You are an icon for what you have achieved and have spoken about how building good teams is a secret to your success. Can you share a few of your top team-building tips?

To be called an icon is a serious and venerated statement.  While we colloquially think of an icon as a megastar or hero, the first meaning of icon is a thing, not a person.  That thing is a made likeness of Jesus Christ or of a holy figure that we use to support our faith.  By either definition, I am humbled at your description and in gratitude for your work everyday that teaches and inspires.

Perhaps, this is the perfect start to how I approach team building - following the teachings of my faith by being a shepherd to the principles we put in front of our team members and keeping the promises we make to them when they first join our organization or engage in an initiative.  

Years ago, my Mother in law - before I was married - answered the question I asked her about what she thought would make me a good mother one day. Her answer was to the point - ‘Your children more attention pay to what you do than what you say’.   Throughout my life - business and personal - I have found this to be true.  Telling people what to do or how to behave has value.  Showing them has a lasting impact.

My Mother and Father taught my siblings and me to be learners.  They believed that education is freedom. It’s been my practice to learn alongside my team members.  Teaching them what I know is inherent in our processes and protocols; however, when I walk into a room, I pray that I’m not the smartest person in that room on everything we are addressing. Transparency and vulnerability are trust building. People perform better and innovate more freely when they trust the environment they work in. If a team member is not allowed to mistakes by protocol, they will be less likely to admit them during the creation stage, which leads to learning of them during delivery.

During interview or connect sessions, I often learn more about a person by what they ask me than by what they tell me. We work in precise ways to deliver scaled and deliberate outcomes. This requires bringing expertise and inquisitiveness to each encounter.  We also continue to integrate AI into how we operate - and insuring that ethical AI is a part of - not the foundation of - how we work is important to delivering for our clients.  We say we keep the humanity in Human Resources. What is important is assuring that each of us treats one another as a cherished customer. Expecting our expertise and respecting our humanness.  

Every day, I pray for them.  This is done in the privacy of my person.  We hire people based on their skills, experiences and inclusive spirit.  This means that we don’t know their personal beliefs nor belief systems when they join us.  My work is to ensure an open-arms environment where each member can be free to do the work they are tasked with - as themselves.  With respect, clearly stated goals and measurements, freedom to innovate, room to learn and to lead, appreciation and recognition, people know they are wanted and valued.

Our company employs some of the best talent and kindest people in our industry. They come from across the world, from many different cultures and beliefs.  We are all welcome when we come in a spirit of inclusiveness.

These are some of the approaches I use to support building the terrific teams at ActOne Group.

Do you have tips on how to not only grow, but continue to scale?

Every great idea does not a business make. Every successful business is not measured by how big it is, alone. How sustainable it is matters. Many companies can scale too soon or too wide. Knowing your industry and your markets is as important as knowing your business.  

Sometimes, leaders can get so ‘head in’ building teams, products and/or services, that keeping temperature checks on their industry and economies of their markets becomes second place instead of second nature. Paying attention to everything because everything matters is principle number one!

What role do you feel your employees play in the success of growing and marketing your company?

It’s my belief, and one of our guiding principles, that when you’re green, you grow.  When you’re ripe, you rot. The first role of our team members is to stay fresh, interested in, and invigorated by what we offer to the market.  When this is happening, attention to the protocols and demands is inherent.

Do you have one secret to your success?

No.  Success is kaleidoscopic, with many lights shining from within and without. Staying true to your promises is paramount to staying true to yourself.  Success is, as Earl Nightingale defined it, the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. Staying green means learning every day.

It is a desire of many entrepreneurs to teach what they know. This has value.  As I alluded to earlier, doing what you know has lasting impact. Be the person you seek to be led by.  In my instance, I know who my Guiding Light is, and I seek to follow the example He led by.

Who is a woman you admire?

Every woman.

What’s one thing you can’t live without?

When a child, I remember, many of the adults often said “We cannot live by bread, alone’.  Back then - oh so many years ago - I would laugh and think ‘Of course not! The food chart says we need to have vegetables and fruits, fish and poultry, and lots of things to live well.  We need water to even make bread.’  Thinking literally, I was correct. We need lots of things.

Today, I recognize that those adults were imparting a great wisdom by what they said.  They were repeating the teachings of their faith.  It was Jesus who said “Man shall not live by bread, alone”.   All great faiths teach this in some way. Measuring our success - or even our survival - by worldly goods is stopping us short of the full expression of living.  

Mama would say “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you”. She was speaking from the Bible, Matthew 6:33 - But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  

Mama was teaching us to nourish our souls as deliberately as we nourish our bodies.

The one thing I cannot live without is the one thing I treasure most: My relationship with my Creator.  

What is one big trend you’re excited about in 2024?

2024 is either half gone or half left, depending on which direction you’re looking. Either way, I’m trending toward 2025 and forever.  

One BIG thing for me in 2024 has been the birth of my first granddaughter.  One BIG thing I’m yet looking forward to is the July birth of my first grandson!  Both of our adult children mark 2024 as the year they will have become parents and I’m absolutely over the moon about it!  

Seeing my smart, humane healthy adult children decide to bring lives to birth is a statement of their faith in tomorrow. They are building families with people who I Love and admire, and I trust that they will make loving and guiding parents to these new people they will have birthed. My gratitude is deep that both babies are healthy and my faith is strong that each will be nurtured with goodness in spirit.

About this same time in 2023, I didn’t know if I would become a grandmother. This Christmas, I will have two little babies under my tree - one from each of our beloved adult children. That’s something that beats following any annual trend. It’s better.  It’s a trend of building strong families to support a world neighborhood that is evergreen and kind.