By Adam Bryant, NY Times, Sept. 12, 2015
Interview with Patty Stonesifer, chief executive of Martha’s Table, a provider of food and clothing for low-income people
Q. What were some early influences for you?
A. I’m the sixth of nine children. The most notable things about my family were that my parents had to achieve order at scale, and they were extremely community-oriented.
My dad was a sales manager for an auto dealership, and yet he found time on the way home to pick up excess food from the local grocery markets and repurpose it for those who needed food. We participated in the soup kitchen. He drove a bus for the deaf children who were coming to Sunday Mass. This idea of being part of a team really defined my childhood.
Any thoughts on how your birth order shaped you?
Being in the middle taught me to use my voice. I was a talkative child, I had a lot to say, and I knew how to get my points across at an early age because there were a lot of people with a lot to say at the table.
Being right in the middle also teaches you that it’s not about you. Some of my first memories were folding diapers for my younger siblings or taking somebody’s hand to go to school. It was always about making sure that the whole came together.
You moved up the ranks pretty quickly at Microsoft early in your career. What were some inflection points?
This was back when Microsoft was really small. They had an annual managers’ retreat, and each vice president picked a new leader to bring along, and I was chosen. There were only two women.
When we were discussing an issue, I started questioning where the group was heading. The executive team, especially Bill [Gates], decided after that I was somebody they should move around so that I had opportunities to use those skills. I literally was packing my bags within a few weeks after the retreat to run our operations in Canada.
You obviously made an impression on the boss. You became the founding C.E.O. of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The thing about growing up at a big dinner table is that people are going to disagree and people are going to have points of view, and for me, that was very comfortable. I’m really comfortable with a fair amount of conflict and disagreement. As long as people are nice and not mean about it, those conflicts can be really productive.
How do you hire?
I can get a really good sense of whether I want to be working with somebody when I walk them through the place. It is a busy, crazy place with lots of programs going on to make sure there’s food for the hungry. I watch how the person reacts to the environment. Because if they’re not curious about the work, and it’s just a job, then I don’t want to work with them.
I’ll stop and introduce them to a half-dozen people, and see if it’s just a handshake or whether there’s some curiosity and interest. We talk a lot about dignity at Martha’s Table, and dignity comes first from, “I see you, I hear you, I know you.” The ultimate dignity is whether you’re really present for other people.
What career and life advice do you give to new college grads?
A lot of young people will ask, “Do I go broad or do I go deep?” I think it’s often great to go broad before you go deep. It’s like going to school. You get a broad view of the world but then you do have to own something. You have to know what the quality of your work is and get feedback on it and understand it.
I also think zigzagging is a better approach than pursuing the idea of a fixed career ladder. Some of the roles I’ve taken looked like they were significantly less important than other roles, but they all led me to new knowledge and new skills that allowed me to keep zigzagging more or less on an upward trajectory. Don’t look to take a job just because it’s up the ladder. Maybe go for a lateral move to learn a whole other area.
And people are often taught that the boss will make the difference in their career, and I think maybe the first time you get chosen for a promotion, it is because of the boss. But by the second or third or fourth time, it’s about the people around you deciding that when you win, they win.
If you create a situation where other people win when you win, your opportunities to lead are going to come faster than you ever dreamed. If you can make it less about you and more about the team, you will go further.
Interview with Patty Stonesifer, chief executive of Martha’s Table, a provider of food and clothing for low-income people
Q. What were some early influences for you?
A. I’m the sixth of nine children. The most notable things about my family were that my parents had to achieve order at scale, and they were extremely community-oriented.
My dad was a sales manager for an auto dealership, and yet he found time on the way home to pick up excess food from the local grocery markets and repurpose it for those who needed food. We participated in the soup kitchen. He drove a bus for the deaf children who were coming to Sunday Mass. This idea of being part of a team really defined my childhood.
Any thoughts on how your birth order shaped you?
Being in the middle taught me to use my voice. I was a talkative child, I had a lot to say, and I knew how to get my points across at an early age because there were a lot of people with a lot to say at the table.
Being right in the middle also teaches you that it’s not about you. Some of my first memories were folding diapers for my younger siblings or taking somebody’s hand to go to school. It was always about making sure that the whole came together.
You moved up the ranks pretty quickly at Microsoft early in your career. What were some inflection points?
This was back when Microsoft was really small. They had an annual managers’ retreat, and each vice president picked a new leader to bring along, and I was chosen. There were only two women.
When we were discussing an issue, I started questioning where the group was heading. The executive team, especially Bill [Gates], decided after that I was somebody they should move around so that I had opportunities to use those skills. I literally was packing my bags within a few weeks after the retreat to run our operations in Canada.
You obviously made an impression on the boss. You became the founding C.E.O. of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The thing about growing up at a big dinner table is that people are going to disagree and people are going to have points of view, and for me, that was very comfortable. I’m really comfortable with a fair amount of conflict and disagreement. As long as people are nice and not mean about it, those conflicts can be really productive.
How do you hire?
I can get a really good sense of whether I want to be working with somebody when I walk them through the place. It is a busy, crazy place with lots of programs going on to make sure there’s food for the hungry. I watch how the person reacts to the environment. Because if they’re not curious about the work, and it’s just a job, then I don’t want to work with them.
I’ll stop and introduce them to a half-dozen people, and see if it’s just a handshake or whether there’s some curiosity and interest. We talk a lot about dignity at Martha’s Table, and dignity comes first from, “I see you, I hear you, I know you.” The ultimate dignity is whether you’re really present for other people.
What career and life advice do you give to new college grads?
A lot of young people will ask, “Do I go broad or do I go deep?” I think it’s often great to go broad before you go deep. It’s like going to school. You get a broad view of the world but then you do have to own something. You have to know what the quality of your work is and get feedback on it and understand it.
I also think zigzagging is a better approach than pursuing the idea of a fixed career ladder. Some of the roles I’ve taken looked like they were significantly less important than other roles, but they all led me to new knowledge and new skills that allowed me to keep zigzagging more or less on an upward trajectory. Don’t look to take a job just because it’s up the ladder. Maybe go for a lateral move to learn a whole other area.
And people are often taught that the boss will make the difference in their career, and I think maybe the first time you get chosen for a promotion, it is because of the boss. But by the second or third or fourth time, it’s about the people around you deciding that when you win, they win.
If you create a situation where other people win when you win, your opportunities to lead are going to come faster than you ever dreamed. If you can make it less about you and more about the team, you will go further.
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