To be a successful CEO, Founder or manager, you must prioritize defining your people philosophy and leadership strategies. These key skills, unfortunately, are rarely taught in business school, and must be mastered by anyone managing a team or in a consulting role. 

Looking back on my MBA program during this graduation season, there were only two courses that really helped my business career – Accounting 101 and Organization Behavior 101. I’ve largely forgotten all other classes, and learned essential leadership skills on the job. Why were these two classes helpful? Mastering accounting is essential. You must understand the flow of money to manage even a small department. Mastering organization behavior, how to manage people, is equally, if not more, important. That’s because while accounting is a science, organization behavior is an art. If you are unable to get people behind a mission and plan, nothing good ever happens. While accounting may show you where you’re losing money, it takes problem solving and leadership to get people to fix it.

In my book, “One Hit Wonder”, I share lessons learned inside and outside of the business world, based on managing customers, vendors and employees, that worked great at our software startup. These lessons taught me about what motivated people, how they prefer to behave situationally. From these business lessons, I developed a philosophy and strategy to address that fickle, but relatively predictable, thing we call… human nature.

Motivation and Preferences

In my Organizational Behavior class, we studied a book titled, “The Ropes to Skip and The Ropes to Know” by R. Richard Ritti and Steve Levy. You can still order this book online. The premise was simple. There are a few essential things to know about people management, master these, and you can forget the rest. The goal of the class was to help young MBA students get a real sense of organization politics, leadership and human behavior. I loved that class. The two concepts and tools that resonated with me the most were – McClelland’s Needs Theory and the DiSC Personality Profile.  

McClelland states that there are three primary needs that motivate and drive behavior:  1) the need for power, 2) the need for achievement and 3) the need for affiliation.  Power people need to control. Achievers need to win. Affiliate people have a need for acceptance. These needs drive situational behavior. Understanding your primary need, as well as those of others, can help you understand WHY people do what they do.

The DiSC Profile evaluates four main personality profiles, including: (D)ominance, (I)nfluence, (S)teadiness, and (C)onscientiousness. Dominants prefer urgency of action, Influencers prefer innovative action and place an emphasis on people, Steadies prefer harmony of action, and C personalities prefer efficiency in action. These preferences also impact situational behavior. 

Understanding your primary personality preferences, as well as those of others, can help you understand HOW people do what they do at work. Taken together, these tools provide the how and why of human nature and can help anyone “predict” situational behaviors. These are very useful tools that every leader should learn. To be an effective manager, you want to develop your own leadership philosophy and strategies for day-to-day communications… or what I call “your rules” (a la Leroy Jethro Gibbs in NCIS).

Define Rules and Strategies

In my leadership book, “One Hit Wonder”, I outline rules that I used with consulting clients and to scale Aspire Software that was fully sold in 2021. The philosophy was based on my experience with human nature and situational communications that worked best.  

People aren’t the same in every situation. Specifically, as risk increases people act differently… call it pressure. This volatility means that it’s not as important to determine if people are good or bad, but instead, you want to know whether your employees are brave and/or selfless. Good or bad behavior are the situational manifestations of bravery and selflessness under pressure. Based on 30 years of consulting and building a successful startup, I found those traits are relatively rare.  

The following “realities” about human nature are not intended to be dark or negative. It is intended to be realistic, and take into account the fact that human nature is somewhat predicable. (Again, this is my philosophy…  and I am a positive person…)

• Common sense is not common
• No good deed goes rewarded
• Many think the world revolves around them
• There is such thing as thoughtless
• There are lots of Kool-Aid drinkers
• There are heroes

From this I developed, often through failure and hard lessons, some rules and strategies that have worked well as a business leader.

• Talk less, listen more
• Develop a thick skin and short memory
• Avoid self-important people
• You have to take one for the team on occasion
• Failure is to be expected
• The world does not revolve around you
• Showing up is 90% of the battle
• What goes around comes around
• Take the high road
• Be loyal and trustworthy – mean what you say, and say what you mean.

Nothing is simple with people and organizations. But by having a leadership philosophy and rules, it can simplify situational decision-making, and improve your success in working with all kinds of people. And because this skill is something that they just don’t teach enough, you will have to learn most of it on-the-job.

“Get on top of yourself.” A colleague muttered this phrase in the midst of an Enneagram debriefing session (note: if you’re looking for a profiling tool for you or your team, this is categorically the best I’ve come across in 20 years of doing this work). It made me think about the importance of maintaining consciousness when leading people.

Headline points:
• The relentless pressure of being a CEO makes maintaining awareness difficult
• Non-awareness of one’s patterns is understandable, but it’s also controllable and can be managed
• Not ‘being on top of yourself’ has real, immediate negative impacts: dark behavior patterns; ego dominance; and lack of discipline

So what does ‘staying on top of yourself’ amount to? The technical term (using Enneagram language) is being integrated v. being disintegrated.

Here are three simple tools to help:

1. Knowing how it feels when you are disintegrated is the most essential and clear sign: the former feels settled and grounded; the latter feels edgy and nervy, and there’s not as much in-between as you might think …
2. Knowing your disintegrated patterns is important (panicky, cranky, scattered, fractious, etc.) as the same patterns will likely show up in you until you one day leave this mortal coil
3. Having a way to step away, re-set, and re-integrate by way of a repeating practice (walking, clearing your diary, getting coaching, leaning into a confidant) is helpful and easily doable

The point is that all CEOs will disintegrate at some point or another – there’s no shame in it. But, just like the most challenging part of getting back into shape is getting that first trip to the gym done and dusted, so it works the same for CEOs: the slip into disintegration is pretty easily reversed.
But only if you have the above tools in place.

The way we work is constantly changing. Adapting to the moment. Being reinvented in ways we don’t even recognize in the moment. Having said that, we’ve never seen anything quite like the seismic shifts of the last two years. We’ve witnessed the wild acceleration of trends that were already underway and the emergence of new ones that few saw coming.

No wonder we are hearing so much lately about “the future of work.” So what is that future? No one knows for sure. (You might say the future of work is a work in progress.) But here at CareerBuilder, we are seeing some clear trends right now that can help us predict where things will land. 

What employees want

Let’s start with the engine that makes everything go: the workers. Employees find themselves in a great moment of leverage. As a result, we are hearing more than ever about what they want and need, pausing more often to reflect on what it might take to make them both happy and productive.

Unsurprisingly, the first thing workers want right now is flexibility. After two years of truly trying times, people want real work/life balance and not just lip service from an employer. They want the kind of balance that will head off burnout before it starts. One trend to keep an eye on is the shift to a four-day workweek. Another, as mentioned in a December 2021 Atlantic article, involves letting workers scale down their hours when caring for children or aging parents and scaling them back up subsequently.

After two years of taking stock, workers are also dialed in on fulfillment. That means they want opportunities for career growth and a healthy company culture that works to foster a sense of belonging.

The third thing workers want right now (and always) is a competitive salary and a well-rounded compensation package that motivates them to reach their potential while driving success for the company.

The “New” Office

The role of a physical office space has been forever changed by the pandemic era. The old office was stable and predictable if sometimes stagnant. It was often assigned seats, cubicles and 40 hours on-site.

The new office, still taking shape at this writing, is defined in a far more fluid way. It is hybrid at its core as people seek to find a balance between the office and other spaces. The new office may be a co-working facility, a desk in a hotel lounge, a rented conference room or a coffee shop. It may be a person’s home.

Remember when we said the future of work is a work in progress? Well, the transition to that future will require patience and empathy from employers along with a healthy dose of roll-with-it from employees.

The Future of the Job Market

Just as we’ve seen entire industries wildly expand and contract over the last two years, we’ve seen the job market continue to reshape itself. Expect that to continue. Expect a rise in the number of available remote roles. And expect an increase in overall job inventory across all 50 states, including a rise in in-person jobs as restaurants and other face-to-face businesses fully reopen.

Three trends worth noting:

• The monthly number of job postings available on CareerBuilder has nearly tripled over the course of the pandemic
• Double-digit growth in job postings for most states between December 2020 and December 2021
• Explosive growth in job postings for high demand positions in transportation, warehousing, healthcare and education

What Employers Can Do Now

A forever-changed employee pool. A brand new definition of “office.” A constantly reshaping job market. It’s no wonder many employers find themselves asking two questions.

1) How can I keep my current employees engaged, productive and happy in an increasingly disconnected and dispersed world?

2) How can I help take the burden off the shoulders of job-seeking possible future employees?

For current employees, work relentlessly at building a shared sense of mission and belonging. Lead with empathy. Where there is an opportunity for team building, go all in whether it’s virtual or in-person socials/happy hours, lunch-and-learns and Wellness Wednesdays. Let yourself be more human than ever in the workplace.

When you meet with prospective employees, come to the table prepared to listen as much as you speak. Be sure to allow for some flexibility in the hiring process and tout the aspects of company life that allow for serious work/life balance.

Nothing is as it was. No one is as they were. If you’re an employer, seize this rare moment to reimagine your working landscape and rethink your hiring process. Opportunity knocks.

Over the course of twenty-six years, I progressed from an entry-level position at Products Research and Chemical Corporation (PRC) to CEO of the $240 million global company.

With no prior experience, no college degree, and no inside connections, I was hired as a shipping clerk at age 19. My goal? To make enough money to buy skis, boots, and lift tickets for the upcoming ski season. 

But my supervisor, Danny Iwamoto, impressed me with his precise vision and clear-cut expectations. So after mastering my daily tasks, I sought out other areas to help and learn more about my company, SEMCO, a subsidiary of PRC that manufactured packaging for use with adhesives and sealants.  

I learned the organization’s workflow — from taking a customer’s order to order fulfillment and everything in between — and recognized that the weak link in the paper-laden process was knowing an order’s status. I asked the expediters responsible for finding an order’s status for a customer. They wanted me to look for orders as I moved in and out of the production areas to pick up finished inventory. Doing this was easy, and it made my day more interesting. 

My efforts led to a promotion and taught me my first lesson about career advancement: 

1. Go above and beyond your assigned duties. Volunteering to take on more responsibilities can alter the course of your career. Look for opportunities that connect you to an influential person, put you face-to-face with different departments, or help you develop new skills. Seek ways to make a real impact. Showing initiative and anticipating needs will make others take notice. 

The following year, SEMCO’s general manager was promoted to general manager of the parent company, PRC. His first order of business was to offer me a customer service position in that part of the company — my first desk job. PRC manufactured sealants, adhesives, and coatings for the aerospace, marine, insulated glass, and construction industries. PRC was known for its high-quality products and its poor customer service. Like at SEMCO, keeping track of it wasn’t easy once the order was placed. And, to make matters more difficult, people in some departments weren’t interested in providing me with the information I needed.  

What did I do? I approached the problem differently to provide better information to the customers. My goal was never to have customers call back after making their first order inquiry. I set up a process whereby I provided the anticipated shipping date, and then three days before that date, I’d track down the order to see if it was going to ship on time. Then I’d call the customer and report whether the order was on track or would take more time. Either way, customers were grateful that I’d provided the information. They gained confidence that someone was looking out for them.  

Through my experience in customer service, I gained another vital lesson: 

2. Advocate for the customer. Customer advocacy is both an art and a science. It’s about pleasing customers while showing empathy and patience, but also about managing time and understanding cost-efficient ways to resolve problems. It’s knowing when to put a customer’s interests above the company’s, when to refer a competitor’s product over your own, and when to go straight to upper management. When customers feel heard and valued, you maintain good faith. 

Reports of what I was doing impressed my managers. Two years later, I was offered a promotion to go back to SEMCO as the customer service supervisor. This role marked the first time a team reported directly to me.  

I needed to create a positive relationship with my team, so I made an effort always to communicate situations and ask for help in resolving them. The benefit of this approach was that senior managers in sales, manufacturing, quality and engineering took an interest in mentoring me. They willingly answered my questions, and I soon was promoted to sales administration manager, reporting to the national sales manager. 

The new corporate vice president and general manager of SEMCO at the time, Dick Cude, took note of my efforts and wanted to develop my sales capabilities. After some training, he offered me the position of national account manager. Imagine! I’d risen from shipping clerk to national accounts manager and part of the executive team in a little more than five years! 

With the experience gained through my boss’s encouragement, I learned the next important lesson that allowed me to add value while advancing me into the company’s upper echelons: 

3. Create the change. When you learn to dance with change and not be afraid of it, you learn how to sense its arrival in advance to prepare yourself accordingly. You must initiate the process of adjustment that circumstances demand. Sometimes this means that companies need to molt their outer skins the way snakes do. If they don’t transform, they die. Always recognize the need for change — whether adapting to evolving consumer habits or investing in new technology, or merging with a competitor — and you’ll have control over your future. 

Going above and beyond my assigned duties to make an impact, putting the customer first, and looking for ways to create positive change led to achieving results in every position I held. In addition, it earned the confidence of my team and company leaders and paved the way for a meteoric rise in PRC.  

But the real lesson here is that you can learn from my experience and do this, too! 

Entrepreneurs often have a “lightbulb moment,” a sudden realization or insight that drives a business idea into reality. But, for Jessica Rolph, cofounder and CEO of early childhood brand, Lovevery (above, right), her moment of inspiration came as a new mother in what was almost an “anti-lightbulb” moment.

“I remember one morning watching my son pull himself up to this toy and push one button, and suddenly lightbulbs are flashing, a purple cow is popping out, and all of this stuff was happening,” she says. “I asked myself, ‘what was this toy really doing for my connection with my child and his brain development?’”

Rolph threw herself into a search for answers, reading a doctoral thesis on infant brain development, making her own toys, and talking to experts, researchers, and specialists. And in 2017, Rolph and cofounder and Lovevery President Roderick Morris put those answers to work. The pair launched Boise-based Lovevery, a maker of stage-based play essentials for children and multi-channel content for parents. 

The brand has grown rapidly since, with a unique subscription-based business model that supports parents and children throughout the developmental stages of early childhood. It has generated a subscription Annual Recurring Revenue exceeding $90 million. Lovevery’s high-profile fan base includes multi-hyphenates Jessica Alba and Ayesha Curry, models Ashley Graham and Gigi Hadid, and Olympian Allyson Felix. Google Ventures and Chan Zuckerberg are among its investors. Through rapid growth and the COVID-19 pandemic, Lovevery has stayed focused on “helping parents feel confident they are giving their children the very best start in life,” says Rolph. “There’s always purpose in work, and for Lovevery, our purpose” is to be a support system for families.

I spoke with Rolph on a recent summer day as she juggled multiple calls and meetings — a skill honed from nearly 20 years in the entrepreneurial trenches. Here are four takeaways from that conversation:

The Power of Co-creation

A serial entrepreneur, Rolph has cofounded three organizations — Happy Family in 2003 with Shazi Visram; the Climate Collaborative in 2017 with four co-founders; and Lovevery with Morris. “The co-creation process is important to me,” she says. “In my experience, that deep trusting partnership is where so much brilliance can be created. It takes more than one person to build out a vision” for a company.

Three Pillars of Impact

As a builder of businesses with purpose, Rolph grounds decisions on triple-bottom-line factors. At Lovevery, sustainability and climate have fundamentally shaped how products are made. Sustainably harvested wood, organic materials, and recyclable packaging “are table stakes.” And to extend the life of their products, the company also offers a spare parts guarantee, so a lost puzzle piece or missing peg doesn’t mean something becomes landfill. “We want to keep our products in use for as many babies as possible.”

Lovevery is also focused on expanding initiatives around equity and inclusion and education and access so that all families can experience the transformational benefits of Lovevery’s early learning resources.

Fundraise with Purpose

Lovevery’s “A-List” of investors reflects fundraising skills honed from launching multiple companies, as well as a subscription-based business model that has exceptionally high retention rates and addresses early childhood development. Investor interest is also grounded in a sense of shared purpose. “I think there’s a meaning and a purpose around the backers we have,” she says. “Chan Zuckerberg and Reach Capital want to impact early childhood development. Google wants to help shape the future, and children are our future. And Maevron wants to work with disruptors and innovators who are values-based, so I think that is why we’ve been able to connect with them.”

Lovevery also benefited from another source—investors who use philanthropic dollars to make investments, including the ImpactAssets donor advised fund. “They’re some of the most mission-aligned investors we have,” says Rolph. She and her husband, Decker, are also clients of ImpactAssets and have made similar investments in firms. “These are the kinds of investors we want to bring in as we scale. We want to feel like we are all in it together, that there is real respect for what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Research to Reinvent Play

From its beginning, Lovevery has been a research-based company, digging into data and scientific reports rather than just designing eye candy for babies, toddlers, and parents. “Research defines everything we do,” she says. “We’ve deconstructed this notion that a toy has to look a certain way — have flashing lights or be cozy and cute — and think of them as tools for learning. We want to be that link between the research around child development and the parents.”

Rolph’s long-term vision for Lovevery transcends toy making. “We are building a platform for parents to connect with experts around speech development, occupational therapy, and emotional, social development. We want to be a go-to resource for early childhood development research and thereby improve outcomes for all children.”

The pandemic has changed our definition of “impossible.” For all the difficulties, trials, and tribulations, we’ve been able to mobilize at a global level to confront a global threat. We’ve radically changed how we work and how we live, almost overnight. 

 As we focus on restoring our systems, our spirits, and our planet after a marathon of a year, our collective agility under all the crises of 2020 is noteworthy. And now, many innovators, leaders and entrepreneurs are wondering, “What else can we do?” Big, hairy, audacious ideas — on everything from climate change to public policy to societal issues — are surging to the forefront. We have an opportunity to rebuild better, and change is in the air.  

 But… how do you bridge that gulf between vision and reality? I’ve wrestled with this as the leader of a global ag tech company. Our mission is, in no uncertain terms, to change the world by transforming how we grow food and by changing the economics of agriculture, including reducing synthetic pesticide loads globally by 80% in the next 10 years. 

 In the end, I’ve discovered that bringing big ideas to life requires toeing the boundary between two totally different mindsets — unflagging optimism and ruthless pragmatism. This is the heart of the now famous Stockdale Paradox, as Jim Collins detailed in his book Good to Great. Inspired by Admiral James Stockdale, who was held as a POW for seven years during the Vietnam War, it requires never losing sight of your intended outcome, but also staying grounded enough to confront obstacles along the way.

 There’s no magic formula for achieving the “impossible,” but I believe there is a basic process. Here’s what I’ve learned about making my big ideas a reality.

Convince Thyself

As a leader, the most important stakeholder you need to persuade — from concept to execution — is yourself. This starts with a willingness to face your own limiting beliefs. There’s a folksy anecdote about a family whose tradition is to cut off both ends of a roast. A young child asking her parent “why?” leads them to discover that this venerable tradition started not for any culinary reason, but because great grandma had a tiny oven and the roast had to be cut to fit in the oven. The practices got adopted without question and carried down through generations (and larger ovens) for decades until a small child questioned it. 

So many of our industries and systems operate by that pot-roast principle. As Daniel Kahneman explains in his book Thinking Fast and Slow, we overwhelmingly rely on utilitarian, simplistic — and sometimes just plain wrong — assumptions to make sense of our complex world. 

 At my company, we learned how stubborn conventional beliefs can be. As we started looking for natural, organic alternatives to synthetic pesticides, we came up against the (incorrect) perception that natural/biological solutions could not be as effective as synthetic chemicals. Public opinion has finally started to change, but biases aren’t easy to shift. One powerful way we address this is by using measurable, trustworthy data to challenge business-as-usual preconceptions. Equally critical is translating your ideas into concrete and tangible steps. Even if the numbers seem daunting, jot down actionable plans, create timelines, and cost each phase of what needs to happen to bring your idea to life.

Nurture Your Network

You’re not going to change the world by yourself. The adage, “to go fast, go alone; to go far, go together,” is what big, hairy, audacious goals are all about. Rallying support is critical, from having many minds to bounce ideas off, to mustering the momentum to push through difficult times. For entrepreneurs, it’s key to start with your own team. Think of your team’s energy like sunlight through a prism. When it isn’t focused, you get refracted and dispersed — albeit beautiful — light. But when focused, that same light becomes focused energy, so powerful it can cut steel.

 Finding that focus starts with listening to dissent. My team was initially wary when I proposed doubling down and focusing on soil health and climate-smart agriculture. But that showed me something key: I needed to do a better job connecting the dots and framing the ROI, not just for our team but for all audiences. Ultimately, growing stronger, healthier crops requires understanding the stuff in which those crops grow. Soil health is critical to plant health, and critical to our business. Ultimately, creating a safe space for thoughtful critique strengthened our company plans. 

 Of course, your idea must be bigger than you and your company. Once you have your team on board, you’ll need investors and strategic partners to join. Too many entrepreneurs only network when they need something: money, resources, and advice. Big mistake — big ideas require true believers, and those kinds of relationships are not built overnight.

My philosophy is to meet (these days, virtually) with everyone — to the frustration of my support team. For example, meeting with a documentary filmmaker seemed a bit random at first, but his latest film has introduced me to a global community of regenerative agriculture enthusiasts. A diverse network also gives you access to multiple perspectives that will be invaluable for all your big ideas to come.

Embrace the Feedback Paradox

Your ability to listen to and adapt to feedback will dictate your company’s success — but not all feedback is created equal. For example, my company is developing tech to help reclaim carbon in the soil. Initially, we encountered a camp of experts who insisted it simply could not be done, pointing to research suggesting there is no capacity to store much more carbon in soil. Despite contradictory evidence, these kinds of misperceptions can have a chilling effect on even the greatest projects by narrowing minds on what’s possible. 

 My advice to others pursuing their own big, hairy, audacious goals: Take universal outlooks, like “impossible” or “it can’t be done” with a healthy grain of salt. When people say, “it can’t be done,” the real meaning is “it hasn’t been done yet.” At the same time, though, critics often raise valid points. Devil’s advocates can be your best allies if you know how to use their feedback. Often, feedback can lead you down a new line of questioning. Sometimes, yes, your efforts will run into walls and dead ends. But by rejecting “impossible” outright, we end up extending the range of possible — pushing our knowledge and our team’s abilities to new limits.  

Never Give Up

The pandemic has brought profound uncertainty. But we’re also at a point where we don’t have to go back to doing things exactly as we were before. For entrepreneurs and innovators, there is an opportunity to reimagine what our world could look like — what great could look like. Big ideas can help us rebuild in a way that is good for people, the environment and society. Don’t give up on yours.