I’ve always been interested in how people do things and why they do them. I think from an early age I’ve been interested in how this happens. Why people choose one way over another. How people inspire and create. It’s pretty amazing what people can do to inspire others.
I think perhaps one of my first inspirations was a teacher named Ms. Carroll. She was my 5th grade (maybe it was 4th) teacher Berkley Glen Elementary School in Waynesboro, Virginia a small town tucked in the middle of the Shenandoah mountains. I remember Ms. Carroll well. She had the cool classroom. The desks weren’t in rows rather she shaped the room in a U so we all could engage - kinda like the UN. She encouraged speaking up and gave us interesting projects. I don’t remember the first album that I ever bought but I remember my geography project to make the continent of Australia out of paper mache. She also introduced us to new things. Once we had an assignment to write about an animal. I drew out of a hat the assignment to write about a rodent - the American Prairie Dog. I went to the library (my favorite place besides the YMCA) and dove into the project. To my surprise, I found out that Prairie Dogs get a bad rap and have come to adore them. She allowed me the space to discover for myself and form my own opinion. I think the reason why I loved Ms. Carroll so much was that she created the environment that I wanted to be a part of, she led the class and gave us projects which inspired me to participate and go the extra mile. It wasn't just class, I wanted to be there and participate. I hope that whenever I have kids they have teachers like Ms. Carroll.
Later on when I was in college, I had another teacher, Dr. Shareef who inspired me with a similar open approach. He didn’t take class attendance, he didn’t really assign homework we had to turn in, we were graded on two things: 1) our class participation and 2) your ability to create a well constructed debate. I practically minored in what I called, “Shareef.” I took all of his classes. Somehow in these classes the concept of leadership and organizations always came up. I was fascinated with how organizations worked, why some worked, why some didn’t. It always seemed to boil down to the people in the organization and how well they worked together. The most successful companies are organizations where perhaps not everyone agreed but there was an overarching dedication to the mission. A love for one another. The word family came up often.
When I graduated from college, I was extremely lucky to experience this first hand. I was offered a job by a small consulting firmed named Marasco Newton Group. When I was hired there were only 70 employees but had to almost double overnight because they won a big contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. There was about 10 of us in that first wave of hires. I would bet we were all about 25 years old or under. I immediately fell in love with the company. It was set in a an open space, people talked to each other. There was a pool table and beer in the fridge. You might find a team playing video games in the conference room. They were flexible in how you worked, the point was to do a good job. There were awesome perks like the office closing at noon on Fridays. Every single friday. They allowed you to actually take the vacation time you earned. I went backpacking in Europe for the very first time in the summer of 2001 for a month. How many companies let you do that in DC? There was a big party each month we called corporate gatherings where the events were created by the employees and it celebrated the company’s values like diversity and community service or encouraged employees to be healthier and better prepared for emergencies. It was an employee-owned company. I loved it.
I was hired at the tail end of the “Total Quality Management (TQM)” movement that seemed to be a buzz word in businesses of the mid-90s. Ironically, TQM was coined by Edwards Deming. Deming was a statistion, but perhaps more known for his management philosophy. I was familiar with Deming because during college, Dr. Shareef would frequently point to Deming his in lectures. In the Deming System of Profound Knowledge he talks about the transformation of business begins with the transformation of the individual. Where in essence if people transform within themselves to do such things as (1) be an example, (2) be a good listener (but not compromise), (3) continually teach other people and (4) help other people themselves transform (without the guilt) then the system itself, meaning the production you seek, will improve.
Looking back now, I see pieces of Deming and pieces of Yochai Benkler who spoke of distributive peer production and the innovation outside of the market systems. Seems like there was a bit of both going on at Marasco Newton Group. I remember wanting to do good work because I wanted to represent the best of what I could do. I wanted to pitch in to help organize community events, I wanted to learn new skills and show how I could apply them to our mission. I wanted to contribute. We all worked together. Some of the most cherished friendships I have formed in my life came from working at that company. We became a tight nit group because we were innovating and contributing to the culture we loved. Everyone had a role to play. Nobody was above any task. Employees led Continuous Improvement Teams (really the Japanese "Kaizen" approach) they also thought of more ways to recognize good works and if there was a challenge, employees would recognize it and work together to develop a solution. The culture of the company held service of ourselves within our own internal community on par with work performance. To be honest, it was easy to be enthusiastic because you were contributing to the culture you, yourself wanted to be part of. We often spoke of Marasco Newton Group as a family.
Amy Marasco was the president of the company. Without a doubt, Amy was my first professional role model. She was so smart and was always full of great ideas. But the best thing about Amy is that she let us run with the ideas. She empowered everyone around her. She led the company by not being a leader, but by being personable, open and accessible to everyone in the company. She made it a point to spent time with people. She wanted to listen. Sometimes she could help, but sometimes she could only listen. She inspired many of us to strive for the stars.
Amy placed a lot of emphasis on recognition and the importance of our service to with the company and to our customers. Her famous line was, "We want to make our customers giddy!" And she meant it. But she knew in order for that to happen, she had to begin by nuturing her own community. She knew it was tough sometimes to do some of the work we were doing on a technical sense. But often, it wasn't the work that was tough but the way we had to do the work which might have been outside of anyone's control. She knew if people were recognized for the good things they did - especially when they went above and beyond - that we would be a high performing company. She was right. We were profitable and grew our impact in the community year after year.
Thinking back, "Spot Awards" perhaps was the most fun and immediate way she empowered recognition. Say you were working really late to do something for a client who asked for the impossible, but you made it happen. All of the project managers had a set of money they could just give you a $100 right on the spot. It wasn't an everyday thing, but when that happened, you felt great! It was a nice surprise. Was a great watercooler story too - better than, "Ugh I had to work late yesterday." Every week people were recognized in front of the whole company for doing great things. There wasn't a week that went by that I didn't want to be mentioned. It's nice hear. But the best perhaps was at the corporate gatherings, Amy and her husband Dave would give away a week of vacation. This was the most popular prize. It created cheers from everyone and we all envied who won the free week off. It was not recognition award but rather a participation bonus. But as Amy and Dave would say, "You have to be here to win." I rarely missed a corporate gathering.
Everything aside, it was the values which attracted people to the company. We worked hard, we played hard. We were there for each other. We were empathic when people were going through tough times or medical issues. We were a family. Perhaps it was an easier road because we were environmentalists and believed in service and stewardship. So in a sense, service and conscious action were traits we all had. Not everyone at the company came from an environmental background, but we all could relate to being good to each other and giving back to our community. So in a sense we began from a place where we wanted to contribute not only to the bottom line but to make the world a better place.
When you look back on your life and say who made an impact. Amy Marasco profoundly affected my life. She showed me that an organization can care about its people and that leadership isn't about telling people what to do but rather being the person you need to be and being there, in a personal way. She showed me that a woman doesn't have to try to be someone else to be successful. She was authentic. She was girly. She wore bright colors and laughed a lot. She was emotional and her compass came strait from her heart.
Perhaps you might ask, did she do everything right? I'm sure she would tell you there were many challenges. But to me she was someone you respected not because she commanded it, because of the way she treated people, encouraged service to others and how she walked through her own life. She was a giver. She still is doing that to this day with the Newton Marasco Foundation who is dedicated to environmental education and service.
Perhaps it was that sense of community which led people to describe their feelings about the company as a family. We all believed in service as a root value. Service to others not only meant helping people outside of the company, but that community began from within the organization. In fact, it really began within yourself. That we would treat each other with respect and work together towards the common good. Like any family, we would have disagreements but at the end of the day it was the heart of our community which would always lead us back to what attracted us in the first place. A workplace where people were paramount, their ability to give of themselves to each other and to their own communities was of greatest importance.
On one of her last days in the office, Amy gave away her prized rhino collection. I remember being surprised to see a rhino on my desk. You have to know those rhinos meant a lot to her. Its a funny thing about rhinos, did you know they are acute listeners? As you can imagine, my heart was filled when I read the card, "Be strong, always protect what is most dear, and have the courage to enjoy everyday." I still have this card and the rhino. It sits within eye sight of my desk at home. I often think about Amy these days in my new adventures with CrisisCommons and CrisisCamp.
Perhaps one of the things I have learned from Amy and Deming is that I need to be a good listener. I can hear the people who know me giggle a little bit. For most people who know me, they know that I am a serious participator! That probably comes from being a better participator than a student in school. Its something that is learned, listening. My brother actually has this gift. It's what makes him a great lawyer and brother. He listens and provides feedback in a way where you hear it. Listening can come in many forms, it can be one on one, it can be giving people space and it can be just being there to be supportive. To be honest, it is one of the top three things I really want to do better because in a way its not on of my natural instincts like it is for my brother. I do try and hope to be better as time goes on. That is the work for me that needs to be done to be that better person. If we are using Deming, I love to share what I know and its been a personal project to be that better person. I think everyone in some respect always wants to be better. We can all do better. We can always be more positive, respectful and giving of our selves. We can always do better in empowering each other and building the communities we belong. If we start with ourselves, we can be that person of change and that only multiples with every interaction we have with people in our lives.
At the end of the day, the world is about people working together. But as we know, we aren't all perfect. We shouldn't expect that from each other because we will all make mistakes. What we should expect are the important things such as how we work together and how we treat each other. That is what makes a group of people a true community. It's not that we all think the same or even agree on things. Rather is it that we all have a deep sense of service to ourselves and respect for each other. That if we are working towards a common goal that we bring each other up. We listen. Perhaps that is what Gandhi was saying when he talked about being the change. He didn't say it was easy. He didn't say it was without conscious effort. In a sense it is about us showing up to do our part. Doing the work, being the person we need to be. It's not always easy, its an every day process. But, like I have seen with the people who have inspired me, it can be done. Community begins within ourselves. With that begins the greatest possibilities for a bright tomorrow.
