10 posts on zoom oh geez alright OK so should I be looking at some direction it follows me alright good so hello everyone it's great to see you all my name is Alex for Alice I don't know what Liz should I say professional Hamilton no and then they have told you so let me just spend a couple of minutes telling you a little bit about who I am and where I work and what what I do and certainly for some of you you may be familiar with western and what we do and if you're not certainly feel comfortable I'm one of those I'd like to so if you get a question made sense that you can stop me and just ask a question 'cause I don't want you I don't wanna get too far along in question so I'm so I'm gonna CEO of the Worcester Housing Authority anybody know what they were doing this summer with it yeah with what's your name Molly alright Ali what's the worst hospital what are we doing take a wild guess don't worry anybody from the area OK so well if if you are from a different part of the United states housing authorities probably not an uncommon name for it's a national or national authorities just about every major city and most most midsize Toms have them Worcester has over 275,000 authorities some of them are as small as maybe 15 apartments and some of them are big as 25,000 farmers you know with the biggest one is this no positive authorities in terms of Massachusetts Boston this is the biggest so they have a lot so we're the second biggest in New England so awesome is the biggest in New England were the second biggest in New England so one in charge of about 3000 public housing apartments we have more 4300 Section 8 vouchers and that is usually cuddling up close to about 15,000 people that receive some level of assistance from us then what we do is we help have to meet in order to be eligible or we consider eligible for us is your income you have to meet a certain income threshold so they make big money you probably don't need our help we would not qualify for this yes so it depends on how many people do so you're by yourself usually your threshold is about $54,000 a year so if you make more than that if you make $80,000 a year you look by yourself you don't qualify for public house OK and depending on the family size that number goes up and so that means that we help stop fashion almost 8% of the entire population of the city of West that's a that's a lot of people that received some level of assistance and we help is there any particular type of person that we help Cassius who right we helped the young graduate families we have one from dad with young children we have folks that are middle age 30s forties 50s and we also house the homeless there's a lot of properties of elders and tired and this is their apartment and they're gonna age in place hopefully for as long as they can so so when people think of public housing a lot of people taking families so you help families help is really we have housing just about for anyone that could need our assistance we must have more but that would be for a different discussion on a different day in terms of the housing needs of us the right now I'm kind of unique in the sense that I'm one of those kids that grew up in Worcester I was born in Costa Rica but then at a young age I moved here to West shore about six years old and I had the benefit but seeing the coin on both ends so I'm a former public housing kid grew up in public housing my mom had 4th grade education my dad had six red education not in spoken English they worked in factories all their life made minimum wage in my mom retired make it about $6.75 an hour by my dad wasn't too far young man very smart intelligent people we just never got language which prevented them from trying to find jobs that could match their spare but I remember growing up in all four of us my my parents are really big on education and education was in their eyes to golden ticket to get him out of positive and so I remember the old days that was one of those I was the youngest so I was a real talkative but it's it's still in class was always disruptive and so I always do well in the class but my contact was never willing but my grades were kind of like kind ish I used to get A's I used to get seeds in Congress right so that's kind of how it worked and so my dad was real tough real old school guy and I wouldn't recommend this in today's stage but they were really old stupid and so he would say when I report backs coming up of course my brother would never lie so he'd say Friday OK so either Friday coming and then the dinner table will take his belt off put it right on the table and he would say OK let's start with the oldest and my brother was a goody two shoes never gonna be his entire life so that was the point we had to write and then my sisters over about two sisters they did very well and then it was me and I'd show up in my report card and my dad wouldn't say I can't help you I mean subjects right he said I don't know you know pretty algebra or history or social studies I don't know any of those subjects but I know the alphabet and God help me if I don't see your legs I know what he looks like and so that was you know sometimes I got to know Don't really close and sometimes I really important and eventually I vowed that once I left subsidized housing I never go back went through the twisted public school systems I went and studied at Syracuse University and I said thank God I'm out of that place I'll never come back for the last 25 years I've been in public so there goes that right I came back so but it but it really has hope I've got to see both sides of the coin I know what it's like to be on the other side and walking in with embarrassment because you know I also know what it's like to be on this site being someone that can help so who's in those shoes so it's really allowed me to work with my team in in recognizing that just because someone is walking and needs help doesn't mean that they resort in less treatment or customer service where they don't deserve the dignity of being treated with this stuff right so we're big that's a big deal for us so we thought I think a pretty good job every once in awhile we'll have somebody that kind of those little assignments on us when we try to get in the back so that's the house number that's what I do I've been doing it now when I started at the Housing Authority and this kind of gets into our discussion about leadership when I started the Housing Authority I was about as the bottom of the torn pause you can get I finished school and I was gonna go move the floor run my own radio station that was my dream wanted to manage it start at the bottom I had worked at 94.5 at last but it was a big shot I was moving to Miami and so for that summer I said I'm sorry see you till November that summer I said I'm gonna go and just go work in a temp agency just to make a few bucks so I'm in Worcester and they said well the Worcester Housing Authority needs someone to essentially make photocopies answer phones and make coffee sounds pretty exacting handle that so I was attacked and so even the other entry level staff would send me off to Dunkin' Donuts to get him coffee and they would never pay and so I had to get stuck paying for them and that was my job file photo copy answer phone sweetie how does it every once in awhile they send me outside to show it apartment for someone who wanted to move and then I did I liked it so much I will finish my job really quick and then I would run to my boss and I would say I'm done what else you want and then she just started giving the other stuff to do that really wasn't tap water and then I saw she was struggling so I said how can I help you with your job this teacher I'll help you and so by the end of the summer they said to me would you like to stay on property manager I said oh I said I've never managed anything in my life hey $35,000 a year in Miami was paying 20 OK I'll stay right save up a little bit stay off stay also my school debt and the rest is history after that I was able to grow in the company and learn a lot bring a lot of mistakes today I'm blessed that I have an agency of 250 employees with a lot of leaders with a lot of leaders I feel privileged to say that that I have a lot of people that work 1000 authority that I can count on but I can spend on that just has that leadership qualities so my first question to you what's your Sam alright you ask me a question when you think of a leader what's the name of the person that comes to mind doesn't be a famous person could be someone you know vocally or whatever who's a good leader to you Obama Obama why what makes him a good leader to you breakfast this is Jack seeker kills sometimes leaders feel that they have to know it all and if they show some level of lack of knowledge that makes him look weak right you're exempt list here's a leader who recognized his talents and what he wasn't strong and and he wasn't afraid to ask for help essentially any other along with the shop with President Obama I guess similarly just like what's the name yeah I mean I don't know that very well but it's just the mature well you go based on what you see right yeah I mean you're not I don't know I can't speak to everybody I sure don't know him but but based on what I want this is one of the things that I was impressed with Russian bomber that I looked up to as a leader when he was poised he always looked like he was poisoned control right nobody wants a leader and I know that the rooms the boys and Girls Club Linda you're you haven't quit yet right you're still open how many years were you at the FBI love you and just retired OK months ago could you imagine if if in Linda you were housing you had how housing for for women was it domestic violence was it homeless at domestic violence shelters and transitional housing if something goes wrong there in Linda starts panicking and screaming and shouting Oh my God what do I do I can't handle this and and her team is looking at her what level of confidence are they gonna get for her is she acting that flash they go get her out of here she's making it worse she's right she's gotta be Polish crisis comes inside she might be going I have no idea what I'm gonna do next but she's in control and she displays it in the team follows right same with what's list list is the little children every day early impressions it's in a panic and constantly doesn't know how to manage and just overreacts people feed off so that's why I'm thinking what about you what's your name Allison OK leader for you who comes to mind anybody your mom's building OK do you need some qualities about Michelle Obama to make sure good leader in the zoo folks who jumped into you know I mean she's very like I don't know knowledgeable and very much wanting how she wants to make the big difference and wants to help OK but she's she's helpful to others right OK what else what other what other leadership qualities do you send Michelle Obama to make a strong leader who's your leader OK why what qualities do they have I would say like I was able to believe everybody shocked people as if they're like on the same level so here's the point that I'm trying to write when you think of leaders there are certain things that you think of in terms of qualities right and I wanna couple down that that people would come to mind right so for example you wanna lead her to have integrity right I mean if if if the person you worked or somebody who's a leader give a professor who is promoting cheating and cutting corners you probably start losing a little respect right 'cause that's not something with a lot of integrity right so you look for someone who can also read others man right you look someone who's in command we talked about that with Obama with that composure and and leading I gave the example with Liz and with Linda communications underwears who talk about those like those are all qualities but I'm gonna give you 2 qualities that come to me come to mind to me have been very helpful the Housing Authority and these are qualities that I chase and chase everything I wanna be I wanna I wanna language qualities in displays qualities on a daily basis on whatever I do and I bet you when I say it both Linda lives and bridge because these are ladies who do the same thing right number one is it won't leader Saunders sometimes people think by keeping all their knowledge they make themselves more valuable than organization whatever that organization is to be a club urine could be a sports team right playing sports and you you know some strategies about your opponent you're keeping it to yourself 'cause you you wanna look good right you are in agency and you don't wanna you don't wanna give away too many she just said you worked so hard to develop over the decades because let somebody else figure it out when you figure that but it wouldn't mean her in my opinion shares because the war leaders I have if I can get all of June your job then being leaders in allows me to do my job and then I find me there's someone else skeptic that's the mark of a good leader is someone that can step in and take things with you on and keep moving them forward and every time I hear someone go whenever gonna do without you if you leave this place is gonna crumble that's not a problem Matt says it's window very good job of getting the next person right I see that with departments all the time I get a department where crushed we're gonna do the planets gonna fold this stuff right you you you've been cultivating that leaders over there you know his transition you know that's the that's the thing right and if you can plan it why don't you sometimes you can't plan it like apples and people have to go but when you think about leaders remember that whatever you do moving forward from this point forward it's being a leader is also sharing that information that you have and that people do that in a positive way the second thing is encouraging strategic thinking innovation and match right your own college is this on your thoughts or after so at some point very soon you're gonna go into the workforce you're gonna have a career right and for some of you who most of you I would like me and I'm sure to live with list you know you don't walk in the doors and they go anywhere you still run that run right start the bottom then I have to earn their stripes the thing about it is that doesn't mean you'll lose any opportunity to no longer think strategically to no longer be innovative to no longer have ideas I have some new folks that come into their friends to speak up what do you think of this new program were using me yeah when you said for three months they're trying well you know if we if we took this part out we could probably say 15 minutes on the process and get this little quicker let's try that let's try that just because doesn't matter what level you being an leader doesn't mean you have to wait time let me say that again Simpson being a leader doesn't mean someone has to own children so right or wrong when I got I had somebody say to me one time giving them advice on how to be a fun things they can do to show some leadership and they said no no no no no I'm gonna just do my job but you are getting nothing more nothing less then when you make me a leader and promote then I'll show you what I can do right that's not how it works right we like to see what you're capable of we wanna see what action because we don't wanna have to imagine what you might be as a leader right I saw Sam taking a leadership role samland heat he took care of this he basically came up to my kids he was gonna pay to move behind them now when there's an opening for a manager I wonder if ship you wanna show it to me another question I need my income to me say I want that I'm ready for that much stuff so whatever job you go whatever career you go just because you've been there for one day versus someone who's been there for 10 years it doesn't mean you don't have the ability to share your thoughts and share your ideas with people well I usually tell people wait a couple months it should feet wet great learn the job we try this this this and this we're like OK delicious first but then you know once you learn the job then you feel more comfortable sharing your experiences but that's really really really important to remember those are the two things that I would I would say now let me ask you a question what's your name I say oh OK can we worship we caught that you be caught to be a leader in your opinion it's that is not yeah that's it so yes or no OK does anyone disagree with him does anyone feel that you're either one leader or you're not no so I agree with you right this is not his side in earth for you you're a loser you're not right no everyone in this room will have the potential to capabilities and the opportunities to be lose it's what you do with it now so I go back to my high school days and I was always one of those who kicked the door down I'm here collect my lips go home let's hit going but I'm showing you think that's high school there might be some of you but if you go back to your high school years you probably remember some folks really triggered whatever loud like that make them any better believer or not I don't think so right I'm not suppose at the Housing Authority they're going fine pose the great leaders they wait to hear everybody out and then they offer their opinion and then they're not afraid to take on or a task or project they're just they're just not going to you know have their pompoms on with you really laugh but for some folks they have to be encouraged to those leadership and some folks are they told you when you come in and I was asking I use Amazon they can't when I asked him about what do you think of the software they were timid at first they needed someone in that example two to almost encourage no I welcome tell him and then when he showed it what happens is that that almost it starts to build your you're planting the seed when you haven't supervisor or a mentor or someone who says great job keep it up you know it was an awful idea right I reject 7 out of every ten ideas I get 1007 out of 10 shall we percent but those three they could be life changing from ages so so I never tell an employee in my office what are the chances out so well return with I've crushed it it's crushed now imagine if I say I like how you're thinking OK that's that's a different approach let me digest that a little bit right let me think about it when we come back to you I like come back and say you know I'm not sure we're gonna do that worry about this this and that I love that we're thinking outside the box and come up with two more ideas for dinner the week for me she pops out there even though I said no to her she walks out of there feeling good OK he's asking to keep thinking he got it right it sounds to me but you surprised how many people are seeing that they just because of the role and securities right to make me feel better I'm a better leader now because you know your place but as she went to the workforce you have to go in with the mindset of I can display leadership I can give my boots I'm gonna I'm here for a purpose I'm not a robot I'm just here to flip pick things up and put them down they brought me here and just as I was a 22 worldpac I remember this day and if it happened yesterday I just take the bus to work and have a car and I remember standing on the corner of the sidewalk rainy days waiting for snowy days waiting for the bus I would have influence that I work with the office as they're driving by waving to me and I'm going we're going to the same place there was this one gentleman that would stop he walked in the building next door he worked in a different department worked modernization construction and he goes don't you work next week I said well yeah I'm attempting this night in the car I'm I'll bring him and he was kind enough to bring it and we got to know each other listen I'm not saying about housing but I'm sure ideas with you property manager he came over he congratulated me and he looked at me and he said you know why he goes someday you're gonna run the same practice I thought the man was crazy Here's a guy who blew me for six months with a couple color rights he already made an opinion guess what that did for me 20 years he didn't say I hope you like your jump I'm think you make it past three months right we need people around us to more I I had plenty of people to Housing Authority who helped me along the back not for a second do I ever think I did this alone I learned from my mistakes I learn from people encourage you'll need the same but you gotta believe in yourself you gotta be you have to be able to come forward right printing at Housing Authority when you went there well so I got the five I'm going through define directors so we have Michelle booth then was Ruth Carlson yeah so it was three directors then ray yeah and then I succeed yeah Yep so actually yeah 3 you know them all very well yeah so I'm like I'm good another hour Oh no I don't really you told me 30 minutes let's keep going based in your product so let me let me I said in a library there are 7 rules I live by when I talk to folks that are mentioned the workforce and I give my advice things if you do these seven things I would be shocked if Europe are not immediately moving up with the company very quickly the seven things that have worked for me and I shouldn't work with people I'm sat with folks your engine work from and they'll say to me Mr choralis how do I move up in the company I wanna grow I'm eager and I said have a seat OK write it down then I give him the seven things they only do 2 zero and then they wonder why fresh stock that's true they do that now what about that it's not even Roman it's a road map you can apply wherever you want and if you do these seven things I promise you I'll be shocked if you don't make a difference in whatever you want it doesn't matter if you're working it doesn't matter if you're working for list at the wine or some mutual or some big shot company the supervisors grow relatively the same we kind of already know how employees are so when somebody does something different they stand out you stand out but here's the one thing if you follow these rules you have to be able to stand on your own 2 feet it mean something come on Sam gets out to the balls huh you gotta be able to say no I'm about my career right so we give you the seven tips and this will be on your phone no right number one whatever job you do whatever career you decide to go into I want you to take it serious enter your guide and I'm gonna tell you exactly what he said because you're gonna think I'm making this up it was a zoom call in this room it took him a little while to get there and he had on his shorts and a ripped T shirt and he comes over he says he goes alright sorry wait dude so I'm like OK and then he said to me I'm not making you think I'm making something I have witnesses that we still use as an example and I said OK I said you know this is a job and there was an entry level job and I said you know can you tell me a little bit about why you applied for the job but I mean I I kind of just applied but but it's data entry and **** right that's what he should do nice ship yeah this is fun so whatever job you do take it serious and here's why you take it serious I don't know anything now what you don't have that Linda lives in I have a reputation no we don't your first job is when you build the wreckage hate the job serious but you're calling just joking around and screwing around and taking it out not taking a job doesn't give you a license to do that so whatever job you do remember there you go in there like this is the first day where I'm gonna start building my reputation my time on here are they gonna say that's a helverson how would employ that's that clown who never takes job serious that will follow you that will follow just as the good will follow Liz called Mrs hey Alex that former employee they're they're looking to apply here they're all Mr fantastic I was so disappointed they lost I wish I could bring him back imagining that call should say or simply saying let's run runaway oh but they had a great interview trust me that's that's the height of the of the experience he has said that to me it's your reputation on the line doesn't matter if you're filing answering phones and getting coffee be the best damn filer best stamp phone answerer you know and and go get coffee if that's what they ask you to do right that's right and that's that leads me to my second point which I put here be better than the rest in what you can control there's things that work can't control but whatever you're doing beat better than the rest of your competition what does that mean so me and Sam get hotter to do the same job guess what I'm gonna get better point and Sam I'm not gonna do anything to hurt him he can he can do this traffic but but for me I want my reputation to be as good as it can I want them to say it's good worker is a good guy keep them around it must feel like we got two good guys that's that's even better but whatever you're assigned to do try to be the best at now that's for me the reason I had that comes from the story with old school here is is what I call the immigrant my parents had immigrant factors so you called out sick John may not be there next day so my parents my dad's vision of work you guys would be bewildered my first job I was 15 I was a busboy as a matter of fact the same one there's a guy I work for we can go talk with John bergantino and I remember I got the job I came home I was excited I said dad I my job you know that's great weekends and I love I'm gonna be a bus what are you working Saturday they open at Saturday the boss said I gotta be there at 6 he wants to do an hour training you know it's possible you know how I can be right alright 6:00 o'clock yeah no problem let me know Ryan on the license my brother 16 year old kid I'm doing whatever watching TV and staying up late all I know is when my dad woke me up felt like I slept an hour I was like what he goes get off my deck very serious get off get ready for her I was like a song just getting dressed not doing my whereabouts I get in the car my eyes are closed please bring me to work we get out the lights are out so I said OK maybe they will shoot it in the boss so I get out I go check the doors nobody's there I come back I said there must be a few minutes early what time is 5:00 o'clock it's five o'clock no he said whatever job you do shopping hour or boss one free hour every day I should have no yes do you wanna be the best you want the boss will not stop it now early everyday for free you don't even clock in clock in clock in so that's my dad so let me say what time you get out of work I was afraid so I just said I got a 3 doubt it you could have it 4 and honestly I don't think that's just the way this works I will be here at 2:45 watch me until 4 my dad was teaching me what it meant his work ethic here's my panic 230 the boss comes down John comes out Alex trip John well you gonna kill him today you did a fast job pay the evening plus points here so why don't you go ahead and clock out when you get out of here OK John let me just finish the lobby over here now so I did the right thing I went out and I clocked out at the box but now I'm cleaning the lobby I'm trying to milk it out or half of this place John comes out at 2:45 why are you still here yeah I was just finishing the log book did you OK now let's just stop is your dad there yes is there just call OK John now I'm sweating I called him up the wages are still salt and pepper some filling syrups out their eyes also other possible should we throw it he's loving it he's the back in the break room this time three o'clock Jonsson mountain now why are you still here I don't know what to say at that point I put it down I said John I never work till 4 what yeah my boss says I gotta go free hour to my work and clocked out but I gotta stay till four is your dad here come on that's not good so we go out there John knocks on the window rolls out the window Mr Corrales yes Alex Olsen you fired no no no it's not fired you did a good job you can go home we start tomorrow 7:00 o'clock not five seven o'clock and then he walked the floor he he walked to four no no he doesn't need to work my dad is not at all for free he happy to work here's a funny thing story I fought my bed sheets and whatever job I had maybe shopping early maybe staying later everything him and I were two gunslingers through all my high school 'cause he would force me to do that guess what time I arrived to the house five in the morning we open it and I don't need six blocks not because anyone telling the boss chapitre I won't even ever I want because my dad and grandad right now I recognize I'm not suggesting that you need to do those crazy hours or do that but what I'm telling you is that helped me when I was at the house the first one in I just weren't weren't weren't and and said what else how can you help and then I say a little later and did that and so my advice to you is we talked about the number two of being better than the rest that means when you have a chance shop a few minutes early you have to show up an hour early but don't be 5 minutes late it's only 5 minutes but Julie to replication if you aren't overgaard to the time of when you're supposed to be at work and feel like they're not taking it serious but if you're in best or ready to go do you want to journal with me leave my hair I like that person here'cause I'm chasing the veterans who are rolling in 5 minutes later right the other one is when you have an opportunity to stay a little bit late right so stop being depressed staying later today at 4:30 for me you wanna track me at 4:20 nineteen car save extra 10 minutes 15 minutes not going to kill you but for the boss you know with the boss thinks like that liking this person that's the message you convey without necessarily killing yourself right and then we talked about the piece in that about what I said about Tim right if you have an opportunity to talk about how you can make things better ideas find ways that we can do that with people who have decisions now #3 do more that's the one I struggle with right now which folks that come out they come out come into the workforce do more what does that mean you for right you gonna drop description if you live within that blocks I don't not know your potential no no but I ordered a piece of paper show me you could you have the capability for more show me that you can do more so I can see your worth the risk let me envision you in a leadership role or talk about that if you do more do more could be hey Sam is struggling let me go ahead and give him the hand the boss sees that I was behind a couple hours clean up I just thought I'd help him out that's leadership helping someone out sharing information so American band right I've been in the job for a year ban is struggling not gonna procedure I come over and I start helping him and train him simple those are leadership qualities 'cause all you have to do is stay in your typical say my my problem that's the bosses problem that each day and that's the easy out you do know some little extra things right so I said take it serious be better than the rest and do more right number 4 volunteer here's a big one gonna take my wrong tier for you is important within the company joint commitments so imagine that's right I'm a CEO I put together this committee we're gonna throw a block party I'm looking for ball and tears what's your name so imagine I wouldn't companies in nine months she's she's trying to say hey look at me somebody noticing right and I voted even say hey I'm looking for some of my I don't like to work on our committee where they have vice president other staff and myself what should he do what should I respond to get that point when do you start I get to sit in the room with decision makers meet please CEO and you're asking me she's not gonna say to me well does it pay more as I can paste that's a question I can ask yeah I gotta think about it no you don't have to right or what's the commitment that was not so bad right 'cause we say oh sure we happen to do it you know what the commitment is by saying just an hour a week this may not work but when you have an opportunity to volunteer they mean in front of the scission maker jump on it jump on it that's your chance that reputation I was talking about right so I attended men's company events sometimes you go guess what guess who's a company events social workers you know I had I had a young man that I promoted because I met him I never met he came up to me he said this is just wanted to make sure all clerk over at the office I just wanna come over and say hello and thank you for giving me the opportunity yeah but what's your name my name is Dan how do you like it just when I say to the repeat I like that no confidence comes up is that himself I like that guy keep an eye on it just from that introduction but that was other piece and that's not that's not a stand there for more conversation and now I remember that guy right so let yourself know decisionmakers just don't stay with your work don't just stay with the people who work with grandchild that's important that helped me right #5 get involved in with work that you do that's what I was telling you about flash questions make suggestions analyze the procedures look for ways that you can improve but here's the important thing 90% of my employees will get to increase tell me what I'm also doing well there's otherwise this stinks when I'm doing this we should be doing this better we should change that it's not that sometimes like Oh my gosh frankly the Champions Alex I love what we're doing over here this is great we really appreciate it that event we did and brought us lunch for the Dept would love that thank you so much and there's a couple of things here that I thought that we could look at the proof guess what I'm gonna take it more serious so make sure you get involved work number 6 sounds really easy stay positive and have fun here's why when you work for a company it's very easy to get drafted to the boss It's very easy to get dragged into the negative energy they read once that you about 40% higher chance than sucked into somebody who's negative than to somebody who then positive course so magine working next to someone who's just complaining and negative das Knights of service that reputation I just want to say about that right now when I do visual secret do with someone when I was at that low and people would negative I'm trying solutions she said it sounds like you're really upset trash talk to the boss setting the flatter rather than start saying oh I know yeah this place optic everything there's nothing to work on so they this is not say open until they they said go home life right give my solution don't get sucked into the gossip that's a quick way to get to *** **** the last one I have for you is wake up with a purpose what would you do do what you love if you get a job absolutely find something else because that fits it storm we thought feeling like you're gonna go and we have somebody right think about it there are folks and I don't know maybe some of you do this I know I have some folks to wake up like this they wake up and they just look at their day like another day another Monday day I come out fully or so someplace and they just go through the motions right maybe something like that we were growing up and you're going to school with my 12 year old school right I think so you had a field trip I think you are kid underfill about field trip I was already ready before my parents it was really dumb I couldn't wait furniture yeah jumping off rocks in my mom's stressed out yeah the old days was great I love the job right like I wish that you know why why do you get that feeling you knew something unexpected something wasn't happened that day there was Time Warner it was an exciting thing and you spend the rest of your life chasing that right find a job crash no I'm at the house for 25 years I have a boy that's fine because I'm like oh let me just sorry I love what I do every day I come here and there's a new challenge there's a new possibility I have any influence you know what's you don't that you know you get when you are able to help a family Google and housing now their phone numbers change in that person's life ever and the kids are fine when that happens you're ready for the next you feel like she's got some stories about her experience with children families that she was able to help I know this woman got plenty of stories about lives that she talked with everyone else close the door she is on the Nope that's why I do it I don't wanna get rich 'cause you won't get rich but I took it you wanna make a difference but whatever job select one of your case manager or social worker you wanna go round baby you wanna go you know work on Wall Street whatever job you decide you wake up you Remember Me you say I hate what I do yourself let's go find something that's a passion chase right I'm gonna leave you with this this is not mine so I'm going to read it but I heard this will recognize this but it's advice not given that I wish somebody had given to me when I was in my 20s right and and the guy said we should push yourself beyond the limits of tolerance in their planets typed out where it is right how much work how how much does it then can you work 12 hours a day can you work eight hours a day work three hours a day flying out where is shortly pick it out in the 20s how much work can you do and socialization I'm down push yourself past and then back off to the point where it's not going to be sustainable it's good to think that as a goal but you can discover what you're going to tations are when you're in your 20s so that you can hit that agent stated across the rest of your day don't have too much fun right 'cause I take you out you know it's not fun at the end of 40 year old at the singles bar right so you wanna make sure that you're doing an age appropriate and you wanna push yourself in every direction so that you can but you shouldn't do it what would it mean in mind right it's like trying to make yourself better and more confident person and social discipline along front is a good idea right this is the time to do it push yourself don't go into a job going well I only don't wanna work five hours today I'm just trying to kick back now this is the time to grill test what your limits are before you decide what those so in closing what I'll say to you is this those seven points I gave you whatever company you do anymore make an impression build a reputation and don't be afraid to speak up but I'm all about generation is this generation tends to do that better than previous generations about seeing something Speaking of thing that's right you know cultivate that with the work that's low stop you know maybe you better preach some questions soon have any questions or feedback I lost them they can't they click the link I know I feel bad I feel like I should be doing this she does not you oh OK sorry anyone on Facebook I'm on Facebook too I have a question hard yes 333 alright so I want to know like how how do you strike the balance between being used by workplace and actually volunteering so I missed the first part how do I strike the balance between volunteer and what was the other one being used you know yeah so how do you strike the count the barrels didn't being used involuntary well for for me it's I give options right so if I don't force it right I don't say Sam you're going to do you're not coming out Saturday we're gonna work 8 hours that's baggage hold real quick right that's where you feel like you're being taken advantage of what I'm talking about is when when a door opens up when opportunity and you just got plowed or no I'll wait for the next that's what I'm talking about if you're offered an opportunity to think about official right huge company went on thousand boys or 5000 plus we have 250 it's a good size company out of 250 employees you're asked to reporters slow committee that's pretty cool Sam you know now mind you if you put 1030 for 30 years I could see my 30 year 30 year batteries car rolling their eyes like I have so much work to do what system right now on the tail end right they're looking at retirement they're not looking at trying to make their mark but for you you wanna jump on that opportunity because you'll know if you're being used if you're not being asked for value back if I if I say to Sam Sam come outside or they're gonna help us set this thing up and I just start barking orders at him and then when he starts saying thank you go home he's not feeling empowered right he's not feeling like hey I feel refreshed today thank you for having me live 45 tables and send me home right versus saying what do you think we should do for the event do you think we should do this or that now this opinion matters now he's got a seat at the table and he feels empowered that even if I don't go with his idea he still had an opportunity to share his ideas and here's what I've seen happen just in my little world of housing I I jokingly say this to God I recently I told myself never make that mistake again I hired this new clerk do you want to cry 4.0 GPA should come in should come in entry level just that's all we had but I know I knew I was gonna lose her because she was that good but I said you know when I hang on she said I'll give you two years and then I gotta start you know I said I'll take two years she was and she was she was taking she was kind of administrative assistant the maintenance director said to me hey Alex this Saturday this is after a few months on Saturday I'm trying to round up some clerks to help us with the data entry project do you have any products that could help us I'm looking for some short people and so I got this new gal she thought she could help you yeah two weeks later or supervisor Control Center 'cause she was that good and I said no never again will I said to someone I said she should sleep but I was happy for her yeah it wasn't very long you could see it and now she's my vice president admission she's on my admissions apartment when she found it for 20 years but my point is is that one opportunity for her she could have said no I said hey are you interested in working overtime this week for four hours with this data entry she could have said well you know Jason my boyfriend to go somewhere else I don't she said sure I'll help out and look what happened change the tractor for career those opportunities don't come very often so take advantage don't be afraid to work is what I'm trying to tell you yes ma'am stories in a public agency do you have over how do you sure what's your relationship with your sure so most people think that we're part of the sins branch of government or not so we we don't we don't report to the city manager were not under the city government we don't want see government agency so our connection to the cities and I report to five commissioners at the border five commissions now four of those commissioners are appointed by the City Council recommended by the city manager appointed by the City Council so please don't mind managed to play next if I don't play that's in the city they might stop boy would keep lagging before we went online and I have a job right so but but in all seriousness I do work very well we work very closely together but I don't technically report to them as other departments in the city too and then one of our board members the fifth member is appointed by the government so forcing 1 and they serve five years with the option of them serving another five years it could serve up 10 years and then they're done they have to wait ten years to be able come back um we received state funds federal funds and some city funds when we apply for certain grants so that's primarily but without getting too far off track part of what we try to do at the Housing Authority which I think a lot of nonprofits trying to do as well is especially those that were funding from state or federal level is sometimes I feel like I'm holding my cup with the set and stick on please be nice this year please be nice this year give us enough money so we try to be really good about creating different revenue streams how else can we raise money for the authority so we're not so dependent on the subsidy that that if we do have a cut in our subsidy we have rather than other sources to absorb so we've done pretty good over the last six years with that which is great certainly COVID and you know those tough times like most agencies we've you know we've been able to run that sort one of the questions then you have a question get hang up oh just a compliment compliments to their what else anything else alright well thank you for having me thank you yeah look it was helpful in some way if you are interested

I started with united ways that intern training program and I was at an entry level here and it was there were many opportunities as Alex said to do more than the job because I didn't really know anybody I went there for that job so you you did everything so I became a generalist I learned a little bit about every then when I took my after the internship and my first job with the same like United Way I came I wanted to come back to the Worcester area in the United way of central mass only had a communications director position entry level I had but I wanted to be in Worcester I wanted to work for United Way so I took the job I pretty much I like he gave me a road map before I even knew so I then had a real quick moving up because it doesn't my general list I didn't I wasn't stuck in a little box so I went from communications director to assistant campaign director to campaign director within like three years and then the whole field in that time was changing and I we put the departments of fund raising and marketing together and I became the VP of fundraising and marketing there was a VP of programs and and other things so I was like that after Nate finance and admin fund raising my counterpart was on the other side I then came to Clark to get my MBA to kind of validate what I had learned because it was like from my gut right and in order to really get it to level of what executive director positions were they really wanted hire it so as I said the first class I looked at social MSW MBA but because of my talents I had to go with the MBA and just live in the world of social work and have it be part of my life instead of my work when I got there in my style the YW was a flat organization literally it was me and all the department heads direct reports and that's the only way to manage that was to literally become a team manager so so that was our team you know everybody was at their little box because of their expertise but in order to really move the organization forward we had to do it as a team and that was how I learned in my United Way job it was a team with the staff and all the volunteers it was like war staff and hundreds of volunteers whereas when I go to the YW it was really much deeper in the way of programming and then all the infrastructure looking to the road of transition and how to take a long term exec to retirement and then bring someone in through a strategic planning process the organization looked at different structure so that there was a little bit more hierarchy to it so that leadership wasn't just around the table but leadership could be people were needing 'cause there wasn't a pathway and in a flag organization even with an exciting team management if you don't see a pathway you're not able to keep your but I believe your best now so we we did the my position two associates and then the departments based on what it was when I was first there I would say that the most difficult decisions that I have come really struggled with was around human resources thank you thank you when I got to the YWCA there was no hi director that we spent more time around human resources when there were many other things that we needed to and it's that is an art in a profession and you're going to get from a dynamite woman and so the finding the resources to get HR person once we had 200 people was was one of the best decisions that was ever made it freed me and the team up to really have the right and fair and equitable and waffle I don't think it's fair to the employees when the executive directors also the HR director I think it's so unfair sometimes it can't be helped when you're a small nonprofit the executor is probably also that had fundraiser the HR Covina the program director right but I really do think I know some people think it's a nice to have and I think if you truly want to be there for your employees and to make sure it's equitable it's fair you've got to spend the money to get a darn good HR person like really good and and someone who really believes in your mission and really believes in diversity equity inclusion that's it's not just words it's not just words it has this working really it's going to push that and then you have to allow and encourage that person to push that even if it makes you uncomfortable I think a good executive director a good leader allows people to push and make you feel uncomfortable it should not be where you're only making people feel uncomfortable and pushing them and challenging them you should have leaders like Alex was saying that also making better make you think things I am very saddened by what happened at City Hall I am very saddened yeah director infighting is that's very disturbing to me that person is similar to an HR in the sense that the focus solely on diversity equity inclusion not feeling like they could do their job really concerns me and it concerns me about our city and our government so you know having again even though it may make you uncomfortable may make you think outside the box you need a good HR person who really will believe in diversity equity inclusion really fight for that and then when you can't afford to have someone separate diversity inclusion it's great to have a diversity offer yes 8 plus points so no one appoints it is a higher employment and so their employee and there was a committee a of a community members plus the city manager obviously has a say I think it's hard understandably 'cause that person reports directly to the city manager but you have to wonder if one person reads she's like well we do just wasn't the right fit two people leaves or like having a look at this right three people for the same position in six years needs somethings wrong well they also change the structure at first the DEI did not it did not report to the city manager they reported to the director of HR and if it's really a cross cutting issue it needs to be at the senior cabinet level so that all leaders in the organization understand that like words a cruise at the white WCH she is the director of race and gender equity she sits with her but even changing the structure the culture is not matching up so that you know we have an executive order at the city that that you know prescribes our DEI values and everything but then have the leadership and the financial support to make that happen we have not quite and you're never going to be perfect right so when we say you need to be ready we don't mean that you have to know everything and be ready for it what you're what we mean by this you're open to learn you're open to get new ideas you're open to being challenged and you are committed to giving that person the tools and resources they need to be successful to me that doesn't sound like if that happened again I wasn't a fly on the wall I don't know but it's very concerning to me I am hopeful because there are other people besides us who are concerned about this and I think they're gonna get down to it city manager just today said he was open for uh and external investigation and independent investigation to see how we can better but it is concerning to me but I do applaud that he is saying that yes he will be open but again it needs to be independent it cannot be someone on the inside doing the investigation so for my position as a leader other organization human relations and resources is one of the most difficult areas and it's really an expertise it's governed by laws so to have the very best person as your partner now to me that was recognition to invest resources in that position because it's not like you'll just make the decision as the person comes in your door but there's a set of policies and procedures and processes and so as a leader that was a recognition of my weakness that needed to be the second probably most difficult area is in an advocacy organization in your hair gonna hear about that in a couple weeks is you know how to take your mission vision values and then if you're part of collaborations or as we talked earlier and needs you know there's basic policies and a local state and federal level that can can trick move your organization or your area into a trajectory because you can help 5000 kids a year at the boys and Girls Club or 8000 people here at this agency but until policy and legislation changes and you have to know what the tolerances of your agency to be able to how hard do you stand how strong you stand when you stand when you leave so as a leader those were the two areas that were for me my weaknesses so to surround myself with Pearson and in staff and volunteers so to me that was a deep not only did the boy recognized we needed support resources here but I recognize that that was something so I'm gonna try to not duplicate what Alex said but you pull some of the Nuggets out of these readings glyph meter ship is how to grow and sustain people to to accomplish extraordinary experience when the best fund raising consultants joy joy joy said that if you really want to be a great fundraiser and I believe she really wanted to be a great leader is that you create extraordinary experience and and to to have each and every person you work with understand that they can create an extraordinary experience for a child and child care of the family or that's really to me leadership is to grow and sustain that environment in your organization you definitely have to have methodical processes and clear goals but you need to have fair compensation and recognition in clear communications respect that was one thing that Alex talked about yes and that's what a leader makes happen in their environment a good leader there are questions that you sent in the difference between a nonprofit leader and a profit leader one of the things I believe that the difference is is that a nonprofit leader has to bring paid and unpaid people together to accomplish the same vision and mission and that's not what's required in in the private sector but our dominance in legal standing is such that no one group is can do it alone so a real measure of a fortnight for profit meter is the really skill and ability to bring that paid and up eight team to accomplish the goals in depth in objectives I would also say the attributes are going to be very similar if not the same we want someone who has a vision whether they're for profit or nonprofit meter you want someone will walk the walk and will top the top do you want someone who will get dirty who will do the work that needs even if it makes them uncomfortable so that should be there for a non profit or or for profit so sometimes it's interesting when people saying what type of what are the differences leaders a leader right now we all go about it in different ways but there are many similar attributes another difference is how we define equity the equity of the stockholder our equity is community equity it's to have a positive bottom line it's not that because we're nonprofit we can't make a profit right we need to make a profit for sustainability but also to be able to reinvest and the bottom line and the difference is it's a social bug it's a social public issue I think in other thing and I'm not saying for profit smoking this but I think one of the most a difference of the for profit and not for profit sector and therefore how a leader has to operate is it's a learning organization you have to understand the issues you talked about community needs understand the issues work effectively with diverse people paid unpaid all different types if you're driven organization and you have to make prudent financial decisions in the face of human needs proving financial decisions in the face of humanity wouldn't it be great if you could just throw more money at something but that's not the environment so you have to be able to take scarce resources and make the best impact on that human condition there's seven skills and it's interesting 'cause there was just a search process for my position and I told the search committee fund raising and finding fun raising environments those were the key skill areas that was gonna make the organization successful human resourcing you need to we just said earlier program knowledge absolutely but you don't have to be a program that being able to work in the miliar of governance being able to partner with volunteers that are your bosses but also your partners planning and community relations and communications those are the skills that I would say that from what we've talked about from the beginning to now if we don't my my first class at United Way in central mass said without the money the rest is conversation sticking out the best mission the best program design you know the meeting the most important me but if you don't have the resources so you've got to be able to do that is it neater with and through others that one of the articles mission box was a really really good one they say that the nonprofit sector requires extra commitment I think if you're a good leader whatever sector but you obviously you're not making yourself rich with the profits or your shareholders it's really addressing the human conditions then it's the volunteer staff team I sentek belief in the mission I I got that from your projects that everybody got that mission vision values is really you know the difference between management and leadership I think that they obviously they're different management supervising authority day-to-day oversight staffing scheduling appraising developing processes but as you heard what Alex said and this said leadership is an art it's a vision that people walk with you and behind you he said it involvement innovation and it really is accomplishing what we need to accomplish through and with others it's not a one man or one woman show qualities he did fabulously but there's a really good list in the mission box for me he said it innovation resourceful but I would say listening is one of the qualities it's kind of far down on the list it should go up but it really is to understand that you don't have the answers to understand that the people who it's being done to need to have a say in and I I would say that when we when we didn't use work agencies like boys and Girls Club were that's how they would they would create it to serve you many agencies like YWCA for example who focused on you know young adults and adult women particularly and then families it became very clear as we were learning the youth development deal that nothing about us without us nothing about us without us that's how important listening is that if young people don't have a say or they don't have choice once they get a little bit older sure you can do that you know hands down on younger kids but once you start to so that's the same thing with an organization I believe with the staff almost done the other thing is you gonna have a whole class on ethics but ethical leadership is one of the articles and from my perspective it's really you know and Alex talked about this as well you know ethical leadership It is honestly it it talks about transparency in fund raising transparency and financial the nonprofit is public benefits um a nonprofit public benefit corporations the purpose is to benefit the public in the mission drives you for this public person purpose your stockholders are the partners and participants you work with so I would just say that well you'll get more on ethics but and you heard it from different presenters it's best that you flip the most honest face forward be able to say what you can and cannot do and to me when a leader a leader has to be able to admit and show and be perfectly honest and transparent throughout other interactions excellent thank you Linda I talked a specific type of leadership service leadership there was a short article that we shared before removal and this works so I'm just like write down some key takeaways I think that might be of interest have your feedback how many of you have either studied or done service leadership before the reason why I like this type of leadership is you don't have to be completely all in what I mean by that is some people think they can do service leadership like completely flattening everything and everyone then make the decisions yes absolutely to a point there still is gonna be someone who's in charge it has to be otherwise it could be completely crazy there still has to be rules but goal is so the rules are made by everyone involved right I don't know if any of you ever taught at a school or work with the youth development agency one of the first things you might often do when you first get to know what group is you ask them to help you come up with right that's very similar to this leadership in the classroom might say what are some things you think we should work on what are some what are some rules you think would make keep everyone safer happy new kids will raise your hand or you shouldn't you should keep your hands to yourself so you write all these rules down right the service leadership is pretty similar and you're absolutely people you might even put together like based on the needs assessment we did it looks like one of the things that you want to make is it's something important me to work on is the first language inclusion OK so you've already gotten their feedback from there now I just wanna talk to you about how do you think we can address this so again having everyone involved in that decision process in deciding how you're going to address an issue I think which one I like so much is because you automatically get buy in and you're automatically showing your team members that what they think matters I think it's so important thing specially during the pandemic and people ask Linda means mother nonprofits it never closed how are you staying open it was because our team members made that decision they are the ones that needed to switch you know we went to the early care and education because many of us were faced with literally the you know gonna close this on a Friday and if we were gonna play the game we have to be ready to reopen after polls on Tuesday and you know if they were closing it why would we deal right so I went to literally the entire childcare staff and said I was with Liz with her and she was fine she said we have an opportunity to do this but I can't do it without you and I understand that I couldn't force people and but if they were not gonna come in and work face to face then they were gonna be doing soon with all the other kids that we so they had to in order to keep getting paid we wanted everybody to get paid their job changed that is those twenty people didn't say we're with you we couldn't have done it and Liz is 20 and all the other agencies who work with us on this ticket we weren't gonna be a little problem and then they came up with how to work within the regulations actually make safe emergency childcare for frontline health care workers and we never closed a day health and safety guidelines those are created by our team members we supported them those are created by them everything from what type of curriculum are we going to do when the schools are still closed we became learning hubs that all came because of service leadership I used the word service instead of service'cause I think for some people automatically when your servant leadership it feel weird at least I I think it makes me feel weird can have another connotation that I don't feel comfortable with the service leadership means that we believe we need together stronger stronger and that includes knowing your team members including them knowing your stakeholders including them it can feel like it takes longer for things to happen for a decision to be made but you know what I'm finding is the decisions seem to be more right than remember there's always something a lot different kinds of right decisions I'm saying this is more right seems to be more successful and again we have that buying you don't have or you say if I said we're staying open and I need all new to work and I don't wanna hear your concerns that might work for a little bit we would have lost people though we would have lost it then we would have been able to stay open so you know I think service leadership's really important we talked about that I think that the broken triangle in the article and when I'm out about it again is it showing that individual performance is not just you as an individual it means that you understand that you're part of a team and everyone plays a role so that type of individual cooperative working something success is really that simple so you know I think it sounds I think it's harder to do when you get better at where you practice So what I like about it is that shut up recognizing one person they're recognizing that and what I mean by that is I doesn't mean that there wasn't some some money people who's doing more in one area than another so we understand that every team member has a role we understand that we're going to hold each other accountable but in a supportive way we bring people to the table we call them Mandisa calling out some of you had asked why did we have to do this group work it's so darn hard group projects are so darn hard they are they are I don't disagree with you service that's what it's about guys you know that you're gonna see more and more of that the more practice you get the more patches I've gotten the more practice lose got the better you get at it it becomes part of their culture and again you're gonna have that buying because they're making the decisions and the competitive nature of being able to hire and retain means that there has to be even for some of the not it's fun jobs as others but the environment and the culture I wanted to ask Alex and I put that when you know he said love your job how do you find that out when you're running interviews how do you find out what is the leadership style of that person how what is the you know the the work style in the environment how do you ask those questions to be able to assess you know maybe not the first job but as you write warrant may not have to be to get what you want but having the opportunity of having a path like how do you get it is this a value of those of the organization that you were looking to possibly work with so sometimes it might sound counter to what we learn in academia where often the individual can be seen as important with the individual brings but I don't think it's really counter to what what I think for example when you group projects it shows that each individual is bringing something but there's that common goal right and so that's how I kind of see service leadership so when people are being recognized or being recognized with the team was able to accomplish that doesn't mean we don't realize other individuals maybe contribute different ways maybe someone put in more than another person this time but next time maybe the other person we carry will go again I understand your projects are challenging but I really feel like when she asked what what we do every day to nonprofit is group projects this group project they might have different names and might be we're doing a strategic planning it might be we're creating new programming based on the work we're doing with our families and the feet that we're getting from them it's all group projects and so that's why I really think service leadership is so important to be able to get there I also think it's more flexible with what I mean by that it's not gonna be hierarchical and so it's not gonna be top it's actually gonna be coming from the grass from the grassroots coming up again that doesn't mean that the exact director and CEO doesn't have a say or doesn't have a responsibility that's right but they responsibility is to get everyone to come together to make good decisions to make up so they're definitely still leading but they're leading by inclusivity by getting people involved with to say this is how it's being and again you'll get by yeah becoming more impactful you'll be able to capture goals quicker because people are in it together they've had to say on what's being done in we talked about diversity a lot diversity and thoughts really important and service leadership really believes that they believe that cognitive diversity support you can get cognitive diversity by making ever did you do include them on that she needs to make that decision quit but she had no choice but to do that or even like for example there's a fire we don't go let's talk about this first no but we've already talked about what our fire drill will be because we do this type of work does that make sense we already had figured out what we do when we have a fire drill because we use service leadership and so we talk about things like so we plan ahead service leadership allows you to do that you know so I think in the long run you're able to use it more but you gotta practice and in the beginning can feel really painful because there's some people who just are not used to being there's surprisingly ask them their their opinion or their view is doesn't you know have the opportunity to have some of the other inputs no but if that you know closest to the yeah the ground is listen to it definitely helps as the decisions are being made so you know we have maintenance team members who during the pandemic I wanted to hear from them about health and safety and what they thought and they seem shocked like you know I work part time I go yeah but I go you see this every day where are the holes what do we need to do to make it stronger and not only did they give us some really great feedback and help develop the rules it actually helped all of us being more accountable because they were saying some of the people are not like selling after every bathroom in the beginning I don't know if you remember everything looking lysol no matter what they absolutely touched the door you know so we had someone who was just doing yes and so we had to do that so we had to be a team and we always said maintenance everyones job right now there is no way our three full time maintenance people could do everything so again that service leads you to all understood we all need to be involved so that makes sense any questions we have a little time we thought we can just scenarios so you guys can break into groups and you hear from the zoom folks too is that OK see this with this a share with then let's share on this I need to download it to the portal thank you got it up and running today from a complete nothing all the way up and running yeah absolutely sharing my steal the start we cannot do I know but you can add to the classes asking for feedback yes should not be first well then the guy was after our first three weeks of power the guy who was coming he came every week without us even asking he didn't come this great um do you just someone out now it's saying it can't share Sarah share screen great alright so the first one is going to be on what do you do when a partner no longer wants to collaborate that can happen alright I'll give you a little bit of information so you guys can go with it so a collaborative that consists of about seven agencies meets regarding the pandemic right before it starts just to talk about what are we going to do and there are two of those nonprofits say they're out they don't wanna have anything to do with this being done that is a true story by the way what do you do without running London bus no I don't know yes talking about why do you want crazy well yes I think I definitely agree with you that you would want to find out why I'll tell you what they said to us i i

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