Carly Fiorina’s Tough Choices: What is it like to be a woman in business?

“I don’t know,” says Carly Fiorina, author of Tough Choices, “I’ve never been a man.” But wow, does she know what it’s like to be that woman in business.

I have been CEO of two software companies – hired by Boards who had led companies to underperformance and were now looking to have them changed.  Prior to that, I grew my own business (started in my bedroom as a single, impoverished mother) over several years, and sold it to NZ’s largest health insurer.  We went on to create a consortium between my company, the health insurer, and a multinational insurance company. That consortium became New Zealand’s largest private workers’ compensation provider. I had a few other start-ups along the way. I have never had a woman on a Board I reported to.

I am currently on the Gold Coast of Australia to speak to two banking institutions about leadership, and surviving these economic times.  Yesterday my daughter and I had a spare evening and went to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary .  We joined up with another woman and child there, and quickly bonded – Sue, the mother, was also an ex-CEO. She lent me Carly Fiorina’s book Tough Choices (Portfolio, 2007), and I dedicated a day to reading it.

“When people are afraid they turn inwards to protect themselves and those things most important to them.”

I was in my mid thirties before I discovered a group of men who treated me with fear and resentment for my gender.  I was shocked, and possibly very very naïve.  It had not occurred to me that I might threaten them, or be anything but an enthusiastic colleague.  Over time I realized that I cannot change their minds.

Carly talks about the skill needed to maneuver an aircraft carrier (i.e. a big corporation) vs. the skill to drive a jet ski. I loved the analogy. When I sold my first business, the CEO of the company who bought us described us as a speed boat (full of zip and agility) while the new parent company was an ocean liner.  I had the skills to lead a fleet of speed boats, but no experience in driving the ocean liner. Key amongst the skills I lacked were the political ones. I had always run my own show, and initially lacked some key corporate skills (sucking up, playing politics, “grinf***ing” – a Carly quote!); indeed, I was very slow to recognize them. Carly’s book sets out wonderful strategies for managing life in a corporation, while retaining both integrity and dignity.  I wish I had read this book 10 years ago.

“Resistance to a new idea or new way of doing things is interesting to observe. It is an emotional reaction to fear of the unknown or fear of losing power or influence.”

When I set out to create a virtual world that didn’t market stuff to children (my 9-year-old daughter Grace just commented over my shoulder, “In other words you don’t want to sell crap to kids,”), people were a little skeptical. My team hadn’t built a virtual world before; we hadn’t executed a pile of best selling games before; we haven’t built a social network; and we were turning our back on a business model which has made millions for toy and card companies. I believed my team could create something new. I also have faith parents want something else for their children.

I don’t have a lot of experience in creating games or social networks. I can, however, create a great place to work. In order for people to be creative and do their best work, it is my belief that they must have safety. If we want people to take creative risks at work – we need to make it easy for them to do that. The way to make it easy is to provide an environment of fun, acceptance, respect, and love. Simple, really!

“People don’t do business with a company… people the world over do business with people they trust and respect.”

At MiniMonos we are committed to our ethics and beliefs. We work with wonderful partners because we can work with anyone, anywhere in the world in this global economy. There is no need for us to do business with anyone except those we trust and respect. We even love them. It is my belief that there really are only two emotions in business – love or fear. I have been motivated by both, and my preference is love.  MiniMonos is made with love.

“Believing in someone else so they can believe in themselves is a small but hugely significant act of leadership.”

Carly’s husband Frank supported her all along the way, as did her father.  I have been lucky to have men in my life who support me.  These include the teachers and professors who shaped my mind, the men and boys I studied with (I was the only girl in Applied Math in my senior year at High School), the men I have worked and do work with, the men who are my business partners and investors, my family.  I am honored to have them on my team.

 “Live your life in a way that makes you happy and proud. If you sell your soul, no one can pay you back.”

Carly Fiorina kept her soul.  So can you, so can I.  You did too, Sue.  Thanks!

Tough Choices is Carly Fiorina’s memoir.  She candidly describes the people who influenced and supported her in various roles (including her family, professors and colleagues).  She is also frank about the difficulties and choices she had to make during her 6-year term as CEO and Director of HP, until she was dismissed in 2005. 

You can purchase Tough Choices through Amazon here:

Creating a Green Habit in Four Easy Steps

This post is for the Green Moms Carnival on Green Resolutions hosted this month by Non-Toxic Kids.

Resolutions are great, aren’t they? Simply making a resolution causes us to positively glow with virtuousness, secure in the knowledge that our lives will shortly be better.

That sense of purpose is a terrific motivator. It gets us reducing, reusing and recycling, building our compost piles and taking the bus. And yet how many resolutions are made and never kept? It reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld when Jerry tries to pick up his rental car and they don’t have a car for him. He gets into an argument with the agent as to the meaning of a reservation:

Jerry: I don't understand, I made a reservation, do you have my reservation?

Agent: Yes, we do, unfortunately we ran out of cars.

Jerry: But the reservation keeps the car here. That's why you have the reservation.

Agent: I know why we have reservations.

Jerry: I don't think you do. If you did, I'd have a car. See, you know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to *hold* the reservation and that's really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. Anybody can just take them.

Agent: Let me, uh, speak with my supervisor.

Resolutions, like reservations, require holding in order to be useful, and we all know that the holding can be the hardest part. If a behavior doesn’t develop into a habit, it’s quickly lost.

Recently, I had the terrific experience of creating a new green habit: instead of driving to work, I walk, or on rare occasion take the bus. This habit gives me great joy on an ongoing basis, but it took time to develop. I’m happy to share my process with you and I hope to hear about your many green habits as well!

In his book Habit, Neale Martin describes our two minds: the executive brain and the dinosaur brain. The executive brain is the one that makes conscious decisions; the dinosaur brain is the one that operates on autopilot – and which is responsible for 95% of our day-to-day behavior. Our executive brain makes the resolutions; our dinosaur brains keep them.

Context

If we want our green resolutions to be meaningful, we have to understand how to transition them from our conscious brains to our dinosaur brains: in short, how to make them into habits. According to Martin, the first step towards forming habits is context: making sure that the new behavior we’re trying to create fits nicely within our existing mental map of the world.

The first few times I went on long walks were a “big deal”. I took walks on weekends with friends, on trails in the hills, planning them in advance and giving myself a big pat on the back when I was done. When I first walked to work, I thought I was a real heroine! But now I barely notice the trip. In order for me to walk as a means of transportation, I had to change its mental context: from a major exercise activity to a normal way of getting around.

Training

Because the dinosaur brain learns through repetition, one of the most important steps in forming a habit is repeating the behavior. A lot. Enough times for the dinosaur brain to be able to handle things without further instruction.

In my case, it took several months of walking before it became second nature. Now I crave it, and I feel uncomfortable if for some reason I have to take the car.

Reinforcement

Reinforcement is, according to Martin, “anything that makes a behavior more likely to occur”. Reinforcement can be positive (we play a game to win a medal) or negative (we turn off the alarm in the morning to make that annoying sound stop).

For me, sunny days were positive reinforcement, but at first I’d revert to the car the moment a cloud appeared. So I consciously created an additional, negative reinforcement: I cancelled my parking space in the local garage. This meant that anytime I wanted to take the car, I had to consciously think about where I was going to park and how much it would cost me.

Cue

A cue is a way to trigger behavior; cues accelerate the creation of habits. Unfortunately, many of the habits we’re trying to overcome have their own cues. For example, I have a cue that says when I have a meeting with a particular client on the other side of town, I take the car. Now I’m looking for ways to compensate for that cue: a better understanding of the bus system, perhaps.

If you’re looking to save water by taking shorter showers, try playing music (that you can hear from the shower), and telling yourself that when a certain song comes on, you get out of the shower. You can create little rhymes for yourself (“leaving home, to go roam, take the bus, it’s no fuss!”) or connect seemingly unconnected things (“every time I run the dishwasher, I take out the compost”).

Context, training, reinforcement and cues: four steps to creating – and keeping – your green resolutions. After months and months, I hit a tipping point that told me my walking habit had been successfully created: it had officially become more troublesome to take the car than to leave it behind.
I’d love to hear about your green resolutions, and your tips and tricks for making habits of them, in the comments below.

MiniMonos Friday Featured Friend - DIYFather

The MiniMonos Team have just had 3 fantastic days together in Wellington planning and brainstorming our MiniMonos Island releases over the next few months.

While there, we dropped in for coffee and hugely enjoyable conversation with friends Stefan and Dave from DIYFather, an ultra-cool parenting website for first-time Dads.  Stefan is one of the contributing dads of DIYFather, alongside fellow dad directors, Scott and Eric who inspire fathers to spend more time with their kids by using funny, informative and non-judgmental stories from the whole dad community.

The DIY dads are passionate about their families, social media and connecting like-minded people.  DIYFather was recently named New Zealander of the Year winner of the education category for their popular annual competition which showcases the story of everyday New Zealanders striving to make a difference in the world. However DIYFather has struck such a chord with all fathers that it has gained huge world-wide popularity with contributing dads from around the world blogging about baby and kids’ issues such as education, sleeping, health and emergencies, entertainment and relationships. DIYFather is definitely in guy-speak  -- an example of one of the featured ‘Dadgets’ is a hotel mirror which leaves a fog-free patch large enough to be able to hold the baby up to view, but not too high that Dad can see his own testicles. Very handy. There’s also a hilarious video series called Sneaking off to My Shed.  Yep, they’re definitely not Mom-type posts, but these guys are not goofing around.  DIYFather is packed-full of thought-provoking and informative topics and advice from dads for dads and I have to say that as a mother, their articles have given me a great perspective on how my husband may be approaching kid-issues in our house.

The DIY dads have also written a book, “Call Me Dad”, packed with information on everything from pregnancy and preparing for the baby, to the end of that first unbelievable year. The book is based on their own experiences of fatherhood and includes lots of tips and real life stories from the global DIYFather community of fathers.

You can also check out DIYFather on Twitter  and Facebook

Surprise birthday present after a MiniMonos get-together

This week I’m not posting a MiniMonos Meatless Meal as for the last 3 days the whole MiniMonos team have been together in Wellington, planning our awesome new releases on MiniMonos Island for the new year. It's been wonderful to get together and brainstorm really cool ideas and have a heap of laughs, as well as meeting other stimulating like-minded people and fabulous eco-friends.

Tonight our family is having an 8th birthday celebration for our son before we fly out to Australia at the crack of dawn tomorrow.

Our boy was born in Australia and we brought him ‘across the ditch’ to New Zealand when he was 2 months old.  Ever since he could pronounce the word “Thydney” he’s been hankering to get back to his home town to check it out and we’ve been dying to show him our favorite spots there. After months of secrecy we finally surprised him last night when I got home from our MiniMonos get-together -- with tickets to Sydney:

 

Ooohhh…an exciting-looking envelope…

 

I don’t get it.

Oh…

It couldn’t be….

IT IS!!

(Overwhelmed)

'Tis the season for chocolate indulgences!

Whoohoo!  Look what we had for morning tea! 

One of our team members, Kim, whipped up these gorgeous cupcakes and had this stunning display waiting for us as we walked in the door. We sat at our computers salivating and tapping our feet, waiting for the first opportunity to sing out "It's mooorning tea tiiiiime!"  And they tasted as divine as they look -- no wonder Kim's two boys insisted that she make one for every child in their class!

To be part of the MiniMonos virtual world team, check us out here

MiniMonos Friday Featured Friend: Felicity from EcoSteward

We’ve been so lucky this year to meet Felicity, a dynamic and caring social and human rights consultant, writer and eco-mum.  Much of her 9-year old son’s bedtime reading consists of how children in Africa lack water, how children in the Arctic are impacted by loss of ice, how animals are becoming endangered around the world and how he can make a difference by switching off those lights.  A parent after our own hearts!

We first met Felicity through Twitter, as EcoSteward, which she set up to reflect her care and love for the environment.  Her profile features photos she took of this year’s Wellington 350.org event, which she attended with her son and posted as her tribute to the day and "New Zealanders' active and genuine engagement with climate change".

Felicity is a key contributor and administrator on wikiHow, which is aiming to be the world's greatest free how-to site ever. Here, she has been responsible for editing, writing, and collating 500 articles which were donated to One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and in September this year wrote enough articles as part of a special project to have over 400 books donated to children in Africa. She also helped start a UNICEF project with this site and her articles have been read by over 15 million people!

Another organisation Felicity is involved with is the Gender International Law Justice project which is seeking to find out how women make the best use of international law in a local context. For the past four years she and the team have been researching in Kenya, Argentina, Iran, and Pakistan to gain information which will be published by Cambridge University Press next year.

Felicity also blogs for Breast Cancer Action Montreal (BCAM) about "Conscious Cosmetics" and disseminates information about what she says are “the problems of the current overwhelming focus on post-breast cancer rather than tackling the environmental/medical contaminants that bring about breast cancer in the first place”.

In addition to these amazing roles, Felicity is a volunteer for Wellington Zoo where she helps members of the public learn more about the animals and the zoo's conservation messages. And apart from that -- she does a lot of chalk drawings of animals!

At MiniMonos we completely agree when Felicity says: “I'd simply hope that we all continue to focus on caring about our environment and animals in practical, engaged ways that help to ensure our kids have a healthy world to live in”. 

You can contact Felicity through Twitter here.

MiniMonos Meatless Meal: Tostadas at the table

Tonight my father and his partner, Chris, are coming for dinner.  I warned them that Thursday nights for our family, are meatless -- at least one day a week we're cutting down on our culinary carbon footprint -- and they'd be inflicted with a build-at-the-table meal that will be photographed to within an inch of it's life, and blogged about. That didn't put them off. Amazing.  I’ve decided to cook tostadas, a fried flat corn tortilla with lettuce, beans, cheese, and guacamole piled on top.

I’m not sure about serving Chris a big hearty Mexican meal, as her gourmet taste (and superb skill) tends towards the small and refined.  To gobble down a huge messy plate of Mexican food is (in her polite words) not something she would ever cook for herself.  My average cooking skills means there's a high chance we may feel like we're eating slop on cardboard, so I'm grateful Chris is throwing herself in, boots and all, and is even making Mexican rice.

The building materials:

Tostadas:

•     ¾ cup vegetable oil
•     8 corn tortillas
•     2½ cups pinto beans, cooked or canned
•     3 cloves garlic, minced
•     3 medium red onions, chopped
•     1½ tsp cumin
•     1½ tsp coriander
•     1 tsp chilies, minced or 2 tsp good chili sauce
•     1 medium tomato, chopped
•     2 oranges, juiced
•     salt
•     guacamole (3 avocados, mixed with 2 cloves minced garlic, chopped shallots, juice from 1 lime, salt and pepper)
•     lettuce, shredded  
•     mild cheese, grated
•     sour cream
•     salsa

Fry each tortilla for one minute in 1/2 cup hot oil until crisp.  Turn, and fry another minute until crisp. Drain on a paper towel and repeat with the other tortillas.

Put  ¼ c oil in another large pan, with onions, garlic, cumin, coriander, and chili sauce, and sauté 5-10 minutes, until onions are translucent. Add drained beans and mash, then stir in tomatoes and orange juice. Reduce heat to low, cover pan, and simmer, stirring frequently, 5-10 minutes. Add salt.

Chris’s Mexican Rice:

•     1 teaspoon of salt
•     1 clove garlic, minced
•     3 tablespoons cooking oil
•     1 cup uncooked rice
•     2 cups chicken broth   
•     1/2 cup tomato puree or can tomato
•     1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
•     1/2 cup chopped onion

Heat oil. Add rice and cook until golden. Add & sauté onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Add salt, tomato and broth in blender. Add to rice, cook until tender and liquid is absorbed. Cooking time is 20 minutes over low heat.

The construction:

Place a tortilla on a plate, put on a layer of lettuce, beans, cheese, guacamole, salsa, and sour cream.  Add Mexican rice on the side and enjoy!

The verdict:

It was a resounding thumbs-up from all.  The beans were tasty and Chris’s rice was tomato-rich and delicious. As usual, it was fun to pass around dishes, build our meals and compare structures.

Our son and his Papa John decided to show their appreciation by putting their placemats on their heads.  As you do.

Cuddly toy cleaning without chemicals or crying

I gritted my teeth this afternoon and cleaned Bunny for the first time in, uh, mumble mumble over four years mumble.

I know that's truly revolting but as every parent knows, washing the favourite soft toy can be a gut-wrenching thing to do.  Although our son is nearly eight, Bunny continues to be loved by our whole household as much as our two cats (actually, more, by Dad and I).  I've been so terrified of messing up the structure of Bunny's much-smooched-on fur that I figured I would trust the latest "hygiene hypothesis" research rather than us going into mourning over a ratty rabbit.

And that's the rub. This cuddly toy started off as smooth as our son's three-year old cheeks and as soft as my mother when he asks her for chocolate. However Bunny has been getting less fluffy-feeling over the years, er, maybe due to the dirt and grime.  

Chemical dry-cleaning was definitely not an option so, with shaking hands, son and I hand-washed Bunny with my favourite Ecostore wool wash and fabric softener.  Three hours later she is looking good and feeling promisingly soft, although I won't know for sure until morning.  I've been told that after the trauma we put her through, Bunny will have to finish drying in my son's arms, in bed.

Remind me never to show this post to my son when he's sixteen. He'll kill me.

Show your Copenhagen vote -- and know you're not alone

Our buddy Justin Baird from Google Australia, who trained with us at The Climate Project Asia Pacific Summit, is clearly a little bit clever... he's made this awesome online platform to show world leaders the extent of global support for climate change action. Show your support and see just how many millions of us there are!

Please also feel free to embed this on your own website -- and spread the word.

 

MiniMonos Friday Featured Friend: Free Range Studios, Annie Leonard, and The Story of Cap & Trade

We've had a very exciting week here at MiniMonos. Specifically, we were named as finalists in the Free Range Studios Youtopia competition.

This is a huge privilege and honor for us. Free Range Studios have an incredible portfolio of values-based viral videos. You've probably seen some of them: The Story of Stuff, Store Wars, and The Meatrix are all their work. We're grateful to everyone who voted for MiniMonos as well as to Free Range for creating the opportunity! So of course we had to pick them as our Friday Featured Friend.

Just a few days ago, they launched The Story of Cap & Trade, another video featuring Annie Leonard from The Story of Stuff. Like all the Free Range films, it's great viewing -- highly entertaining and highly informative. Please enjoy it below -- and then let us know what you think in the comments.

The Story of Cap & Trade from Story of Stuff Project on Vimeo.