We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jamie Ousterout a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jamie , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
My work ethic is from both of my parents. My dad was a business executive for his entire career and is still consulting at the age of 75. Through his example, he continues to show me that working hard is in my DNA. Even though he worked hard, he always made time for his family. He was home most every night for family dinner (unless he was traveling), and he would take two weeks of vacation in the summer and time around the holidays. He integrated his work with family time. I also learned my work ethic from my mom. She was a stay-at-home mom for me and my three siblings and was always active in the community. She not only served on several non-profit boards but also volunteered frequently at our schools, often leading plants sales, bake sales, and other fundraising events.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am the Chief Experience Officer at The Diversity Movement, a Workplace Options company, where I create employee-first, inclusive workplaces for our clients and lead internal communications. I am the leader of the firm’s Client Success team, achieving a client satisfaction score exceeding 90%, and I have counseled hundreds of C-suite leaders. I am also a writer, speaker, facilitator, and Certified Diversity Executive®. Prior to joining The Diversity Movement, in July 2018 I founded Stabilimenta, an operational strategy consulting firm, to help growing professional services organizations establish and optimize their processes so that they can more effectively serve their clients and engage their employees. My career began in the publishing industry and then shifted to marketing. While I have worked with clients across various industries, including professional services, healthcare, finance, technology, and non-profit, I have always been passionate about client service, project management, and operations. I am also a board member and former co-chair of Raleigh City Farm, a non-profit urban farm whose mission is to connect and nourish our community through regenerative agriculture, and I serve as an alumna ambassador for Cornell. I was named a Triangle Business Journal “40 Under 40” leader in Raleigh in 2022.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think the three most important qualities that have helped me throughout my career are: being curious, having a tenacity to get things done and deliver great work, and learning from mistakes.
Being curious allows us to continually learn new things and to grow as professionals and human beings. I think it is critically important in business and in life to try to understand someone else’s perspective. This allows us to see a challenge or opportunity from all sides and make better business decisions. However, we can’t understand if we’re not curious. My work at The Diversity Movement has made me much more aware of my own biases that can impede curiosity and how to lead with empathy and curiosity.
I think another key quality is being able to get things done and deliver great work. My dad has a great line: “You earn the reputation you deserve”. There are so many people who talk about doing amazing things but then are not actually willing to roll up their sleeves and get things done. I always strive to be and value those who are willing to say: Is there anything I can do to help? It is also important to me to deliver great work; however, I have realized that perfection can be the enemy of good, and it is important to be able to discern what work does not need 110% of effort and what work does.
Lastly, one thing that I have learned in my career is that it is critical to make mistakes and learn from them. Early in my career, I was a “perfectionist” and had a difficult time hearing negative feedback about my work. Now I have learned to embrace feedback as I know it will always make the work better. I have also learned not to be as concerned about making a mistake in my career. I remember asking a mentor during my senior year of college about how to craft the “perfect” career. She told me that my career will go up and down and all around and it will end up in a place I never expected and that is the beauty of it. I had a hard time believing her in the moment, but I think about her advice a lot as my career as certainly done this, and I hope, will continue to do this.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
I am very much a “to do” list person and have learned that in any given day, there are “must do” items and “should do” items. It is okay if I do not get to the “should do” list, but I need to get to the “must do”. I have also learned that it is sometimes okay to push out due dates. This is not possible for everything, but often we put ourselves in difficult time crunch positions due to some arbitrary dates. I have also learned that it is critical to ask for help from others. This is not a sign of weakness. Rather, it improves the quality of the work and the efficiency in which it can be completed. It also shows that we value the perspectives of others. And lastly, I find it helpful to make time to go for walks. Taking even a 20-minute walk outside makes me feel less stressed and overwhelmed.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stabilimentaops.com/ , www.thediversitymovement.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamieousterout/
