My Wayfinding Journey

01 Grocery store checker. Food server. Assembly line worker. Bank teller. Sandwich maker. Babysitter. Tutor. I did it to have pocket money and help pay for school.

02 Fresh out of an MBA, I fell into a career in finance, ultimately serving as treasurer of Amgen and CFO of several young biotech companies. I did it because I was supposed to. It was heady and exciting. I had incredible mentors. AND, it never felt quite right. It exhausted rather than energized me.

03 Working in my kid’s classrooms during a mid-career break led to teaching elementary and middle school. I did it because I was curious. It changed my life. I discovered I was deeply interested in what sparks people to thrive. If a GREAT classroom has to have solid classroom management, high standards, and be a safe and encouraging place (physically and psychologically), to learn, wouldn’t that translate to our work environments?

04 When I re-entered the business world, it didn’t take long to migrate to the people side, and it felt like my shoulders lowered about ten inches — the ease of working in alignment with my purpose and values. I headed up the people function at a few organizations, and with Leonie, established a consulting business serving small companies and nonprofits. I did it because it felt right — it pulled me in, and I’ve never stopped feeling inspired to get better at it.

05 The profound impact of coaching and operating with a solid core — vision + mission + values — led me to focus on this G O O D W O R K. A stint teaching college was thrown in to spice it up. I’m doing it because it is the most fulfilling, joyful, and essential work I could imagine.

Wayfinding takes a village

At Diasonics, in the wild, wild 80’s, Walt Stafford, Howard Hawkins, and Rudi Naumann threw this green 20-something into the deep end and trusted I would swim. Incredible, generous mentorship. 20 years of experience packed into five.

George Rathmann, founding CEO of Amgen, changed the way I thought about leadership. He was a completely human leader when it was unheard of. Unabashedly himself. Openly emotional. No better than anyone. A fierce and fair competitor operating with the curiosity of a beginner’s mind and audacity of rebel. He was tough and demanding of all us, and managed to make it feel like an arm around the shoulder.

Hollings Renton, CEO of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, trusted me with the people function when I hadn’t even a day’s experience in it and sprinkled the right mix of support and challenge.

Leonie McConville brings so naturally to the people side of the business what I am still working hard to learn. She assumes best intentions, operates for the greater good with humility, and was the structural integrity of our consulting practice. No better partner or teacher could there ever be.

As a busy VC, Leighton Read took time to listen to my vision for great HR in small companies when no one else was interested, and dispatched me to his portfolio companies and nonprofit orgs. Every single client I’ve had since sprouted from those seeds.

Bill Jones gave me the reins of the Business Strategy Capstone Course at Portland State University, trusting me to do it my way and do right by the students. Countless generous hours of onboarding, patience, and kindness set me up for success.

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And, without the Mary Tyler Moore Show, this journey would never have started. I’m sure of it. Mary Richards ignited in me — an unremarkable, awkward, introverted, adolescent girl — the belief that I could do that. I could do that. I could hold my own in a newsroom of men like that. I could have an apartment and wacky, wonderful friends like that. I could make it on my own.

Gratitude to all.