I Don't Know How You Do It

I travel a lot.  A lot.  For more than 6 years I have had the privilege of running a business that I love, a business with a slight problem – its location.  I live in San Francisco and the business is in Madison, Wisconsin.  So, for 6 years and counting I have been “commuting” – dividing my time among home and Madison and business trips to cities around the United States.  People say to me all the time, “I don’t know how you do it” and there are two pretty simple answers.

First of all, I am pretty damn lucky.  While it was the investors who hired me who agreed to this arrangement, it is my team members who bear the brunt of the difficulty.  They are incredibly patient with me, with having a CEO whose lifestyle gets in the way of their needs sometimes. They work around my schedule and I work around theirs and we have developed mutual trust, something which is critical given the amount of time we spend apart.  So how do I do it?  In this case, I am lucky to be doing this, to be, in a way, having my cake and eating it, too.

But in addition, the answer is that we all do what we have to do.  Yes, I have a hard commute.  I am away so much, logging days and weeks away from my friends and my new husband, getting jetlagged and delayed, feeling like trips home are just that, trips rather than homebase.  But it is what I do for a business I care passionately about and have nurtured to success. 

 My daughter works 7-day weeks, with 12-hour days.  Why?  Because that’s what she has to do to make it in her career.

My son works a less-than-satisfying day job as he relentlessly pursues being an actor and growing his own business.  He auditions and practices and does it all over again.  Why?  Because he is committed to pursuing his dream.

My sister goes from her grueling profession to even more grueling nights and weekends as a graduate student.  Why?  Because she has a vision of where she is trying to get to and it is a hard road.

And my young friend who is a new mother gets up night after sleep-deprived night to attend her baby.  Why?  Because she has to.

We ALL have things we have to do which are hard to do and others can’t imagine.   And we do them because we are human, because we get to choose some of what comes our way in life and because we have to cope with what we are dealt.  Trying to imagine stepping into someone else’s shoes may seem difficult, but my guess is that most of us are doing something which someone else can’t imagine.   You don’t know how I do it?  I bet you do, actually.

Attention to Detail, Part 1

Over the past month, I have been struck numerous times by the importance of attention to detail.   Clearly, this is not a new idea.  Every artist, every business person, every politician, every parent I know knows this, yet we often scrimp, thinking “it’s good enough” is really good enough.  Man, have I had examples which have reinforced what  a difference diligent attention to detail can really make.

On my recent trip to Tuscany, I stayed in a most fantastic hotel, The Monteverdi, which cared about every single detail, yet made the entire experience seem effortless.  The hotel stay reminded me of hearing a magnificent symphony played by a world class orchestra, where the whole visit added up to a sense of completeness, a seamless blend of comfort and service and physical beauty.   From the soft-washed Italian linen sheets and fluffy duvet to the unobtrusive-but-always-there service, from the fresh flowers in the room and shower everyday to the world class restaurant always available to guests, from the modernist design to the respect for the 800 year old buildings, from the warm smiles of the staff to the customized recommendations of places to visit, the experience was seamless.

Nothing was accidental; it was all very much on purpose.  And yet, none of the hard work was apparent, only the end result of creating a place meant to soothe, excite, comfort, delight, and stimulate every sense.

The owner of the hotel, a businessman from the U.S, describes the hotel as a labor of love, and he has obviously poured heart, soul, taste, and major dollars into this labor.  Sometimes love can blind; in this case, it seems to have only sharpened the senses.  Bravo!