Category: career

career, change, experience, family, friendship, love, relationships, travel
Christa Avampato

“Man can touch more than he can grasp.” ~ Gabriel Marcel

We have a very short time on this planet. While we might think that 80 or 90 years sounds like such a long time, in reality it is the bat of an eye when considering the length of history. In our lifetimes, we’ll see and take part in many different experiences with many different people in many different places. And while we might have the instinct to take part in any and every way that we can, we just can’t. We have to choose where and how and on whom to spend our time and energy.

Where will we have the most impact? Where will we find the most joy? Do we care about life-long learning or is it connection with others that is most important to us? These types of questions are critical for us to consider and answer when we think about what we’d like to do with our time here.

There are millions of ways for us to make a difference – there are so many places, people, and things that will somehow enter our lives. The only question we really have to answer is, “which experiences we will witness and let pass and which are the ones that are we will hang onto for longer than a moment?”

career, change, choices, family, friendship, movie, priorities

My Year of Hopefulness – 10 Items or Less

Christa Avampato

Phil Terry recommended the movie 10 Items or Less on his Facebook page. It is one of those exceptional indie films that slipped by me and I am glad Phil encouraged his friends to see it. In the movie, the two main characters discuss 10 items or less of things they love, hate, can’t do without, etc.

It’s a poignant and revealing premise. In a few short words, these lists can get at the heart of what’s really important to you. So here are my 3 lists of 10 items or less: things I love, things I need to do in my life, and impacts I’d like to have.

Things I love to do
Write
Develop new business ideas
Research
Read
Meet new people
Travel
Volunteer
Organize

Things I need to do in my life
Start my own business
Own the place where I live
Write and publish books
Fall in love for life
Travel a lot
Learn to play an instrument well

Impacts I’d like to have
Live an extraordinary life
Help other people live extraordinary lives
Help other people start their own businesses so they can be independent and create their own lives on their own terms
Further the cause of creativity and innovation

career, charity, community, community service, family, philanthropy, volunteer, women

My Year of Hopefulness – Women in Need

Christa Avampato

Yesterday I participated in an event at work as part of my women’s networking group. We provided workshops, some career coaching, and a healthy dose of encouragement to women who are in homeless shelters, unemployed, and who need a hand up in life. My networking group goes by the acronym WIN (Women’s Integration Network).

I had volunteered to have a 1-on-1 lunch with one of the women who were visiting our office for the day. I was paired up with a woman who had an 11 year old daughter. Married, both she and her husband have been unemployed for some time. No college education, with a goal of being a social worker. We were joined by another woman who didn’t have a lunch buddy. She had an 11 year old brother she was taking care of as well as a 1 year old daughter. She lives in a homeless shelter and began taking care of her brother after her mother had a nervous break-down. The father of her child is incarcerated, out of the picture. She hasn’t had work in a while either, citing affordable and hard-to-come-by childcare as a major obstacle. She wants to go to school to be a nurse. Both are 25 years old.

What was I going to say to these women? How could I relate? How could I even begin to understand how difficult it is for them to just get up out of bed in the morning?

And then one of the women, the one who wants to be a nurse, said to me “Your name tag – you’re from Women in Need.” (Women In Need is the community group they belong to that helps these women find jobs, get money for school, and provides emotional support.)

“No, I work here in this office building,” I replied.

“But your name tag says – WIN. That stands for Women in Need.”

“Oh! That’s also the acronym for our internal networking group here at this company. It stands for Women’s Integration Network.”

And with that simple revelation, I realized these women were not very different from me at all. My mom raised by sister, brother, and I on her own, no college education. We struggled with food and housing and health insurance. We had trouble keeping the lights and the heat on. Though that was many years ago, it’s still there in me. All of it. I remember being hungry and afraid and hopeless. I remember having dreams that seemed unlikely, foolish, and impossibly out of reach.

I told them about putting myself through school twice, about my mom, about the role of education in my life and the advantages it provided to me. I smiled and laughed and asked them about their kids and their daily lives. I listened to them talk about their frustrations and hopes. And all it took was time – that’s all it cost it me.

Through that lunch, I realized that there is a lot I can offer in these tough times, a lot of people I can help to live happier, healthier, more successful lives. And it doesn’t involve any kind of extraordinary act. All it takes is me sitting down with people who are down and out, and telling them about my life and how I made it better, how so many people helped me along the way.

It’s really just a way to pay forward all the blessings I have been fortunate enough to encounter. The people who helped me (my mom, my teachers, guidance counselors, some of my bosses, friends, authors, speakers, and the list goes on) were angels, and without them I am certain that I would have failed. This current recession provides us with an incredible opportunity to give and participate. It gives us a chance to repay the kindnesses we’ve witnessed.

business, career, change, friendship, work

My Year of Hopefulness – Be the Change

Christa Avampato

I went to the Metropolitan Opera with my friend, Allan. Prior to the show, we met at the B&N on 66th Street to grab some coffee and talk about a business project he’s working on. As I was standing in line, I saw a mug merchandised with that familiar saying by Gandhi “Be the Change You Wish to See in the World”. I’ve seen it a million times before on every conceivable piece of merchandise from coffee mugs to calendars to t-shirt to bumper stickers. It’s published so often that it’s almost become a cliche.

So how about we take that saying and use as a discussion starter for business? We use it so often when talking about social issues, politics, the general act of living and playing a part in our communities. Now put yourself in your boss’s shoes or your CEO’s shoes. What is that you’d like to see your company do or say or be? And can you take those ideas and either transform your workplace or start your own company around those principles?

Here are the changes I’d like to see in the (business) world and ones I can be:
1.) A constant champion for new ideas, the crazier the better
2.) An empathic listener of all stakeholders that have anything to do with my business
3.) A cheerleader for those I know who are too afraid, nervous, shy, or embarrassed to speak up for themselves
4.) A constant confidence booster
5.) Someone who cares, all day, everyday
6.) Someone who shuts down negativity, know-it-alls, hecklers, bullies, self-proclaimed “idea guys”, and other unsavory characters who kill innovation and creativity with their brash, loud-mouth personalities
7.) A connector, especially of those parties who seem disparate on the surface
8.) Committed, compassionate, concerned, open-minded who believes a discussion and a promise are far more important and useful than hours, day, and weeks spent building powerpoint slides and graphs made from colorful shapes
9.) Organized as a web rather than a pyramid

That’s not a bad list. And it’s not impossible to accomplish either. Best of all, business, companies, and stakeholders would be a lot better off if the world of commerce had these qualities in abundance.

business, Business Week, career, entrepreneurship, Jack Welch, Suzy Welch

My Year of Hopefulness – advice for MBAs still on the hunt

Christa Avampato

I can’t tell you how often I shake my head at my own dumb luck. I started business school in 2005 for several very simple reasons:

1) I knew that I wanted to be a stellar performer in the nonprofit industry. Many of the donors that I worked with were from the business world and I wanted to understand their language, the circumstances they faced at their companies, and the way their minds worked.

2) I was 29, I wanted a graduate degree, and figured if I didn’t go then, I may not go at all.

3) I wanted to live an extraordinary life and I wanted to help other people do the same. Understanding our commerce and financial systems inside and out seemed like a very efficient way to accomplish both of those things. Money, and heart, make the world go ’round.

I graduated in 2007, when it seemed that nothing could stop our professional lives from zooming to the top of the charts. I was blessed to be graduating in a very strong economy and alums I spoke to said I should thank my lucky stars. I did.

And then 6 months later, my beliefs, and everyone else’s for that matter, about the economy were turned on their heads. The worst recession since the Great Depression. I have great empathy for fellow b-school grads who graduated the year after me, and more still for those set to graduate next month. You are facing extraordinary circumstances; we all are.

Today, I read Jack and Suzy Welch’s column in Business Week and they see three possible avenues for newly minted MBAs. Quite frankly, their advice applies to everyone in the job market at the moment and it’s very worthy of repeating:

1) Settle, work like heck, and learn to love it.
If you’re looking for a new job, or thinking of moving on from where you are now, you might have to settle for a lower title, a new industry, slightly different job responsibilities, or less money than you had originally planned for. And that’s okay. Make sure it’s work you enjoy and that strategically you’ll be poised to leverage it going forward into a position that is a better long-term match for you.

2) Put yourself out there full throttle. Decice the three dream companies or dream people you’d like to work for. Write to them, email them, call them and ask for five minutes of their time. Then prepare for that five minutes more thoroughly than you’ve ever prepared for anything in your life!

3) Go it alone, sort of. Sit down and make a list of the three things you’re really good at and that you love doing. Then imagine the types of companies you could start with those skills. If you need to fill in some gaps, recruit a friend or colleague who has those attributes and see if you can make a go of it. In an earlier column, the Welch’s said that this is the BEST time to start a company if you can deliver more value for less money than your competition.

Building on this advice, I’d say try two of the three. Actually, I think you should do all three, and here’s why:

1.) Settle and like it. When I was 22 and just graduated from college, I loved theatre. I still do. In a lot of ways my work in the arts saved my life. I wanted very much to work in that industry so on my mother’s suggestion, I wrote to every theatre company in NYC and asked them to hire me. I was willing to do anything from fetching coffee to taking messages to running errands. The Roundabout Theatre Company hired me as a customer service rep for $10 an hour and from there I built a career in that industry for 6 years. It was a great time in my life and taught me that a settle (strategically) and love it plan can and does work.

2.) Writing to people – My friend, Richard, has encouraged me for some time now to write to every person I admire that I’d ever like to have some type of working relationship with. He’s relentless about repeating this advice to me. Case in point – I love the work that HopeLab does. They build video games for young people managing critical illnesses. I wrote them a letter, they responded, and I hopped on a plane to visit them in the hopes that some day down the line the time will be right for us to work together on some project.

3.) Do your own thing – we should all be working on doing our own thing! If this downturn has made me realize anything it’s that I want to be in control of my career. I no longer want to just hand it over to someone else to evaluate and grow. Going forward, I’d always like to have my own side projects that I’m working on, and someday one of those side projects just might be a killer idea that I can build a whole business from.

In short, we all have choices and options. Even in these grim, tough times, we can all find a way to make ourselves useful, and with all the uncertainty a multi-pronged plan might just be the safest thing we can do.

career, economy, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship

My Year of Hopefulness – Are you a social entrepreneur?

Christa Avampato

The core psychology of a social entrepreneur is someone who cannot come to rest, in a very deep sense, until he or she has changed the pattern in an area of social concern all across society. –Bill Drayton, Founder of Ashoka

This morning on Daily Good, an on-line publication devoted to spreading good news, the topic is social entrepreneurship. What makes these people tick? The post this morning may help us all identify whether or not this type of entrepreneurship is the right one for us. Simply stated, social entrepreneurs found a business (often for-profit) that addresses a societal concern.

Could you be a social entrepreneur? Could your business or business idea be a social enterprise?

A personality checklist:
1.) Unable to come to rest until a cause you are passionate about is accomplished
2.) Belief that profit and social good are on equal footing
3.) Relationship builder
4.) Ability to connect the dots between experiences that seem disparate on the surface
5.) Persuade and inspire people to think differently

A business-cause checklist:
1.) As your company grows, do the economics and the cause support one another?
2.) Does the core business activity profoundly address the social cause it was founded to solve?
3.) Are both financial and social gains measurable in your business?

The interest in and passion for social entrepreneurship is growing quickly. One upside to this economy, is that people are being encouraged to think more creatively about how they want their lives to look and what they want to accomplish. After seeing the failings and flailings of many large corporations, many people are beginning to consider trading in their lives whiling away in grey cubicles for a chance to be entrepreneurs in charge of their own careers. And they’d like that effort to bring them financial gain and some improvements to the world around them.

career, change, Examiner

Comings and Going in Business

Christa Avampato

“I make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes.” ~ Sara Teasdale

I saw this quote this morning on Twitter and it has had me thinking all day about what we value and discount in our lives.

We do this with our jobs and careers all the time. Why isn’t this job or project go my way after I did so much work and put in so much time and effort? And then these little blessings show up in our work lives, a new project, a new contact, a new job opportunity, and we often don’t pause to give thanks nor does that surprise appearance of someone or something cause us an extensive period of joy and happiness. How do we re-balance ourselves in line with Sara Teasdale’s sentiment?

To read the full article, click here.

books, business, career, decision-making, Jack Welch

My Year of Hopefulness – Suzy Welch’s 10-10-10 principle

Christa Avampato

Suzy Welch was on the Today Show this morning promoting her new book about her never-fail operating principle – 10-10-10. With decisions, consider how your choice will effect your life 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years from now. It’s such a deceptively simple rule of thumb, that it made me think why I hadn’t thought of it myself – always the sign that something is a good idea.

Let’s consider an example to see how 10-10-10 works.

What if you’re thinking of leaving your current job and have been offered a position at a new company:

10 minutes – how will you feel about giving your notice at your current position? How will you feel about not seeing your current co-workers everyday? Do you feel like you would be leaving important work unfinished that you’d like to add to your portfolio? How does this jump contribute to your long-term plan? How do you feel about getting up every morning and going to this new job?

10 months – settled in to your new position, how does this new experience shape your overall career outlook? Your outlook on your life in general? Did you have to take a pay cut or get a pay raise for your job? How has your new financial situation changed your life, if at all? Could you experience any buyer’s remorse? What have your gained through the new experiences and projects in your new position?

10 years – how do you imagine the position you are considering will effect your life 10 years down the line? What contacts and skills did it give you that effected your long-term career goals?

The questions for each phase are endless. Suzy Welch recommends doing a values self assessment first to identify what’s most important to you. That will help you compile the questions at each phase that are relevant to you.

When doing the value self-assessment, ask the big questions: do you care most about financial independence and financial security? Is your goal to live a life of adventure? Do you care most about collecting good stories and meeting interesting people? Do you want to start your own business? Is travel important to you? Do you want to be a life-longer learner or an expert in a specific field.

By taking the long-view, the action steps for the near-term become much clearer. It’s all about perspective. How do you want to design your life?

business, career, corporation, nonprofit, philanthropy

My Year of Hopefulness – Lend a Hand with What You’ve Got

Christa Avampato

Corporate America is an unpleasant place to be lately. People are scared. They don’t trust anyone. They’re worried about their futures. And it’s understandable.

Today, I began a group pro-bono project for a nonprofit that my company supports on a very large scale through our philanthropy department. I am thrilled that I can combine my business skills and my experience in nonprofit for this project. And I can meet some new people from my company from completely different business units.

What’s most interesting is that the pro-bono project is about helping the national headquarters of the nonprofit more effectively communicate and develop marketing plans with the regional offices. It’s the same issue that every large company struggles with – how do you break through the silos? How do you share best practices? How do you effectively collaborate, learn, and share across geographies and cultures?

While this nonprofit is thrilled to have us work on this project, my co-workers are all grateful for the opportunity to take what we learn on this project and apply it to our own company. Our company needs to up the morale of the staff and provide networking opportunities; the nonprofit needs assistance that they can’t afford to pay consultants for. We’re all lending what we’ve got to help one another. It’s a win all the way around. Can you imagine how many more of these amazing opportunities are out there, just waiting to be discovered, to creatively collaborate in ways that make a difference in the world?

business, Business Week, career, economy, growth

My Year of Hopefulness – The Blessing and Curse of Growth

Christa Avampato

In BusinessWeek this week, there’s a great one page article about The Peter Principle, a book whose basic premise is that the workplace does strange things to people. It was the precursor to The Office, Office Space, and the Dilbert comic strip. We laugh because the material is funny, and it’s funny because it’s all too familiar to all of us.

The main conclusion of The Peter Principle is one of my favorite quotes that I repeat so often as I read the paper these days or hear my friends talk about their latest work travails: In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. And while it’s a bold statement, it’s also completely logical. We are pushed so hard to claw our way up as high as we can go that we risk toppling over to the other side of the tipping point that represents exactly where we optimally operate.

Here’s a great example: A friend of mine has a boss who is brilliant at my friend’s job, which she used to have. The boss is a fantastic individual contributor, very detail-oriented, strong follow-through, enjoys rolling up her sleeves, and pitching in wherever she’s needed. These are perfect skills and interests if you have my friend’s job. They aren’t good if you’re her boss. Her boss has no interest in developing people, managing others, or taking a step back and distributing work among the team members. She likes implementation and has no interest (or skill) in strategy.

Such a classic case: My friend’s boss was excellent at her job, and because she did so well they promoted her – right into the completely wrong type of role. We see this all the time at so many companies. It’s all about growth – as much of it as we can get as quickly as possible. As a result, a lot of people, good, talented people in just the right place, end up being moved to a position where they have no aptitude or interest. All for the sake of “growth”.

You’d think we’d learn our lesson: companies grew too big, people’s financial ambitions grew too big, we lived beyond our means for so many years, housing prices and demand for real estate sky-rocketed causing bidding wars. In so many aspects our economy grew so big that it was bloated, and as a result, a correcting period has begun that has destroyed all of the growth we’ve experienced the last decade. So what good was the growth at all?

Here’s a little bit of advice that I try to remember every day and it has helped me tremendously in my career: keep you eyes on your strengths, your interests, and your goals. Not your company’s. Not your boss’s, or your friends’, or your family’s. Yours. For example, I enjoy managing large, cross-functional teams that work on complex, multi-faceted problems. I like making things, tangible new products that answer an unmet need, and I’d like to help people live extraordinary lives through the work that I do. Pretty simple to state, hard to keep doing. There are always distractions, always people who want you to stop doing what you’re good at and what you love, and do something you aren’t so great at. Growth in new areas has its benefits, though should not be undertaken at the expense of your aptitudes and happiness. Why rise to a level of incompetence and fail when you can do what you love and are good at and succeed? Growth has its rewards, but it can, and often does, come with a very heft price tag.