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Patricia Sibley
President and Owner, MediaSolutions
By Kristy J. O’Hara
Smart Business Atlanta | October 2007
"Inspire people to want to grow. They want to stay small because they like it, and it’s homier and more comfortable." - Patricia Sibley, President, MediaSolutions
After Patricia Sibley’s employees sat through a morning of reviewing the new employee manual, she treated them to some fun.
Each received a movie theater ticket to the movie of their choosing and $20 to buy food. After the movies, she took them to the
Braves game. As president and owner of MediaSolutions, a media planning and placement company, she strives to thank her
people for their work, something that has helped grow her business to $103 million in billings last year. Smart Business spoke
with Sibley about why you can’t be afraid of hard work and how to find personalities that will fit in with your organization.
Ask personal questions when hiring. I ask people what their parents did for a living
because that will tell me what their work
ethic is. If someone’s dad worked in a
union position, then they’re going to be
going out the door, and they don’t care if
there’s a project due. They’re off work,
and they’re gone.
I ask people what was their grade point
average in college because if the first
question out of their mouth is, ‘Is that a
requirement for this job?’ they may be
someone I want to talk to. So much of
our business is gut instinct, what you
think. If you can throw it up in the air
and catch it with one hand, and then toss
it off to somebody else in the other hand,
then you’ll like the business.
Ask them a couple things. What’s the
hardest thing you’ve ever had to do? What’s
your idea of a perfect day? What’s your
favorite thing about your job, and what do
you like least about your job?
If you ask questions that are more personal-oriented versus technical-oriented —
heck, they wouldn’t have gotten where
they are without the technical knowledge
— now you’ve gotten somebody who will
fit with you from a personality standpoint.
Empower people to solve problems. Our job is
to be a problem-solver. Don’t come to me
with a problem without telling me what
you’re proposing we do because nine times
out of 10, the client is going to look to you.
You go to a client and say, ‘We have a
problem. What do you want to do?’ If all I
am is a purveyor of the problem, they don’t
need me.
The first thing I do is ask them, ‘Have you
gone over this with your supervisor?’ If
they haven’t, I say, ‘You need to go start
there.’ I don’t want anyone to come in and
‘go ask mom if dad says no’ kind of thing.
There’s a fine line there for somebody to
have an open-door policy, but at the same
time, to make sure I’m not going behind
our management people’s backs.
Set the example. Lead by example and don’t
be afraid. Those are tough things for people.
So goes the CEO, so goes the company.
You work hard, your employees will work hard. If you’re not a hard worker, then you
lead by example.
You can’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to
work hard, to express an opinion, to go
after business, to hear, ‘No.’
There’s the saying of, ‘The harder I work,
the luckier I get.’ That’s the best thing.
Success will breed success, and if you have
success on one thing, then, ‘OK, I wasn’t
scared,’ or, ‘I was scared, but I did it, and
look — now I’m not scared.’
When I’ve got to call somebody back or
have a client who’s upset, I’ll say, ‘Face
your fears, and they’ll dis-a-ppear.’
Lead growth yourself. Inspire people to want
to grow. They want to stay small because
they like it, and it’s homier and more comfortable. I’ve always been inspired to grow
by the challenge of it. Can I do it? Let’s see
if I can.
The thing is — how do I inspire people to
have the same take-risk, entrepreneurial
spirit as I do with things? You’re part cheerleader and part teacher and part mom and dad, and part priest and preacher. You have
a lot of things because you respond differently to different stimuli, and so do your
employees.
Some people, you yell at them and they
say, ‘I’ll show you.’ Some people, you yell at
them, and it’s boohoo, and they won’t do
anything.
Figure out what inspires them to work
the best, so they’re going to get you to the
level or area you need to get to. Our
responsibility as a leader is to make sure
we get the most out of our employees, so
study them to see how they learn best.
Stay out of debt. I’ve seen a lot of agencies go
out of business. We’re a debt-free company.
We don’t have payments on things. We paid
for the offices, and as the money was there,
we painted, we bought pictures, we added
more computers and things like that. I
don’t like having debt, and I don’t like
owing people money. I want to make sure
we stay as cash-rich as we can, so we know
we have enough to get us through.
We’ve been careful about the clients we
take and the growth, so that not one client
by itself is a huge chunk of business. I don’t
like for any piece of business to be more
than 25 percent.
Pay attention and learn. People who don’t
keep an eye out to the future and keep
looking at the trends and at where their
business or industry is going, they’re dead
in the water.
The day you stop learning and stop growing as a person is the day your business will
stop growing. I believe that for myself, and
I believe that for every person that works
here. That’s part of our job for our clients
— to be able to lead them and help them
and their business grow.
Make sure you’re out of the offices, listening in on phone calls and going to client
meetings. It’s not just go up for the dinner
the night before. Sit in the meeting. Listen
to what they talk about. Stay involved in
your industry. Don’t just sit there and go,
‘Yeah, OK, OK,’ and never go to a meeting.
HOW TO REACH: MediaSolutions, (404) 264-1005 or
www.mediasolutions-atl.com
