A Year Like No Other

Today is my 58th birthday.

Saying that out loud for most would probably make them feel like time is winning and the years are slipping away. But as I sit here and reflect on my years, I am proud of both the beautiful moments and the millions of lessons along the way.

My journey has not always been an easy one. I grew up on a dairy farm and was married by nineteen. I purposely married someone who knew little about farming because I knew that was not the life I wanted to live.

The marriage lasted 26 years. I knew pretty early on it was not a good fit, but I’ve never been a quitter, so I made it work, until it just didn’t anymore.

I became a single parent when my daughter was eight. I worked my tail off to be able to give her an amazing life (travel, debt-free college, etc.). In the process, I gained a best friend. In hindsight, that was a good move for us. The world opened up for both of us.

I started my business when she was two. Crazy, I know, but I felt strongly that there was a better way and I had to prove myself right or wrong. On August 16th, Employment Resource Group will celebrate its 20th year in business. I am really proud of that and today’s team. They work crazy hard and have the most genuine hearts. It took a lot of years of the wrong people to find the right ones. Not to mention, three recessions, 9/11 and a pandemic.

Back at the beginning of my 20th year as an independent owner, I decided to conduct a year-long experiment. If you’re still reading this, you are probably aware I am very active on social media, especially on LinkedIn. I felt like social media was missing the same thing that the executive search industry was missing when I started ERG… true emotional connection, raw discussions, candid feedback and someone to be your champion.

So I started this social journey of finding and writing material that spoke to me, hoping it would resonate with others. Most of my posts have been about the whole person… not just our professional persona, but the full-on learnings and triumphs over both success and the challenges we face as a whole human being, not just our business life.

Of course, especially in the beginning, there was pushback. “This belongs on Facebook, NOT LinkedIn” was always a comment or two. But over the course of the year, it became transformational. My two most recent posts have received over 5 million views, thousands of comments and 95% of those that interacted were so grateful for the message. It appears to be just what they needed to hear when they needed to hear it.

These have been really challenging times, whether in business or personally. I think we’ve also grown tired of having to constantly blur that line.

We all have families, goals unmet, biases that cause additional challenges and the list goes on.

So here is what my social experiment taught me, in a voice loud and clear: We all need love. And kindness. People crave connection with others… not just anyone, but the right tribe. We do not want the superficial folks who live their lives full of criticism and judgment. Too many of those folks out there for sure.

We want to break through old paradigms and be ok with creating new ones. Sometimes it’s removing something or someone holding you back and sometimes it's just giving yourself permission to try something you’ve never done. For some reason, this really resonated and lifted many people up when they read about others who have taken that chance at change.

We need a good laugh. LinkedIn is too damn serious. Sometimes it’s just about creating a smile or a laugh-out-loud belly laugh. Invariably there is someone who has zero sense of humor and wants to “fact check” it. Not my tribe.

Parents. This was where the most comments would be. LinkedIn tends to be a more mature crowd and many of us miss or are watching our parents age. And the range of emotions surrounding that includes love, care, guilt, anger and everything in between. But with open, candid articles we do not feel alone, which makes us feel better.

And then there has been the celebration of the past. We love a good “those were the days” story. It takes us back to when we were young and free and we smile.

So as my year draws to a close on my experiment, I will to continue to share things that resonate with me. I now have over 30,000 followers on LinkedIn that I would like to think enjoy most of what I share.

Thank you for making me feel my life is meaningful for others. Looking forward to seeing what year 58 has in store!

#extraordinarynotordinary