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Growth Leadership Personal Development

My People-Centric Journey to CFO

By Nintex CFO, Eric Johnson

Growing up, I was always interested in business.  My dad spent his career in the corporate world, eventually becoming the CIO for a Fortune 500 transportation company.  I learned a lot from my father and became interested in business very early.  From my dad I vividly learned a few key lessons:

  • Deliver on your commitments
  • Have passion for your trade
  • Treat people right

I was fortunate to have a great role model who laid a strong foundation for me.  My dad advised that I study finance and accounting as he told me it is the language of business—that in the board room having this knowledge would be invaluable.  He was right. Since my first job, every single role that followed has come from a referral of someone I had worked with before.  I am eternally grateful for the help I received from these individuals and know that it was based on the fact, that in the prior roles, I had delivered on commitments and was viewed as a strong teammate.   

In my early roles, as a financial analyst and then as a finance manager, I focused like a laser on delivering on my commitments and making great relationships at work.  My bosses and other leaders quickly appreciated my execution and because of this I often was given the opportunity to take on extra roles.  At Merant as a Finance Manager, in a turn-around situation, I was part of a team that tripled the value of the company in about two years.  This experience led me to receive a large promotion to the Director of Finance and Accounting for the acquiring company, Serena Software, at age 27.  I quickly went from leading a two person team to a 30 person team.  The pressure was high with several critical projects.  I was fortunate to be able to lead a high performing team and was recognized with the Employee of the Year award in my first year. 

About three years later Serena needed an executive to lead WW Sales Operations.  Given my knowledge of the sales organization and working relationships with key sales leaders I was promoted to VP of WW Sales Ops.  In this role, I learned a ton about selling having the opportunity to spend time with prospects, customers, and our sales teams.  After four years in this role I was ready for a new challenge and joined Jive from a co-worker referral as the VP of Finance and Sales Ops.  We had an outstanding team, took the company public eight months later, and in the two and a half years I was there grew revenue from under $50 million to $150 million.

Throughout my career journey, I have learned to appreciate and fully understand the critical role of ensuring your team members know you care deeply about their personal success and the organization’s success.  Team members give their best when they have strong relationships with their boss, co-workers, and they are bought into the mission of the organization.  After Jive, I joined Nintex as CFO (of course, this too was based on a referral).  Nintex has an outstanding culture, combining innovation, collaboration and respect for the individual.  I am fortunate to be a CFO well before 40 at a successful high-growth software company. 

I credit my success to having had many great bosses and co-workers, combined with my commitment to execution and my concern for building great relationships.

Categories
Growth Personal Development

7 Strategies to Help You Get Through Difficult Times

Life isn’t always easy. We’ve all faced some tough times. However, the way we handle difficult situations can make all the difference.

Many of us make life even more difficult by the way we handle (or choose not to handle) our challenges. This creates additional issues that require time and energy to fix. How you handle trying times also says more about you than you may realize.

Will you let these times bring out the worst in you or the best in you?

Make it easier on yourself and get through difficult times more quickly with these strategies:

 

  1. Remember that you have more options than you realize. Part of what makes challenging times challenging is the belief that you have no options. Feeling powerless is painful. Remind yourself that you still have choices. How you choose to handle the trying situation is because you chose one of those choices available to you.
  2. Pay attention to all of the things that are still good in your life. You may have lost your job, but you still have your health and your family. Maybe you’re getting divorced, but you still have your friends, job, health, and your children. You get the idea. While things may look grim right now, there’s always something to be grateful for.
  • What was the best thing that happened to you last year? Who has made a positive impact on your life? Make a list of at least 20 positive things in your life and then notice how much better you feel. This helps put things into a more manageable perspective.
  • What we feed, grows so if you only focus on what’s not working, you’re giving it more power than it deserves. You’re also putting your focus on the problem versus the solution.7 Strategies to Help You Get Through Difficult Times
  1. Look for solutions. Focusing on your difficulty is natural, but ineffective. In fact, it’s draining and keeps us stuck. Decide that you’re going to find a solution. It doesn’t have to be the perfect solution. Just a decent solution moving you forward. Give yourself the time you need to brainstorm, then take action.
  2. Begin implementing your solution. For example, if you’re experiencing a breakup, betrayal and/or the shattering of trust, your immediate solution might include several steps:
  • Are you safe? Safety and security come first
  • Get support from someone who understands
  • Prioritize needs like getting help with the kids, saying no to extra obligations at work, and delegating extra tasks that aren’t crucial right now
  • Prioritize self-care needs like sleep and appropriate supplementation so you can think more clearly during this challenging time
  1. Do your best to care for those within your care-AND let them know you’re not at your best. You may have to reduce your care and attention a little. But, letting those you love know you’re not at your best lets them know you’re doing the best you can and it’s not about them.
  2. Try practices to release your anxiety. You can feel your anxiety in your body. Imagine opening up a door in the location you feel it and letting it all out. Try deep breathing, meditating, exercising, journaling or whatever feels like it’s helping let that tension out.
  3. Show appreciation when you can. Let everyone know that you appreciate their love and support-especially during this challenging time. Everyone wants to be validated, acknowledged and appreciated.

It’s not a matter of whether or not you’ll face difficult times. It’s only a matter of when. Since challenging times are inevitable, why not deal with them as effectively as possible? Strength, confidence and character never come from avoiding our challenges, they come from moving through them.

 

Dr. Debi
Founder and CEO, The PBT (Post Betrayal Transformation) Institute

7 Strategies to Help You Get Through Difficult Times

 

 

Categories
Growth Personal Development

7 Strategies to Help You Get Through Difficult Times

Life isn’t always easy. We’ve all faced some tough times. However, the way we handle difficult situations can make all the difference.

Many of us make life even more difficult by the way we handle (or choose not to handle) our challenges. This creates additional issues that require time and energy to fix. How you handle trying times also says more about you than you may realize.

Will you let these times bring out the worst in you or the best in you?

Make it easier on yourself and get through difficult times more quickly with these strategies:

 

  1. Remember that you have more options than you realize. Part of what makes challenging times challenging is the belief that you have no options. Feeling powerless is painful. Remind yourself that you still have choices. How you choose to handle the trying situation is because you chose one of those choices available to you.
  2. Pay attention to all of the things that are still good in your life. You may have lost your job, but you still have your health and your family. Maybe you’re getting divorced, but you still have your friends, job, health, and your children. You get the idea. While things may look grim right now, there’s always something to be grateful for.
  • What was the best thing that happened to you last year? Who has made a positive impact on your life? Make a list of at least 20 positive things in your life and then notice how much better you feel. This helps put things into a more manageable perspective.
  • What we feed, grows so if you only focus on what’s not working, you’re giving it more power than it deserves. You’re also putting your focus on the problem versus the solution.7 Strategies to Help You Get Through Difficult Times
  1. Look for solutions. Focusing on your difficulty is natural, but ineffective. In fact, it’s draining and keeps us stuck. Decide that you’re going to find a solution. It doesn’t have to be the perfect solution. Just a decent solution moving you forward. Give yourself the time you need to brainstorm, then take action.
  2. Begin implementing your solution. For example, if you’re experiencing a breakup, betrayal and/or the shattering of trust, your immediate solution might include several steps:
  • Are you safe? Safety and security come first
  • Get support from someone who understands
  • Prioritize needs like getting help with the kids, saying no to extra obligations at work, and delegating extra tasks that aren’t crucial right now
  • Prioritize self-care needs like sleep and appropriate supplementation so you can think more clearly during this challenging time
  1. Do your best to care for those within your care-AND let them know you’re not at your best. You may have to reduce your care and attention a little. But, letting those you love know you’re not at your best lets them know you’re doing the best you can and it’s not about them.
  2. Try practices to release your anxiety. You can feel your anxiety in your body. Imagine opening up a door in the location you feel it and letting it all out. Try deep breathing, meditating, exercising, journaling or whatever feels like it’s helping let that tension out.
  3. Show appreciation when you can. Let everyone know that you appreciate their love and support-especially during this challenging time. Everyone wants to be validated, acknowledged and appreciated.

It’s not a matter of whether or not you’ll face difficult times. It’s only a matter of when. Since challenging times are inevitable, why not deal with them as effectively as possible? Strength, confidence and character never come from avoiding our challenges, they come from moving through them.

 

Dr. Debi
Founder and CEO, The PBT (Post Betrayal Transformation) Institute

7 Strategies to Help You Get Through Difficult Times

 

 

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

Made a Mistake? Here’s How to Begin Fixing It

Whether it was intentional or unintentional, sometimes we simply screw up. 

Own It: 

There’s nothing more frustrating than when someone refuses to take responsibility for their behaviors and actions-especially when those behaviors and actions caused harm. While we’re often so willing to overlook and forgive an error in judgment or a transgression, we tend to hang onto it more tightly when the person who caused the harm refuses to own it. So, instead of blaming, making excuses, getting defensive, ignoring it or assuming the other person doesn’t need an explanation or apology, take responsibility for the part you played (whether it was intentional or unintentional) and own it. Now, in a case of betrayal or shattered trust, it’ll take more than that but you’re off to a good start.)

Use Their Language: 

Gary Chapman, author of The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts explains how there are different ways to communicate love and the secret to a love that lasts is found in communicating in the way your partner wants and needs to hear it. So, when trying to fix a major screw up, the same idea applies. It’s not about communicating your awareness, understanding or apology in a way that works for you but in the way that’ll resonate with the person you hurt. Do they need a kind gesture or a sincere apology? Convey your message in a way that works for them.

Remorse, Empathy, and Restitution: 

According to the dictionary, remorse is deep regret or guilt for a wrong committed. Empathy is the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions. Restitution is an act of restoring or a condition of being restored. When it comes to fixing a major screw up, these three conditions work beautifully together and lay the foundation for forgiveness. Now, sometimes an action can’t be fixed but is there something you can do to show your willingness to right the wrong? Here’s what these three together may sound like: “I’m so terribly sorry (remorse). I understand why you’d be upset. I get it and I’d be upset and hurt if you did that to me (empathy). What can I do to make it up to you?” (restitution).

Learn From It: 

Our actions emerge from our current level of awareness. When we’re coming from a place of fear and lack, our actions will represent that. When we’re in a place of love and abundance, our actions will represent that too. A major screw up is most likely coming from a place of fear and lack. If it’s coming from love and abundance, it was most definitely unintentional. In either case, learn from it to make sure you don’t do it again. Did you act without thinking? Fail to consider the consequences or the other person’s needs? Did an inflated ego or pride cause you to say or do something you now regret? Maybe learning from it and implementing a simple rule like: “Would I like that done to me?” If the answer is yes, do it and if the answer is no, don’t.

Self-Forgiveness and Paying it Forward:

Once you’ve taken responsibility for your actions and behavior, communicated in a way the person you hurt will understand, were remorseful, empathetic, offered restitution and learned from it, there are still a few more things you can do. Forgiveness takes time along with consistent effort to repair the damage done so have patience. The bigger the screw up the longer it can take because the person you hurt may be reeling from the shock, pain or anguish you caused and has to find new footing as they readjust to what they’ve just experienced by your actions. This process is now about them as they learn what role they may have played, what changes they need to make to feel valued, safe and secure again. While they’re working through it, healing, changing and growing as a result of what they’ve just been through, now is also the time to work on self-forgiveness. Sure, you may feel guilt and shame for the pain you caused but that doesn’t help anyone.

Forgiving yourself allows you to use what you’ve learned to grow, become a more awakened and enlightened version of yourself, and use your new awareness to not only ensure it won’t happen again, but to help others by what you now see so clearly. Paying it forward by preventing someone else from experiencing that pain doesn’t mean you didn’t cause the harm, but may just be what’s needed to prevent someone else from causing or being the recipient of a painful experience. Paying it forward also contributes to the greater good and that’s what life is all about.

Dr. Debi
Founder and CEO, The PBT (Post Betrayal Transformation) Institute

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

Made a Mistake? Here’s How to Begin Fixing It

Whether it was intentional or unintentional, sometimes we simply screw up. 

Own It: 

There’s nothing more frustrating than when someone refuses to take responsibility for their behaviors and actions-especially when those behaviors and actions caused harm. While we’re often so willing to overlook and forgive an error in judgment or a transgression, we tend to hang onto it more tightly when the person who caused the harm refuses to own it. So, instead of blaming, making excuses, getting defensive, ignoring it or assuming the other person doesn’t need an explanation or apology, take responsibility for the part you played (whether it was intentional or unintentional) and own it. Now, in a case of betrayal or shattered trust, it’ll take more than that but you’re off to a good start.)

Use Their Language: 

Gary Chapman, author of The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts explains how there are different ways to communicate love and the secret to a love that lasts is found in communicating in the way your partner wants and needs to hear it. So, when trying to fix a major screw up, the same idea applies. It’s not about communicating your awareness, understanding or apology in a way that works for you but in the way that’ll resonate with the person you hurt. Do they need a kind gesture or a sincere apology? Convey your message in a way that works for them.

Remorse, Empathy, and Restitution: 

According to the dictionary, remorse is deep regret or guilt for a wrong committed. Empathy is the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions. Restitution is an act of restoring or a condition of being restored. When it comes to fixing a major screw up, these three conditions work beautifully together and lay the foundation for forgiveness. Now, sometimes an action can’t be fixed but is there something you can do to show your willingness to right the wrong? Here’s what these three together may sound like: “I’m so terribly sorry (remorse). I understand why you’d be upset. I get it and I’d be upset and hurt if you did that to me (empathy). What can I do to make it up to you?” (restitution).

Learn From It: 

Our actions emerge from our current level of awareness. When we’re coming from a place of fear and lack, our actions will represent that. When we’re in a place of love and abundance, our actions will represent that too. A major screw up is most likely coming from a place of fear and lack. If it’s coming from love and abundance, it was most definitely unintentional. In either case, learn from it to make sure you don’t do it again. Did you act without thinking? Fail to consider the consequences or the other person’s needs? Did an inflated ego or pride cause you to say or do something you now regret? Maybe learning from it and implementing a simple rule like: “Would I like that done to me?” If the answer is yes, do it and if the answer is no, don’t.

Self-Forgiveness and Paying it Forward:

Once you’ve taken responsibility for your actions and behavior, communicated in a way the person you hurt will understand, were remorseful, empathetic, offered restitution and learned from it, there are still a few more things you can do. Forgiveness takes time along with consistent effort to repair the damage done so have patience. The bigger the screw up the longer it can take because the person you hurt may be reeling from the shock, pain or anguish you caused and has to find new footing as they readjust to what they’ve just experienced by your actions. This process is now about them as they learn what role they may have played, what changes they need to make to feel valued, safe and secure again. While they’re working through it, healing, changing and growing as a result of what they’ve just been through, now is also the time to work on self-forgiveness. Sure, you may feel guilt and shame for the pain you caused but that doesn’t help anyone.

Forgiving yourself allows you to use what you’ve learned to grow, become a more awakened and enlightened version of yourself, and use your new awareness to not only ensure it won’t happen again, but to help others by what you now see so clearly. Paying it forward by preventing someone else from experiencing that pain doesn’t mean you didn’t cause the harm, but may just be what’s needed to prevent someone else from causing or being the recipient of a painful experience. Paying it forward also contributes to the greater good and that’s what life is all about.

Dr. Debi
Founder and CEO, The PBT (Post Betrayal Transformation) Institute

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Industries Leadership Marketing Personal Development Sales Technology

Virtual Reality and Subliminal Marketing

Virtual reality (VR) has become a reality, as nearly every tech company has created a product that features it, and it is now seen by many as mainstream. Facebook-owned Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, and the HTC Vive are just a few examples of household names that have launched us into the future of the immersive experience.

There is little doubt that VR has the potential to revolutionize the entire entertainment, tourism and even learning industries if audiences adopt the concept of strapping a device to their heads. At the same time, there will be those who feel instantly compelled to compare the technology to such fads as the first 3D television.

However, if the masses embrace VR as predicted, should we be concerned that this completely immersive experience could lead us once again down the dark road of sinister subliminal advertising?

Applied to VR equipment and other, similar technology, subliminal advertising has the increasing capability of wielding a much deeper impact on the unknowing user. given the vast, immersive characteristics of the VR environment. Consider one concept we’ve seen, where music apps and a smartwatch claim to play subliminal messages at a frequency overlaying music that cannot be detected by the ear, but only by the subconscious brain. This seemingly harmless idea could be incredibly valuable to savvy advertising agencies, as well as to candidates running for office.

Removing the everyday distractions of modern life and locking consumers away in an entirely immersive experience is every marketer’s dream — so before “plugging in,” we should all consider the potential implications of the use of this unregulated technology to manipulate us.

When we take a closer look at the advertising that surrounds us, it’s obvious that subliminal messages are real and powerful, as seen in one 2015 example created by a Brazilian advertising agency. The advertisers placed a billboard of people yawning at a busy metro station in Sao Paulo. This “contagious billboard” was fitted with a motion sensor that automatically detected when commuters were passing by and then displayed a video of somebody yawning.

The campaign aimed to convince passers-by that they were tired by using infectious yawning. The billboard followed the yawning video with this message: “Did you yawn, too? Time for coffee!” If it is possible to convince busy commuters to buy coffee by broadcasting a subliminal message, can you imagine the power potentially wielded within an immersive virtual reality experience that is completely free from distraction?

The gathering of data from our online purchases already allows subtle messaging for influential purposes, so the adverts that pop up and the messages we receive are certainly no accident or coincidence. Everywhere we turn, we are unwittingly subjected to product placements in video games and movies, but we congratulate ourselves on being able to see the messages and resist their pull. However, would we be as resistant to such messages if they appeared while we were completely immersed in virtual reality?

There is an enormous responsibility for any advertising agency considering bringing any form of advertising or marketing to virtual reality. If the consumer experience is in any way tainted by the out-of-date and detested marketing messages from our past, consumers will fail even to adopt the medium.

The main problem is that the current method of advertising is broken, and billions of dollars are wasted on ads that are either not seen or deemed irrelevant to a consumer’s lifestyle. This change in customer behavior is ushering in a new era of marketing called “targeted display advertising” (TDA) that uses consumers’ own data to deliver personalized ads that resonate with them.

Organizations finally have a handle on big data, and they will be able to leverage our mobile devices to learn what we’re interested in even before we clearly know ourselves, based solely on our browsing histories.

As we drift between devices and screens, we have surrounded ourselves with wave of white noise that has become a frustrating obstacle for any advertiser striving to stand out amongst all the distractions. However, a headset that removes any form of outside interruption by pumping sound into a consumer’s ears and preventing his or her eyes from wandering could make subliminal messaging hard to avoid.

Before becoming paranoid about what’s to come, it is important to understand how this technology can also be used for the greater good, too.

Virtual reality can make a positive difference in our lives by opening up fantastic opportunities for learning, rehabilitation, teaching and tourism. But I would like to see more conversations and debates about how subliminal marketing messages should be used in that environment, to help solve any problems before they occur.

What are your thoughts on the immersive experience virtual reality delivers to audiences, and about the benefits and downsides of its being leveraged to deliver subliminal messaging?

Categories
Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development

Employee Retention: What Employees Want: Pillar #1 Clear Goals

Employee Retention: What Employees Want: Pillar #1 Clear Goals from Tina Greenbaum on Vimeo.

This is the first in the series about Employee Retention: What Employees Want. We’re talking about Clear Goals – both in the direction you’re going as an individual employee and the direction of the company.

To view the rest of the series on Vimeo as it is published, click here.

Categories
Best Practices Growth Industries Management Personal Development

Pay Attention to Peer and Partner Departments

What are you doing to pay attention to other departments? That’s right. In today’s organizations, we have so many different business models, we have matrix organizations. Whereas a leader you might have virtual relationships with you, that don’t have a direct line to you but maybe they have responsibilities that impact your team. Or maybe you have other departments who have to get work done before you can touch it in order for you to proceed. We need to pay attention to other departments. So, today, what I would like to consider is how do we have that profession attention commitment to other departments?

The first step is an obvious one and that’s about building relationships. Now, building relationships sounds so easy but how are you doing it? Are you inviting people to your team meeting so that they can get an insight into what your team’s talking about? Are you shadowing people to understand what’s going on in their business?

One of my clients is a major media company, and they have an advertising and sales decision. Now in advertising and ad is called a “spot”, so what I was able to do was to follow a spot. Like a day in the life of a spot from the moment they sold the ad to the client all the way through until it was placed on television. What as fascinating about that was working with all the different departments to understand how everything impacts something else.

When was the last time you developed department relationships by reviewing end-to-end processes for efficiencies? What relationships could grow? What policies could you update?

The first step in truly paying attention to other departments is build relationships. This can often happen through things like affinity groups. Another one of my clients has major affinity groups for all kinds of different reasons that people meet. Can you build relationships through affinity groups?

The second strategy is to share success. That’s right. So what does that mean? Understanding objectives of other departments is really important because you can know how to celebrate when they get some great things happening. But in the same way, if another department has an implication, has and impact is probably a better word, on what you do, then share with them when that goes well. Share the successes and not just the challenges. Too often we only reach out to another department when somethings gone wrong.

Wouldn’t it be cool to proactively pay attention to celebrate success together? Share new stories, share customer experiences, testimonials, emails that are great. Share success stories with other departments, so they have a greater appreciation of what they’re doing and how it impacts you and vice versa.

The third strategy is to invite collaboration. When you have someone who comes into your team from another department, they have a very different perspective. They might look at the world more creatively. They might have a great idea so ask for their input, encourage them to share, openly, about anything they see that might improve the way you do things, might enhance the client experience.

I have one client where they do regular Lunch and Learns for other departments. It’s a great way for them to meet other people, to share success stories about what’s going on but also, to be able to collaborate on how they can perform better as a company overall.

Three ways that you can pay attention to other departments. Build relationships, share success and invite collaboration. What would you add?

You see I believe that when we truly pay attention to others, attention comes back over and repeatedly. You’ve heard me say it before and in our book, “Attention Pays”, that when you pay attention, attention pays, right?

What are some additional ways that you can really pay professional attention and commit to other departments? Other departments impact your success as a leader. Like I said, “When you pay attention, attention pays.”