002: Chasing Opportunity with Arla Lach

Pete Mockaitis
All right. Arla, thanks so much for coming on the How To Be Awesome At Your Job Podcast.

Arla Lach
Thanks for having me.

Pete Mockaitis
This is a gorgeous office. I am here now at Grant Thornton LLP’s U.S. headquarters. I understand you just moved in here in October?

Arla Lach
We did. We were at 175 West Jackson and now we are at 171 North Clark. It’s a very different space. Much more modern and open. Lots of light. People really like working here, in this space.

Pete Mockaitis
It’s gorgeous and I feel pretty fancy to be here.

Arla Lach
Oh nice.

Pete Mockaitis
You have had a pretty quick and impressive rise to prominence in becoming a partner at a young age and that’s pretty fun. Before we dig into that story, I would like to hear a little bit of what are doing or what’s keeping you busy just for fun outside of the work professional services life?

Arla Lach
A lot of it is my daughter. I have two young daughters. Lily, who is four and Violet who is just about two, she will be two in June, and my husband. When I am not working I am spending a lot of time with family and trying to take the girls on adventures and give them as much of my time as I can.

Pete Mockaitis
Lilly and Violet are great names. Is that the idea to keep the flower theme going?

Arla Lach
No, it’s so funny. Violet wasn’t even on the radar as a name when we had Lilly. When we were pregnant with our second we were trying to think of names, and I don’t know, we just fell in love with the name. Then it was like, oh is this bad, they are both flowers, what are people going to think, is that going to be strange, but we think it’s cute.

Pete Mockaitis
I prefer the flower theme to the everyone has the same first letter theme.

Arla Lach
Yeah.

Pete Mockaitis
If, you gotta pick one.

Arla Lach
Yeah, true.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s fantastic and great to hear. I would love to hear a little bit of the story, how did your career unfold such that you found yourself at this spot at a pretty good rate and you have kept your sanity along the way?

Arla Lach
I actually started my career with Grant Thornton right off campus. I was recruited from the University of Illinois.

Pete Mockaitis
I-L-L.

Arla Lach
I-N-I, I got that wrong. How did I get that wrong? That’s a terrible alumni. I-N-I. Anyway, I started right off campus as an associate. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do long term. I really liked accounting, I did really well on my courses, and just really wanted to learn as much as I could and focus on getting as much experience as possible. Throughout my career I have had a variety of different opportunities, that were sort of kind of decision points. As Senior Associate, I got the opportunity to work for our firm in Australia for a summer. I knew that Grant Thornton had these rotation opportunities, that was one of the reasons I decided to go work for Grant Thornton after college, was because I knew they had these international rotation opportunities, and it really interested me. I really sought after it and chased it. When I was at the level that typically goes, I really threw my hat in the ring and really campaigned to try to get that opportunity. I ended up getting it. I spent about four months working and living in Australia. That was a really great milestone and part of my career that really helps increase my hunger for learning more about global business and understanding how the firm works on a global basis and those types of things.

Shortly after that, I got promoted to manager. I worked as a manager for a while and made Senior Manager. Then I was sort of looking for something else. I had been doing audits for a while. I liked my clients. I liked what I was doing but I had been doing it a long time and was just looking for something new. I decided maybe I should do another rotation type thing and I started looking into what rotations were available. There was an internal rotation that was becoming available because the person who was currently in it was from my office and I knew he was returning soon. It was Chief of Staff to our CEO.

Pete Mockaitis
Okay, fantastic.

Arla Lach
I met with him and learned a little bit more about what he was doing in that role and what it entailed. I reached out to a couple of other people and really tried to understand what were the benefits, what could I learn, would it be something different, something I would be interested in. After doing some of the homework I decided this would be a really great learning opportunity for me. I, again campaigned with my practice leader at the time. I reached out to another Senior Manager who was the first Chief of Staff the firm ever had about his experience. Before you know it, I got contacted by the CEO to interview me for the potential role. I interviewed for it, I got the position, and I spent two years working with our CEO. It was actually, the time that I was in the role was unique because it was during an orderly CEO transition. Our CEO’s can only do two four year terms according to the partnership agreement. The current CEO was approaching the end of his second term and so they were selecting a new CEO.

I worked with the outgoing CEO for about a year and then got to work for the incoming CEO for about a year, in that role. I was really the CEO’s right hand. I was in all of the leadership meetings. I got to see … I always joke because I got to see how the sausage is made, behind the scenes of how partnership decisions are made, how partners become partners, and what it means to be a partner. Really learning about the back office of the firm and how it ticks and beyond the world that I had been exposed to before which was very much Chicago audit practice. I got to see nationally what the firm really looks like and even got exposure to more of the global organization through some of the international boards that the CEO participated in and being able to sit in on those meetings as well.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh fun.

Arla Lach
That role really is what made my decisions that I really wanted to stay at the firm and become a partner. Before that I had ebbed and flow in trying to decide what I really wanted to do but that role really made me see what Grant Thornton was about, what the firm really was interested in, and whether how we really stood behind our mission, vision, and driving for our people, the opportunities that were available. I really wanted that partnership role after that. After I completed that rotation I came back to the Chicago audit practice and went back to doing audit work for a couple of years. Then I was lucky enough to be promoted to partner.

Pete Mockaitis
Fantastic. That is a fun journey. Congratulations. I have so many little follow up questions there.

Arla Lach
Okay.

Pete Mockaitis
I’m going to try to organize a little bit. It sounds like there were two times which you did some homework and a campaign. One was before moving to Australia and doing that opportunity. And the other time was with the Chief of Staff rotation. It sounds like you have done a pretty good job of executing this homework and this campaigning. Are there any kind of pro tips or best practices associated with undertaking those activities prior to transitions?

Arla Lach
My number one tip is to make sure people know that you want those roles. I think that sometimes people sit and wait for someone to hand them an opportunity and say we have this great opportunity, you would be perfect for it, here you go. Whereas if you chase it … I had a coach as I grew up in the firm, that was assigned to me. I would let my coach know that I was interested. I would let my practice leader know that I was interested in the role. I would talk to other partners I worked with and say this sounds like a really cool role. Everyone that I interacted with and whenever we talked about career, I made sure they knew that I was really interested in XYZ opportunity, so that if that opportunity opened up, I would be someone fresh in their mind that they would think of to potentially put forward for that opportunity.

I really feel like if you do not chase something or let people know that you want to do something, then it is going to be harder for you to get that opportunity. You have to go after it, you have to be proactive and chase it. That would probably be the biggest piece of advice that I would have on those. On the homework side it would be making sure you are talking to all of the people that you know who have done those things before. For the Chief of Staff role, I reached out to the person who was in the role at the time, and I asked him a million questions about what is his day-to-day like, what does he do, what is the interaction, what is the exposure, is he happy that he did the role, what are the benefits that he felt he got out of the role. Just understanding his perspective. While my experience was probably a little bit different from his experience, it still helps me make the decision that this was something I did want to chase and go after.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s great. Sounds like there is a fair bit of initiative and pro-activity there in terms of you really putting him through those questions.

Arla Lach
Yeah.

Pete Mockaitis
Respect. I can relate.

Arla Lach
I don’t hold back.

Pete Mockaitis
Excellent.

Arla Lach
I just go after it.

Pete Mockaitis
Good news. I also want to hear about, you said that they work with two different CEO’s. Could you contrast a little bit? I think sometimes when you think of CEO’s, there is a little bit of image, or a what’s that like, almost like they are mythological beings. In my experience working with at Bain, I was like oh these are just normal people who have reasonable questions and a set of strengths and weaknesses like the rest of us.

Arla Lach
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
How would you maybe compare or contrast what you saw getting to experience two CEO’s and what are some takeaways from that?

Arla Lach
Yes. It was really interesting too because they are two very different people. Both excellent, intelligent, wonderful people but very different in their approach. The time when I was doing it was two very different times. When I rolled into the role we were coming off of, it was 2008 so the recession hadn’t really hit yet, it was just starting, and we had come off a period of about 7 years of incredible growth. The firm was in a position of acquisition, big growth numbers, and doing really well. Then that CEO was on his way out and the recession hit, and the new CEO came in right as the recession hit. There was a lot of blow back in the recession. The revenues dropped, there was profitability, challenges on engagements. He had to totally shift and make decisions differently because of the environment he was in.

It was really interesting watching the two of them deal with those things and there was a lot of change during that time. The CEO that was outgoing, he is currently our CEO of the global organization, not just the US CEO. He is an incredible collaborator. He brings people together and is amazing at getting consensus from a group. Even if people have different points of view, bringing them to the same place, and they all walk out of the room sort of marching to the same beat. He was so good at that and you can see it now in his work, globally as he is working with all of these different firms worldwide that have different cultures and different goals. He is bringing them all together under the Grant Thornton umbrella.

The incoming CEO was very articulate, incredible stage presence, just terrific to watch. He just was an incredible leader and had this external focus on connecting with clients and bringing people to know that Grant Thornton is headquartered in Chicago, we are a Chicago company, and really putting Grant Thornton on the map in Chicago. Seeing him manage creation of his new leadership team and all of those things. The experiences with them are very different because one was sort of leading and the other one was coming in so it was really interesting to watch.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. I would also like to know, being up close and personal to the CEO’s, what are some takeaways that implemented how you do your work or what are some things about how CEO’s think, act, lead, perform, that made you go note to self, I am going to start doing that?

Arla Lach
I think some of the biggest tips from watching the CEO’s at work, one was how they interact with people one-on-one. It was incredible to watch. They had to have these incredible, difficult conversations in some instances because of the recession and everything that was going on. The way that they approached the individual made them feel like they were the only person in the room, had these difficult conversations, heard them, made them feel heard, and could still get their point across of the difficult message.

I also think being able to read a room and knowing when there is a lot of discussion happening amongst this meeting and this group of people, knowing when to come in and say we have discussed it, here is what we are doing, let’s move forward. Allowing the room to all have their input but at the end of the day it’s the CEO’s decision. Still making people like they are a part of that decision, which they are, but at the end of the day, he is the CEO and he is saying this is it, I am making the decision, I heard you all, this is what we are doing, and we are moving forward. And have still feel collaborative and not just like the CEO’s made a decision and we all have to follow, if that makes sense.

Pete Mockaitis
As a clear deceleration often, right there.

Arla Lach
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
As opposed to oh, we’re going to chew on this and then email out.

Arla Lach
Yes. Decision made right there in the room, amongst everyone while it’s happening, live, very decisive. That was really interesting to watch. I also really enjoyed getting to know them personally and seeing how they balanced work and home. I think a lot of times when you think of a CEO, all you think about is that they work.

Pete Mockaitis
Right.

Arla Lach
They work constantly. They do work a lot. They have these crazy schedules that some days I didn’t understand how they could even get through the day because it was back to back. They were both so incredible at prioritizing and making time for their families. That really stuck with me. At the time when I was working there I wasn’t married yet, I didn’t have children. Being able to see people that have achieved, in some cases the highest of the high, related to as high as you can get in your career, and still making time, bringing their daughters to work, scheduling time with them, taking them on vacations, those kinds of things were really beneficial for me to see.

Pete Mockaitis
That is great. Did you get a chance to speak with him and see what is their internal thought process or philosophy in how they went through there?

Arla Lach
We talked about it a lot. It was funny because the one would say, “I remember early in my career, sort of sneaking out the back so I could go coach my daughters softball team.” How much that has changed in the profession where now it’s sort of like worn as a badge of honor like, I am leaving early to go spend time with my family. How he things that is a great thing, supports it, doesn’t want people feeling like they have to sneak off for family commitments, it should all be part of your life and your career should all be integrated. I think that helps a lot provide this flexibility that really has helped me succeed. The flexibility piece is such a huge piece in order to be able to balance my career goals with my personal goals.

Pete Mockaitis
I am glad to hear that they are providing that here. Can you share with us … Do you have any particular rules of thumb or habits or rituals or guidelines that you use to pull off that balance? Because I think professional services in particular is a tricky industry because sharp folks are paying a pretty penny for the accountants or lawyers or consultants or whomever to be available to them and provide those services.

Arla Lach
For sure. We are in the client service business so we have to meet our clients needs. In a lot of ways that can be challenging, but in a lot of ways that provides an enormous amount of flexibility and autonomy that any time in my career where I have had those moments where I have said, well maybe I don’t want to do this long term, maybe I want to look at doing something else. I have always made my pro list and con list and the biggest pro on that is flexibility and autonomy. While I do have to be available for my clients, I can do that from anywhere. That allows me to balance some of that home stuff, you know, and just personal things that I want to do. For example, I have a busy season right now …

Pete Mockaitis
Yes, thank you.

Arla Lach
We are approaching the end of a busy season. I am an auditor so we have a lot of March 31st deadlines, we have a lot of April 30 deadlines, and then there is deadlines at the end of February as well so I am working a lot, from January through April I am working a lot of hours. But I don’t work the same everyday. It’s not get in at 7, leave at 8, it’s get in at 7 some days, leave at 4, go home, spend a few hours with the kids and family, have dinner, put the kids to bed, work from 8 to midnight on some days.

I am still working a lot of hours but I am also carving out sections and pieces of my day to have that quality time with the family, that is a super important priority to me. I talk to my teams about it a lot because for some of them it makes more sense for them to work from 7 to 8 everyday, because that is just works for their schedule, and that it’s okay for others to work differently. Sometimes I am working at the office, sometimes I am working at a clients, sometimes I am working at home, sometimes it’s at Starbucks, sometimes it’s in the car while I am waiting to pick up my kids with a hot spot catching up on emails.

To me, having a family changed how I had to work, in order to be successful both professionally and personally.

Arla Lach
It caused me to have to change the way that I work because I used to be a 7 to 7 person, all the time work straight through and work all the time but I just couldn’t do that and also have the same goals for myself personally. Being able to chunk up my day where I am still accomplishing all of the goals I want to for my clients, just maybe at different times, and still having that time for my family is huge.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. Any other pro tips on managing the working family and preventing the burn out and staying healthy and moving?

Arla Lach
I think the burn out thing is, for me, is keeping things new and different. One of great things that has kept me in this industry, because no two days are the same. I am always at different places, working with different people, and dealing with different issues, and I feel like I am constantly learning. I feel like if I went into a different accounting position that wasn’t public accounting, that I would get bored. I feel like I need that challenge. I need to be constantly learning, doing new things, and different things and this role really gives me that because no two days are the same.

I think finding those things that excite you and give you that drive to learn, and want to better yourself and do new things, is really important. If you think about your career whether it is accounting or teaching or whatever, whatever it is that makes you want to get out of bed in the morning and further develop yourself and your skills, I think, will go a long way because people will see the passion in you and people will see the drive and it will help to progress your career.

Pete Mockaitis
Excellent. Any final thoughts before we shift gears and move rapid fire into the fast faves?

Arla Lach
No, I don’t think so. I think we covered pretty much everything.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. Let’s kick it in then. Can you share with us a favorite quote, something that inspires you again and again?

Arla Lach
I never get this quote totally right, but there is this Ralph Waldo Emerson quote that starts with “Finish the day and be done with it” and then it goes on. To me it’s huge because everyday has it’s good and bad things and it’s all about letting the past be the past and moving forward and everyday is a new day. That has always stuck with me.

Pete Mockaitis
How about a favorite study or experiment or piece of research that you sort of think about or reference often?

Arla Lach
I do a lot of research into looking at women, how they progress in their careers, what makes them successful, what is holding them back, looking at the disparity and leadership of men versus women, and those types of things. I do read up on that quite a bit. Obviously Sheryl Sandberg’s book is a great book and source for that too.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s right. There’s a lot fans.

Arla Lach
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
I was going to ask, the next question, favorite book. Is that it or do you want to go with another one?

Arla Lach
That is a tough one because I read some business books but I also read a lot for fun. I do really love silly, just entertaining books. I recently read the Divergent series and I think it’s really …

Pete Mockaitis
I was thinking you were going to say that.

Arla Lach
… it’s like totally a high school book but I just loved it, it was so much fun. It was really a fun book.

Pete Mockaitis
I had a good time. I saw the first movie with my brother. He is an astrologer, as in the Zodiac and I do Myers-Briggs workshops, so we are both interested in types so we had fun with that one.

Arla Lach
Yeah.

Pete Mockaitis
How about a favorite habit, any personal practice that you have adopted that has been extremely valuable for you?

Arla Lach
For me it’s about organization. Every week I try to make this list, I have a to do list, I put a line down the middle. On the left is a list of tasks. I have a list of calls that I need to make and a list of conversations that I need to have that week. It helps me think through my week of all of the stuff I need to get done but not forgetting the importance of specific conversations I need to have with people and then specific calls I need to make with people. That is kind of an organizational habit that I have gotten into.

Pete Mockaitis
That is a weekly recurrence there?

Arla Lach
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
How about favorite time saving trick or means of accelerating your efficiency?

Arla Lach
Let me think about that one. Time saving trick. I utilize Outlook like crazy. My Microsoft Outlook, I use the tasks in it, if it’s not in my calendar I’m not going to be there, I use Calendar as reminders, I use Calendar to block out my time to make sure that I am focused on something so that nothing else pops into my day. I mean it’s not really super innovative or sexy but Outlook Calendar is huge for me.

Pete Mockaitis
Do you have any special approaches to how you use those tasks? Some people set it up in a GTD, getting things done style. What is it, command, shift, k? I use Outlook for a while. New task.

Arla Lach
New task?

Pete Mockaitis
You know, the shortcut.

Arla Lach
You know, it’s really more the calendar. The calendar sort of rules my day. I take that weekly to do list, that I talked about that I do, and then I map it to my calendar and sort of block out blocks of time of things that I have to do because then I will focus on them, otherwise my office becomes like a revolving door of people and then I am constantly picking things up and putting them down.

Pete Mockaitis
I hear you. How about a favorite nugget or truth bomb that when you share with folks, maybe you’re mentoring them or you serve as subject matter expert I see this recently. Something that you share with professionals that gets them nodding or taking notes or really connecting and resonating like, wow, thank you Arla?

Arla Lach
I think the biggest thing is really to make sure you, and I talked about it earlier today, is really chasing the things that you want. A lot of times I have staff and seniors coming to me asking why did you choose this path or how did you get this opportunity. They are kind of surprised to hear in a lot of cases well I chased it. The reason I got it is because I chased after it and went for it and made everyone in the world know that I wanted to do it. That surprises them a little bit in some regard.

Pete Mockaitis
Surprises them like, you didn’t seem like you had the time to chase … Or what ways that surprised them?

Arla Lach
I think just that it surprises them that I had to chase it.

Pete Mockaitis
Oh, okay.

Arla Lach
That it was something that I really feel that if I didn’t chase it that I wouldn’t have gotten that opportunity. I would have been sitting there watching somebody else go off and do that role or do that rotation.

Pete Mockaitis
That’s great. That is a key to sanction, thank you.

Arla Lach
Yes.

Pete Mockaitis
How about a favorite role model, somebody that you look up to professionally and why?

Arla Lach
I mentioned her book, Sheryl Sandberg. I think she is a great example of being a successful woman but also managing a family. She has been through a lot. I think that she is putting herself out there as an advocate for women. She has got beat up a little bit by some women who don’t necessarily agree with some of her views. I do think that there is something to be said for someone who is putting themselves out there the way that she did trying to help women succeed.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. Favorite way to find you? Would you prefer folks go to your page on grantthornton.com or email or Twitter? What would be your preferred means of being contacted?

Arla Lach
Probably email.

Pete Mockaitis
All right.

Arla Lach
It’s arla.lach@us.gt.com.

Pete Mockaitis
All right. Final, favorite challenge or call to action that you would like to leave listeners seeking to be more awesome at their job.

Arla Lach
I think that it goes back to chasing what you want. Really make sure that if there is something you see someone else doing that you are interested in, talk to them, find out how they got it, ask them a lot of questions, make sure that everyone you work with knows that you’re interested in something like that too.

Pete Mockaitis
Beautiful, thank you. Arla, thank you so much for taking the time. This was a joy and a lot of fun to check out your cool new offices. We really appreciate all you have done here.

Arla Lach
Great, thanks.