Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

While at an industry conference this past week, I enjoyed listening to Susan O’Malley, first woman to run a professional sports franchise, address the topic of “Thriving in a male dominated world.” She is a snarky northeastern leader who, through self-deprecating remarks, warmed the crowd up and marched through her points on how she thrived.

What I found most interesting is she did not bash a gender, she did not subscribe to a cheat code or short cut, she delivered a heart felt, albeit salty rendition of her struggle for respect in the sports industry with one of the lowest performing basketball teams at that time.

Her “seven” points on how she lives her life

(I understand listing them without the dialog is less than perfect but hey, I work under a 500 word limit here.)

1. Make your bed every day
•Motion creates motion
•If you don’t do the small things right first, how are you going to do the big things right?

2. Plan your work, work your plan
Identify the top 3 things you’re going to focus on and go execute!

3. Keep working on your craft
“Everybody did something better than me so I watched and learned”

“Seventeen times makes a habit”-Pat Summit

4. Set expectations
Communicate! Don’t assume
Tell people exactly what you want out of them.

5. When you mess up, make it right
Susan used to call up their customers (season ticket holders) to express gratitude and ask what they could do better… one guy simply said he wanted the gum scraped off the back of his chair because he kept getting dirty pants from all the fans getting up to get beer and the customer had to tuck his legs under, only to get gummy pant legs each time.
Susan took a scraper down to the seat and cleaned it off herself.

6. Have fun!
If you’re having fun, you do things better

7. People make the difference
Talented, positive, productive people.

When she finished, a successful woman in the industry sitting next to me said, “I thought she was going to tell us how a woman thrives in a male dominated industry.” to which I replied, “I think she just did!”

Start your list. Maybe it’s seven, maybe it’s less, maybe it’s more.

Have s blessed weekend!