Woman of the Week – Amanda Mason

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Amanda Mason

My Current Job / Company:
Vice President of Asset Management / Locus Development (Located in Grand Rapids, MI)

My Birthday:
09.22.84

My Work:
-Meet with potential tenants, help built their business plans, investment structures and return analysis to generate capital
-Manage, deadlines, and requirements relating to various commercial and residential real estate investments
-Develop, communicate and streamline best business practices and efficient day-to-day processes

My Passion:
To inspire. To be inspired creates unlimited potential, for me it is as necessary to life as oxygen. You know the feeling when you are paralyzed in awe, or on to such a hot idea you can’t sleep or think about anything else, or when tingles run through your body seemingly jolting you to change? This is inspiration. I happen to think it is the state in which the best and most revolutionary thought is produced. My passion is to create that for as many people as I can.

My Family:
Tamy & Carl / Jeff & Lisa (parents), Austin & Alec (baby brothers that are not babies anymore ☹)

My Heroes:
My mom and dad. Both entrepreneurs that never took “no” for an answer, they taught by example the importance of work ethic, determination, and most of all, integrity. I am constantly inspired by them. They are my heart and soul.

My Escape:
Long runs with good friends

My Pet Peeves:
Hypocrisy, laziness and conceit… oh, and chewing with your mouth open

My Indulgence:
PEEPS! (Bunnies not chicks… there is a difference I am sure of it)

My Roots:
Michigan summers, Sunday barbeques, my dad singing songs in the car accompanied by his interpretation of percussion on the steering wheel, summer camp, leaf piles, ice skating in the back yard (the beginning of several years of being certain I would be Kristy Yamaguchi someday…certain!)

I had hard working parents that taught me everything they could every day.

My Future:
Limitless

My Love:
History and architecture

My Movie:
Rudy – I am a total sucker for underdogs and a life-long ND fan

My Quote on Life:
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs

My Accessory:
Sparkly Earrings, big rings, a running watch, and Chuck Taylors

My Advice to Young Women:
Identify two things:
1. What is your passion?
2. What are your strengths?
Chose a career that satisfies both. And, then surround yourself professionally and personally with people you admire, turn yourself into a sponge and take in all that you can, recognize that you can never stop bettering yourself and use anything and everything as a means to do so.

How I Balance it All:
I definitely do not! I need a lot of work in this area. I make A LOT of checklists, put everything on my calendar (which may or may not be color coded), and try to clearly COMMUNICATE with the partners where I see my priorities to make sure we are on the same page. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I can be more selfish with my time now before I have a family of my own, however when that time comes, I will learn from all the super “jugglers” that came before me.

The “S” Word

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We’ve been talking all week about about how important it is for your top performers to hone their business development skills. Maybe you’ve even broached the subject with them. If so, you might have been met with a blank stare or even a look of panic. If that’s the case, send ‘em over here and tell them to read this post.

And, by the way, as a business leader yourself, you might consider taking some of this advice to heart as well!

SO you don’t think you are in sales, right? In fact, you say you hate sales. You don’t like sales people. Even the thought of doing “sales type” work makes you cringe. Well, guess what? We are all in sales. And, ladies, unless you figure that out early in your career, you are always going to be one step behind, one promotion behind and one salary increase behind the man who totally “gets” this concept.

What do I mean? In your role, no matter what your role is, you need to be able to SELL the value of YOU. You are a top executive and you need to interview for the CEO role, you need to sell YOU. You are a top attorney and you need to close the big case, you need to sell YOU. You are a CPA and you need to bring in a big client, you need to sell YOU. Sales skills and the ability to bring in revenue to any business are what separate the stars from the rest.

Oh, I know what you are thinking. You think your work speaks for itself and you don’t need to “sell” it.

Well, get over yourself and realize that every successful leader, I mean really successful leader, has figured out the magic of managing relationships. They don’t call it sales; they call it relationship management and here are a few tips to help you master the art.

1. Understand how you are wired. Some of us are incredibly social and others are not. If you are social, this relationship management/business development activity won’t be a stretch. It won’t feel like work. But, if you are not wired this way, it will be a daily activity that needs constant attention.

2. Realize that every event, meeting and social outing is an opportunity to create relationships. There are opportunities everywhere to meet people, sign up, get out there and be present! Now!

3. Follow up. As soon as you meet someone, follow up that day and tell them how nice it was to meet them or make sure to send them something you promised. Otherwise, you have completely lost the opportunity.

There are so many electronic tools out there now that make this easy. Use LinkedIn, use Outlook, find an easy way for you to make it part of your daily routine to meet a new person every day.
The only way you will get new opportunities, experience new jobs and be introduced to unfamiliar territories is by being exposed to new people.

If you don’t think business development, relationship management and SALES matter…..think again.

And, as women, managing relationships is what makes us unique and special. Consider this our competitive advantage and get out there and meet someone new today!

Perspective on Business Development

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Do you want to help your top performers grow in an area outside their function? The number one area where you can help them grow is in business development/relationship management.

Push them to spend time on being an influencer, presenting a case and networking outside of the office. Whether you are a CPA, attorney, engineer or business leader – these are skills that really matter!

Help Leaders Improve Sales Skills

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One of the most important things you can do for your female leaders – either emerging leaders or those at the top – is to encourage them to become better salespeople. You need to help them be better at selling themselves, their ideas, their people and the company as a whole.

Many of your key employees are probably already pretty good at this, whether they know it or not. Otherwise they wouldn’t be where they are. And some may need a lot of coaching in this area.

But regardless of their comfort level and their ability to sell, they can always improve. And continuous learning and improvement is an earmark of successful, effective executives, isn’t it?

Brian Tracy offers some terrific advice in his blog post, Three Keys to Continuous Learning in Selling.

This is a terrific read that will give you some ideas about how to coach your high performers to continue their upward mobility.

One of my favorite lines from this post is, “You cannot get more or better results by simply working harder to apply your present abilities.”

What did you find particularly interesting about this article? Please share!

On the Topic of Sales

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Confidence and enthusiasm are the greatest sales producers in any kind of economy.
-O. B. Smith

Woman of the Week – Mia Hairston

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Mia Hairston

My Current Job/Company:
Senior Human Resource Consultant

My Birthdate:
12-18-1968

My Work:
In my current role I develop HR strategies to enable the continued career growth and progression of Sales Associates. Empowering associates to take ownership for their own careers is rewarding and satisfying.

My Passion:
My family, my church, my friends.

My Family:
Kevin (Husband), Kennedy(11), Tyler (dog)

My Hero:
My husband, Dr. Kevin Hairston, wonderful coach and role model.

My Escape:
Any beach with my husband and child, taking along a good read.

My Pet Peeve:
Critical and judgmental people.

My Indulgence:
Nachos and anything salty!

My Roots:
Diverse. Happy. Experiential. Surrounded by good friends and family.

My Future:
Full of life and service! Hopeful.

My Love:
Spending time doing a whole lot of “nothing” with my family. Creating funny moments. Self evaluation and learning.

My Movie:
Daddy’s Girls. Love the love shown from a father to a daughter.

My Quote on Life:
“In Him I Move and Breathe and Have my Being”

My Accessory:
Earrings

My Advice to Young Women:
Have goals and visions for your future. Pursue and be all that you can be while you have a chance. Learn and grow everyday.

How I Balance it All:
Some days better than others….I cannot survive without my CROCKPOT and CALENDAR. My husband is in it to win it with my daughter. We partner and bounce things off of each other every day. Prayer, Prayer and much Prayer! Staying positive and keeping progressive-minded people around me is a must. When planning my calendar I look at the strategic investments in the people around me that need to be made and adjust to reflect those priorities. When all else fails, know that God is right by my side.

The Difference Maker…. Confidence

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One huge difference I have seen in my years of coaching, recruiting and training is the women who get ahead versus the women who don’t are the ones who possess confidence. Some have it, and some don’t. And, sadly, the ones who possess confidence and still show kindness are even fewer.

You know where I am going here. It’s hard to be aggressive and not be categorized as abrasive. It’s hard to be a go-getter and not alienate others. It’s hard to be the A+ player and the Team Player. But, the lady who conquers it all can take on the world!

The common denominator of most of my private coaching clients is that at some point they are challenged with this very topic: confidence! Or shall I say, the lack of confidence. I work with females who are at the top of their game. I work with the best and brightest and yet they still question themselves – are they smart enough, experienced enough, sophisticated enough?

So, how do we help our most talented female leaders overcome these obstacles? If we take a second and recognize a few things that we can share with these women, it could be an easier ride for them along this crazy career journey.

1. Moments: Well, first of all whether you are in high school or a senior executive of a Fortune 500 organization, you need to realize these moments of fear are just that “moments.” Get over it and move on, girl! Find a song, a theme, a friend a source of inspiration to get you there fast!
2. Fuel: The person who can get into your head and rattle you the most is YOU! Are you going to be the fuel to the flame when are feeling a bit intimated? Or are you going to smack that self doubt in the face?!
3. Fake It: The second you get the opportunity to make the big pitch, to lead the conference or to step up for the promotion, fake it ’til you make it. It’s a common shared strategy for overcoming self doubt and I encourage you to give it all you’ve got to work through the fear and do your very best. It’s the only way you’ll get ahead.
4. Circle: In any company, organization, community or even family there are judgments, negative comments and not-so-nice feedback. If you listen to it long enough, you will believe it. You are who you surround yourself with. If you are constantly raising the bar and surrounding yourself with confident, positive people (men or women) you will start to be more confident yourself.

I challenge you to raise your hand, stretch your limits, take on the project you don’t think you are qualified for. Be confident, show confidence, walk with confidence and talk with confidence.

Oh and by the way, even if you aren’t feeling confident everyday… act like you are. And, once you mastered the confidence category, don’t forget ….. kindness! It will take you further than you can imagine.

Quote on Confidence

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Pay no attention to what the critics say.  A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.

~Jean Sibelius

Coaching for Confidence

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Managers, it’s tough to coach your employees on confidence. It seems to be one of those things you’ve either got or you don’t.

Here is a nice resource with examples on how to gain some credibility in this area. In many cases, your employees represent YOU! If they don’t appear confident and credible… neither do you.

Perspective on Confidence

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In my years of coaching, recruiting and training women, the biggest difference I’ve seen between women who get ahead and those who don’t is that the ones who get ahead possess confidence.

Among that elite group women, those who show confidence and kindness rise to the top.