inspiration – Page 2 – Emma Lo Russo

May 17, 2010March 29, 2017

Inertia – the biggest threat to progress

Years ago when I was studying for my HSC, my parents imposed a curfew. I was not able to go out unless I did 15 hours study a week.

Fortunately for me they did not specify where I had to spend my time, so I focused a minimum of 10 hours a week where my passion lay – painting and art – and the rest to what I considered at the time as the boring subjects. The 15 hour study curfew became easy to meet and the targets I had for my social life were able to be easily fulfilled.

It was a great lesson around naturally pursuing the areas you feel passionate about. This time and effort I naturally skewed towards was also rewarded in me later winning a number of art awards. I easily connected that if you work and operate from a position of passion, it delivers you significant power to excel.

When you love something and love what you are doing, you naturally progress. You find things easy to do and easy to commit to. This principle serves you just as well in your working career as it will in your personal life.

I am sure you can validate this principle with your own examples.

Recall a time where you pursued something you felt really passionate about and it propelled you to success. Now reflect on how you felt.

You felt buzzed right? When you did what you love and you achieved the goal you were hoping for, you felt highly energized, invincible and ready for more.

This isn’t rocket science, so why do we sit for far too long in jobs or in situations pursuing something where we don’t feel that passion?

A number of people I know have communicated their unhappiness in their current situation.

They try to justify not doing anything by rationalizing away the risks of changing with the comfort levels of today. They know and can be strong at articulating what they would prefer to be doing, even going so far to identify the steps they need to take to get there, but still don’t go and pursue it. The longer they look for reasons to not move, the more the barriers to change seem larger.

When focusing on the fear of change and potential downsides, there is a great danger that the sense of “too hard” will set in. Or worse, you quickly move into a mode of accepting what you are not happy with, with a feeling of “this is good as it gets”. So you stay in something you are not happy with.

Yet we can all recall examples and look to people where a decision to change was made and it was pursued. Or perhaps you know someone or were forced to make changes through circumstances not of your own doing.

These changes and shifts in life often become the catalyst to move onto much greater things, greater than what may have first been considered. It is a powerful feeling when you have new opportunities, new ways of thinking, new ways of working, new ways of juggling life to pursue.

We look back and see that change as the greatest thing that happened to us. Change brings opportunity. Change brings great personal growth which helps us professionally.

More importantly change gives us an opportunity to tap into our passions. To find the things that once again excite us, energize us, propel us forward.

So don’t allow inertia to kill your progress.

Make the changes today to align what you do with your passions. At a minimum, the bigger the wave of change and the bigger the ride, the less likely you will have time to look back and you will enjoy the process of moving forward.

Take a step forward today and see how quickly your passion will carry you towards success.

May 2, 2010May 2, 2010

Senior Women share the Benefits of Mentoring

Recently I was asked to support FITT’s Mentoring Program in the capacity of interviewer to help assess and match the right mentor to the mentee candidates.

FITT (Females in Information Technology and Telecommunications) run a dedicated Mentor program connecting experienced and senior women with up and coming managers and executive women within the industry. Mentors volunteer their time and range from CEOs, CIOs, COOs, Executive Directors and HR Directors to Senior Architects, Project Directors and Senior Business Analysts. These women are impressive – with significant achievements and scope of responsibilities and sit at the top of very well known top organizations in the technology and telecommunications space.

Mentoring generally refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. It provides an informal transmission of knowledge, social capital, and the psychosocial support relevant to work, career, or to personal or professional development.

With huge gender representation divides in boards and senior management across all industries, this program provides a structured support process for these high-achieving women who are already at the top, to share their journeys, their experience and tips for overcoming any barriers with others still on their rising journey.

Ultimately it helps demystify the path, approach and strategies taken and is designed to help address gender imbalance and the question of “how do we get more women to the top”.

Although the mentees obtain great insight and knowledge through the program, the Mentor’s who operate in this capacity, also see the benefits.

Here are the main benefits of mentoring shared by these inspiring women:

Rewarding – each Mentor recognized the great satisfaction and reward gained at a personal level when helping someone else learn, grow and develop their potential, their confidence and their skills. There were many “proud” stories shared of helping others through promotions, major projects and major decisions. Many previous mentor relationships had developed into friendships and mutually-rewarding business relationships where both parties felt they had learned much from each other and enjoyed the connection and history they had shared together immensely.
Recognition – each Mentor could share a story of how someone had helped mentor them along their path to the top. They recognized the value in having a powerful role-model, someone to share their experience and wisdom and connected this to their own learning and support at critical times in their own career progressions. Mentoring was seen as a gift for helping them and it was now time for the gift to be passed on or as a way “to give back”.**
Growing – each Mentor sees mentoring as an opportunity to grow themselves. By taking time out to help someone else, they recognized that they would benefit from self-reflection, from learning about someone new and their different experiences, from the language and skills you use as a Mentor. Often a mentee will push the mentor with their questions, suggestions and probing. These relationships were seen to be mutually sharing and beneficial.
Motivation – each already had a passion for developing people, however mentoring others was seen to be motivating and re-invigorating to themselves. It helped them push themselves, to revisit their own strategies and challenges, to recognize the strengths in others and in making them more aware of their own strengths. It helped them revisit and retap their own drivers of what makes someone successful and more importantly what makes them successful. By taking time out to share experience and knowledge, it unlocked additional wisdom and energy to be applied in new ways.

Many of these women shared their challenges of being a woman in IT. It is wonderful to see so many of these women now providing real employment opportunities, creating flexible and supportive work cultures and in actively helping other women break down barriers and stereotypes.

I enjoyed the interview process immensely and commend these women for taking time out of their busy schedules to share their experience, knowledge and wisdom to help promote the next generation of women leaders.

There are real benefits in Mentoring others – and this is not just for women. So if you see an opportunity to Mentor others outside of your direct report lines, I encourage you to take the opportunity up.

Enjoy the growth, rewards and motivation that will be yours.

** You may be interested in reading this article on returning the gift of experience. Read more>

April 7, 2010March 29, 2017

Speaker & Leadership Development Facilitator for NSW Red Cross

Emma will be keynote speaker and facilitator of an interactive leadership development session for NSW Red Cross Youth Advisory Committee.

Emma will be addressing “How to lead a project team to success” and will be looking at communication, negotiation and management strategies, skills and styles and how they can be applied to ensure solid engagement within project teams and the wider community, and how by applying focus you can achieve your desired outcomes.

The team will benefit from an interactive learning session which will be conducted Saturday 10th April 2010.

For further information on Emma’s keynote speaking and leadership development modules and how they can enhance and progress your people and organization’s development and growth, contact Emma at emma@emmalorusso.com

March 18, 2010March 29, 2017

Networking: a ticket to fast growth

We are taught from a very young age to embrace our differences. That we are unique and there is no-one else like us.

Each of us offers our own set of experiences. Although we can share certain experiences with others, it is the collective group of experiences that makes us unique – from the order and era we are born in, to our own journey of work, education, friendships, gains, losses and experiences.

Although we may be intelligent, resourceful and successful on our own, it does not necessarily mean we have all the answers or that the conclusions we make are the only conclusions possible to make.

As a consequence of the uniqueness of us as individuals, lays an opportunity to continue to exponentially add to our experiences and knowledge by engaging with others.

By engaging with other individuals we can tap into a wealth of many other unique set of experiences – challenging who we are, what we think and what are additional opportunities for learning and growth.

Make networking a priority – whether it is through friendships, associations, professional groups, or informal or formalized networking events. It can open you up to an extensive and infinite amount of new experiences, ideas, knowledge, skills and wisdom. And because each engagement with each person you meet is the sum of two unique individuals with two unique set of experiences, then the outcome and value it returns will be different and new with each single connection.

In the spirit of sharing my experiences, here are my top 10 tips for turning networking into growth:

See each potential meeting with someone as an opportunity to learn something new
Gain more from networking and all people engagements, by approaching with a learning objective – be clear about what you want to learn and consciously stay positive and open to new ideas, concepts, partnerships and approaches
Put yourself out there – networking is about you sharing something about you and asking someone else something of value or interest about them. The best outcomes are when there is value being exchanged on both sides
Have a quick pitch ready that explains who you are and how you help others, this can also open up new opportunities for you
Find or create networks of people who interest you or are people you admire and feel there is something you can learn from – time is limited so maximize your use of every single event you have to be at, and prioritize others that you feel there would be value in
Set a goal of meeting and learning one new thing from someone new each and every day. And continue to regularly meet with those where there is mutual gains in sharing ongoing experiences, successes and challenges
Choose carefully what you will commit to in terms of follow up. Never commit yourself to someone or something if you have no intention of delivering or know it will be difficult to do
Don’t wait to network. it is important to build a continuous and frequent networking engagement model. People often wait or see networking as a chore or difficult to do. However you never know when you need to call on a relationship or need to leverage new ideas, so keep these continuously warm and fresh.
Seek not just opportunities and learnings about what to do, but also key learnings about what to avoid. As US Admiral Hyman G Rickover said “It is necessary for us to learn from others’ mistakes. You will not live long enough to make them all yourself.
Be genuine and never pretend. This helps you find likeminded people and they you.

See Networking as a ticket to fast growth.

The more new people you can meet, the more opportunities for growth you are creating. It also makes for an exciting and easy way to stay energized so you can achieve all the things you want to do in your life.

March 7, 2010March 29, 2017

Igniting motivation to drive your success

I used to think there was no great secret to being self-motivated.

All you needed was to really want something big enough to oversee and breakthrough any obstacle that you may consider too big or too hard that would stop you from getting there.

Pain? No problem.

Sleep Deprivation? No problem.

Tightly balance friendships, relationships, work commitments? No problem.

As it turns out we often want much more than what we have today. And to get what we want, we need to meet the many challenges we seek or that life throws at us.

Often the challenges are plentiful and come with competing priorities and timeframes.

Recently and due to many things on my “really want” list with many things on my “challenges and competing priorities and timeframes” list, I needed to revisit what really ignited my own motivation.

In talking to some clients about what keeps them motivated, and through observing others who excel in cycles of continous progress and achievement, I spent some time considering how best to ignite motivation and keep it fuelled. Here is a list of things I concluded:

Visualization of success – Articulate and visualize what success means to you. The more real it feels, the closer you will find yourself to realizing it.
Clarity of goals to achieve your definition of success – if you don’t know what you want, you won’t get to where you would like to be. If it is not clear to you, it won’t be clear to others preventing others (and yourself) from helping you get there. Spend time determining what it is that defines your success and bring clarity to the goals that fit your vision of success.
Define your plan and prioritize your steps to get there – once you know your goals, spend time developing your plan and identifying the best strategy to get there, break it into bite size steps that progress and propel you towards your goals.
Regularly revisit and plan your time – break your goals down into chunks, then into monthly, weekly, daily tasks. What needs to be done? How much time do you need? Set deadlines that correspond with the work required to get there.
Enjoy everything you do, make what you do fun and make it stimulating – If you recognize you are not effective late or night or at the 3.00pm afternoon point – add something that reenergizes you to break up your day eg choose meditation, a walk, listening to music, going to the gym, or talk to someone that interests you and indulge in what makes you passionate
Be inspired by others – learn, read, hear what drives them and helps them be successful & emulate success
Use visual references to help keep you focused – this may be pictures, graphs, quotations, a ‘to-do’ list with lots of ‘done’ ticks. Feel empowered by visually seeing the progress you have made
Celebrate milestones – determine what milestones should receive a reward. Make sure that reward is pleasurable to you. Celebrate and enjoy progress and achievement along the way.

Taking time out to review what is required to achieve your goals is critical and probably the best investment in setting the environment and foundation to leverage your self-motivation from.

Most importantly when you are in the thick of doing the everyday, ensure you keep your head up long enough and your eyes on the bigger goal to avoid being bogged down in the detail of today.

As Henry Ford once said “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal”.

Author’s Note: I wrote this article as a way to reenergize and keep myself focused and motivated on my own goals. I did this by revisiting what was important to me and what works for me. What works for you may be entirely different. Would love to hear your strategies for igniting your personal passion and drive.

February 5, 2010March 29, 2017

Preventing the corrective mindset

We are all under enormous time pressures. We juggle our competing interests, responsibilities and deadlines. We rely on others to help us get to the finish line. We want their input to equal a standard that allows us to juggle uninterrupted, taking pleasure from keeping everything successfully in the air. There is no room for errors. Just juggle, juggle, juggle.

Ooops! A ball is dropped and something is broken.

Invariably with all the things we need to focus upon, it is not unusual to find something will drop or break. As we juggle the remaining elements, we know we can only afford to make a quick stop to correct the fallen or broken element. And get back to juggling.

Following this path is only going to lead to more balls being dropped and more items to be juggled. Sometimes we drop things for the same reason. Deep down it doesn’t feel good knowing we or others are making the same mistake, but to stop and do anything differently, puts pressure on all the balls and the decision to stop and rethink the situation can feel bigger than it needs to.

To break this pattern we need to think about the corrective mindset vs. the preventive mindset. This is a well known concept in manufacturing and Quality Management Systems where the focus may be on continuous improvement and customer satisfaction. However the concepts can equally apply to our own professional and personal lives.

When operating in a corrective mindset, you will focus on fixing the immediate problem, and maybe even be able to stop the next occurrence. But it may not solve the bigger issue of being more effective, getting the best out of your time, based on focusing on the right priorities and the best strategies for achieving the outcomes you are looking for.

Another way to look at this is Past vs. Future. One is looking backwards to the past and trying to fix what didn’t work. But this often means we assume the way things are being done today is the right way, so we only fix what we have in place.

The other way is to look to the future to try to work out what is likely to happen and what are the likely influences and inputs that you will or can be working with. Time can be spent then determining what you are really looking to achieve, what is required to get there, the best way of getting there and what may be required to prevent any likely roadblocks or the undesirable from happening.

We know we can’t accurately predict the future so we need to build a flexible approach to deal with all the possibilities. Flexibility is far more important to develop as a mindset rather than as a well constructed disaster recovery plan covering every conceivable problem.

By taking time out to reflect and reconsider the corrective measure of past and the preventive measures you may choose to take in the future, you may find a much more powerful approach to the things you wish to achieve. Edward de Bono once said “It is well known that “problem avoidance” is an important part of problem solving. Instead of solving the problem you go upstream and alter the system so that the problem does not occur in the first place”.

By looking to the future you can ensure you are investing your time on what is most important to you and what is likely to bring the best and most preferred outcomes in the bigger scheme of life.

Whether as a boss or a parent, the best outcome may no longer involve you. A far more powerful approach may require you to stop and develop people (your team or children) or to devise a better system, one that no longer involves you or the thing you think you need to do because you have always done it that way.

One of the things that always stopped me in my tracks opening my mind to future possibilities was the challenge to ask myself “does this need to be done at all” and “what are the real consequence if this was no longer being done”.

By taking time out, deliberately stopping the juggling process and allowing time to move out of the corrective mindset, you now have the chance to strategize around your priorities and plan for the future resulting in greater creativity, enjoyment, satisfaction and rewards.

February 3, 2010March 29, 2017

Keynote Speaker at Sydney Professional Development Forum

Emma will be the keynote speaker at the Sydney Professional Development Forum on:

Wednesday 24 February 7pm

Telstra Building, 320 Pitt Street, Sydney

The Personal Development Forum (PDF) is for executives who are looking to grow and expand their knowledge, learning and networks in order to help them fast track their careers and professional success.

In addition to building a powerful and engaged network of like-minded executives, PDF provides access to well-known senior leaders across a wide range of industries who share their experience and journeys in order to open their member’s views to the different possibilities and considerations in achieving career success.

To find out more about Sydney Personal Development Forum visit About PDF.

December 29, 2009March 29, 2017

The 2010 rule

There are many reasons not to do something. Particularly something that may challenge ourselves or may challenge others.

With every opportunity and path to success comes some associated risk. And often the bigger the opportunity, the bigger the risk.

Even if you have a high appetite for risk, you can be sure the naysayers, doom and gloomers, or just the “safety committee” of those around you, will find the dangers lurking in you taking that next big step.

Although it is important to be aware of all possible dangers – either to prevent, circumnavigate, address or incorporate – it is far more important to keep your eye on the ultimate objective. That way you will balance any risk against the greater reward and avoid being paralyzed in a safe, no-change/no-gain territory.

As we head into the next decade and set goals for the New Year, it might be good to add a simple tool to your think-box.

I call it the 2010 rule.

For every reason you are given not to do something, find two for doing it.

If you find 10 cons against embarking on something new, set the task to find 20 reasons why you should pursue it.

By doubling the positives you will find the confidence to embark on your chosen path. By not ignoring the possible cons you can plan to overcome them.

Applying the 2010 rule requires a commitment to your new path or objective. It provides a process to move forward with your eyes wide open yet be powered by the motivation of keeping the much greater positive up-sides and potential rewards top-of-mind to keep you on track. It allows you to focus on achieving your goals and be driven by a greater objective.

As Henry Ford once said “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal”.

May 2010 see you overcome any fears, set off on your chosen path and achieve all that you desire.

November 19, 2009March 29, 2017

Committing to your commitments

We have all made them. We have all accepted them. We have good intent when it comes to making or accepting commitments.

However we also know the feeling of disappointment when someone does not deliver something that they have committed to. Sometimes delivered late or not as expected, sometimes with an excuse (including those quite plausible), sometimes without an excuse. Just an expectation you would know that the best was done on the day.

Years back when the first Quality Assurance certifications were being sought and I had to lead a business through the process of earning certification, the pursuit of quality was less about everything being the highest quality it could be. It was more about setting a standard of quality and then always delivering to it. Consistently, confidently and reliably.

From a branding perspective, it was proven to be much better to choose a standard that could always be delivered, than to pursue the greatest and then only sometimes reach that. Any form of inconsistency in the delivery of quality (goods or services) would plant a seed of doubt into the recipient. No longer could they rely or have confidence in the standard you would deliver. If there was doubt in the recipient, then your brand would immediately be impacted by feelings of distrust and uncertainty.

Lately I have been working with some executives on personal branding. Thinking about what they aspire to represent and then considering how well they deliver it. Identifying the behavioural gaps between what we hope to project, to what we are projecting. Identifying the gaps between what we say we are and will do and what we really are and what we really deliver.

While the subject of personal branding is much broader than any one aspect, it is interesting to observe how often people fail to see the connection between the meeting or failure to meet a commitment they have made on their personal brand. Many will make promises, or agree to deadlines, then fail to deliver or even worse, fail to reset expectations. Not every time, not even often, just sometimes. You only need to not deliver or not reset expectations once and an element of doubt automatically creeps in to the minds of those you are working or interacting with.

The good news is, this is an easy personal quality to manage once you first value your word and your commitments.

Be clear about what it is that you will deliver, when you will deliver it, identify what risks may be associated with delivering it and mentally map how and what is required to deliver to your commitment.

If anything changes in your ability to deliver what has been promised, then make sure you reset expectations. Whilst it is always safer to underpromise and overdeliver, it is much better to be honest about what is the most likely scenario and then make sure that is what you deliver. Associate reliable with trust and confidence.

If you want to be someone people trust, someone people rely upon, someone that people value and have confidence in , then really value and commit to the commitments you make.

August 24, 2009March 29, 2017

Returning that special gift you have been given…

As we progress through our careers we gain the benefit of experience.

The situations we find ourselves in become more and more familiar. We meet the same type of personality profiles, we see the hidden opportunities in adversity, and the kind of traps or dangers in the decisions we need to make or in situations that we can create or avoid.

We also benefit from having a much stronger understanding of our own powers and limitations, having already navigated what it takes to progress, communicate, motivate or manage others. Mostly we have the benefit of having a number of wins and failures on the board and knowing why and what results in success, and why and what lead us to experience failure.

This experience and knowledge is a gift. Something we should cherish and relish. It is also something we should share.

As the saying goes, it is much better to give than to receive. And although it is not kosher to return the gift you have been given, there is something wonderful about returning the sentiment. Adding your stamp of personalization, consideration, love and attention can create a lasting impression.

The positive impact and empowerment you can generate by giving someone the time to help them with their particular concerns, queries or quest for knowledge, through sharing your experience can not be underestimated.

Looking back I can name a number of great people who “gifted” me their experience or who helped guide me along my way. Some of my greatest mentors and guides were my managers, but more often than not the greatest counsel and sage advice I received (and continue to benefit from), was from wise and experienced colleagues, associates, contemporaries and friends.

It was from them that I learned how to navigate tricky waters, what to look for and what to avoid. That mistakes and failures are to be considered great learning experiences, challenges to be explored and gained from.
Some of the best lessons I learned early on was that mistakes don’t need to be fatal. That you’ll never know how far you can go and how much you can achieve if you don’t push yourself to the very edge. That the biggest opportunities also come with the biggest risks and a fear of failure is really being cognizant of that fact. That it is silly to try to avoid mistakes which may result in having a risk profile so low that we don’t really move forward leaving the brave decisions to be made by others.

You also gain strength from others encouragement. When may already know what the right thing to do is, but to have it reinforced and supported by an appropriate anecdote or example from someone else’s experience provides the much needed impetus to move forward. It can help to have your strengths and talents reinforced to be applied in new situations.

As our experience grows, so we should “gift” this to others.

There are many opportunities to positively impact. To help those who are starting out, still green, still learning, who would benefit from a great dose of your encouragement and knowledge.

With each promotion or progression in our careers, can we dedicate time to give back and grow others? To make time to mentor someone (or a greater number of people) that we identify as talented?

To stop and help them find the answers they are seeking and to help them develop and perform to their potential.
From my experience, gifting others time and experience bring numerous benefits. And not just the feel-good emotion it will surely generate.

It provides an enforced discipline for us to synthesize our experience into insightful clarity. Moments to mine the wealth by revisiting our working lives and review what really worked for us and why. To turn the many grains of experience into valuable pearls of wisdom.

It also helps us to reflect and recognize where we still have room to learn or develop.

So I ask this question, how can you share more of your experience with others? If you are already doing this consciously or unconsciously, can you do more of it?

Whether you offer this through formal mentoring or coaching or through informal mentoring and genuine sharing, listening, advising others, there is nothing more rewarding than giving to others and to see them grow greater from the collective experiences.

Not only can you help someone progress you may find in turn, you have gifted yourself another valuable experience.