How old were you when you knew what you wanted to be, when the pieces began to come together, when you started to see a future for yourself that involved leading in some way? How did your story bring you to where you are responsible for so much and so many?
I am a first-born child to a strong German father and an Irish mother, both who worked in manufacturing. My dad dropped out of school when he was 16 to work on the family farm, eventually landing at Kelly Springfield where he would later retire. He got his GED the same year my younger sister graduated from high school. Had things been different, he would have been a draftsman or an architect. But my dad, like many from his generation, did the best he could with what he had. His safety and attendance records were flawless and he took every double shift he could get. My mom stayed at home with us until I was eight and then worked in a plastics factory until I was 16. She was in charge of quality control. Both were intelligent, hard-working people who were able to provide a solidly middle class upbringing for myself and my younger sister.
My dad wasn’t one of those “Leave it to Beaver” dads. You either worked hard or you were left behind. Respect was earned through our efforts, our attention to detail and our ability to handle the realities of the world. My leadership training began at home where we learned how to lead ourselves and how to compete for the praise of our father. This training would serve me well when I started my business in 1989 in Madison, Wisconsin. I was a senior in college with mentors who had also started businesses at a young age. I dove in head first not knowing what I didn’t know but certain I would figure it out.
One of the greatest questions we can ask ourselves is “What is worth suffering for?” It can’t all be.
For me, business is worth suffering. Living is about facing problems. The question is “Which problems do you want to solve?” Are you in it to win or just because of what you can get? If you’re still reading, I already know the answer – leadership is worth the price of admission to you.
I had an employee a decade ago who had a Dilbert calendar on her desk and I never got it. I’ve never been bored in business. I’ve been challenged, frustrated, elated, felt like a winner one moment and utterly defeated the next. I am in the trenches and I cannot imagine a better way to spend my life.
This is an interesting time to be in business. Taxes, regulations, and workforce shortages are all barriers to success and to competition. But in Wisconsin, we’re working on them. I’m grateful for the efforts our State’s Chamber, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce is doing to make Wisconsin great. As much as it does though, success is not up to them. It’s up to us. Each one of us is responsible for what happens next.
You are the linchpin, the difference maker,
the one who demands better and then works hard to make it happen.
As anyone knows who has spent time with smart people in a room, when we come together, greatness is bound to happen. We can’t sit this one out, fellow leaders.
One example is The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s new initiative called “ThinkMakeHappen.” It’s our way of saying to the world this is our Wisconsin story and we want you to be a part of it. We are so much more than beer and cheese. It’s something all of us in Wisconsin can and should be using through social media to draw talent and ideas to Wisconsin. If you would like to read more about what’s holding us back, check out Tom Still’s article, Attracting, retaining workers requires more than job postings.
I recently graduated from a program called the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC). ICIC is a national program created by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter, founder of the modern strategy field and one of the world’s most influential thinkers on management and competitiveness. Michael Porter’s new goal is to rescue the U.S. Economy and ICIC is part of that mission. I was in the Milwaukee cohort. Of the 58 businesses in that group, only six went to Columbia University for graduation. California had a much larger delegation. Why were they more willing to take a 5 hour non-stop flight when people from Wisconsin wouldn’t take a 2 hour and 20 minute flight? This is what I mean about stepping up and showing up. You must be present to win.
We can and we must do better. I’m so excited to see all of the energy and ideas happening from Gener8tor, NEWaukee, and the Young Professionals group. My company, Creative Company sponsored former X-Box CEO Robbie Bach’s visit to Madison in early 2016 to a packed house at the School of Human Ecology at the UW-Madison, Promega and the downtown Madison library with Starting Block Madison. There are bright spots all around the state but if we, as leaders, don’t continue to push the envelope, support new ideas, drive innovation and tell our stories, our future will choose somewhere else.
What will our legacy be? Will our generation of leaders be remembered as doing the expected or doing the unimaginable?
Will we be remembered for another moonshot, where we came together, cast a vision and put every inch of ourselves into this story and created a different outcome? I hope so.
The status quo is not going to get us where we need to go. As a business owner for 27 years and a recipient of a Wisconsin Trailblazer Award for Women in Business, I’m counting on you to join me in blazing a trail. I am also asking you to be present, to know what’s happening throughout the U.S. and how other states are drawing talent in, and then work together to create a magnet so strong, no human force can stop it from happening.