Marta Newhart, an alum from the University of Washington has several achievements including being the highest ranking Latino when she left Boeing where she had been for 20 years. She was recruited by Covidien, a major medical device manufacturing as their VP of Communications and Public Affairs. She then left that post to join a team of former Boeing Executives as the Chief Marketing and Communications Office including and Investor Relations of Suntricity.

During an hour talk with current students, Marta shared many useful insights.

Rather than pack them all into one blog post, I am splitting them up into digestible chunks. This is the fourth and last in the series. Enjoy.

Leadership

There has and probably always will be discussions about leadership. Marta keenly noted that as a leader, one must recognize that most people do not want to be told what to do. Instead she suggests that, leadership involves less talking and more doing. In effect, “a leader gets on top of the mountain and says, ‘we’re going that way’”. A leader is someone who inspires people.

Another sign of an effective leader is that they are willing to take chances on people. This includes people that they do not really know. As a leader, taking chances is a big easier when there is a clear vision.

Work Life Balance

The issue of work life balance is perhaps the most interesting for me. In a constantly connected world, the boundaries between work and life have become blurred. Marta’s discussion on the topic only added fuel to that.  When asked about the topic, Marta noted that she is not the best of examples in that regard. She went as far as stating that the thing we call work-life balance is actually a misnomer and that it does not exist. Perhaps this is true in the American context (I’d like to think not), but I do not think this is universally true. Marta went on to say that she devotes the weekends to her family. This means working extra hard on the week days and sometimes means less sleep. A sacrifice she is willing to make for uninterrupted weekends with her family.

While listening to Marta work-life balance, I thought, “if Marta’s claim that work-life balance does not really exist is accurate, then that means that when we give one thing priority (e.g. family) the other (e.g. work) suffers”. So I asked her to talk about what you are gaining and losing when you choose one thing over the other. There was not really a clear response to this question. Instead she asked me, “Don’t you want your family to be happy?” From this I got that success at work equals success at home. However, experience and conversations with others informs me that this is not the case.

I often ask people who have achieved some worldly successes about work-life balance. I haven’t gotten any clear responses. Perhaps it does not exist. If that is the case, I will be choosing family over riches. After all, all the money in the world means nothing if you are socially excluded and emotionally numb.

Mentorship

Personally speaking, I have had a tough time of finding good mentors. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have found and connected with many great role models. But I have not (except in a few rare instances) been able to find exceptional mentors. Since listening to Marta’s views on this topic, I think I know why. Most of us, when we are searching for mentors look for people that are doing things that we could imagine ourselves doing. Sometimes these people work with us, but most of the time they are probably at that company you hope to work for one day or in a position that you hope to hold one day. That was definitely the case for me. What I found was that when I selected my mentors that way, there was really very little they could do to help me professionally. We could have some great casual conversations about sports, food, and the direction of the profession. I could even gain some valuable insights on an issue I may have been dealing with, but they consistent sense of satisfaction was missing.

Marta says that the best mentor is probably someone who sees you regularly. Someone that sees you in action. I did not think about it before, but Marta’s next point made complete sense. In short she said, how can a person you don’t see regularly help you with the sort of professional development you need if they are not on the ground with you. Again, they could provide you with some general advice, but most of us need more targeted advice to move forward.

Getting a mentor that sees you in action regularly can be contentious. That would mean that you feel comfortable at the institution that you are at and that you have a relationship with your advisor that supports mentorship activities. If you are someone afraid or intimidated by your superiors then it will be difficult. Perhaps starting with a mentor outside of your institution is a good start. But I definitely support Marta’s idea of finding someone that sees you regularly to mentor you.

I hope you are able to benefit from the series of summaries and commentaries that I have posted.