career

Business Trip is Mom Time

~ Kim Severn ~ Leave a comment
Hello NYC from the 86th Floor of the Empire State Building.
Hello NYC from the Empire State Building.

This week I had the opportunity to attend the launch of Windows 10 in New York City. When I was invited to go I hesitated knowing it meant a couple nights away from my family, and that work would pile up while I was away.

But it was a once in a lifetime experience and I was grateful for the opportunity to participate. I’ve only been to NYC once before, and only for a day and a half. This trip, although also short, would give me two windows of opportunity to explore the city. The trip also gave m some much needed me time. For a couple days I could do what I wanted, when I wanted to do it. With a 6 and 10 year old , a husband, and a full-time job chances to do whatever I want don’t come around every day.

So I said yes to the opportunity and started planning my trip. Yep, I’m a planner. In order to make the most of the few free hours I had I wanted to leave as little to chance as possible. I made my list of things to do and see. My top must dos were: get on The Today Show and “get to the top of something” to see views of the city.

After checking in to the hotel, I had a little time to freshen up before joining colleagues for dinner. We ate at Craft Bar enjoying great food, fun conversation, and a lot of laughs.

After a short night sleep, awoken several times by the noises of the city that never sleeps, I rolled out of bed at 5 a.m. (2 in the morning back home) and headed out to put a few check marks on my newly created bucket list.

I explored the city on foot and marveled at it from the Empire State Building.NYC

WP_20150729_20_19_32_ProIn the late afternoon it was time for work. I attended two celebrations to thank the people who helped us make our product great. I did my best to soak it all in and enjoy the energy and excitement that filled the room.

 

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During the party I took a few minutes to enjoy the sunset over the Hudson River. Yet again, the city didn’t disappoint.

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Tired at the end of a nearly perfect day, I enjoyed more views of the city from the top of James Hotel.

 

 

I woke up the next morning with a few hours left to explore the city before heading to the airport. At the suggestion of the concierge I headed to explore the High Line. I fell in love with the beautiful garden oasis in the heart of the city. I enjoyed the art, architecture, and views the elevated park provided.

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My goal for the trip was to soak in the experience and make the most my limited time in the city. Mission accomplished.

WP_20150730_10_29_06_ProWonder where life will take me next …

Lessons for Work and Motherhood

~ Kim Severn ~ 2 Comments

Are you following the editorials Sheryl Sandberg is writing in the New York Times? If not, you should.

In her most recent editorial, Madam C.E.O., Get Me a Coffee Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant address women doing what they call the “Office Housework” and the impacts to individual careers and team effectiveness.

Overall what strikes me is Sandberg and Grant don’t place the blame on any one group and don’t excuse anyone’s choices that lead to the phenomenon they discuss. Instead they make the case for change, talk about the areas women as individuals can address and finish with suggestions on how we can work together to move toward improved individual and team performance.

Following are the points that struck a chord for me:

By putting self-concern on par with concern for others, women may feel less altruistic, but they’re able to gain more influence and sustain more energy. Ultimately, they can actually give more. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately as I work to balance everything (and everyone) competing for my time and attention. Life is too complex for my current, simplistic strategy of pushing harder until the next break comes. It’s time for a change.

Just as we still need to rebalance housework and child care at home, we also need to equalize and value office housework. This means first acknowledging the imbalance and then correcting it. I need to pay attention and stop automatically jumping up to help. There are almost always plenty of people to help out. I need to be discerning and think critically about who is the best person to fill a need.

The person taking diligent notes in the meeting almost never makes the killer point. I need to remember there are times its important I’m available to “make the killer point.”

Research shows that teams with greater helping behavior attain greater profits, sales, quality, effectiveness, revenue and customer satisfaction. As I mentioned in a post a couple weeks ago, I have a home team and a work team. When both are running smoothly it feels great and produces energy. That’s why I’m going to spend energy on making the changes in my approach so I can lead toward the change I want to experience for myself and for the people around me.