mbrechka

YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL; JUST NOT ALL AT THE SAME TIME?

This week I am taking my own advice and keeping my life in balance. Please enjoy a repost of the MOST READ Heart of the Middle blog post. Later this week I will have the pleasure of speaking to a group of professionals on “Having it all is not a destination…”; seems appropriate as I prepare for that event to repost this one and keep things in balance!

I CANNOT DO THIS ALONE

Since I started this blog and support sight back in February, I have posted 30 total blogs; 29 I have written, and one graciously offered anonymous post. I have taken off 1 week in 30 weeks due to some desperately needed family time. Behind the blog scene, I have continued to work a full-time job, joined the advisory board for the Sigmund School of Business and also taken on a leadership role with the global women’s ERG at Glanbia where we will be proudly launching our first ever women’s global mentoring program in a couple of weeks.

There have been 1,400 visitors to this blog site and nearly 3,700 views in just 6 months. I feel like some of the content is resonating and I do believe that there is a need for this type of real, raw and honest discussion. I have kept this site ad free and paid for the domain out of my own pocket all in an effort to make it easy and enjoyable to navigate. Ads distract from a place that I want to be simple, organized and peaceful.

IT IS NOT WHAT YOU KNOW

Way back in 1994 when I attended college, I studied endless days and nights to cram my brain full of knowledge. Knowledge that I had been told I would need in order to be successful in the business career I was pursuing. At the time, I was under the impression that the knowledge and experience would be the most important factor in my success throughout my career. I now know 29 years later that although knowledge is fundamental and important, a successful and more importantly fulfilling career is not based on what you know but rather who you know.

SEPTEMBER CHAOS

September is a beautiful month for great weather in New Jersey. The shore towns are quiet, and the temperatures start to go down to an enjoyable 70 to 80 degrees during the day. Anyone who does not have children in school and also a full-time job probably truly loves September. Since I am a Virgo and my birthday falls in September, I should enjoy it as well. However, for the most part I hate September! School starts back up, fall sports are in full swing and the endless school paperwork and back to school events pile on my calendar like the used wet towels on my kid’s bedroom floors.

LEADERS LISTEN

I have decided that the single most underappreciated and yet most difficult skill to develop as a manager is the skill of listening. Listening is more important than speaking, more important than negotiating, more important than leading. Without the ability to listen, none of the other skills truly matter. A leader that does not listen, leads with only their own thoughts and ideas instead of cultivating the needs and inspiration from their team members. It is like an orchestra conductor conducting from a faraway balcony with noise cancelling headphones and a blindfold. The orchestras sound, feeling, speed, noise level and individual contributions just don’t matter. The result is an off key, out of balance, unenjoyable symposium.

GROW AS WE GO

This past week at work has been exhausting, chaotic and honestly emotional. It was a week filled with unknowns, changes, promotions and tough discussions. Late on Friday afternoon, I received a text from a supportive colleague and friend that read as follows:

“Never fear or shy away from any challenge. You have much more strength and skill than you may even know. Experience comes only when you reach forward.”

There have been a few different posts on this site that have spoken to the fear of taking on an unknown challenge. In the past, the changes that were made this past week would have likely led me to question if I would be capable in the new role I will be assuming. But the past is not now, and any internal questioning of my own capabilities is no longer a conversation I need to have with myself.

HERSTORY

The last three weeks have detailed the “herstory” of the first ever female Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Hershey Entertainment and Resort Company from 1997. Her honest and vulnerable stories still ring true today. I hope her bravery and brutal honesty have made you laugh, reflect and consider… “What will my story be?”.

In this final reflection on her thoughts from 1997, she shares advice for a woman pursuing a career and family. Her words could be considered as slightly controversial in this day and time, but I cannot help but share what we may all be thinking and only she was brave enough to say all those years ago.

NEVER HAVE I EVER

This week, I am featuring her direct quotes and thoughts on managing people (dictated in 1997). Her slightly controversial opinion on the difference between men and women will make you laugh and yet the differences do exist. It seems ironic that all these years later, I would find a similar passion in management and mentoring. As a junior in college, I could not have ever known that our personal and career paths would end up being very similar. For anyone in management, her brutal honesty will ring true. Time has not changed the struggle or the rewards.

I HAVE SACRIFICED

Last week’s post was an introduction to the “herstory” of the first ever female Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Hershey Entertainment and Resort Company from 1997. Her honest and vulnerable stories changed my life forever, many of them still all ring true to today. I hope her experiences and expertise that I will share over the next few weeks will pull at your heart strings and inspire you as well.

This week, she shares an incredibly vulnerable side. As I was retyping her words from the only copy I have of the direct dictation, I became teary eyed as I typed. When I was a Junior in college and interviewed this woman, I had such a different perspective than I do now. I took her words for very matter of fact. I now read these words 24 years later as a working mom of 2 boys and I am amazed by how incredibly vulnerable she was with me at the time. I was not in a place in 1997 to appreciate or even receive that vulnerability, but now in 2022, I am emotionally enthralled. I believe we will all find a part of ourselves in her words, you will feel her emotional struggle and will recognize that even today, the struggle continues.

24 YEARS HAS COME AND GONE

“Sometimes it takes an overwhelming breakdown to have an undeniable breakthrough” Unknown I am spending this week vacationing at our family cabin in Northern Minnesota on the Canadian border. It is a place that you cannot access without a boat and the loons sing me to sleep as the sun sets each evening. My greatContinue reading “24 YEARS HAS COME AND GONE”