Michelle Micalizzi, Aritst
(All Rights Reserved)
My muse this week is Lynn Moran. Lynn is co-owner of the Arizona Coaching (AZC3) and Consulting Center with her partner Dee Crane. AZC3 is a multi-faceted business that provides executive, leadership and team coaching as well as general business and educational consulting services.
WHY LYNN QUALIFIES TO BE ONE OF THE 2017 FEARLESS THIRTEEN.
I have photographic recall of meeting Lynn at Starbucks in Scottsdale Quarter. The famous Jason Bressler introduced Lynn and I about eight years ago. Jason is a networking wonder and the co-founder of the Phoenix Metro Chamber of Commerce. Upon meeting Lynn, I knew that I had found a woman of excellence and that she was a keeper.
At the time that we met, I was working at Edward Jones as a licensed Financial Advisor. After a few years, I knew it was time to make a move; I just wanted to make the right move. I hired Lynn and worked with her for several months before I decided to give notice at Jones and go back out on my own. My work with her confirmed what I was feeling at Jones. I tried to bring my unique and multi-faceted entrepreneur spirit to the job but realized that I needed to be in a C-Level position using my advanced education while leveraging my drive and skill set for this great company. Ultimately, I acknowledged that what I genuinely wanted to do was to be back on the front lines being the master of my own destiny as an entrepreneur. Hearing someone like Lynn say, “Michelle you have what it takes and here is why I feel that way.” was very important for my development. As the daughter of small business owners and a first generation student, I always have this voice in the back of my head that says, “Michelle, who are you fooling?” Well I wasn’t fooling Lynn and that was very empowering to me.
I think one of the reasons I recall our first meeting so well is that it was an intriguing encounter because, on one level Lynn was the expert, and on another level, I was the expert. When I met Lynn, she had recently stepped down from running a company for one of the largest food companies in the world. She was new to the networking culture and was creating a name for herself from scratch here in Arizona.
I am a networker. I always have been. I have not had the luxury of a big title in my lifetime (yet). I have always known how to intrinsically connect with people quickly, in a lasting and meaningful way solely based upon who I am, not by what I do. Lynn was coming from a place where her title opened the door for her no matter who she was. She was very aware and felt that she was starting at square one with regards to negotiating the networking process. I think in hindsight, Lynn had networking savvy in how she leveraged her previous corporate connections and the new ones she formed as a new business owner. She was not as green as she thought she was at that time to be a success with self-employment. Similarly, just as she saw potential in me, I too saw her massive potential so it is not a surprise to me that Lynn has made her way as a entrepreneurial guru.
I have been impressed observing how Lynn has changed and grown her business and contacts here in Arizona. She has connected with all the right people and grown her business while being a devoted wife to her husband. Last year, I was not surprised when I was at a National Women Business Owners (NAWBO) lunch, to learn from a flyer on our tables that she and Deborah Bateman, the Vice Chairman of the National Bank of Arizona and the owner of Deborah Bateman, LLC, were working together. Equally, it made perfect sense that she easily knew who her audience was and how to reach them, and that she connected with another force of nature here in the Valley of the Sun, Deborah Bateman. I was happy to reconnect with both Lynn and Deborah for this project and am absolutely thrilled that both of them have agreed to be two of the Fearless Thirteen leaders of 2017.
The three biggest things that impress me the most about Lynn are:
- How she rose from humble beginnings to not only educate her self but to run a company for one of the largest food companies in the world.
- Her character is rock solid.
- She continues to grow and evolve like a great leader.
FEARLESS INTERVIEW
Lynn took a few minutes out to answer the five Art of Fearlessly Doing Business Questions.
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM LYNN ABOUT BEING FEARLESS?
1. Awareness is Key
Lynn has always been fascinated by why some people who have the right education and experience somehow never become the optimal leaders they could be and miss out on lasting success. She says that leadership skills for leaders are what muscles are to athletes. At each level of your career, whether an athlete from high school to college, and then the Olympics, you have to up your game at every increment. As leaders, every step up the ladder of success requires new and better skills. Lynn says that self-awareness, awareness of others and self-management are keys to success. If we are not aware, we never make it to our true intended place.
2. Redefine Security
When Lynn talks about security, it resonates with me. There is a lot to be said for a big paycheck, great benefits, and a health package that one never has to question. I spent a lot of time in school qualifying for one of those corner offices myself. I always hoped to find that gig that would make it “easy” for me. I watched my parents struggle as self-employed people to do all the work that needed to be done. While my friends’ families took long luxurious trips to Disneyland, we were working as a family.
I thought security existed solely in a steady paycheck for too many years. That was until the recession hit. It was enlightening to watch so many stable positions get ejected, followed by people who were back on the street starting over, begging for jobs that never came. So many of those people eventually became self-employed, just like me. I think we all learned something in the recession. There is no easy way out anymore.
For me and for Lynn, security had to be redefined. The reality is, we are always working for the dollar. When we work for the dollar and receive a paycheck, we are still earning the dollar but in fact, we are actually taking a pay cut when we get that dollar back because the company takes its cut first from our hard work. When we work for ourselves, we earn the dollar and we keep more of that dollar. There really is no free lunch anymore.
What I learned with Lynn, as her client, is that at Edward Jones what I hoped to find was an organization that embraced my entrepreneurial roots, gave me top-notch support and gave me some “security.” The reality of it proved that I had taken all the risks of business ownership without the power. When we are the owner, yes we have all the risk, but more importantly we have all the power! Which is why, once you have earned your own dollar and keep more of it, you never go back to giving your dollars or more importantly your power away again.
3. To Achieve You Have to Believe
I have heard it said that self-esteem comes from doing estimable things. Part of believing in yourself is developing yourself and racking up success stories. As we add up our successes and learn from our mistakes, we become a special kind of fearless. When we believe in ourselves, truly, anything is possible. Awareness breeds belief in oneself. When we know who we are and who we are not, we make better decisions and have better experiences. Good experiences add up, and as such, we are believers of the educational variety.
4. Talent Differentiates
What is the difference between one company and the next? It is not really the product or the service, for example, a PC and Mac are both personal computers. What makes a company great is its people who create their culture. Some companies are quick to cut training and marketing when times are tough, and this is a big mistake. During the great depression, the companies that stopped investing in marketing and the education of the employees eventually perished. In contrast, companies such as Procter & Gamble, Chevrolet, and Camel Cigarettes invested in marketing and their people, resulting survival and prosperity. When we stop investing in people, corporate productivity, quality and progress slows down and sometimes even reverses to the ultimate demise. There would be a lot of screaming at the TV is football coaches took this approach to finances. If the athletes start to fail and games get lost, there would be unhappy fans that no longer want to buy tickets and otherwise support the team, which would lead to advertisers no longer investing, etc. Weak athletes lose and so do companies that do not keep investing both in their people and their marketing.
5. Develop Within
It has come up over and over again, in this series, that fear is an inside job. Well, so is success. We have to develop ourselves so that we have what it takes to move our game to the next level. If we do not develop ourselves, we find ourselves sitting on the sidelines of life. I have found that self-development is not always an instant gratification experience either. We educate ourselves, we read, we seek out training, we reflect deeply during retreats, we get therapy, and we take care of our health. Luis Pasteur states that luck prefers a prepared mind, and I have found that truth to be a fact. When we keep putting development in our bank it adds up, and when that big shot comes our way, we are ready. When that big tragedy happens, that we thought was stupid to prepare for, we know what to do and we get through it. Experience builds on itself and eventually it pays off handsomely provided we keep paying attention, and then, we grow no mater what.
Thank you so much Lynn for taking the time out to be one of the Fearless 13! I look forward to seeing you again at the Art of Fearlessly Doing Business Art opening on May 5th at Fearless Art Works at Spanish Village in Care Free from 6-9PM.
Note from the Artist
LYNN’S ILLUSTRATION’S STORY:
I thought that Lynn’s painting was going to be about how Talent differentiates. However as I did my research that ideas just felt flat and then I thought – let’s think about some of the stories Lynn told. “Raise your game” at each level stuck out but then I dug deeper. What struck a deeper cord in me as how Lynn said we have to stop as women believe in in the story and be self aware of our strengths and not take the status quo’s idea of the story of being a woman is. We as women have to be self aware enough to tune out the noise and see ourselves as we truly are. We have to look in the mirror. Also it struck me when I went to see Lynn that she had totally changed her hair for her portrait with Glenn for this project, which is a big deal for a woman. I will not take the credit for the shift. Let’s just say Lynn was ready for the change.
As woman we have to look ourselves in the mirror and see the strong woman for who she is and also still be soft. As a professional we need to look ourselves in the mirror and be able to stand behind who we are and how we present ourselves. As a human being we have to look ourselves in the eye every day and know we have done our best. Lynn helped me to see myself and she helps many others to do the same. I also think that she has done a fantastic job of being an example of a woman who is truly able to look in the mirror and like what she finds there.
People often ask me why I never paint faces. I tossed around this idea in my mind and decided to stand by my reason for not painting faces. When I was a gymnast we had a drill book that was sent to us from Romania. The drawings of the gymnasts all had blank faces. As a result the first figures I drew had no faces. Over the years my choice to continue to keep my figures faceless is in honor of those years as a gymnast. Gymnastics was and still is a religion to me. I continue to leave the faces blank in all my paintings in honor of the sport that really made me in great part who I am.
#Fearless #AoFDB #Entrepreneurship #VisualJournalism #ContemporaryForum #PheonixArtMuseum #ContemporaryArt #Art #OneThing
THE ART OF FEARLESSLY DOING BUSINESS III – OPENING
Fearless Art Gallery at Spanish Village
7211 E. Ho Rd, #17
Carefree, AZ
Friday, May 5th
6-9 PM
Optional RSVP: Facebook Event or EventBrite Event.
CHARITY: The Contemporary Forum, a support organization for the Phoenix Art Museum
FUTURE EVENTS: Fearless Art 2017 Schedule
SPREAD THE WORD: Event FLYER.
THIS WEEKS BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
It’s Not About the Coffee: Lessons on Putting People First from a Life at Starbucks
by Howard Behar
Feel free to email me and suggest a book that you have found particularly helpful!
Fearlessly Deliver is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com
Michelle Micalizzi is a creative entrepreneur. She balances her businesses mind and creative skills in all that she does not only professionally with her business Fearlessly Deliver as a Visual Journalist, Curator & a Business Executor but in her life. Her strong belief in community and collective engagement lead her to found the Art of Fearlessly Doing Business and Fearless Pop up Projects. Michelle’s latest exciting endeavor the Fearless Art Works is an art gallery and a space for good works of all kind that connects Art + Community + Business! You can work with Fearlessly Deliver by either accepting an invitation to participate in a Fearless Art Project or by applying to be a custom business project execution client.
michelle@fearlesslydeliver.com
480.526.2609
CONNECT via Social Media | SIGN UP for the Fearless Newsletter