks surface early, not at the finish line.

Of course, some goals take longer than 90 days to accomplish. However, having a view of progress and success in 90 days is critical to assessing the achievability of the objective.

6) Normalize resets and retros. If the context changes, update the goal. End the quarter with a 45‑minute retrospective session using a keep/stop/start framework. Everyone contributes to the discussion and the focus is on learning and adjusting, not on blaming.

Pro tip: Schedule your weekly check-in for 15 minutes, “standing,” and data-first. Discussion follows the numbers, not the other way around.  Deeper discussions can move offline with the right people, leaving the check-in focused on exceptions, decisions and commitments.

Alignment doesn’t happen because everyone heard the same message. It happens when everyone understands the outcomes, knows how success is measured, and takes ownership of moving the team forward.

If you need a one-page Goal Map template I use with clients, message me.

Want help putting your Q4 goals to the test? DM me on LinkedIn or visit betteryoucoaching.com for a short consult.

I launched my new career, and my husband and I started talking about whether we wanted to add another child to our family of four. If we were going to have another child (or two), it was now or never. I wasn’t as young as when my first two kids were born, but I wasn’t too old to add to our family “organically.”

I was fortunate. As soon as we decided the timing was right, I was pregnant. Our “Now or Never” baby was in the works!

Having my third child was a completely different experience than the earlier two. His arrival was a story in itself.

We called it “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.” We lived 50 miles from the hospital where my doctor practiced. Just as everything started, a driving rainstorm rolled in. I also had two older kids to get situated because my Mom, who was coming from Connecticut to help, hadn’t arrived yet. A family friend lived in town and my frantic phone call to temporarily re-home them was successful!

Getting everyone situated took about an hour. The drive in pouring rain took about 45 minutes. My labor lasted just two hours. We arrived at the hospital 15 minutes before Max was born, and my doctor made it with seven minutes to spare.

Talk about cutting it close!

Everyone in our family was thrilled to welcome Max. My coworkers and customers couldn’t have been more supportive, either. Looking back, we were (and still are) blessed that we made this decision.

Of course, adding a baby to an already busy family while building a career came with its challenges. There were lessons I learned along the way that remain relevant today, whether you’re raising a family, leading a team, or simply trying to balance competing priorities.

You can’t pour from an empty cup

I took six weeks off work, which was the time California allowed at the time without additional doctor support. Max was an easy, happy baby, but six weeks is still pretty early when you’re waking up in the middle of the night. I walked around in a fog for at least two months!

In hindsight, I didn’t take enough time off. We often convince ourselves that we can pick up right where we left off, but sometimes our bodies and minds need more time than our calendars allow.

Choose your partner wisely

I could not have done this without a very involved partner.

My husband, Jim, was incredibly helpful, kind, and patient. He had his own law practice, but he made sure he was home to help with the kids, dinner, and chores so I could survive the demands of work and motherhood.

We communicated well and supported each other. If he needed more time for something, I made sure my workday ended in time for me to step in. He was also able to continue playing softball and running, which were important to keeping his head on straight!

We understood that we were in this together. Neither of us could do everything, but we could make sure neither of us had to do everything alone.

Childcare is not the place to compromise

We researched childcare and after-school programs carefully, looking for environments that were safe, nurturing, and consistent with our values. And we did this for all the kids, not just Max.

When something wasn’t working, we made changes quickly. We didn’t become so attached to a convenient location or schedule that we were willing to compromise on what mattered most.

Convenience is valuable. But not when it comes at the expense of your non-negotiables.

Build your backup systems before you need them

Every one of our kids had backup plans, and we developed a wonderful network of friends who helped each other with after-school pickups and childcare when needed.

Having someone you can call in a desperate moment is invaluable. Sometimes you need a little help, and sometimes you need someone to save the day.

We were fortunate to have people around us who understood that families thrive when their communities support them.

Stay connected, even when you’re apart

My role required periodic travel, and I took my first trip when Max was about two months old.

What none of us realized was that Max wouldn’t take a bottle from a man. He would eat when his female babysitter fed him, but not from my husband. Jim tried, and he cried and cried. The baby, not Jim!

Fortunately, they discovered that Max would take a bottle from his big sister, who was nearly nine at the time. Whew! Saved by big sister!

Travel also meant finding ways to stay connected when I wasn’t home. Later Max and I started reading paired books together over the phone. I also bought us both joke books, and we’d try out jokes on each other every night.

Those little rituals helped us stay connected and gave us something to share beyond the inevitable “How was your day?”

“Fine.”

Sound familiar?

Sometimes, staying close isn’t about the amount of time you spend together. It’s about the small, consistent ways you show someone they’re on your mind.

Expect the unexpected

My family likes to tease me that if a disaster was going to happen, it would happen when I was on the road.

Jon falling off the bleachers? I was in Ogden.

Sara breaking up our dogs bloody fight? In Atlanta.

Max being hospitalized with meningitis? I was in Toronto.

That last one was the worst!

There were joyful surprises, too. One granddaughter and one grandson arrived while I was in Northern California. Apparently, my timing wasn’t always terrible!

When you have a demanding career and a busy family, you learn that you can’t control everything. You can plan, prepare, and build support systems, but life will still throw you a few curveballs.

Laugh. A lot.

I once heard a lecture suggesting that laughing at least 17 times a day could improve your mental health. I don’t know whether 17 is the magic number, but we decided it was a pretty good goal.

Whenever things got tense in our house, Jim and I would kid each other and ask whether we needed a few more laughs that day.

More often than not, the mood softened.

Humor didn’t make the challenges disappear, but it reminded us not to take every stressful moment quite so seriously. Sometimes, a little laughter is exactly what a family needs to reset.

Make time for yourself and each other

With three kids and both of us working full time, we were swamped. But we made a point of scheduling date night every other week. We also continued doing things we loved individually: reading books, walking, listening to music, sports, and cooking fun meals.

Time as a couple matters. Time alone matters, too.

We learned to compartmentalize. Time for the kids. Time for work. Time for us.

Of course, life doesn’t always respect the boundaries we establish, but being intentional about protecting those different parts of our lives helped us keep our balance.

No regrets

I’ve been asked whether I regret the timing of my last child, having three children, or continuing to work while they were growing up.

Honestly, I have no regrets.

I’ve asked Max whether he ever looks back on his childhood and feels neglected. We have a special bond, and he’s very transparent with me. He acknowledges that I traveled a lot, but says he always felt loved and cherished by both of us. He never felt neglected or forgotten.

My older kids cherish their brother and are so glad we decided to add him to our family.

That’s a pretty wonderful outcome.

I did mention that we’d considered two more children. When Jim broached the subject again about a year after Max was born, I told him it was his turn. Ha!

Having kids in your 30s is much harder than kids in your 20s!

And through all of this, my career continued to flourish. I moved into management and was later tapped on the shoulder to become a VP.

I didn’t put my career on hold to have a family, and I didn’t put my family on hold to build a career. It wasn’t always easy, and I’m sure there were moments when I could have done better. But with a supportive partner, thoughtful planning, a great network, a sense of humor, and a willingness to adapt, we made it work.

Looking back, I realize that this chapter of my life reinforced something I’ve carried into my leadership career: success rarely comes from doing everything yourself. It comes from building the right support system, being clear about what matters most, adapting when circumstances change, and remembering to enjoy the ride.

And what a ride it is!

There is something both exhilarating and humbling about becoming a beginner again.

You can be experienced, accomplished, and confident in your abilities and suddenly find yourself in a world where you’re the new person in the room.

That was me when I left the Getty Trust and joined PeopleSoft.

I wasn’t starting my career over. I was starting something new with everything I had learned so far.

The J. Paul Getty Trust’s multi-year ERP implementation came to an end. With the end of the project came a conversation I wasn’t expecting.

I was going back to my old job.

Closing the books. Managing the back-office team. Returning to the role I left to lead the implementation.

Strike one.

At the same time, my husband and I were planning to relocate 50 miles away for a better environment to raise our kids. I asked whether we could work out a modified schedule that would make the commute manageable.

My boss wasn’t willing to accommodate my request. Me starting an hour earlier and getting on the road by 4pm wasn’t reasonable to her. We lived in the LA Metro area, this would make a huge difference in my commute and not impact my team.

Strike two.

Then came strike three.

After successfully leading three major implementations, I wasn’t promoted. Instead, I was being asked to take on even more responsibility in my “old” role. No recognition of the work I was being asked to do being significantly changed.

I realized I had a choice: Accept the path that had been laid out for me or Create a different one.

I picked up the phone and called our PeopleSoft representative.

I asked if there were any openings.

He was ecstatic.

He told me he never approached a client about leaving their company, that just wasn’t something you did. But if I came to him, that was a completely different story.

Within a week, he made me an offer.

My new job was Account Manager, which was essentially what we now call a Customer Success Manager.

I would manage accounts in the Western Region.

There was one other important condition: I didn’t have to wear pantyhose.

Yes, you read that correctly.

It was a kind of a joke, but it was also a big deal to me at the time.

I had spent years in the Trust Office wearing suits, stockings, and corporate shoes. The idea that I could work for a software company and dress more casually felt like a pretty good deal.

I was in.

And then I got my first account.

It was an insurance company with a Big Six accounting firm leading their implementation.

It was the largest PeopleSoft sale the company had ever made.

When the sales representative first talked to me about the account, he was calling from his brand-new yacht.

I remember thinking, Okay… I guess software sales is a little different from General Accounting.

The project was enormous.

It was complex, large-scale, and involved multiple departments. And at the outset, I was the only PeopleSoft person associated with the account.

No large customer success organization. No army of specialists. No playbook.

Just me, the customer, the implementation team, and a lot to figure out.

And this was only one of my accounts.

I also had a large supermarket chain, a regional bank, and a restaurant chain.

Every one of them was a new experience.

It was my first major career shift in a long time, and I loved it.

I loved digging into new skills, new ways of working, and new people. I was learning how businesses worked in industries I knew very little about, while figuring out how to help them get value from software.

And it was different from working in the nonprofit world of the Getty.

There was much more focus on revenue and results. Decisions were less about “management by committee” and more about getting things done. The organization was more structured, and the pace and expectations were different.

It was energizing.

I had a few things going for me.

I loved the software. I had considerable functional and technical depth from my ERP implementation experience.

I was curious. I wanted to understand my customers’ businesses, not just their software problems.

I was customer-service oriented. I genuinely wanted my customers to be successful.

And I was super organized.

Those things turned out to be a pretty powerful combination.

But the bigger lesson was that changing careers meant being willing to become a beginner again.

I was successful in my previous career. I knew accounting. I knew ERP implementations. I was comfortable with what I knew.

Now I had to stretch.

And in those early years at PeopleSoft, I learned some lessons that have stayed with me throughout my career.

1. Build your network.

Meet as many people as possible. You never know when a relationship will become important.

Over the years, I’ve collected contacts, built relationships, and stayed connected with people from every chapter of my career. Sometimes you need an expert. Sometimes you need an introduction. Sometimes you need someone who has been through what you’re facing.

Having a network means you don’t have to figure everything out alone.

You can’t build it when you need it.

Build it along the way.

2. Be courageous.

At first, I wondered whether I should share my opinions with my customers about how they were approaching their systems.

Who was I to tell them what they should do?

Honestly, it was probably a confidence issue. Imposter syndrome wasn’t even a thing back then!

I checked my gut with more senior colleagues, and more often than not, they agreed with what I was thinking.

Eventually, I stopped second-guessing myself.

I kept asking deeper questions. I challenged assumptions. I made suggestions.

And something important happened.

My customers began to trust me, not just to support their software, but to tell them what I really thought.

Those became deep, trusting relationships.

3. Keep learning.

I was comfortable with the product, but I didn’t stop learning.

I kept taking classes. I read prolifically. I asked a lot of questions.

I wanted to understand not only what the technology could do, but what was happening in the industries and businesses of my customers.

The more I learned, the more valuable I became.

And I discovered something I still believe today:

Being good at something is not a reason to stop learning it. It’s a reason to go deeper.

4. Be organized.

Working with multiple customers means constant context switching.

You have to remember each customer’s priorities, what you promised to deliver, who the players are, what happened in the last meeting, and their story.

It is impossible to keep all of that in your head.

I developed my own techniques for staying organized and tracking my actions and theirs, managing contacts, capturing commitments, and keeping the context I needed for every customer.

The specific tools and techniques will be different for every role, but being consistent and intentional about how you organize yourself isn’t optional.

It is a career skill.

It became one of mine.

Looking back, I didn’t realize at the time that this seemingly simple change would become the beginning of my career for decades.

I thought I was leaving accounting.

What I was really doing was discovering a new version of myself.

I found that I loved customers. I loved technology. I loved solving problems. I loved learning about businesses.

And most of all, I loved the pace and possibility of the software industry.

That first career change opened a door I didn’t even know I was looking for.

And I walked through it.

I am addicted to learning. I read articles, books, and posts and listen to podcasts daily. Knowledge is fuel for my brain.

When I read Patrick Lencioni’s book The 6 Types of Working Genius, I felt like he was talking to me from each page. I have to admit, I am a big fan of Patrick Lencioni, dating back to The Five Temptations of a CEO.

After I finished The 6 Types of Working Genius, I started socializing the concepts with the leaders on my team. I gave them the book and they all took the Working Genius assessment. We talked about what the results revealed about us as individuals and our teams.

It was the perfect time. We were in the process of reorganizing (as is typical in technology companies) and we put our learnings into practice as we formulated our teams and approaches.

If you’re not familiar with Working Genius, The Six Types of Working Genius assessment is the fastest and simplest way to discover the natural gifts for you and your team. With these understandings, it can help you all thrive at work.

After extensive study, Patrick Lencioni’s organization, The Table Group, determined that each of us is brought joy by our Geniuses and is drained by our Frustrations. There are six types of geniuses that are ranked, not rated.

The Geniuses are:

• Wonder – The natural gift of pondering the possibility of greater potential and opportunity in a given situation. People with a Wonder Genius are the big picture thinkers.
• Invention – The natural gift of creating original and novel ideas and solutions. These team members are the ones who rattle off idea after idea, not necessarily all good, but great in a brainstorm!
• Discernment – The natural gift of intuitively and instinctively evaluating ideas and situations. These folks always help us get real. “What idea are we pursuing and does it make sense?”
• Galvanizing – The natural gift of rallying, inspiring, and organizing others to take action. These team members are the cheerleaders, the “follow me” people.
• Enablement – The natural gift of providing encouragement and assistance for an idea or project. Nothing gets done without the resources, planning and encouraging these team members provide.
• Tenacity – The natural gift of pushing projects or tasks to completion to achieve results. These team members are the GSD (Get Stuff Done) people. They bring you over the finish line and remind you to keep focused, time after time.

The types ranked highest, based on the assessment, are considered your Geniuses. These bring you joy and fulfillment. My Geniuses are Galvanizing and Invention. Anyone who has worked with me knows I love to get people excited about our work together and that I always have tons of ideas and a passion for invention.

The two ranked lowest are your Frustrations. This doesn’t mean you stink at these, it’s just that they drain your tank and are the things you may procrastinate to get to. Focusing on these areas as the basis for your job can also lead to low engagement and burnout. My Frustrations are Wonder and Tenacity.

The middle two are your Competencies. These neither fill you up nor drain you. They also can indicate a strength that can be tapped into. My Competencies are Discernment and Enablement.

Even with the brief explanation above, I can hear your gears turning on which you think your Geniuses are or nodding your head as you know which are your Frustrations! I can tell you, it was no surprise to me that Tenacity was not top of my list. Knowing how many nights I was at my desk finishing things up I had procrastinated starting was a tell-tale sign.

The insights of the assessment and the readout was invaluable to telling me more about myself and my people.

Teams that adopt Working Genius experience increased morale and productivity while also decreasing frustration and turnover. The outcomes of adopting Working Genius can be seen across your organization.

• Maximizes Your Team’s Geniuses
• Addresses Frustrations and Inefficiencies
• Improves Meetings, Hiring, and Staffing

As we considered the composition of the teams within our organization, we started to look at not only who had traditionally been on a team together, but also what Geniuses they represented. Where possible, we put together teams with Genius coverage in all six types. We also looked at what we were asking people to do in the team and began thinking about whose Tenacity Genius was going to help us see programs through to the end.

Now that I am coaching individuals and teams, I’m excited to bring my experience with Working Genius, and my certification as a Working Genius Facilitator, to my coaching practice.

What I love most about Working Genius is that it gives us a practical language for something many of us have experienced but may not have been able to articulate: why some parts of our work energize us while other parts leave us exhausted.

It also reminds us that we don’t have to be great at everything. In fact, the most effective teams aren’t made up of people who all think and work the same way. They are made up of people whose natural gifts complement one another.

For me, that’s the real power of Working Genius. It isn’t about putting people in boxes or labeling what they can or cannot do. It’s about understanding where we naturally thrive, recognizing where we may need others, and intentionally creating environments where people can do more of the work that brings them energy and fulfillment.

As I continue my journey in executive coaching, I’m excited to add Working Genius to my toolkit. Sometimes the first step toward becoming a better leader, building a stronger team, or simply finding more satisfaction in our work is understanding what makes us come alive and what drains us.

Once we know that, we can start working with our Genius instead of against it.

Frank Whitworth was from another era.

He kept detailed financial data on huge green sheets in bound ledgers that went back to the 1950s. He wore a white shirt, blue suit and tie, and polished leather shoes you could see your reflection in. He carried a beat-up leather briefcase that held his lunch.

He was a classy gentleman who we all loved and respected.

Eileen Vogler was a classic, too. She got her hair done at the beauty parlor on Saturday mornings. Her nails, clothing, and coordinated accessories were always perfect. She had a saying for everything, each one eliciting a chuckle. “I’d feel for you, but I can hardly reach you” was her response to anyone with a small complaint.

Frank and Eileen were from the early days of the J. Paul Getty Trust, when “Mr. Getty” was directing activities from his estate in England. They were the trusted guardians of investment accounting and cash management and had played those roles longer than anyone could remember.

I learned so much from both of them, but not what you might expect.

Frank’s Lessons

Frank taught me more about meticulous record keeping and the pursuit of balanced ledgers than anything I had learned in my accounting classes. He was fastidious in his work.

He was a true gentleman.

He never said a bad word about anyone and was quick to find a positive quality in the people he worked with. He knew everyone’s name and greeted each person warmly as he walked through the office to his desk.

Frank noticed things.

One of our coworkers never brought lunch. Her mornings were hectic getting her kids out the door, and she didn’t want to spend her hard-earned wages at the expensive cafe in our building.

Frank asked his wife to pack an extra sandwich and some fruit. Each morning, he quietly and anonymously placed them on her desk before she arrived.

No fanfare. No recognition sought. Just kindness.

Frank worked hard, too. He was always prompt to arrive and left at the same time each day. His time at home with his wife was precious to him and he was eager to get home to her every day.

They had been together for more than 50 years. He quipped that his bride would have dinner ready and Jeopardy wouldn’t wait.

Eileen’s Lessons

Eileen shared a different set of lessons.

She was especially mindful of waste. One evening, I came across her removing paperclips from piles of paper in the “To Be Shredded” box and returning them to the paperclip containers.

Before I could say anything, she explained that “Mr. Getty” didn’t like waste, so she had become accustomed to being mindful of throwing useful things away.

She told us stories of the early Getty Museum days, when it occupied a few rooms in the back of the Getty Villa in Malibu and was more of a tax write-off for J. Paul Getty’s art and furniture collecting hobby. There was even a small zoo!

She told us about taking the Red Car to work in Los Angeles and how convenient life in the city was without a car. Those days were long gone.

She was a bustler. Always bustling around the office, putting things in their place, keeping order, ensuring our coffee pot was full and fresh, and the copy machine stocked with paper.

She cared about tidiness and inspired it in all of us.

As computers became increasingly essential to our roles, we watched Eileen dig in and learn the systems. She was over 70, and her newfound skills delighted her. She pulled me over to her desk to show me a new report she had written or an inquiry she had discovered.

She wasn’t afraid of advancing technology. She grabbed on to it!

Lessons That Last

As I closed my chapter at The J. Paul Getty Trust to follow my love of software and join PeopleSoft, I reflected on all the lessons I had learned from these seasoned coworkers.

From Frank:

• Be kind.
• Pay attention.
• Work hard.
• Accuracy matters.

From Eileen:

• Spend it like it’s your own.
• Tell your story.
• Be tidy at work.
• Learn and grow.

I valued every lesson these humble, caring people shared. I didn’t realize at the time just how much they would shape the professional and person I became.

Frank passed away several years into my Getty career.

One day, he didn’t show up for work, so we called his home. His wife told us that he went to bed the night before and never woke up. He passed away right where he wanted to be, by her side.

She shared that he was worried about an out-of-balance account when he came home the evening before and was eager to return to work to figure it out.

He loved numbers. He loved his family. And he made all of us feel his warmth every day.

As he walked out the door each night, he gave us a wave and his signature farewell:

“Goodnight, all you good people. See you tomorrow.”

The final lesson from Frank?

Always cherish what can come tomorrow.

I was heading into a world of software and technology, but the most important lessons I carried forward had nothing to do with technology.

“You need to know. You have nothing to teach me!”

Nancy stood in the office with her hands on her hips looking at me angrily.  I was her newly named supervisor.  She had been doing her job for 30 years and was very annoyed that she was passed over for the Accounting Supervisor role.

My excitement about my role at the Getty Trust was tempered with a bit of anxiety already.  This was my first job as an official supervisor. Being a Girl Scout leader and assistant manager at an ice cream shop didn’t prepare me for this.  I didn’t get through my first week before Nancy came to set me straight.

Fortunately, my instincts kicked in. “I was not planning to teach you.  I was planning to work alongside you and learn from your know-how on Payroll.”

Her hands came off her hips as her anger started to dissipate. My heart raced as I waited for her next move.

“Ok, just so we’re on the same page. I wanted to make sure you knew that I am a great Payroll Manager and I’m good on my own” she admonished me as she walked out and shut the glass door firmly.

In a glass office, there is no room for showing how rattled I was after such an encounter. I sat there until my hands stopped shaking and went back to my own desk. I knew my work was cut out for me as a new manager.

When I got home, I called my mentor. My grandfather.

He was a comptroller for a regional aluminum window manufacturer in New Jersey.  Never without a cigar in his mouth, my grandfather was a sage businessman and mentored me as I began working “real jobs.”

He shared wisdom I kept with me throughout my career.  Here’s some of Marty’s wise countenance on managing people:

Don’t respond to anger with anger: He was proud that I didn’t snap back at Nancy. Rarely does meeting an angry employee with your own anger work.  It’s important to read the room. I knew Nancy was mad that I got the role and she didn’t.  Finding a path to get the air out of the anger balloon was critical for Nancy and I to move forward.

Follow up with curiosity: I could have tried to hash out the issue during such a confrontation, but another path was to follow up with curiosity.  Over the next weeks, I demonstrated interest and curiosity about Nancy’s role. Not in a creepy “I’m learning how to get rid of you” way, but as a genuine desire to understand and help.  She began to trust me and even asked me some questions.

Everyone has a story: One time Grandpa was interviewing a truck driver. Part of the interview was to go out for a test drive. The guy had an excellent driving record and references.

As they went driving through the urban area, they chatted about the driver’s family, where he grew up and he shared that he and his wife were caring for his elderly mother during off hours.  While they chatted, they passed under a trestle bridge, and the top of the truck struck the bridge.

While rattled, no one was hurt and the damage was repairable.

Grandpa hired the guy.  His logic was that anyone supporting his expanded family would never hit another bridge.  Grandpa wasn’t wrong, the truck driver celebrated over 10 years of accident-free driving with the aluminum company.

I didn’t know Nancy’s story yet, but Grandpa’s rule was that I needed to find out.

Nancy and I worked together for the next several years. As we migrated through two new payroll systems, she appreciated my collaboration with her.  New systems were hard for her, and one day she quietly pulled me aside for a hug and said “I guess you are my teacher now.” A long way from where we started.

Over the years I have kept all my grandfather’s guidance in mind as I worked with my teams.  His kindness and humanity made him a treasured leader of his employees. I don’t smoke cigars but hope I can strive to be just like Marty in most things.

A patient teacher, good listener, funny and quirky, and most of all, caring.  Grandpa truly helped get me off on the right foot.

This is Chapter One of a career that takes me from ledgers to software.  More to come.

End Note: Despite her passing away years ago, I changed Nancy’s name for this post.