Bob Sutton

Brandi Chastain's Advice on Incentives and Cooperation

As regular readers of this blog may recall, my wife -- Marina Park -- is the CEO of the Girl Scouts of Northern California.  It has been a busy year from Marina and her staff because it is the 100 year anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts and there have been many celebrations.  There was an especially wild one called 100 Hundred, Fun Hundred where some 24,000 girls gathered at the Alameda County Fair Grounds to camp and engage in activities ranging from rock climbing, to scuba diving, to dancing to roakc bands.  You can read about the various celebrations here on their website.  

Today, I am focusing on the Forever Green Awards -- a series of dinners that have been held throughout Northern California to honor women who "have made a significant impact to sustaining the environment, economy, or community."  I have been three of the eight award dinners now and have been inspired by many of these women (here is the complete list), from opera soprano Katherine Jolly, to Jane Shaw the Chairman of the Board at Intel, to Amelia Ceja -- the Owner & President Ceja Vineyards. 

I  heard something last week at the dinner in Menlo Park that especially caught my ear -- from none other than Brandi Chastain, the Olympic Women's Soccer gold medal winner and world champion, who still plays soccer seriously and now often works as a sports broadcaster for ABC and ESPN.  Of course, Chastain we always be remembered for throwing off her jersey after scoring the winning goal at the Women's World Championships in 1999 -- in 2004 she wrote a book called "Its Not About the Bra."

The award winners at Menlo Park were each asked to describe the best advice they ever received.  Brandi began by talking about her grandfather and how crucial he was to her development as a soccer player and a person.  Brandi said that he had a little reward system where she was paid $1.00 for scoring a goal but $1.50 for an assist -- because, as she put it, "it is better to give than receive."

I love that on so many levels.  I helped coach girls soccer teams for some years, and getting the star players to pass was often tough.  And moving into the world of organizations, as Jeff Pfeffer and I have been arguing for years, too many organizations create dysfunctional internal competition by saying they want cooperation but behaving in ways that promote selfish behavior.  Chastain's grandfather applied a simple principle that can be used in even the most sophisticated reward systems -- one that I have seen used to good effect in places ranging from General Electric, to IDEO, to McKinsey. 

P.S. The last Forever Green Awards will be in Santa Rosa at the Paradise Ridge Winery.  Click here if you want to learn more.

Another Blogger in the Family

Although my productivity as a blogger has been low lately, my wife -- Marina Park -- is picking up the slack and then some. As regular readers of Work Matters know, Marina is CEO of the Northern California Girl Scouts. She just started last Sunday as a regular blogger, one of the "City Brights" at SF Gate, the online home of the San Francisco Chronicle and has already put up three posts. I especially like the second one, called Helping Kids Find Their Path.  It starts out with an incident that happened to us recently:

Last weekend, my husband and I did something I don't think we have ever done (which is saying something; we have been together for 32 years . .. ). We asked our waitress to move us to a different table midway through dinner because the conversation going on next to us was just more loud tension than either of us was in the mood for. The debate was about whether a daughter who loved horses should be required to give up horses so she could focus on team sports, which would better prepare her for life, and whether a son, who was anxious and unhappy about playing soccer, should be given "incentives" to continue.

It made me sad to hear. Yes, I know it was rude to listen, but we couldn't help it and that is why we asked to move.

Of course, I am biased, but I like Marina's arguments goes on to make about the limits and virtues of team sports for kids and I love the comments people have made, as they are so thoughtful and balanced.

Lemon Chalet Cremes: The Best Girl Scout Cookies Ever?

I just had one of these last week, and it is now my favorite -- the perfect combination of lemon creme that tastes like real lemons and crunchy with a hint of ginger.  I have always liked Thin Mints best, but the Lemon Chalet Cremes are even better.  You can't buy Girl Scout cookies until early next year; I was lucky enough to try these because my wife Marina is now CEO of the Northern California Girl Scouts and she got an "advance" box from the cookie company -- I tried to eat one, but ended-up eating a lot more! I suggest that you try a box when they go on sale.

My CEO: Marina Park's New Job at the Girl Scouts

My wife's new job was announced today.  Marina has been at a law firm now called Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman for about 25 years -- she started there as a summer associate in law school.  Her last job there was an 8 year stint as firm-wide managing partner.  By the time her stint ended, Pillsbury had almost 1000 lawyers.  Marina worked with firm Chair Mary Cranston as the first women to lead one of the 100 largest law firms in the country.

Marina's new job is CEO of the Northern California Girl Scouts.  Quite a switch! 

This was not a rash decision.  I was taken with how Marina went about deciding what she wanted to next, as it was so systematic, yet had such a large emotional component. She worked with an executive coach to develop a deeper understanding of what her strengths were, and especially, the kind of work that gave her the most satisfaction.  Marina considered everything from going to back to practicing law, to being a general counsel at a big public company, to becoming a law firm strategy consultant, to retiring. She even talked about getting a herd of goats and making goat cheese (Marina's favorite childhood pet was a goat). 

The themes that kept coming-up, however, were that she wanted to do something that gave back to others, that made use of her considerable leadership and management skills, and that helped women become more confident and successful.  Marina has done volunteer work for the Girl Scouts over the years and first heard about the job about a month ago. Marina immediately was very interested in the job because it fit so well with the kind of person she is and wanted to become.

Marina's search for a job that fit her sense of self reminded a bit of Gretchen's Rubin's Happiness Project, Marina devoted a lot of energy to thinking about what made her happy and where she could do the most good by her standards, not the standards that others held for her.   Marina never compared herself to others during her journey and barely considered pay differences between different possible jobs in making the decision -- something that is tough for most human beings to do. Marina is sad about leaving a firm that she has worked at so long and where she has so many friends, but is very excited about her new job.

Here is the press release. And yes, you will see pleas on this blog to buy Girl Scout cookies in the future!

 

Breaking News!

Girl Scouts of Northern California Appoint Marina H. Park as new CEO

Please click here to download the official press release

The Council Realignment Committee is continuing its work in the hope that we will all be together in the merger with our sisters from all five Girl Scout Councils on October 1, 2007.

Our biggest step in moving forward is the hiring of our new CEO. We are excited to announce that we have named Marina H. Park as the new Chief Executive Officer for Girl Scouts of Northern California effective November 1. Marina joins the Girl Scouts of Northern California from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, a leading law firm. At Pillsbury, Marina served as managing partner, one of the highest-level positions, and worked to establish Pillsbury as a recognizable law firm for women attorneys, lawyers of color, and lawyers of diverse sexual orientation.

With professional and personal connections throughout Northern California, Marina, a former Girl Scout, will help bring girls from rural, suburban and urban areas together under the newly formed Girl Scouts of Northern California.

Marina is no stranger to the importance of a volunteer-based organization. She began her career serving as a Vista Volunteer. Marina also has first-hand leadership experience as a volunteer herself in the Girl Scout community. As one of the founding mentors of Camp CEO, Marina shared the vision and devoted her time to bringing life-changing opportunities to high school girls in our underserved communities.

“I have seen the Girl Scout community make a real difference for the girls who participate,” said Park. “Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization that helps change the world, one girl at a time.”