“I teach people to view themselves as their most valuable asset, understanding that if you invest in yourself, you are investing not only in your own future but in the future of those around you.

Wendy Komac is a business turnaround specialist and author of I Work with Crabby Crappy People, a humorous and highly informative book about achieving happiness and success. She is also a
Principle at Sustainable Innovations Group, LLC, and the Senior Vice President at SIRVA Relocation, where she develops and executes strategic growth and sales goals. In addition, Wendy has been a successful motivational speaker for over ten years, presenting to thousands of sales teams, leadership executives and training workforces on achieving success in business. Wendy also runs her book’s companion blog and website, WendyWoman.com. With nearly twenty years of experience in senior-level executive positions, Wendy has developed many unique programs and philosophies, which she utilizes in developing and mentoring high-powered sales teams.

MO:
You are woman with many career paths. How did you transition from a business leader and owner to an author and motivational speaker?

Wendy:
The succession was not one I consciously made.  When I was unexpectedly promoted into a management position 15 years ago, I found myself without any training, tools or resources to be an effective leader.  With no help in sight, the only thing left to do was draw on the challenges and victories in both my professional and personal life and share those with the team as a way for them to learn. When the transparency around my crazy, mixed-up life led to inspired employees, I figured I was on to something.  I realized that my gifts included the unique ability to see people’s talents when they cannot, and I am able to help them through any crisis in confidence. I may have to help them recognize their greatness.  Before I knew it, my pep sessions for the team turned into motivational speeches that I began to deliver in other venues.  After every speech came the question, “Where’s the book?”  After 14 years, I was finally able to make the time to write I Work with Crabby Crappy People, the companion book to my speech.  Today I share my stories, never worrying about what people will think about me, because my personal motivation lies in witnessing the transformation of people from good to amazing. Seeing how someone can become the best version of themselves is what it is all about for me. I was fortunate enough to learn how to be a leader in my own life and the tools I stumbled on throughout my experiences are simple, valuable, but also life changing.  Any chance I can get to share those tools with people is a chance I will take. Most people know deep down inside how truly valuable they are to this world – some just need a little extra help coming out of their shell.

MO:
I love how your book discusses serious and relevant information about corporate America, but in a fun way readers will enjoy. How did you come up with the fictional company FUBAR Corp?

Wendy:
After 15 years in leadership positions in corporate America, I certainly witnessed enough interesting behavior and began to think about how I could tie my experience into the companion book I was writing to my speech.  First and foremost, it’s important for me to own up to the fact that I am a recovering crabby crappy character myself and that all the characters are modeled after me.  When I thought about where this group of caustic characters would be employed, FUBAR seemed like the perfect corporate headquarters.  Most everybody has encountered the types of people my characters emulate at some point in their career. I started to notice a trend at the different organizations I worked for – the personality types were very much familiar, the names were just different. Every person has come across or even had to deal with a “Methane Man” or “Maniacal Mean Marsha” in different capacities and positions. Whether you are in senior management or on the customer service floor, you have come in contact with these types of people. The characters I have created help to lend a human aspect to what could be a challenging situation when encountering one of these “characters” in real life. How many times have you wanted to whip out your Rope of Hope and save someone who is being mortified by someone like Methane Man? These characters are created with humor to help people positively deal with tough people and tough situations and, most importantly, realize that there is always a story behind every person’s behavior and you may not know what that story is.

MO:
Who is your favorite character in your book? What do you want your readers to learn from him/her?

Wendy:
By far, my favorite character is Fubar’s CFO Not Me Lee!  This character seems to show up the most in today’s environment.  Lee’s lazy, or so it appears. In his world, you do just enough to get by and not a bit more, loving the life of mediocrity. Lee also suffers from corporate amnesia and conveniently forgets all the bad decisions he has made and how it has hurt his Fubar colleagues. It’s easier for him to have an alibi for his life and blame everyone else.

Never in the history of business have there been more alibis from leaders and employees about lousy performance and lousy results. It seems we have an epidemic of corporate amnesia in today’s business environment, and while amnesia is no laughing matter, many corporations continually find themselves in the Executive Memory Loss Lounge wondering, “What happened? How did we get here?”

This rise of corporate amnesia leaves us with an interesting question: Whose responsibility is it to make sure a business is successful? The answer: Everyone!

MO:
How has your motivational speaking affected the way you work with clients and sales teams? Do you see a difference since you started this endeavor?

Wendy:
If I wasn’t walking my own steps to success every day, I would never be able to deliver the speech in a way that is meaningful for the audience.   By far, the best gifts my motivational speaking endeavors have given me is empathy, patience, and a goal of exhibiting constant kindness or humanity.  Humanity builds trusts and the listener is able to quickly tell that I come from a place of honesty.  I am far from perfect and don’t expect my teams to be perfect either.  What I do expect is that they will always do their personal best – that is the most any leader can hope for.  I have the patience to see where the talent lies, where the creativity rests and can work with each of those individuals to create a holistic environment that not only fosters their success but the broader team as well. Employees need to know that something more than the bottom line matters.  When people know you are coming from a place of heart, care about them enough to always have their back, their ears tend to perk up and they listen. Their hearts open up a bit more and they let you in.  Once I get can in, it is easy to help them create a world of change.  If you apply humanity to everything you do, it gives you the capability to relate to someone and for them to do the same to you. When you establish that common ground up front, that person is more willing to trust you more than ever before.

MO:
You have recently started your own company, Sustainable Innovations Group. Can you tell our readers a little about your coaching and training philosophy?

Wendy:
My philosophy is simple: “if it’s not broke, fix it anyway.” My philosophy is to inspire people through change, not retire them.  We are all works in progress and while we never arrive, we sure as heck do our best to get there. Learn every day, create every day, and develop every day. I teach people to view themselves as their most valuable asset, understanding that if you invest in yourself, you are investing not only in your own future but in the future of those around you. When I do coaching sessions, my first approach is to learn about the person.  I am always looking for that back-story from yesterday that has contributed to who they are today.  Understand that and you can help them make some different choices so they can have a different tomorrow.  By caring about what makes someone tick and get out of bed every morning, you are letting them know you are there to help them become better. You are asking them to be vulnerable and creating a trusting environment to do so. I constantly acknowledge someone’s worth, because I can see the smallest things that contribute to the bigger picture of what is possible for them. I recently coached a woman who came to me for communications training. When she came to me, she didn’t really know what to ask for or how to apply the communications training to her life. So I asked her about her hobbies. When she revealed to me that she enjoyed making and designing jewelry, the door opened for her to share more of herself with me and allowed me to see her for who she really was.  We were able to tie her love for jewelry into her career as a marketing specialist in a way that allowed her to find joy in her career in ways she had not in the past.  It may sound simple, but don’t overlook it. By continuing to develop and invest, we promise ourselves a better and brighter future.

MO:
Throughout your career you have been hired as a turnaround expert. What is the most rewarding and difficult time of working with a team short term?

Wendy:
It’s been my experience that most people that are labeled “poor performers” are not poor performers, but performers with poor results.  There is a difference.  The most difficult aspect of my job is getting people to trust me in an environment where trust has historically been absent.  Their first question is, “Who is this woman and why is she here?” especially if I am new to the industry.  It is critical for me to make people understand that as the new leader, I will not have all the answers; I just need to find all the answers and those answers generally lie within the team.  Giving the team permission to share their ideas thus giving them a voice that is finally heard is very empowering for them.  Most likely, they have had great ideas but nobody was listening, perhaps because of their results.  I listen and love them like nobody has in the past.  Whatever industry I am in, my teams tend to be some of the most cohesive and highest performing in 12-14 months.  The most rewarding aspect of working with a team short term is to see the potential and creativity that lives in each team member and giving them the tools to use their underlying “gems.” Not many of us are given the opportunity to polish our gems and show our true selves for several reasons but the most common being fear. You have to believe in people and get them to know they are worth believing in. By giving them the tools to transform, you are giving them tools to use for a lifetime. You are instilling in them the belief that ‘yes I can’ is something they should think every single day.

The difficult part of working with a team short term is my time with them is exactly that – short. The average person does not completely transform themselves permanently in two days or six months. When I am given a team to turn around, my ultimate goal is to be around to witness every person’s transformation. Sometimes that isn’t the case – people transform at their own speed, not a corporate calendar’s. While I am with the team, I do my best to be present every single moment so I don’t miss the “butterfly moment” – the moment where the person comes out of their cocoon and realizes their worth. Watching them fly away to greater self-awareness, confidence and opportunities is what makes my heart sing.

MO:
Your keynote speech, The Elevator of Success is Out of Order; Take the Stairs sends a great message. What step do you think is the most important for people to implement?

Wendy:
Change your choices and change your life.  Seems pretty simple, right?  That’s just it, the journey to success isn’t complex, it simply requires a shift in the way you think.  Many of us have spent our careers waiting for someone or something to take us to the next level.  Stop!  This step is about taking the lead in your own life and knowing…believing in your decisions and understanding the journey.  Once you realize who is in charge of your success and improve your level of self-awareness, you will be on your way!

Everyone’s personal circumstance is different, which is why leaders often fail in trying to improve personal growth and development.  I’ll never forget when I realized my own role in leadership.  I spent 10 years dwelling on the fact that I had no one to lead me…searching for that emotional crutch, the one who “should” help me grow.  Failure after failure ensued when I finally decided to take my growth back, own my decisions and learn from the results.  My life has not been the same since I decided to simply change the way I think…

I know many of you are saying, that’s it, that’s her advice, change the way I think?  Yep, it’s that simple to start getting on the right track.  This is truly the foundation in which all the steps are built upon.  If you can’t own the responsibility for personal growth from here on out, then you can’t start building for the future.  People have to want to change…and the formula is simple…

For now, keep it simple…Change your choices and you’ll change your life!”