Do you want to know what it takes to become a C-Suite executive? If so, then this is the conversation for you.
If you’re stuck in your current role and feel like there is no way to ascend to a promotion or If you have been wondering how do you become a C-Suite level executive? Then hop on a quick 101 session of today’s episode.
On this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, Porschia will be talking about how to navigate to and excel in the upper echelons of an organization with Deborah Coviello. Deb is an author, advisor, and founder of Illumination Partners, a consulting firm for CEOs navigating change. A trusted partner to C-Suite leaders, Deb Coviello brings 30 years of experience, in strategy, quality, and operational excellence roles.
What you’ll learn:
Importance of creativity in your career
Why you should never lose the essence of who you truly were as a child
What things a leader must have in order to really emerge as a C-Suite executive
Vital skills C-Suite executives have
QUOTES:
“Mentors are important but I think in addition to having a mentor, being proactive with networking (is also important) and acting as if you really are a decision-maker.” – Porschia Parker-Griffin
“Don’t beat yourself up, but just know you need to feed your soul along the way to be sure. Should you still do these things or go in a different direction?” – Deborah Coviello speaking on creativity
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Episode Transcript
Porschia: [00:00:00] Hello, today we are talking about the C Suite 101 and how you can thrive in an executive role. Or ascend into one with Debra Caviello. Deb Caviello is an advisor, author, podcast host, and founder of Illumination Partners, a consulting firm for CEOs navigating change. A trusted partner to C suite leaders, Deb brings over 30 years of experience and strategy in quality and operational excellence roles combined with her 20 years In the flavors and fragrance industries to support her clients as they work together to identify, assess, and solve the issues that are preventing their business growth certified as a lean [00:01:00] and six Sigma black belt in process improvement.
She has developed powerful programs devoted to helping CEOs identify emerging leaders, understanding people are your greatest tool in your toolbox. Deb is a board member of Women in Flavor and Fragrance Commerce, an avid curler with the Cincinnati Curling Club, a mother of three, and resides in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband Dan of 32 years.
Hi, Deb, that is a great bio. You are so interesting. How are you
Deb: today? Oh, Portia, thank you so much for, uh, that amazing intro. It takes a lot of hard work, a great partner in crime to accomplish so much, but you know, looking back, it’s a, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. So again, thank you for the opportunity to, uh, speak with you and your audience.
Absolutely.
Porschia: Well, I’m excited to have you with us to discuss the C suite 101, uh, because I get so many [00:02:00] questions from our clients and community members about the C suite. But before we get into that. We want to know a little bit more about you, Deb. So tell me about seven year old.
Deb: Ask my mother, ask my teachers, you couldn’t keep me quiet.
It was one of those things. I was a creative child. I just talk, talk, talk, very smart, very intelligent, always asking why. It’s one of those stories that I tell that, you know, children come into the world so creative and so interested in how things work. Again, it got me ahead, but I will tell you, sometimes society does not embrace the questioning mind, the active thinker, the person that talks a lot and they say, be quiet.
And I tell this story to another person recently, and it got me actually a little sad because that seven year old child that just wanted to express and communicate and inspire and just did what I saw. bounce around [00:03:00] ideas, put it could have potentially been lost in society. And so one of the things I think about at that seven year old Deb, and I actually just posted a picture of myself on social media about my younger self.
I’m really that same person, but I had to rediscover what I love to do over and over and over again. But the inspiration there is just, You know, if you’re one person as a child, you probably still that person now and try to bring them forward because that is your best self. I am a talker. I have a lot of ideas and nobody can stop me now, but that’s a little bit about Debbie at seven years old.
I
Porschia: love that Deb. And you’re absolutely right. That’s part of the reason why we asked that question because most people really are. still that seven year old version of themselves. And maybe to your point, they’ve been told, uh, things that they should change about themselves or what they should be and who they should be.
But really at most people’s essence, they’re still that person. So [00:04:00] what did seven year old Debbie want to be
Deb: when she grew up? You know, the interesting thing is, I don’t know what that was, but I was, at that time, very creative. I could draw, I could sing, I could write. We thought I would go into the arts, and then all of a sudden, um, society didn’t like my writing.
They again told me to be quiet. I lost my ability to draw into paint. So I kind of switched over, went to the other side of the brain and went into science and math and then just society and doing the right things. And I was good at it. I eventually went into engineering and then manufacturing it. was sensible.
It was dependable. I could earn a living. I could be independent. So I never really knew exactly what I wanted to be. I knew I just wanted to do good and get good grades, but I’ll tell you, it’s the journey of then rediscovering what I really was good at, what I really do love to do. And while I still practice [00:05:00] as an engineering professional C suite leader, doing a lot of technical work, there’s that creative talkative idea person at the core of who I am.
Yeah. Yeah.
Porschia: Wow. Uh, so what was your first job, Deb? I guess when we, when we transitioned from the arts to where it sounds like you were starting to get more into, uh, you know, math and science and all that, but what was the, the first job that you had?
Deb: Um, well, I mean, if you go back to 12 year old Deb, it was a paper route before that.
It was the lemonade stand. It was selling my arts and crafts. I understood commerce and independence. If I wanted things, I had to make money. So I think I was a lot like a lot of children just finding a way to not have to beg mom and dad or mom or dad or whatever the union may be to say, Hey, I need. This because I realized there wasn’t a lot and I needed to do it myself.
But , that first job, the first real job outta college leveraged my [00:06:00] expertise in engineering. I had a degree in biomedical engineering, but I loved, loved. manufacturing because you could take nothing and turn it into something. There’s a little bit of a creative element there that still came with. And so I wound up with a big company in missile defense systems.
I started out learning about different parts of manufacturing and ultimately landed after a two year manufacturing management rotation and becoming a quality. Professional. So learning about building quality into the products that we ship. That’s where I started. And then I evolved from there. So practical, interesting, big company experience.
Um, it was the right move then. Yeah. Yeah.
Porschia: Yeah. And a theme I’m hearing, uh, Deb, as you talk is that you’ve. Are very creative and it sounds like you know from your entrepreneur entrepreneurial experience. I should say early on to really kind of incorporating that creativity [00:07:00] later. Um, I can definitely hear that.
And that’s something that I talked to a lot of our entrepreneurial clients about, um, creating a business. is a creative endeavor. You know, you are creating something from nothing. So I really like how you pointed
Deb: that out. Yeah. And I think I have always been that way in ebbs and flows. So again, I think from our listeners perspective, never lose that creativity or whatever that essence of who you were as a child, because if you don’t feed that, um, it gets, It’s, it wants to burst out at some point because you can keep doing what you’re good at, which yes, sometimes we have to, to sustain the lifestyle that we need for our family, ourselves, our community, the prestige.
We do these things, but you have to listen because I will tell you, once I transitioned from the corporate doing what was expected, doing what I was good at, the emotions that unleashed during that transition of, was I going to go back to corporate or start my own entry? It was, it [00:08:00] was amazing. The emotions that came out Now, and my, my, my solace was in the creative pursuits.
I was listening to music. I was walking a lot. I started writing a lot. I hadn’t written in years, listening to music and I was crying, I cried a lot. And so that is a whole nother story onto itself. But I think people should think about whatever you do is fine. Don’t beat yourself up, but just know you need to feed your soul along the way to be sure.
Should you still do these things or might you go in a different direction? Yeah, that that’s
Porschia: great advice, Deb. Um, I want to talk a little bit, I think, about your career before you started your business. Uh, what would you say were some of your highlights, uh, when you were in, you know, manufacturing and doing this engineering work?
Deb: So, I think the biggest high for me was not necessarily the technical problem of what I solved. And yes, I can reduce the amount of defects. I can help people get to the root cause. I can make [00:09:00] customers feel happy because we’re shipping them reliably quality product. But it is those moments when you actually have somebody say to you, You were right, Deb.
You were right. Everybody likes to hear that. Of course, you were right. But when you can influence somebody along the way using your technical craft, you realize, I’ve arrived. So two things happened to me. One time, I actually left one of these companies and my friends stayed behind. And they said to me, Deb, I said, everywhere I look, You’re still here.
I still see the things that you put up on the walls. I still see how people act. You’ve left your mark. Oh, music to my ears. But then another time when I was working with a leader, I had to work with, they were difficult. They didn’t believe what I was doing. You guys are just being difficult. I made it the right way till one day when they looked at their own shop and realized one of their associates was doing the wrong thing.
Then they realized everything [00:10:00] that I’d been saying, you got to look in your own house in order to improve the process and get the quality. He came back to me later on and said, Deb, you were right. I said, I looked inside and saw, yeah, it was me. Now I understand what you’ve been saying to me about getting to the root cause and asking harder questions, the ability, those highs of knowing you have changed the course of that human interaction.
Exercise in your technical craft. Those are highs far higher than, Hey, I was able to meet my target. Those are short lived. You have to feed that addiction because once I got to that result, I got to get to the next, the human interactions and those success stories. Like I just shared with you, those are the highs.
Porschia: Oh, wow. Wow. Um, I think that that is definitely something that we can all remember, Deb. It’s maybe not about those, uh, Awards, you know, tangible awards that that we get, you know, for meeting quota or, you know, [00:11:00] uh, other things, but that human impact that you that you mentioned, you know, I can hear that you’ve made an impact by getting to the root cause, you know, in your previous roles.
Um, what would you say were some of your biggest career challenges before you started your business?
Deb: Oh, we don’t have enough time. You know, I know I make it look easy, but you know, there’s some soul searching moments here for which, you know, as we as, as leaders, C suite leaders have to realize our grit. I had an issue.
I had a quality issue. It was very serious. I needed to bring a colleague on board with me for which I had my team in the room. We were discussing the issue. They said, I don’t know what the big deal is. You can just take care of it. And it was like, Oh. This is a moment when I need another leader to have my back because we’re making a significant decision about maybe bringing product back from the market and to have my team hear somebody that wasn’t aligned and not take it as serious.
[00:12:00] That was challenging on two fronts. One to instill confidence back in my team, keep doing what you’re doing while I deal with this leader. to trying to understand why was this other leader Not aligned. One could say it’s a conflict. Yes, you don’t want to confront people, but it’s an opportunity to understand why do we see things differently.
It was very challenging. I learned why they didn’t see it as serious and I understood it. But then at least we move the conversation forward and to ultimately realize that, yes, There is a gap, but we’ve agreed on what we’re going to do going forward. Having those difficult conversations versus pointing fingers and they’re difficult.
I think a lot of leaders just don’t take the time to understand why we have those disagreements. Those gaps are challenging situations. That was very challenging me for a leader, but at the end of the day, I was right. We did the right thing for the customer, but along the way, having my My [00:13:00] knowledge, my authority, my position, my standards being challenged.
A lot of people could cave and just say, I’ll put my head down. What are the chances they’re going to find it? I stood my ground. It may have been the beginning of the end of my career at that company, but I can sleep at night knowing we did the right thing. That’s been one of the biggest challenges. Very stressful.
I had a support system. But at the same time, you reflect and you learn from these things. So many lessons from that. They’re hard. But don’t shy away from them. There’s great wisdom in them.
Porschia: Everything you said there was so powerful, Deb. I already know I’m going to tell some people to listen to this episode twice.
Um, you know, really what I want to touch on. Is what you mentioned about proactively having those difficult conversations. And to your point, one of the issues that comes up with a lot of our clients, whether [00:14:00] they are in the C suite or director level, or even just in an individual contributor role is sometimes they want to avoid.
That conversation. Sometimes they want to avoid those situations altogether and, um, hope they go away. And to your point, uh, when you’re in the C suite, uh, you really can’t afford to do that. Um, so what was the defining moment, Deb, that made you want to start a business?
Deb: So… These things happen to good people.
There was a point, it was a difficult point while we were also dealing with some other quality issues. I never saw it coming. My boss came over from Europe, attended some meetings, met with some of my people and team members and at, or told me at the end of that week, my contract was done. And in that moment, when you hear those moments or those words, you don’t actually remember the why.
Because it [00:15:00] actually wasn’t clear. I had not been on any performance improvement program, and we worked on a transition plan, and I got to say, when I leave, I got to say the story of why I was leaving, and I was given a runway. And a great severance. And one of the things he said to me upon leaving was, you have been the most professional that I’ve ever expected.
I never would have expected that. I expected something a little bit different because we were dismissing you, but you were the most professional. So I was asked to transition out. And that was hard, but I was ready because of the challenges. There was something not aligned. My values weren’t aligned. I was creative.
There were things and ideas I wanted to do and it was probably the best thing ever. I could have gone back to corporate, but then I made the decision to start my own business. And that’s another whole story. Yeah.
Porschia: Yeah. Yeah. And I want to [00:16:00] ask, how did you decide to start? Illumination partners, the business that you have now, because it sounds like from listening to your background, there are so many businesses you could have started, right?
You could have been in products and manufacturing. You could have done a lot of different things. So I want to know what really drew you to what
Deb: you do now. So thank you for that question. I’ve not been asked that in exactly that way. The name of the business illumination partners. I was attracted to beautiful lights everywhere I went.
I was just looking at lights. It was inspiration. It was thinking of a child looking at lights and a window. There was just something about lights and illumination of new ideas, bringing ideas to others. So that’s how the name came up. But I did the soul searching. And then I started to say, well, what am I good at?
Technically, I can go into companies or functions or organizations that are crumbling. And [00:17:00] in my industry, and I really want to work with. And realize my expertise was working with smaller and medium sized companies. I had Integrated smaller companies into the mothership before and working with a smaller teams that can do culture and attitudes of these smaller teams were amazing.
And they really, really appreciate you and they can make changes really quick. I felt an affinity for that. So an illumination partner started out as simply dropping into organizations, a business consultant. Yes, that’s what I did. I helped them in quality and operational excellence. But it evolved, it evolved because I don’t just consult.
I do leadership development, just like you, because we can fix things. But unless you develop the capability of the people to perform at a different level, all that great work is going to go by the wayside. So that was the evolution of illumination partners. Hence part of the businesses, I will [00:18:00] drop in and work with C suite leaders, solve an issue, leave them in a good place.
But we build a trusting relationship because it’s not just that. It’s the next projects of the next project, developing the people, et cetera. But I also do leadership development. I have a C Suite Academy, the podcast, the book, the blog, all of that, because that’s the passion. I care about not only the C Suite leaders today, but also the C Suite leaders to tomorrow, which again, we share that because that’s the future.
You can only help a handful of C Suite leaders. There are many, many others waiting to get there. Wow.
Porschia: Uh, your work sounds phenomenal, and we’re going to dig deeper into, um, some of the different areas that you help, uh, C suite leaders. Uh, but I want to, I want to start at the basic step because I know there are some people listening, um, that might not be completely clear on what the C suite is.
So, uh, what is the C suite? We’ll start there. [00:19:00] You know,
Deb: I’m going to do this a little differently this time, obviously the obvious technical one, uh, C suite often in a big corporation, you had your chief operating officer, your chief executive officer, CTO, CIO, ABCDE, whatever you want it to be, all those people where the buck stops there, key decision makers on the direction of the company in their area of expertise.
I’ll tell you as a manager coming up through my career, I always wanted to know what I How those decisions were made. So I could understand why things were cascaded down and I had to execute. It’s once I got in the room to see what was discussed and how we made decision making. Ooh, that was really interesting.
And then being accountable for making those decisions and cascading the message. That’s the C suite. But. Taking away the title, it is key decision makers. It is leaders wherever they are in an organization that have some kind of [00:20:00] influence for which people will follow. Because I’ll tell you, leaders are everywhere in the organization.
You may not have that see in front of it. But you may have all the characteristics that you need, whether you’re where you’re at, and that may be just fine, or to get there later. So it’s almost a mindset, critical thinking, thinking strategically, seeing the big picture, having an opinion, expressing it, and influencing people.
That’s the C suite.
Porschia: Oh, thank you for explaining that to us. I love, love your explanation there. I think that’s really deep and it’s deeper than I think most people even realize. So many of our professionals in our community are interested in becoming a C suite executive at some point in their career.
What advice would you give to an aspiring C suite executive? Cheers.
Deb: So, I don’t necessarily give [00:21:00] advice. The best thing I can do is ask you questions. And this question is both mine and somebody I had on my podcast, is ask yourself why, one, do you want to be a leader? And What are the reasons? Because there are for selfish reasons.
Again, I’ll give credit to another person of why you wanted prestige, uh, family, being proud of those accomplishments, financial, maybe all the right reasons. And that can get you so far. But people will see that. At some point, maybe you did that and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I think people have to say, am I really doing it for the right reason or am I doing it for things that are for others, not just myself?
Because the greatest thing that a leader can do is elevate the capability of the other people in their care or elevate somebody, even if you don’t have people that are reporting to you, your customers, your external, internal customers, it’s that ability to not only serve, but also [00:22:00] elevate. And so, um. C suite leaders, you have to ask yourself why.
And even in my book, the CEO’s Compass, I had the first chapter is before you, you realize when you’re off track, this book is for you. But the first chapter is ask yourself, where’s your mindset and why do you want to lead? And can you lead the same way? And should you lead it a little bit differently to get a different result?
You have to just start by asking yourself about why you lead, uh, before you decide if you want to be even a C suite leader.
Porschia: Hmm. Very good question. I’m gonna let the audience think about that. . Mm-hmm. , I know that you have a lot of experience and you’ve seen, uh, a lot of different professionals and executives throughout your career.
How can a professional successfully navigate into the C-Suite?
Deb: Wow. I think there’s a couple [00:23:00] things in there that I want to advise and I did not know this, see this or seek it out. One thing that I think is important is in whatever capacity in or external to the company is find a mentor or an advocate to be on your shoulder and give you that advice.
Again, you may be technically good at what you do, but you can’t see everything because maybe how your message comes across may not be appreciated, may not be valued. And so often these C suite leaders get frustrated because they’re good at their craft, but nobody’s talking to them about some of the essential skills that may be, uh, missing in how they communicate, how fast they communicate, how they message things and how do they network and create allies and, and things like that.
That’s one thing. You need to network internally, not just in your silo. You need to know other people because. You want to be able to have that internal network in case you have a problem. You know who to pick up the phone. You need others to recognize what you’re doing [00:24:00] such that people see you because you may not go up.
You may have to go sideways at some point. And I think the last thing is, is that we need to get rid of the mindset of, well, I haven’t checked the box on everything in order to get to the C suite. And I can start. Acting like I’m in the C suite, look around the room, find some cool people that you really respect, start leaning into their behaviors.
You may not realize it, but if you start acting, talking, thinking like a C suite leader, people that don’t even know you when they meet you for the first time, they’re going to say, Oh, you should be in the C suite. I met such a person and they’re still just a manager. I said, I thought you were a director.
People may not realize, but if you started acting that way, it almost has this element of manifestation. People see you that way and you may be pulled. In that direction versus trying to push your way in.
Porschia: Those are some great, great tips for people. Um, I think a [00:25:00] lot of times people believe that, Hey, I need to get a mentor and this mentor is going to tell me everything, right.
And mentors are important, but I think in addition to having a mentor being proactive with the networking, like you mentioned, and then just. It’s acting, um, as if really, uh, you are a decision maker. And I liked your distinction at the beginning of this episode when you really said, you know, C suite leaders are decision makers.
So I think those are some great, uh, tip step.
Deb: Yeah. And the other thing is, don’t be afraid to put your voice forward. It’s hard because you will get shot down. But I think the, um. Positive part of it is that you need to start putting more proposals, more ideas out there. I believe, I think we should, we must, because if you don’t even do that, you give nothing for anybody to shoot down or to lean into.
So [00:26:00] being quiet is definitely not good if there’s a little fear. And unfortunately there are environments that aren’t conducive to putting your ideas out there. I had one such individual that worked with me, or they… I was supporting them. They went to the plant manager. They were about three steps down.
They had to share information. And they, she said to me afterwards, the plant manager kept asking all kinds of questions about what she was saying. I failed. I failed. I said, no, you didn’t. I said, what you did is you had an opportunity to speak to somebody in this. C suite, you put your ideas forward, you help them to understand your world, which he didn’t understand by him asking questions.
You at least gave him a platform to engage with you and educate him, et cetera. So don’t be afraid to put your words forward. Some people may not like it, others will, and hopefully you find some people that will mentor you on better ways of positioning what you have to say.
Porschia: Um, that’s very powerful as well, Deb.
And I think that’s a [00:27:00] great example for our listeners to really receive. Um, one way that I kind of phrased that, I think in a slightly different way. Um, and when I’ve worked with clients who want to get promoted and sometimes it’s to the C suite and sometimes it’s not, I talk a bit about proactively providing solutions.
Which it sounds like your client was doing right when you proactively share your thoughts, uh, that you have to make things better. That really helps you stand out,
Deb: you know, and it’s interesting. Again, that person took that advice. They didn’t feel like they accomplished the goal. about the skills that you built in the meantime.
It may not have worked here. You may not have been able to influence that person, but you had your opportunity to put your ideas forward because if not this situation, then the next company or next situation or next department, there are people out there that will appreciate you putting your ideas, being proactive in your thoughts.
Keep. Practicing those skills [00:28:00] because it’s not always you, it could be the environment and you just need to practice your craft in an environment that will help you develop
Porschia: along those lines. I want to, I want to ask you about something that people can practice and work on. So being strategic is one of the vital skills for members in the C suite.
How could someone work on being more effective with their
Deb: strategies? I wish I knew when I was coming up, they don’t teach that to you. We just know that we get in our, if we’re a mid level career manager or technician, whatever, we are given our accountabilities and we must meet certain targets. We are there to confirm.
to create a transaction and get it done. They never, unless you go to a business school or something like that, learn how to develop strategy. But sometimes at a time of crisis, you have to do something different. And that’s where strategy comes in. I was in a role where we were not [00:29:00] performing. I knew I needed to do something different.
I was starting to put post it notes all over these places. all over the place. Again, the idea person when I was younger, I got all these ideas. I got all these ideas, but I still don’t know how to steer the ship or get a different result or be recognized and put in the C suite. So I got a little creative.
I found a strategic plan that was cascaded down by corporate talking about corporate goals. And I said, well, I can kind of copy paste and edit and kind of make it my own. What was my quality vision mission? It’s. Cetera. What were those things not working right? Ooh. Those could become those pretty little pillars and enablers, and you can kind of practice using what already exists out there and that I came forth with a strategy for my region.
I’d never been taught how to do one, but people said Yes, that’s what we need to do. I could see the bigger picture. I had a lot of disjointed ideas, but given time, they already started to coalesce. And I put it out there into the world where [00:30:00] actually the other regional leaders said, we should probably do that.
Nobody was doing it, but sometimes if you can’t find the solution to a problem, sometimes if you just step back and just put ideas out there, maybe. Show them to somebody else. All of a sudden you start seeing, ah, this is where we need to go. This is where we need new procedures. This is where we need new talent.
It kind of reveals itself, but you have to be at a place sometimes of crisis to say, what do I need to do to get a different result? And then kind of strategy comes out of it. See the future. And then what are those incremental things that you have to do to get there? Practice, practice, practice.
Porschia: Yes. Very true.
Very true. So to look at the other side of things, Deb, what are some of the biggest mistakes you see C suite executives making?
Deb: Some of the mistakes, um, I think is in some of [00:31:00] theirs. Okay. I’m going to pause for five seconds. Can you ask the question again, please? So
Porschia: on the flip side, Deb, uh, what are some of the biggest mistakes you see C suite
Deb: executives making? Hmm. I love that question. And I think there’s one big mistake. One of the things I see is that we hire very, very talented people into the organization.
That’s how we gain market share, competitive advantage. And we just expect them to. form. And when we meet with our people periodically, we say, how’s that report doing? How’s that strategy going? We don’t take time as C suite leaders to understand and ask harder questions. What do you need to be successful?
Where do you think that maybe we need to do some development? know how to give feedback in a positive way. So you can have conversations to close gaps in people performance. That’s one of the compass points on, on the CEO’s compass. We [00:32:00] think performance is the results we get. But I say no, ultimately we’re trying to get peace of mind when everybody is rowing the ship in the same direction.
What leaders need to focus on is that talent that you bring into the organization. Things change. Maybe people are moved into different roles and seeking what are those things that now they’re missing. In order to still perform at their highest and leaders don’t take the time to have those deep conversations.
They don’t know how to have them. And then the people in their care sometimes fall by the wayside, they become average. Sometimes they become a poor performer. And then we put them on a performance improvement plan when the simplest thing C suite leaders could do is just take a little bit more time as a top priority, checking in with the people.
What are the tools, the skills, the mindset do they need to be successful? Because if you fix that. All the technical, all the strategic work falls in line. That’s a big mistake. It’s expensive to replace people. [00:33:00]
Porschia: I think that it’s a great segue, Deb, for us to learn a little bit more about your book. So tell us about the CEO’s Compass and some of your other programs.
Deb: So the CEO’s Compass, your guide to get back on track, I realized was basically my life, my stories, my experiences of. Um, ongoing being dropped into situations that were chaotic and crisis. Maybe a part of my DNA is I like running into the fire because I don’t like seeing chaos. And so over time I learned those things to get people to.
Get them out of chaos, build strong teams, put the right people process and tools in place. And that’s fundamental to anything you need to do as a strategic leader to build a high performing workspace. But I realized then they were missing things to that recipe. I realized leaders don’t spend enough time in the past or understanding people’s culture, their unique gifts.
The week. [00:34:00] Diversity of thought of physical attributes, their experiences. I also saw another thing that is really missing is pride. And I call that their intellectual property. We just hit the ground running as leaders to do whatever is required of us, but we don’t spend enough time to understand those unique things.
Gifts of the individuals and what made them successful, if not now in the past, because by asking people those questions, you build a lot of respect and trust. So when you hit the ground running with a new crisis, a new situation, a shortage in supply chain, these people will. If you didn’t spend that time would be heads down, do their work and do nothing more.
But because you took the time to understand their culture and all of these other elements, you get better results. So all of these things became my way of going into an organization, say, how do I get this thing not only to be stabilized, uh, perform at a higher level. [00:35:00] And then finally I found. It’s not results that leaders are looking for, but it’s peace of mind, which is different.
It’s that state of knowing everything is working and you don’t have to worry about that late night call. That’s the Northern most compass point. My insights, I distilled into a compass because that makes sense. And it’s kind of cool, the CEO’s compass, but then it becomes a framework for wine. You determine what kind of leader you want to be going forward.
And then depending on where your business is off track, you can pick a different compass point to get you.
You may only need to change a few things and that’s what I do when I drop into organizations and partnering that C suite leader. It’s the lens of using the compass to get them back on track. Wow. So that’s why I had to write it and get it out there. And that’s my business card when I meet people and share the book with them.
Porschia: Yeah. Yeah. Well, everyone should definitely check out the book. I [00:36:00] absolutely love the compass analogy that you have and how you kind of just drop in, uh, with your clients. And one thing that you said, Deb, that I think is. is really powerful is that it’s not the result that leaders are looking for. It’s the peace of mind.
And you’re so right. Uh, we could talk about, uh, you know, control and leaders and wanting to have that. But really, I, I think, you know, at the root of it, people do want to have that peace of mind and how they go about trying to get that right. Can be a lot of different, different ways. Uh, we will be providing a link to your website and your book and your other social channels in our show notes so that people can find you online.
Um, do you have a preferred way for someone to get in touch with you?
Deb: Well, absolutely. I mean, the two places you just mentioned, uh, the website drop in ceo. com, all of my resources, blog. book and the podcast, [00:37:00] but also the best place. There’s so many social media outlets to choose from, but my playground is LinkedIn.
Look for Deborah A. Coviello or the drop in CEO. I told you early in this interview, I love talking. I love connecting. I love exchanging ideas, getting new ideas from any one of you. I would welcome a connection and let’s just have a conversation and get to know each other.
Porschia: I love it. So Deb, I want to talk to you kind of as we wrap up about success.
So what is your definition of career success?
Deb: We already talked about it. Peace of mind. Honestly, you know, it’s been an amazing transition for me. I have done some corporate contract work because obviously I still got a kid in college and a mortgage and all of that. So I have to be a realist a little bit to pay the bills, but I have peace of mind.
That is my. I have a great [00:38:00] partner in crime. My needs are being met. I don’t have to be making as much money as I did before, but just to make enough and have the time to sit down with my family at 630 and have every single night for dinner. I have peace of mind because I’m not working the crazy hours.
I’m doing the work I love. I’m having the conversations and networking that I love to have. I am always smiling now. And I think that the smile is the gateway to the soul. I have peace of mind and yes, there are ups and downs. I can’t ask my husband, I’ll tell you, but in general, I have peace of mind. So that I would call is success.
Love
Porschia: it. Peace of mind and smiles to me too. I will definitely take them down. So how do you think executives or professionals can get a positive edge in their
Deb: career? Well, you first have to set your mind to it. And I talk about this a lot. Get rid of the in your vocabulary, the N [00:39:00] apostrophe T. I have seen so many talented professionals say, well, I’ve not done that before.
I can’t, I’ve never done sales before. I’m not sure that is the, it’s the thing that’s going to ruin you. I mean, you didn’t get to where you are now without taking challenges, learning new. things. Being a little unsure. Why then do you carry that forward when you’re one step away, maybe from the C suite?
Know that you’re a smart person and you’re capable and resourceful. You have affirmative, you have resolved these issues in the past. Change your language, get rid of the N apostrophe T. And if somebody says, Hey, are you interested in this sales role over here? Maybe you’re a technical person. You can say, well, That sounds interesting.
I know from the past I’ve been able to be a quick learner, and I think I may be able to get up to speed pretty quickly. Not one N apostrophe T. Get rid of it, be mindful of it, be aware of it, and do what you can to remove it.
Porschia: [00:40:00] Yeah, yeah, that’s very powerful. Um, no, uh, in apostrophe T. And I think also maybe this is kind of what you’re getting at too.
And this is what I see with a lot of clients is they kind of go to that negative first, right? So no, I have not done that. Right. They don’t necessarily, um, expand their mind with the ideas of, Hey, you know, I’ve done something kind of similar in the past. Maybe I can do that. Um, they kind of shut things down early.
So, uh, there might be some of that going on, but I, I love it. I love it. We’re moving that, uh, in apostrophe T.
Deb: Um, go ahead. I mean, if I could respond to that is that, uh, one could say, I’ve never been a chief operating officer. But I’ve been the head of an organization. I run my own business. I have to figure out how things run better.
And so it’s about having those skills, not necessarily the title or functional and the trust and people believing in you. [00:41:00] You just have to trust yourself. Yeah. It’s all
Porschia: about trust. Uh, well, Deb, you have shared a lot of wisdom with us today. Um, I’m sure that our listeners can use it to really be confident as they, uh, pursue careers in the C suite or just are more intentional about being effective as a C suite leader.
Uh, we really appreciate you being with us
Deb: today. Um, Portia, I love the work that you’re doing and the collaboration to help others. So thank you again for the opportunity. Thank you, Deb.
