Name: Scottie Seawell
Location: North Carolina
Company: Leading and Governing Associates
Professional Industry: Management Consulting
Job Title: Vice President
WIXII-ISM™ FROM SCOTTIE:
“The perfect is the enemy of the good, so I’ve learned to do the best I can under ever changing circumstances and not to expect perfection from others.”
“As my daughters get older and more independent, I hope to become better and better at watching, listening, reflecting and, as much as possible, tuning my attention fully to one person or one situation at a time. I’d like to learn how to fully give someone or some cause my undivided attention. This is my biggest struggle. Our society doesn’t make it easy either. ”
SCOTTIE’S STORY:
Meet our featured Wixii™, Scottie Seawell. She is 49 and mother to three daughters ages 18, 16 and 13. She has a Masters of Public Administration. Scottie is Vice President of her and her husband’s management consulting company, Leading and Governing Associates. She and her husband believe in representative democracy and the power of people working together effectively to solve problems. They work with public purpose organizations to help them create stronger organizations and communities through leadership consulting, strategic navigation and community engagement. Scottie claims two “home states;” North Carolina and Colorado.
SCOTTIE’S CAREER PATH:
My path seems pretty traditional looking back on it: went to school (high school, college, graduate school), took volunteer internships and worked minimum wage jobs in high school and college, worked paid internships while in college and graduate school, moved up through the public and non-profit sectors and then became a stay-at-home mom and uber-volunteer when my husband’s career led us back to N.C., where my mother still lives. In 2004, we started our own consulting business, Leading and Governing Associates, through which I continue to work. Some of my career highlights include:
• Ice Cream Server – Baskin Robbins,
• Legislative Intern in the Office of Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder,
• Program Analyst Intern, U.S. Treasury, Financial Management Service,
• Presidential Fellow, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
• Program Liaison Specialist, Administration for Children and Families, Denver Region VIII
• Executive Director, Colorado Association for Children and Families, Denver, CO,
• Stay-at-home mom,
• Vice President, Leading and Governing Associates, Inc. 2004 to present
SCOTTIE’S MINDSET AND WORK-LIFE MIX:
MINDSET: I’m an optimist, which is not to say I don’t have my down days or don’t worry — I do! But usually in those times I give myself a pep talk and get back on my merry way, one day at a time, sometimes one step at a time. I like to facilitate and help others be the best that they can be. I appreciate how helpful having tools, systems, processes, and plans are to accomplishing one’s goals and reaching for one’s vision, and I like working with others to help them learn to use tools, systems, processes and planning to accomplish their goals and envision a better future. It is why I enjoy my work and my volunteer work so much. But if you look at my office and my desk, it may appear that I’m more disorganized than organized. I’m often onto the next thing before I have a chance to file and toss aside all the paper and stuff collected from the previous thing I was working on.
WORK-LIFE MIX: I’m a mother, wife, daughter, and sister. Family is very important to me, and I like being with my family. I’m also a business owner and consultant, and my work is very important to me too. I enjoy the good work my clients are doing and work hard to help them towards their goals. I’m a friend and enjoy running with my running group of 10+ years. These friends are also my form of group therapy. They all have very full lives with children, husbands, careers, parents, pets, etc. We are there for each other and have supported one another through almost every life experience one can imagine. I’m a volunteer with several organizations that are very important to me — my girls’ schools, First Presbyterian Church, Beaird Family Foundation, and Planned Parenthood of Central NC.
I’m also an introvert, so I really need time alone to recharge from all the time I spend with others. I hate housekeeping, but I don’t have outside help. I think it is important for all the members of my family to pull together on behalf of our family and our household. We all take turns walking the dogs and feeding our five pets. I expect a lot from my daughters and could probably expect more, but they are responsible for getting their homework done, having their sports equipment and uniforms clean (or not) and ready to go, practicing their instruments, helping around the house and cleaning their rooms. I don’t like to nag, though I sometimes do. The perfect is the enemy of the good, so I’ve learned to do the best I can under ever changing circumstances and not to expect perfection from others.
What specific actions, choices, steps and/or decisions have you made (or would you like to make) to better manage your work-life mix?
I strive to be mindful of the people and the world around me. I’d like to become more mindful, take the time for reflection, and be less busy. I think effective multi-tasking is a myth. Something is falling through the cracks when you take on too much at once, but I’m guilty as charged. As my daughters get older and more independent, I hope to become better and better at watching, listening, reflecting and as much as possible tuning my attention fully to one person or one situation at a time. I’d like to learn how to fully give someone or some cause my undivided attention. This is my biggest struggle. Our society doesn’t make it easy either.
What advice would you give an earlier version of yourself?
Don’t create unrealistic expectations for yourself or others. Accept people as they are, especially your children. Let them become who they want to become. Love them, set appropriate limits, and then let them be and it will all work out. When I was pregnant with our first daughter, the thing that worried me the most was not the pain of childbirth or sleepless nights, but if we’d be able to afford to pay for her to go to college. It is still a worry today. The cost of higher education is ridiculous, but she’s graduating from high school next month and was accepted into several colleges, so we are figuring out how to pay for it together. I think because education has always been important to us, we’ve never lost sight of finding ways to help our daughters discover the value and joy of life-long learning. We are very fortunate to have a supportive extended family, caring community of friends, and work lives to make this possible. Many are not so fortunate, so now I try to appreciate all that we have and be mindful of the needs of others.
Is there anything you would like to share about work-life mix?
Several years ago I read Katharine Graham’s memoir, Personal History. In her memoir she talked a lot about her work-life mix — and what an extraordinary life she led. One take-away for me from her book was that you can do it all, just not all at the same time. I highly recommend reading it.
