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Here
are seven strategies that I've tested, modified and used
throughout my career. For me, they're passing the test
of time. I hope they are useful to you.
Strategy
#1: This Too Shall Pass
It’s important to remember that everything runs
in cycles. The current down cycle will be followed by
an up cycle. You need to accept the environment that you’re
in and work with it.
I
believe the best use of a down cycle is to get ready for
the next up cycle. This is more than just regrouping and
housecleaning. It's really about getting ready for the
future. This is a great time to build competitive advantage.
You can do this by communicating with customers. During
their down cycle, they have both the time and the motivation
to hear about ideas that can bring improvements. Above
all, do what you can to keep the people in your organization
energized about the future. In tough times, it's easy
to get discouraged. Remember that the message is always
the "glass is half-full, not half-empty."
Strategy
#2: Follow Your Passion
"Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished
without passion," said the German philosopher Hegel.
I've always believed that passion for life and work is
the engine that pulls everything else along. My passion
is leadership. It's a common theme that's run through
my careers at 3M, Digital Equipment, Sun Microsystems,
and Autodesk. I love solving problems and I love working
with people.
Here are three important questions that can help you find
your passion.
- What's
really important to me?
- What
do I love to do?
- What
are the ingredients of a great day?
Identifying
your passion and giving it a name are very important.
You need to make sure that you're on the right road and
headed in the right direction. If you're not very clear
about these things, chances are you're missing opportunities.
I
realize that these are difficult times. When I say find
your passion, some people might say this is not the right
time and that we need to be pragmatic. But our passions
and dreams should not move to the back burner when things
get tough. This is exactly the time that we need to tap
into new sources of energy. Passion produces energy and
energy helps build your passion.
Strategy
#3: Leaders Help People Succeed
Wherever you are in your organization or your career,
you can work on leadership. There is a real difference
between managing and leading. Too often, managing winds
up being the allocation of resources against tasks. Leadership
focuses on people. My definition of a leader is someone
who helps people succeed at what needs to be done.
This
can take many forms including motivation, guidance, congratulations,
correction, empathy, and so on. But leadership always
starts with having an eagle eye for what each person needs
at a particular time to succeed.
I
saw great example of this in action recently. A 13-year-old
girl won a talent contest to sing the national anthem,
a cappella, at a Portland Trail Blazers NBA playoff game.
There were 20,000 spectators in the arena and a national
television audience watching. Halfway through the anthem,
she forgot the words. Flustered, she stopped singing.
Then something terrific happened. Trail Blazers head coach
Maurice Cheeks came to center court, put his hand on the
girl's shoulder, and began singing the national anthem.
The girl began to sing again and thousands in the arena
joined in. A difficult moment turned to triumph. Maurice
Cheeks successfully demonstrated how to deal with the
important leadership question: "What does this person,
or this group, need to succeed and how can I help them
get there?"
Strategy
#4: Forget Balance
Balancing work and family is a perennial issue for women
with responsibilities. There are many books and articles
on the subject. Too often, women spend a lot of time working
to achieve balance and experience a lot of guilt when
they don’t.
I
say, "Forget about balance!" It's just not going
to happen. Instead of thinking about balance, I think
about managing diverse agendas. I'm a CEO and I have a
teenage daughter. Let me tell you, making these two roles
work successfully requires managing agendas. My daughter
knows that there are times when I need to travel and spend
a lot of time on business. But she also knows that I'm
going to devote specific time to her, going to school
events and being part of her life. We communicate a lot
and we spend time negotiating our priorities and our agendas.
You
don't need to constantly balance work and home life. Instead,
stay engaged and flexible. When something rolls off the
table, you need to catch it before it hits the floor.
Strategy
#5: Take Care of Yourself
Being a woman with responsibilities has gotten a lot tougher
in the past couple of years because of the events of Sept.
11, a serious recession, two wars, and a lot of concern
about the future.
We're
dealing with the usual problems of families, children,
and teens, plus we're coping with national loss and uncertainty.
I have a radical suggestion: take care of yourself first.
I know this sounds paradoxical and even selfish. But I
want you to remember the airplane announcement for parents
traveling with children. "In the event of an emergency
and oxygen masks deploy, put on your mask first and then
help your child."
If
you're not fully capable yourself, you can't be effective
for others. So take the time to make sure that you're
OK.
Strategy
#6: Cast Thy Bread upon the Waters and It Shall Return
a Thousand-fold
I want to stress the importance of giving back, of helping
people and institutions. It's the right thing to do and
it feels great. One of my ways to give back is to encourage
math and science education for girls in middle school
and high school. Without math and science basics, a very
big door to success in the 21st-century is closed and
women are locked out.
At
Autodesk, we started a program in 1997 called Design Your
Future: Math, Science, and Technology for Girls. Our goal
is to inspire and empower 14- to 19-year-old girls to
pursue careers that build on their early science and technology
educations. We have internships, mentoring, and job shadowing.
It's enormously gratifying to see our first group of interns
in college, pursuing their dreams.
Strategy
#7: Be a Good Ancestor
I believe that one of the most important parts of work
and life is about leaving a legacy. One of the legacies
that I want to leave is that I was a good ancestor. I
want to leave my corner of the world a better place because
I was here. Here's a suggestion. In the next day or two,
think about what your legacy will be. Write it down, describing
your piece of history. And then make a plan and get to
work.
Carol Bartz is chairman of the board
and CEO of Autodesk, Inc.
Autodesk,
with more than 5 million users, is the global leader in
design software used by engineers, architects, and designers
to create the world we live in. Since Bartz took the helm
in 1992, the company has diversified its product line
and grown revenues from $285 million to more than $824
million in FY03.
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