Hasta La Gadget!

My apartment had a mouse infestation when my HuffPost internship began in 2010. Today is my last day with the company, and I find myself thinking about one mouse from that time in particular. 

On one of my first days in the old intern office, I was filing a story on Michael Vick’s pit bulls when my bag shuffled an inch across the desk. Then it shuffled again. I began shrieking and flapping my hands around. 

Among 15-odd strangers, one hauled open a jammed window as another rifled through my backpack’s contents of sweaty gym clothes, sandwich wrappers and chewed-up pens. The other bright-eyed, bewildered interns debated the best strategy to harmlessly remove the mouse. We democratically ruled that it was an innocent stowaway embroiled in a transportation nightmare, and deserved to live. We let it escape to freedom, landing in front of an unsuspecting pedestrian. 

This is how I see HuffPost. A bunch of strangers who quickly become family, uniting to help each other during the most stressful of times, each bringing his/her own unique perspective, skills and passions to form a powerhouse team. 

I have seen it time and time again. I saw it on that slow Sunday news night when Osama bin Laden was killed. Within minutes of word that Obama would be taking over the airwaves at 10:30 p.m. on a Sunday, hundreds of people were strategizing online, dozens more were pouring into the office, Keith Urbahn’s tweet made the rounds, and the inexhaustible Whitney Snyder introduced me to breaking sirens on splashes. Sunday plans were quickly obsolete because we were not only witnessing history but knew we had to responsibly share it. 

I saw it when our data centers were flooded by Hurricane Sandy and we pushed information out over Blogsmith, Twitter, Facebook — any platform available to ensure we continued providing critical information 24/7. As New York was plunged into darkness, team members from across the country and world jumped in to help, while electricity-deprived reporters and editors hunkered down everywhere from a car surrounded by rising sea waters to a hospital waiting room. And in the aftermath, HuffPost didn’t forget about those left in the dark. The team hammered away at coastal development failures, analyzed climate change influences, and continued asking the tough questions long after the storm had passed.

This is a company where your boss wishes you a happy birthday before even your own mother remembers. It’s a team that has developed a Pavlovian response to the beer bell, not just because it means free drinks but because it means more time that we can all spend together. This is a group of people whose animal gifs and insider tips on free food are expressions of love. It’s a company that comes together to strategize everything from a hurricane response to how to evacuate a mouse from a backpack. 

There are also dozens of people who work here every day to ensure that our coffee-doused laptops are fixed, our free samples in the mail are delivered, our failed print jobs are recycled, and our bananas aren’t hot. They too are an integral part of HuffPost.

I will be leaving the company to evade my 96 percent full email inbox and become executive editor at The Dodo. I am proud to call HuffPost my family, and will always be grateful for how everyone there made me into who I am today (the good parts, at least. My irrational fear of humans dressed as animals and my mild cake frosting allergy should not be attributed to my time with the company.)

I have been lucky enough to travel to various corners of the world, in large part thanks to HuffPost. Every country, city, and block presents a unique culture, but I also see a common thread in the acts of kindness from perfect strangers. I’ve experienced it everywhere from the woman who shared her pasta with me in Patagonia when I had only congealed instant mashed potatoes, to the man who spent three hours helping me buy a train ticket in Japan, to the driver who gave me his water while I threw up over the side of a train in India during a monsoon. 

Surrounded by stories of shutdowns and earthquakes and birds falling from the sky, it is easy to forget that there are good people in this world. There are good people and they are everywhere. The climate is changing, shootings are weakening America, and I’m pretty sure the good orange juice is never, ever returning to the HuffPost vending machines. But I believe our efforts have made the world a better place for future generations, and will continue to do so. That’s what gets me out of bed in the morning. That, and soy lattes. 

This piece was originally written as a company-wide email.

Everyone gets into a professional or business slump. The best of the best in their field have had the proverbial bump in the road.

When it happened to me, it came in the form an emotional, physical and professional Tsunami. Sadly, with every forward step I made (and believe you me, these were baby steps), I slipped a half to two steps back. I had no knowledge of how to move forward, which is why it’s my life’s mission to help people with creative and innovate ways to problem solve and move ahead.

Here’s my recipe for a successful professional reinvention.

1. Look at your reinvention as a process.

As the saying goes, “Rome Wasn’t built in a Day,” and neither will a reinvention or significant change occur overnight. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, comments in an article from Fast Company:

“It’s a silly analogy, but then our conventional way of looking at change is no less silly. Everyone looks for the ‘miracle moment’ when ‘change happens.’ But ask the good-to-great executives when change happened. They cannot pinpoint a single key event that exemplified their successful transition.”

This is a process that takes some time and calls for smaller steps before positive changes are possible. Like any 12-step program will suggest, take things “one day at a time,” or one step at a time. Trust that the process will work over time and your reinvention is right around the corner with this approach.

2. Never put all of your eggs in one basket.

This is one I’ve been guilty of myself, so I know of what I speak. I landed a Fortune 500 company as a client just as my son was born — my second child (my first being a daughter we adopted from China and, at the time, we had another application in to return to China for my second daughter… when I learned I was expecting and had my son). Hence, I found myself with two children (age 2 and a newborn) along with a major client on my hands. Good news — yes, however, I became so busy servicing this client and being on the road two weeks out of the month and racing home to two toddlers (and another one on the way from China), that I had no time to “diversify” my client base. When the executives who launched the program I was delivering left the company, so too did the project.

Lesson: It’s best to establish your business model to serve a variety of industries or markets. Yes, I know this is the reverse of what you’ve been trained to think about business and establishing a “niche.” More on that in tip #10.

3. Hire people who are smarter than you.

When I hit a health crisis of epic proportions (My story on Fox 25 News) I was so blessed to have had a co-op student from Northeastern University, Brittany, take the helm of my business while I was literally in a coma. Brittany was so capable and having shared the inner workings of my business with her, she continued to deliver on a Fortune 500 company client while I was recovering. My retainer continued and was a blessing of epic proportions.

Although my dad was a CPA (Certified Public Accountant), I unfortunately, didn’t inherit his accounting genes. The first person I hired outside of my company was a bookkeeper. It keeps me from spending endless hours on a task I hate, but is still necessary to keep track of — just ask the IRS!

As business owners, we can be control freaks and insist on doing everything ourselves. That’s never wise! Focus on your strengths and hire your weaknesses or people who can move the dial forward more quickly than you can.

4. Invest in getting support for you and your business.

No man is an island — sorry for all of the clichés, but it’s so true. You need to surround yourself with people who are supportive during this time. Thankfully I had great family support, good friends and a great therapist to help me through the ups and downs of overcoming my illness, separation, etc.

Later, as I improved, I worked with some amazing coaches who helped me to value myself and business and helped me fast-forward getting back into the work game. I’m so grateful for their support and counsel and as a coach and consultant myself (who understands completely that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to be one to yourself — the cobbler’s children — there I go again), I’m able to pass my continued collective knowledge and innovative ideas that I’m known for – to those I coach and consult with.

5. Give yourself a break.

So many of us are so tough on ourselves. Allow yourself some time off, reflection, an occasional massage (a God send when I was recovering), or a nap. Eat well, take a walk, spend time with family and friends and honor your need to heal, regenerate and invigorate again. Many amazing ideas come to you in a state of rest or respite. That’s why vacations are encouraged as well.

One of my first jobs out of college allowed us employees the benefit of a “mental health” day. Heaven on earth — a great employee benefit to everyone in the company. Give yourself those days to take in what the world has to offer — sit still and allow ideas and solutions to flow in!

6. Seek out a personal support system.

Having a good team around you is a necessity in business — as it is in life. When I was at the lowest of low points in my life I was so grateful for the friends and family who were nearby and supportive. Make time in your life to “be” with people that matter to you. I was also comforted by people in my business network who stepped in to complete jobs for me, visit me when I was ill, and offer support in such trying times. Your relationships are your investment.

7. Think smarter, not harder.

The best way to do this in my 25+ years of experience is to focus your time primarily on the revenue-producing activities of the business. Concentrate on new business development and servicing the client. Then delegate/manage the other necessary functions of the business that don’t need you specifically to do them.

Remember, as a business owner you are NOT the only person on your team or in your company who can “do” all of the necessary tasks in building your business. Delegate wisely — focus on what you do best and what brings in revenues.

8. View this as the ultimate education and learning experience.

Any perceived setback can be looked at in a variety of ways. This is why having an attitude of gratitude is so necessary when you’re in the midst of a real or perceived crisis. Oftentimes, the break-down comes before the break through. Change is never easy, however, it’s a constant in these times.

There are many hidden gifts in going through major life changes — personally or professionally — and

9. Learn the “Tri-Fecta” of an ideal business and emulate or reinvent it.

Love what you do, be the best at it and figure out the best revenue model to bring it to market.

Sounds simple, right? And it is, but not easy. What is it that you l-o-v-e to do? What would you do if you weren’t getting paid for it, because you love it so much? Think hobbies, blogs and websites you gravitate to — that’s a good start!

In the marketplace you’re in — what do you know you excel at? What are you known to be the best at? Do others know it yet, or not? If so, why or how – and why not?

Is there a revenue model that will help you to monetize what you do and get paid well for it, while servicing others? Think brand extensions, ways to leverage an idea or concept through licensing, franchising and maximizing your ideas.

10. Find the commonalities in your life and work experience.

My mastermind colleague, coach and dear friend Jeff Shaw has built an amazing photography business — among others, in recognizing the gift of not having a specific niche, but in attempting to uncover the commonalities of all of your talents. For me, it was clearly about helping others to reinvent themselves and their businesses. What’s in common among all of your interests and innate capabilities?

Find all of the commonalities in the gifts you have and design your business around articulating them to your target market.

Ready to take the next step in your own business reinvention? Check out my free Reinvention eGuide and I’ll lead the way!

Our hearts are shattered into a million pieces. We are Ohavei Yisrael (“lovers of Israel”), rabbis in North America, lovers of peace, seekers of justice. We are distraught by the images of the dead: Israeli soldiers, beautiful, honorable, fallen before their time; innocent Gazans, trapped by Hamas’ vile excuse for leadership. We are distraught by the endless cycle of defending our people’s right to a safe and secure home, our dream for all the children of Israel and Gaza and the West Bank to know safety, for all people in the state of Israel and the Palestinian Territories to gain a moment’s pause to remember to breathe in their trembling, shared air.

A week from this coming Shabbat is known as Shabbat Nachamu, the “Sabbath of Comfort.” In the Shabbat following the Jewish ritual day of mourning known as Tisha B’Av — on which numerous tragedies befell the Jewish people, not the least of which was the destruction of both Jerusalem temples, which signified the end of Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel for 2,000 years — we let go the haunting melody of Lamentations, and we rise from sitting in sack cloth, mourning on the floor. We return to lives pervaded by the holiest of mitzvot: comforting one another, committing our every breath to live as models of compassion. We count seven weeks between the ravages of Tisha Be’Av and the rebirth of Rosh HaShanah and chant on the first Shabbat of ritual comfort from the book of Isaiah intended for a people who’ve danced intimately with suffering, who have known degradation, and who are now called to seek to be a light for all people.

This year, amidst the war that rages on the ground, in the shattered remnants of our hearts, we believe the world needs an extra Shabbat of Comfort, an extra dose of compassion, an extra week to seek comfort for all of God’s fragile creation. We invite all our colleagues and all our congregations to join us in an additional week of comfort and compassion.

The Maharal of Prague taught:

Love of all creatures is also love of God, for whoever loves the One [God] loves all the works that God has made. When one loves God, it is impossible not to love God’s creatures. The opposite is also true. If one hates the creatures, it is impossible to love God Who created them. (Netivot Olam, Ahavat haRe’i, 1)

In a debate that rages in Israel and Gaza, where bombs are thrown on social media, and where the conversation about Israel and the pursuit of peace can become lost in contesting facts on and under the ground, we call upon our communities to remember that the Talmud calls Jews to be “Rachmanim b’nei Rachmanim” (“compassionate children of compassionate ancestors”) (Bezah 32b). Comforting one another, offering abundant compassion to those whose hearts are weary and broken, is a holy act, a sign of our people’s outstanding strength. But what calls with even deeper holiness is to be strong enough to see no limit to compassion.

We welcome our communities and friends to find a way to ritualize an extra week of comfort and compassion, reaching to those beyond the boundaries of any community or group, so we might breathe new life into Isaiah’s grand vision: “No one shall hurt nor destroy in all of God’s holy mountain” (Isaiah 11:9).

May we live to see it be real, soon and in our days, for all people, on both sides of every border.

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