Overcome Adversity
by Debi Davis, founder and president of Fit America, author,
and contributor to Women who Win at Work

Most of us do not really know what heights we are capable of achieving until we run out of the option to simply keep coasting through life with blinders on. There comes a turning point in times of adversity when you must make the decision to either overcome problems, or let problems overcome you. Maintaining the knowledge and belief in your ability to be an ‘over-comer’ provides its own strength and will usually put a new perspective on the challenge. Here is what I’ve learned in changing my life at a crucial point:

See the problem for what it is. No more, and no less. Challenges are difficult enough without blowing them out of proportion.

Keep emotions out of the equation. Emotions get in the way of problem-solving. To be effective in your decision making, you need to act wisely and with facts, not feelings.

Identify ‘worst case’ and ‘best case’ scenarios. When you identify the worst thing that can happen in a situation, it will give you the power to move forward and away from any undesired result.

Create a plan of action. What must take place in order to be assured your ‘worst case’ scenario is not a reality? What challenges need to be overcome for your ‘best case’ outcome to be achieved? Answer these and begin.

Learning that you can take control of your own destiny is a very empowering
realization. It makes you recognize many attributes you may have hidden and repressed over the years. Adversity, with all its upset and frustrations, can be a gift that helps you see what an amazing and courageous individual you are. Embrace that gift. When you do, life becomes limitless.

See other contributions from Debi Davis:
Idea Incubator #8: “Master the Things to Do List”

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

Facing fears means identifying them. Once this is accomplished, the fear shrinks. But humans, with infinite potential, uncover new ones. When viewed as creative tools, the unknown (and the questions that result) become rudders—they push towards the truly original.

No one understands the relationship between fears and creativity more than Gail McMeekin. She contributes this exploration into the wilderness of idea-making:

Face Your Fears by Gail McMeekin
Fear blocks creativity because it keeps you from exploring. Fear of failure keeps you from an experimental mindset where failure is expected as new information. Fear of being wrong or criticized clips your creative wings. Therefore you learn to play it safe, cease taking risks, and stop the flow of creative solutions. However, while most people are educated in a school system that advocates one right answer, today’s workplace requires you to invoke new answers. The entrepreneurial mind innovates and makes up solutions. When you face your fears, you can advance beyond them. What frightens you most about expressing your creativity? Write down these perceptions so you can see them:

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Evaluate the past. What creative traumas still hold power over you? What person(s) criticized your ideas and actions? How did you react? What do you think now?

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Tackle your internal critic. What do you fear from this nagging voice—your own or others?

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Acknowledge your fear. Fear is a component of risk and risking is essential to creativity. All writers and artists and business people acknowledge fear. You will never be free of it but you can minimize it and strategize around it or make it work for you as a way to keep growing.

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Stay true to your self. Whenever you accomplish something, you become vulnerable to criticism. Leaders are often controversial and therefore targets for someone’s arrow. Are you living your life for them or for yourself?

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Find antidotes for fears. Mentors, support groups, classes, coaches, readings, etc. all offer support systems which can undo demons from the past. Figure out what solutions will most help your fear stay in the background where
it belongs.

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Build a nurturing environment. Where do you do your best thinking? Where does your inner self feel most daring and alive?

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Subtract what interferes. Excavate your creative saboteurs. Examine patterns in the things, people, places, activities, or thoughts that diminish your creative energy. From this list, what can you remove to free up more creative space?

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Restructure your lifestyle and diligently cultivate your intuitive knowledge, nurturing its creative offshoots. Enjoy the new and exciting adventures that will result.

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Your intuition is a valuable asset; you can’t afford to have it compromised by clutter, other people’s needs, or busyness. Even if you only find time to write in your journal or sit quietly for fifteen minutes a day, you are connecting with your intuition. Preserve and use these messages and insights.

See more contributions from Gail:
[Returning to one of the best writers on creativity (see my previous blog), Gail McMeekin, says]
“The Focus of Variety” http://wisdomofwork.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/idea-incubator-16-the-focus-of-variety/

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

All of the women who excel in work have confidence derived from passion. Marti Barletta understands how to build this make-it or break-it quality.

Confidence Is as Confidence Does by Martha Barletta, contributor to Women who Win at Work

Confidence comes naturally if you believe in what you do. But when starting out, few have this advantage. Yet you have to be outstanding to get ahead because there are not enough promotions for everyone. Even so, if you act like you believe in yourself more than you do, you can actually grow to be more confident! Men are taught to act more assured than they are. Any sign of lacking is a sign of weakness—they follow the “fake it till you make it” concept. It even becomes circular: confidence grows with practice and, most importantly, with conviction. Then there comes a point where you break through your self-doubts and feel as confident as you act. Here are ideas to accelerate this process:

Act how you want to be treated. The way you act and the way you are treated are interwoven. The way you act is sometimes the way you think of yourself, and sometimes not. Women prefer to act authentically. But you aren’t going to be treated the way you want if you don’t act that way first.

Express your ideas decisively. Don’t reveal more than necessary. When a stressed client asks a male executive to make a deadline, the executive exclaims, “we can absolutely get it done!” The woman executive exclaims, “Well, I’m not sure. It depends—perhaps if we prioritize and get it figured out in stages.” She sees her response as honest and the man’s response as dishonest. The client perceives her response as saying, “No, we can’t make the deadline.” Perhaps once the male executive gets into the project, he returns with concessions and priorities. Then he is perceived as helpful. His attitude says, “I will manage the situation,” and does not expose his uncertainties. People (particularly men) lose faith in women because they perceive her form of honesty as being ineffective and undependable. Pat Heim coined how women are hurt by being “compulsively confessional.”

Build from your resources. Confidence grows with opportunity and experience. When young, insecurities and doubts inhibit decisions. Conviction may or may not be self-generated. It might come from a mentor’s suggestion. It might come from rising to an unexpected challenge or opportunity (such as heading a spin-off business). It might come because someone else believes that you can go off into new challenges. Such advice can be career transforming!

See other contributions from Marti Barletta:
“Ignite Creative Collaboration”
Marti’s website

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

Attitude, like any skill, needs tools. Creating an optimistic structure means anchoring to a bedrock of dependable techniques. Turning to my library, I’ve collected these words of wisdom to answer:

How can we maintain a winning attitude?

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“You can always find a different way to go about getting what you want. Keep an open mind and look for new approaches. It is not about how to slice up the pie (convince) or how to expand the pie (collaborate). It’s about baking cakes instead of pies, or buying them instead of baking them yourself.”
Lee E. Miller and Jessica Miller , A Woman’s Guide to Successful Negotiating

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“Successful women master the art of changing their minds. It’s not only a prerogative, it’s often necessary. By changing your thinking, you change your life.”
Pamela Gilberd, The Eleven Commandments of Wildly Successful Women

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“Now that we’re grown-ups—out in the world with families to manage, businesses to run, competitors to vanquish, and battles to win—playing it small isn’t safe; it’s a threat to our happiness, our sense of fulfillment, our very purpose for being here.”
Deborah Rosado Shaw, Dream Big!

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“Act like an entrepreneur. Even if you are working within an organization, work hard to run it as efficiently as if you owned it.”
Sharon K. Young, as quoted by Dr. Margot B. Weinstein, 7 Steps to Find Your Perfect Career

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“If you want to get noticed by the right people, strut your stuff. Show up at places where your presence will remind the people who matter that you’re definitely in the mix. Wear something fantastic and introduce (or reintroduce) yourself to anyone in a position to change your destiny.”
Kate White, 9 Secrets of Women Who Get Everything They Want

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“Move your team toward productive action by getting them to use the power of their communications—every ad, every speech, every retail outlet, every meeting, every press release, every customer meeting—as a chance to get your story out to the world.”
Sandra Spataro and Keith Yamashita, Unstuck

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“Strive for 80% perfection. The difference between 80% and 100% won’t be noticed by most people but will buy you more time to shift to other important tasks.”
Lois P. Frankel, Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office

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“Think of business success as a process, not as something that happens overnight. Create a monthly strategy, weekly goals, and a daily action plan to build momentum.”
Marcia Rosen, The Woman’s Business Therapist

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Keeping a positive attitude in the good times is easy. The test comes during trying times like economic depression.

Ability combined with a bad attitude will lose against a competitor with less ability but a great attitude, especially in situations where the highest quality is not demanded. Only those with genius-level talent can afford to be difficult to get along with. Most of us rely on building great working relationships and environments to produce our best. Our attitude is what creates our reality. Any business environment or career can be improved by a great attitude! Charm
is contagious and attracts a qualified and complimentary workforce. Cheerfulness and optimism keep them committed through the inevitable ups and downs of business.

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

In researching the best women business authors, I came upon these encouraging words.* Tie priorities to strengths with ideas from those who know best:

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“You lose power when you are involved in activities not connected to your passion. Pause to ensure that your priorities are in order. Optimize talents by focusing on your strengths and neutralizing your weaknesses. If you aren’t clear about who you are and what you want, no one else will be either.”
—Trudy Bourgeois, Her Corner Office

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“When you see the higher service in your work, you will bring a spiritual dimension, understanding, appreciation, and code of ethics to what you do at work every single day!”
—Susan and Larry Terkel, Small Change

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“Set up a business plan for your life. A plan forces you to think about what you truly want. Write a personal plan based on the segments of a traditional one.”
—Aliza Sherman, Power Tools for Women in Business

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“There are times when it is helpful to set goals, and other times when it is best to let go for a while and just see where life takes you. Goals help us gain clarity, inspiration, and focus. However, they can also work against us if we hold onto them too tightly, or try too hard to make them happen. Let the higher creative power handle the details and your inner guidance show you the way.”
—Shakti Gawain, Creating True Prosperity

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“Make sure you have at least one task or appointment each day that moves you toward a bigger goal, or else the scenery will never change.”
—Liz Davenport, Order from Chaos: a 6-Step Plan for Organizing Yourself, Your Office, and Your Life

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“The person who has built on her wins has mastered the art of training, strategy, and getting the right people in her corner. She forms fight plans and sticks with them. After every risk, she honestly evaluates. A narrow win affords a chance to reevaluate and improve for the next bout.”
—Jackie Kallen, Hit Me with Your Best Shot

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“Work on what is important and get that perfect. Only by doing or creating significant work can women break the mold of being nurturers who can always be counted on for the grunt work.”
—Janice Reals Ellig and William J. Morin, What Every Successful Woman Knows

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“Leadership in time management requires you to:
(1) figure out what matters most,
(2) empower yourself and others to accomplish those important objectives,
(3) remove obstacles to their accomplishment, and
(4) eliminate procrastination. Ask, ‘what ideas, projects, and programs—if implemented now—would significantly impact the profitability or productivity of my staff or organization!”
—Laura Stack, Leave the Office Earlier

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Every morning I review priorities. Fearing decisions that waste time, create detours, or avoid the most pressing tasks are very easy traps to fall into. Especially when working alone. Partnership offers a continuous reality-check prior to committing resources in the wrong directions. However, pioneering publishing initiatives, I am bound to discover what does not work in amongst what does. Having no patience for what doesn’t, I can only hope such words of wisdom help you in your initiatives.

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

Create your business to fit like a great suit. Although you serve a market, you started your own business because you wanted to be in the driver’s seat. Make it work for you.

My article in Women Entrepreneur, “Serial Entrepreneurs Reveal Insights,” features eight exemplary entrepreneurs who reveal wisdom earned. Each has leadership experience through running many organizations.

“Serial” entrepreneurs all agree that a drive for ownership is inherent, not taught. Having it, however, can be negative or positive. Negatively, an entrepreneurial spirit suffers when working for someone else. Positively, an entrepreneurial spirit builds fortitude when focused constructively.

Women have a high degree of entrepreneurial spirit. Blending enterprise with lifestyle has been going on since the dawn of time. Yet, women are often lacking in business education, instead learning on the job. This method of growth needs shortcuts to save time, money, and heartache developed from proceeding the hard way. No one has enough time to discover all the best strategic ideas. Only those enterprises with the deepest convictions and resources have the strength to last.

I have a few tips of my own about entrepreneurship (adding to the article):

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 Define consistent boundaries. If you keep to a schedule, convey this to co-workers. However, this schedule must adapt to clients and customers.

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 Secure backup support to switch gears quickly. Service professionals often need to change schedules on a dime. Quickly retool, move portions around, shuffle priorities, and reorder processes. Lineup family, friends, and organizations to fill in when in a business time-crunch.

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 Learn the preferences of all those you work with to facilitate mutually respectful communication. With so much interaction online, remote management uses new skills. Be sure those implementing projects are proceeding the way that you want or when finished; it may have been done wrong if not checked at strategic points.

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 Know the trade-offs for scale choices. Most serial entrepreneurs stay in the realm of small business. They pay learning “dues” when working for other companies, but few entrepreneurs grow large corporations. Those that do perpetuate the myth of rags to riches. The numbers show that small business is huge business when collected together. But individually, most business owners slug it out in small arenas.

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 Segment work. This is critical for being efficient when working at home. Don’t schedule tasks that need focus in the middle of family activity. Remove yourself. Plan tedious tasks that can be picked up and put down to integrate with other activities, even if not accomplished as quickly.

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 Juggle. Plan segments that can be accessed quickly. The time lost due to stopping and starting can be mitigated by dividing projects into free-standing portions ready with all the pieces assembled. Whether in folders, boxes, trays, piles, or briefcases, to keep all project elements together is as important as the work itself because looking for a missing piece robs time away from progress.

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 Play proactive (or offensive). Too many entrepreneurs keep nose to the grindstone and miss opportunities. When reactive, the focus is more on keeping clients or customers happy than it is on staying ahead of business changes. But client and customer management means leading as well as satisfying.

For most nonprofits, members look to their organization for the latest developments in the industry and the best new practice ideas. Responding to this pressure requires the ability to spot innovation and nurture creativity within the ranks.

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 Identify ideal clients/customers. If you don’t, you won’t recognize when them when they come along. For example, in a visual world where everyone needs design (whether willing to pay for it or not), becoming side-tracked by projects that don’t fit the picture invites expensive detours.

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 Say no first. Although eager to please, most creative professionals say what the client wants to hear to be awarded the project. But if you find the flaws or difficulties quickly and point them out in negotiations, your position is differentiated from competition and you appear not only helpful, but visionary.

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 Keep the pipeline full. Visibility is more important than sales. One backlash of e-communications is that clients and customers most likely to choose the easiest or most familiar products and services. Referral momentum backed up with industry contributions are good ways to attract new business—whether cyber or brick-and-mortar.

Designing your business means taking advantage of your natural energies (often called biorhythms). For example, I write every morning (usually for two hours) because my creative energy is the highest early in the day. Evenings need more physical tasks—I save production for the hours I’m not as mentally sharp. Working at home and living in a hectic household, I built an office upstairs away from the bustling energy of family life.

Hopefully these ideas will help you create and maintain your best choices and create the busines that fits the reasons you began your own practice in the first place.

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

In contrast, I’ve had a few collaborations that left me feeling sour—when the partner didn’t hold up his or her end of the bargain. It is never what anyone wants to have happen, so how can stubbing toes be avoided?

The base of constructive collaboration is in building the right relationship. It doesn’t happen without that foundation. The best project managers know that the only relationships in business that are profitable occur when goals are shared. If everyone agrees on the direction and the importance of the business cause, then all differences can fall into perspective. If goals are not embraced, then other motivations take over that often are not in the best interest of the business. It is remarkable how many employees do not equate success in their employer’s business with their own success! Knowing and sharing goals also depends on good communication—a clarity of momentum that everyone understands, shares, and builds into a culture.

“Every conflict provides an opportunity for growth, an opportunity to enrich a relationship. The opposite of love is apathy, not hate. As long as there is conflict in a relationship, there is energy to work on it. Once apathy has set in, it may be too late.”
—Ruth Herrman Siress, Working Woman’s Communications Survival Guide

“Be specific about your goals and expectations. Don’t assume that others know what you’re thinking. They can’t read your mind.”
—Dr. Donna Brooks and Lynn Brooks, Ten Secrets of Successful Men that Women Want to Know

“Keys of Business Parenting:
1. Employees need to know exactly what is expected of them.
2. Employees need consistent feedback.
3. Employees will test their environment.
4. Business tools are a manager’s best friend.”
—Katharine Crowley and Kathi Elster, Working with You is KILLING Me

“All broken relationships can be traced back to broken agreements. If you want self-respect, if you want to stand out in the business community, if you want great relationships, and if you want to be trusted, keep your word.”
—Fran Hewitt, The Power of Focus for Women

I add to these wise women by my observation: the best collaborations are the ones that acknowledge and keep egos in perspective. The difference between a professional and an amateur is knowing the difference between your personal opinions and those appropriate for business. Because I sell creativity, this distinction is critical to determine what directions are best to pursue. A designer’s job is to be chameleon because the results must “look: like the client. Yet the design stems from a point-of-view, approach, or style—which is why we are hired in the first place. Putting “myself” into a design just happens naturally and is not something I think about.

Stylistically, I prefer the “less is more” school of thought. My portfoliois called “elegant.” It’s even called “classic” because I hope that clients will use my designs for a long time. The point here is that the better the collaboration, the better the work. My best designs are for inspiring clients—whether the subject is an industrial brochure a an event promotion series.

What ingredients are present in your best collaborations? I hope these ideas help you define the best scenarios for accomplishments. —Liane

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

Women of previous generations may have had less options—but they had similar upbringings. Lifestyles change faster than values. In a time when more doors were closed, these pioneers confronted their limitations through self-honesty. They recognized and built upon their strengths, rather than become weakened by their disadvantages.

Imagine that you are sitting down to tea with eight illuminaries from the past, and you ask:

How do you maintain confidence to confront the largest challenges?

“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.”
—Georgia O’Keefe (1887–1986)

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)

“I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)

“Doubt and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination, which the steadfast heart will conquer, and the large mind transcend.”
—Helen Keller (1880–1968)

“Those who are blessed with the most talent don’t necessarily outperform everyone else. It’s the people with follow-through who excel.”
—Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001)

“Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to ‘jump at de sun.’ We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1901–1960)

“Fashion changes, style remains.”
—Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel (1883–1971)

“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something, and must attain that thing at whatever cost.”
—Marie Curie (1867–1934)

These women also represent the courageous of previous generations. Since the dawn of time, women have been entrepreneurs. Courage to confront barriers always inspires. But these are realities I’ve only faced in adulthood.

As a child, my parents infused me with the belief that I could do anything I wanted to do—IF I worked hard at it. Multi-talented and honor roll student, my choices were like a banquet. Never did I think I could not do something because I am female. Then, fresh-faced and 23 years old, I showed up in Chicago to begin my career.

Graphic design doesn’t inhibit women—both sexes have the same potential, though the sacrifices might be different. As far as I know, I never lost an opportunity as a women—maybe I actually was awarded more work and attention because of it!

Confidence professionally was never a question either—I knew I was enterprising and of value to any employer—which I proved to be. I learned how to grow businesses, both for clients and for myself as an entrepreneur.

So it is profoundly shocking—it pierces my very core of compassion—how many women struggle with confidence. I see this everywhere. Speaking at executive women’s conferences, I even see it manifested in the most educated.

Media portrays successful women as dragon ladies or queen bees (or both). Yet the most successful women I have every met are charming (disarmingly so), clever, deceptive, and positively manipulative. They have a “take no prisoners” unspoken force, but it is masked by charisma. Confidence oozes from them—whether they feel it or not—you’ll never know.

I’ve worked very hard for ten years on understanding women’s greatest challenges, and confidence is always at the core, or even the beginning of each! The best book I have ever read on the subject is Gloria Steinem’s Revolution from Within. If you haven’t read it, it is mandatory reading for anyone who wishes to alter the social dynamic. It is so deeply cultural, we all must question it.

Feeling so strongly that we hold ourselves back, we are given an opportunity to step up to this crisis. To find solutions and remedies, don’t take my word for it. Rather, I have culled my collection of quotations from those wiser than me in previous generations.

How do you deal with the Confidence Crisis for workingwomen?

Also check out my book Women who Win at Work  that has a chapter on Confidence with advice from those who know.

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

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 My father graduated from The University of Chicago, inspiring stores of this city; I had to move here after college. If they had an art school, I would have gone there. Instead, I ended up at the School of the Art Institute.

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 The Great Books Foundation, founded by UofC illuminaries such as Mortimer Adler,  was one of my most influential clients for 15 years. I designed 16 children’s books, leadership training materials, and marketing collateral for the Junior Great Books Program.

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 I watched the UofC’s Gleacher Center being built below my office window, at 401 North Michigan. It houses the business school and the Graham School.

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 I taught a publishing seminar at the UofC’s Graham School of General Studies on the lower level of the Gleacher Center. Though the publishing curriculum was phased out, I continue to attend functions, events, and sessions there.

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 The University of Chicago became a design client: both the Graham School and the office of student services. I designed course catalogs, PDF system, Student Orientation packets, and helped to define the Writer’s Studio Program formats.

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 I spoke last three weeks ago at University of Chicago Women Business Group’s Annual Meeting to a sold-out audience.
This latest date in my affair with this school shows why my orbit seems to find The University of Chicago central. Thinking I’d write here about the topics we discussed at the Gleacher Center dinner and the perceptions that members shared, the piece became too long for a blog.

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Every group I speak to has a culture and an energy. What surprised me most about UCWBG is their openness and curiosity. I expected that top-educated women would be less engaging and more authoritative. After all, I don’t hold an MBA—I am an entrepreneur from the trenches! I went to art school, not business school! Expecting a bit of cultural-mismatch, instead I found such a welcoming warmth of smart but curious ladies! Each a bit more eclectic than the next!

Khloe Karova, MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said: “I enjoyed hearing your presentation. The part about having a flexible management style was very poignant and I have been reflecting on your insight on the value of understanding the client’s goals and objectives. Your book has been a joy to read and I like that it’s small so I can keep it in my handbag at all times. I have already started quoting from it!”

What cultural influences do universities have in your career? Apart from the Alumni Associations, I am impressed with how many educators are concerned to bridge interests with the business community. The UofC’s Graham School and NU’s School of Continuing Studies have invited me to engage. And, I am reaching out to others because the connections of business to education can always be stronger.
Please enjoy these related publications:

Women who Win at Work, my book profiling 35 exemplary businesswomen
“Dealing with Decision Makers”  blog profiling my talk at Executive Women International

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

“Organize your environment to streamline your ability to make decisions. The sooner you make a decision, the sooner you can move on to something else and not waste energy agonizing.”
—Marilyn Miglin, cosmetic, skin care, and fragrance entrepreneur, civic leader, philanthropist, and contributor to Women who Win at Work

Here are journaling questions that have helped me to define considerations to lubricate business progress:
• Describe your decision-making style or pattern. Are you a perfectionist or more relaxed when making decisions? How does each style enhance or limit your results?
• Do you procrastinate when making important decisions? If so, examine some examples of how it has affected your efficiency.
• What habit causes you to waste the most time (such as looking for misplaced objects)?
• Identify any helpful techniques that you use in the organized areas of your life. Can you apply those techniques to your unorganized areas?
• How might you alter your environment to blend your decision-making abilities?
• How does your decision-making style mesh with others in your work or home environments?
• What advisors or resources have helped you make and implement faster, more effective decisions?
• What advice has helped you guard against post-decision remorse?
• How have your decision-making skills evolved over time?”

There is a big difference between collaborating on decisions (with clients), making them solo (entrepreneurial), or with partners (roommates). This blog focuses on business, and I have always found collaborations easier than going solo. So having a support structure is essential.

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

Before mentioning Marcus Buckingham in my last entry, I hadn’t visited his work for a while. I checked his website to see what he has been doing lately. So discovering his focus on women was a jolt! He writes about “excess of choice” for women and concludes that such freedom does not equate to “happiness.” Although I feel this excess deeply, the answer to handling it is simple: prioritize. It ensures survival in a chaotic environment. And happiness? That’s is based on other considerations.

Buckingham’s conclusion about balance agrees with mine and those of my contributors: it doesn’t exist. Rieva Lesonsky described it well for my book:

“You can do everything you want to do, but you can’t do it all at the same time! If you can shift the percentages of what is important, you will achieve all of your goals. Choose your pace. How you grow your business is within your control. Concentrate on activities that will help your business the most.” —Rieva Lesonsky, author and entrepreneur, excerpted from Women who Win at Work

Investigating a non-entrepreneurial business larger than mine, I discussed the myth of balance with Linda Listrom, who also contributed to my book:

“Business has defined rules that must be considered against personal needs. Success means making the rules work for you rather than against you.” —Linda Listrom, partner at Jenner & Block

Please share your ideas for making the rules work for you. Although different for entrepreneurs versus employees, we all are in more control of our schedules and our focus than we think.

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

Working on weakness is seductive. It has the illusion that we can plaster up the cracks, oil the squeaks, or ratchet the pipes to stop leaks. This human-tendency to fix manifests into professionals who think we can (and should) do everything well. But when I read Marcus Buckingham’s book, it convinced me that to spend energy on such repair is foolish. He wrote:

“Each person’s greatest room for growth is in the areas of his or her greatest strength. For an activity to be a strength you must be able to do it consistently. You must also derive some intrinsic satisfaction form the activity. You do not have to have strength in every aspect of your role in order to excel. Excellent performers are rarely well rounded. On the contrary, they are sharp. You will excel only by maximizing your strengths. Find ways to manage around weaknesses, thereby freeing you up to hone your strengths to a sharper point.” —Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Now Discover Your Strengths

Every January, I evaluate my progress towards publishing perfection. So quickly, I focus on the difficulties, disappointments, and what I can (and should) do better. Yet Buckingham proves that this is a waste of time. Conversely, this doesn’t mean that weaknesses can be ignored.

To not spend time in repair means spending time profitably in strengths to pay others to do what we can’t do. Wisdom dictates that we need a working knowledge of such elusive areas to manage business. If I am lousy at bookkeeping, I am wise to team up with someone who is good at it.

Since Buckingham turned performance management upside down, how much have these ideas penetrated business culture? It was a surprise to discover that his most recent book focuses on businesswomen!

Other business authors, such as Marti Barletta, have picked up the banner. She shared her reflection when interviewed:

“Align work with your abilities. You aren’t necessarily good at what you love and you don’t necessarily love what you are good at. But to be successful, you match both together. Combine talents in new ways.” —Marti Barletta, contributor to my book Women who Win at Work and author of Marketing to Women..

Few accomplishments burst forth from chance. The best work comes from combining the deepest conviction with strategic action. By identifying, cultivating, and practicing your areas of strength, how do you carve a work style that best amplifies your contributions?

The blend I have achieved consists of being a member of several entrepreneurial communities. Also I have collected many experts to supplement my skills. Always requiring attention, the business versus project sides jostle around like rough stones in a lapidary—polishing each other as they bounce.

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

I’ve always felt that creativity is both a blessing and a curse. If we are talented and don’t use it, we are haunted by “what if’s.” If we do use it, every decision and every business advance depends on its cultivation and excellence. So I asked creative professionals for advice on keeping ideas sharp:

 “Start with your own desires. Invent what you need to address a grievance, right a wrong, add a convenience, or address a confusion. You and yours become your model.” —Andrea March, co-founder of Women’s Leadership Exchange

 “Solutions are creative when the process to arrive at them blends not-so-uncommon ingredients. Creativity is problems solving, acting on the unexpected, and hard work. Exercising it regularly, it becomes a habit.”
—Jill Sebastian, public arts specialist and educator

 “Each gardener decides what is a weed and what is a flower. Cultivation is not only elimination, it is also regard for what the creative process brings forward. Spending time to appreciate what is in your garden creates enthusiasm and motivates the ENTIRE creative process.”
—Judith Anderson, business development consultant and author

 “Changing the configuration of your viewpoint often cuts through the haze of having no ideas. You’ve heard tales of inventions that were actually mistakes or the result of a hair brain scheme. Experiment and watch the solution appear! Allow your intuitive messages to help you and they will.”
—Gail McMeekin, psychotherapist, career coach, and author

 “Brainstorming on a schedule is undependable. The activities of wandering and wondering stimulate good ideas that can seem to appear ‘out of the blue.’”
—Suzanne Falter-Barns, motivational author and speaker

What methods do you use for sharpening your creativity?

See other ideas in Women who Win at Work.

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

Talent, on the other hand, is not learned or taught. It is a prerequisite to all pursuits. The only way to gauge your talent is to test it. Everyone wants this precious gift, but few who do possess it even know how to best nurture, much less realize.

To test, ideas must be polished to the point of measurability. How to do that?

Testing ideas begins at the idea stage itself. I asked the author of one of the best books I’ve read on creativity, Gail McMeekin, who offers ways to gain the perspective needed to be a good judge. She concludes:

“Creativity is born of inspiration and inspiration evolves from passion. Follow your whims and these excursions will stimulate new thought patterns and generate new paradigms.”—Gail McMeekin, author and creativity consultant

Also see:
• “Creativity” chapter in Women who Win at Work, my book that features Gail’s article “An Inner Way of Knowing”
• The Path to Creative Success by Gail McMeekin, free e-book

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer

The majority present at the dinner serve as executive assistants to their organization’s president. Each of the seven tables concluded how decisions are made in their companies, and those with the greatest challenges presented a description. Together, they concluded:

 1. Appropriateness determines how decisions are handled:
• The processes are quite different between business structures: family-owned, government-run, or corporate.
• The smaller the organization, the greater the decisions to be managed by each leader.

 2. Challenges confessed include helping decision makers:
• Adapt to business change
• Develop flexibility
• Handle scheduling shifts
• Consider background information. They feel relied upon to do the homework and the research on issues—even to the point of becoming the “go-to girls’—which also creates a hot seat!

 3. How decisions are handled also depends on the topic. Many make the majority of daily decisions, short of where or when to move the office! How decisions are made often defines the limitations of job descriptions.

 4. Finally, for most executive teams, the greatest factor in decision-making is what best serves the customer.

* The dinner (Nov. 10) was at the beautiful Palm Restaurant in the Swiss Hotel, offering a view of Navy Pier. The décor of comic celebrities on the walls is quite busy to the eye. But the salmon was fantastic and I came home with a gorgeous flower arrangement by A Plus Flowers and Gifts.

See other ideas in Women who Win at Work.

Liane Sebastian, illustrator, designer, writer, and publishing pioneer