My Story …

I mentioned that I’m a recovering corporate executive, an entrepreneur, a consultant, a coach, a workshop leader, and a dreamer.  I spent over 25 years in the corporate world, with one company.  That’s kind of unheard of these days.  I wasn’t hired for a job, I was hired for a career … and that’s what they told me when they finally hired me.

Corporate Veteran

You see, I didn’t get a job offer after my first interview.  I was graduating with a B.S. in accounting and General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) was interviewing for College Graduates in Training (CGITs — we pronounced it siggits).  I thought for sure I had nailed the 7-hour interview.  I followed up diligently with thank you notes, phone calls and such.  Finally, the rejection letter came and I was stunned and disheartened.  I could see myself working at GMAC and having an amazing career.  I followed up one more time and asked to be considered for future openings.

I received a call a few days after sending that letter (yes, we used snail mail back in the “olden days” — someday you should ask me about my very first email address at work).  The only question they asked was about how committed I was to working for them because GMAC didn’t hire people to fill jobs, they hired people who would make working for the company their career.  Evidently my answer to “where do you see yourself in ten years” had led one of the 8 interviewers to believe I wasn’t completely committed to the company.  I was offered the job and started my 25+ year journey with GMAC two weeks later.

I loved my career at GMAC.  What wasn’t to love.  I was promoted out of the 2-year CGIT program six months early.  I was doing work that lit me up and I had access to some of the top people in the company.  I was awarded the GM Fellowship and GMAC paid me (and my tuition) to attend the University of Virgina’s Darden School of Business to earn my MBA.  I gained valuable experience working in field operations, regional offices, executive offices, and in the Capital Markets office in Manhattan at the corner of 5th Avenue and Central Park South.

Somewhere along the way things changed.  I changed and the company changed.  Unfortunately, the changes were in different directions.  Neither wrong, but I wasn’t as lit up by the work or my career anymore.  The changes happened gradually.  So slowly I didn’t realize what was happening until I was miserable and wondering where the fun times went.  You see, I believe work is a misnomer for what we do.  If it’s not fun, it’s wrong for you.

I slogged through the misery and went to work figuring out what was going to make me happy again.  I wanted to look forward to Monday mornings and not dread Sunday’s anymore.  It didn’t happen overnight, but once I identified what was important to me and how I wanted to feel each and every day I set about developing plans to make it happen.

Entrepreneur

The first part of my plans included launching a creative conference center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Researching and designing all the things necessary to bring GO Where Meetings Matter (GO WMM) to life was energizing.  Who knew I could / would geek out about meetings?  Everybody hates meetings.  Or, did they hate bad meetings because they’d never experienced a great one?

I spent the last ten years of my corporate career as an executive running special projects and managing relationships with automotive manufacturers.  I lived in meetings. I believe every time people meet there is an opportunity to change the world and at GO WMM we change the world one meeting at a time.   As I researched what makes a meeting great I noticed my notes during my business meetings were divided.  One part was about the content of the meeting and the things I wanted to take away and the new part was about what could be done to make the meeting better, more efficient and effective, and what was “right” about it.  Soon the second part was lengthier than the content notes.  I was a meetings geek.

As a result, I built a very cool and productive meeting space for organizations to hold their events.  People looked forward to meeting when they knew it was at GO Where Meetings Matter.  Sometimes I had to encourage guests to go home because they lost track of time and didn’t want to stop the flow of ideas and the connections building amongst the attendees.  It is such an incredible feeling to see your dream become a reality and other people enjoy and benefit from it.

Pivot!  CEO to CFO

I loved creating GO WMM and seeing the impact my “baby” had in the world.  It was more stress than I had as an executive at Ally Financial (formerly GMAC) but it was mine and it was worth it!  I was proud of what I created and how my clients raved about the facility and our service.  On a trip to my god-daughter’s graduation I ran into a former colleague in Delta’s SkyClub.  We chatted and agreed to touch base when we were both back in town.  To make a long-ish story short, my former colleague was at a new firm and offered me a consulting gig that ended in a job offer to be the CFO of the organization.  When he first mentioned it I remembered thinking he was nuts.  I’m an entrepreneur now, no longer a corporate executive.  Well, I’ve learned I’m a lot of things and I can move fluidly between them when I want.  I took the role with the organization and reawakened my love for strategic finance and team development.

I am talented, intelligent, and have a strong work ethic, but I’m not Wonder Woman (Spoiler:  No woman is).  I couldn’t give my conference center and its clients what they deserved and serve the new organization as CFO.  The finance work lit me up, like it hadn’t in a long-time.  With a heavy heart I closed the conference center.  I was with that firm for a year before we realized it wasn’t the best fit for either of us.  I was unemployed for the first time since I was 14 years old.  Let me tell you, the second time you make the shift is easier, because you’ve already done the hard work the first time.  I’m currently the CFO of another organization and looking to continue working on the plans I started developing when I left Ally to start my conference center.

Coach and Workshop Leader

The conference center was a step in my plan, but not the ultimate goal.  I didn’t dream of running a conference center.  My dream is to play in a creative meeting space.  Effortlessly sharing my knowledge and helping others figure things out lights me up brighter than anything I’ve ever experienced.  I struggled with being unhappy at work and unsure how to change it until I found a great coach.  She helped me examine my life and what I wanted.  I described it as feeling like I was stuck in the mud and she helped me to rock myself forward and backward until I freed myself from the sludge.

I am paying it forward.  I became a coach to help women find the power, control, and ability to rock themselves out of whatever mud pit they find themselves in.  If I can help them avoid the mud pits in the future even better.  Portia Nelson wrote a short poem that says it better than I ever could.  It’s called Autobiography in Five Short Chapters and you can see it here.  I want to help women reach Chapter V quicker and with more grace.