Human Resources
Cindy Pasky
Founder, President and CEO, Strategic Staffing Solutions Inc.
By Brian Horn
Smart Business Detroit | August 2007
"You have to be more interested in having people respect you than like you." - Cindy Pasky, CEO, Strategic Staffing Solutions
After Hurricane Katrina, Cindy Pasky knew she had to do something to help the employees of Strategic Staffing Solutions Inc.’s
New Orleans office. The founder, president and CEO of the company — which provides information technology professional
consultants — split the corporate team, with half working as part of a disaster group while the other half focused on moving the
business forward. Pasky says that even though there was a tremendous tragedy in New Orleans, it was important for the
company to keep a focus on the day-to-day operations of the business. One executive went to New Orleans a week-and-a-half
after the hurricane, while Pasky, who led the disaster side, went down two months later to assess the damage. Pasky said it was
important to send the message that the company — which posted 2006 revenue of about $140 million — was going to take care
of its employees. Smart Business spoke with Pasky about how to earn respect and how to grow a company while maintaining a
personal life.
Earn respect by making tough decisions. When
you make a tough decision, people shouldn’t be surprised. You should be willing to,
within reason, explain why the decision
needs to be made, and you need to be consistent across the board as you make decisions.
You have to be more interested in having
people respect you than like you. Usually,
when people decide if they like someone, it
is your personality. Are you fun to be with?
Do you make me laugh?
My objective in the business world is to
be viewed as a businessperson first and be
respected for that. Then, if my style happens to fit with someone’s and they decide
they like me, that’s an extra benefit.
If you are yourself, then I find that people
like you more anyway.
Realize growth isn’t easy. You have to recognize how hard you are going to work to
make that happen. You are going to get it
done through other people, but you mostly
start by getting it done through yourself.
What I’ve seen is a lot of entrepreneurs,
they reach a certain point where they think
they should be able to live the life. But,
what happens is, they have to become a
CEO, and a good CEO should always work
harder than anyone else in the company.
That is a mindset. You might be able to go
out and buy the nice car, but you aren’t
going to be able to drive it often.
Then you have to say, ‘Can I do it? Where
do I think my voids are, and how can I supplement them with other team members?’
Mix work and play. It helps if you really like
what you are doing. If I have an operation
in Eastern Europe, every third trip, you
might add a country onto the trip for a couple of days. I love to golf, so if I can get a
customer to golf, that’s a win-win.
I’m a runner, and our company sponsors
an 8K to raise money for a woman’s shelter
every year. If you look at what you like to do and how you want to do it, you can find
lots of ways to intersperse that in your life.
As you grow and get a good team around
you, it creates opportunities for you to take
a vacation, take off early and play that
round of golf, or take the dog for a walk. I
think balance is a bad idea, and I just don’t
think it’s realistic. That doesn’t mean you
can’t have a life.
Get involved in the community. It’s the obligation of the corporation to do that. It’s good
for your employees. They can participate
or they cannot participate, but it sends a
message to them that the business does
have an obligation to do this.
A lot of people, that’s the type of company they want to work with. It gives them an
outlet. Maybe they wouldn’t be able to figure out how to get involved on their own.
But, if their company does, then they can
participate.
Then, from a benefiting-the-company
standpoint, it does make recruitment
easier. It gives you other reasons to
strengthen relationships with your customers if it’s a shared activity and something else besides business you are
working on.
We’re pretty particular about what we
get involved in. The first thing we say is,
‘Does it fit in to the category of the type
of organization we want to support?’ The
second thing we do is we’ll look at, ‘Does
this align with something a customer has
asked us to do?’
Then we’ll look at it and say, ‘Do we
have the budget to do it?’
Culture has to start at the leadership level. We
believe every position in the company is
equally important. A customer once told
me, ‘For a good size company, you are
the huggiest company I have ever met.’
We all see each other and hug. It’s ridiculous. Our customers do it, too. You have
to start at the top and really care about
people.
You have to be willing to say, ‘Thank
you. Nice job,’ and recognize that there
is nothing wrong with having a little bit
of silly fun. You have to be comfortable
enough in yourself to do that.
In the corporate office, we have a
workout facility and showers; a really
nice kitchen. Each branch picks what
works for their teams.
In our world, people are going to work
really hard. If you can create an environment where they are working hard, they
feel like they are appreciated, can get a
good workout in and fix their lunch, then
the work they provide is going to be better and provide a higher sense of loyalty.
They are people; take care of them.
HOW TO REACH: Strategic Staffing Solutions Inc., (313) 843-1243, (888) 738-3261 or www.strategicstaff.com
