WE ARE ALL MORE THAN OUR RESUMES
At a recent conference a speaker suggested that resumes typically describe work experience but fall far short of capturing a complete picture of our skills. Executives are often engaged in much more than their paid jobs.
This has been the case for me too. For the last several years, in addition to launching a consulting business and holding a full-time corporate position, I have been the President of the Ukrainian Culture Center of Los Angeles (UCCLA). I am the first female President of this 80 year old organization and have seen the organization through 2 crises now – COVID-19 and the russian invasion of Ukraine.
Along the way I have learned a great deal. Today’s post is the fourth of a multi-part series of posts in which I will share the key lessons I have learned, the mistakes I made and where my financial planning and analysis skillset served me in responding to russia’s invasion of a sovereign country. In the spirit of “making my mess my message” I hope these you find these insights useful.
LESSON 4: GATEKEEPERS AND EXPERTS ARE EVERYTHING
In order to fully take advantage of Lesson 3, ”Never Say No to Anyone (Almost)”, I found that having solid gatekeepers and experts has been indispensable.
One of the key features of a crisis is the volume of issues presented to you. The volume is not just characterized by quantity but also by variety. Fielding the volume of issues coming at you is one thing but when the issues span a broad spectrum you quickly find yourself treading water in areas where you may not personally have experience. Here is a sample list of the range of issues that came before us:
- Official meeting requests from political representatives both local, national and international
- Speaking engagement requests from various organizations
- Interview requests from television, print and radio media outlets
- Emergency projects for the build out of medical kits
- Management of a mass influx of donations
- Operational needs in terms of international shipping and chartering of airplanes
- Requests for assistance joining Ukraine’s foreign legion
- Offers of significant donations for support of the war
- Requests for refugee assistance and offers of significant funds for refugee housing
- Information requests and needs for policy expertise around new government programs assisting Ukrainian refugees
- Needs for purchasing expertise – drones, generators, medical supplies such as tourniquets
- Border and front line expertise for deliveries in Ukraine
- Legal expertise in terms of the limitations of what a 501c3/4 can do
- Changes to how security is handled at the Ukrainian Culture Center
As executives we are taught early about the importance of teamwork and the humility needed to surround yourself with people who know more than you, are better than you in certain areas and who can guide you much more successfully than you can yourself. For profit organizational leaders have the luxury of selecting experts. When you have an organization that is staffed entirely with volunteers, the situation is a little bit different.
At the Ukrainian Culture Center of Los Angeles we turned out to be very lucky. The talent of our board spanned the majority of the issues listed above. One of the greatest gifts I was given to navigate the role at UCCLA after the invasion was a set of individuals who each brought a certain expertise to the table. From legal counsel to financial expertise to media talent to operational execution, I had in the team my own army for surviving this crisis. In particular, they excelled at the blocking and tackling that I needed in order to stay focused on the top priorities. What these individuals also had was an amazing Ukrainian network. The ability to leverage that network all around the world created opportunities for us to execute on projects that may not have been as successful otherwise. One example of that was the ability to fund and locate much needed 4WD trucks for the defense of Bakhmut. Through our board members and the associated local and international Ukrainian network, we were able to efficiently handle such a delivery.
Successful for-profit leadership teams who have a high level of trust in one another are truly unstoppable. To experience this in a non-profit setting was especially gratifying. The trust itself becomes a self-motivating factor in propelling everyone forward. Most people talk about executive staff needing to row in the same direction but what is not discussed as often is how the machine becomes self-rowing when every colleague believes in and trusts the other while simultaneously being aligned with the mission.
In Financial Planning and Analysis, this is the type of trust that is built with the executive team and its business leaders/general managers. Building effective partnerships for developing your strategy and managing your financial models is where I can help. Please feel free to contact me.