Lunch with Lucy: Deutschmann's gift to creating corporate culture
Deborah Macfarlan Enright, Ed.D.
Founder @ The Macfarlan Group @ Leadership After Dark Nonprofit/Social Impact Leadership Consultant
It’s as if everything Sherry Stewart Deutschmann touches turns to gold, but rather than taking a bow for her incredible success – including selling her first entrepreneurial endeavor, LetterLogic, for $40 million and being named to the National Women’s Business Council by President Obama – she points to her team.
Her new book, Lunch with Lucy: Maximizing Profits by Investing in Your People, explains why.
Written with clarity and purpose providing examples through engaging stories of success and failure, Deutschmann provided these takeaways for me:
- Team first – always.
- Employee engagement is foundational to long term success.
- Knowing your team makes leadership more effective and efficient.
- Create a professional level compensation package of care so each member of your team lives life to its fullest.
- Always accept responsibility for your team when something goes wrong:
- Never assign blame.
- Review the process to find the flaw that affected the team member.
- Communicate directly with the client with the facts and the solution for the issue.
- Leverage your team’s expertise and experience into the culture of your business.
- Use the power of transparency to maximize productivity and loyalty.
- Learn to say “No” to any idea or invitation that diverts your full focus on your clients.
- Listen. Learn. Listen again. Learn more.
Deutschmann ends with the concept of creating your own personal Board of Directors outside of the business to advise, question, support, and even challenge your hopes and dreams.
As I continue to seat my personal Board of Directors, I’ll extend an invitation to Lunch with Lucy.