Personality Profile

I filled out 20 short answers... and this is what the computer came back with about me:


This is a direct and expressive person, confident and friendly, and individualist who likes to get results through an independent approach. Nix is good at creating and maintaining enthusiasm in others. She needs a position that allows her to have the authority to act without precedent. She has little time for detail, except when a result depends upon it.


This assertive person reacts quickly to a challenge, is restless to succeed and can become impatient when thing do not go according to her plan. She is not particularly compliant and can be opinionated and defiant. She dislikes losing at most things and is anxious to try new ideas.


Nix is a self-starter, and can be impetuous at times and is normally aggressive in both the work and social environment. She can be emotional when something is at stake. She may need to have a clean understanding of what is expected of her.

Descriptive Words: Assertive, Adventuresome, decisive, direct, confident, friendly, forceful, mobile, restless, persistent, strong willed, very independent, sometimes defiant

Ironically, in college, I asked my friends to give me one descriptive word for me to use for my Self Portrait assignment in Photography class.
This is what they came up with: Classic, Feisty, Strong, Funny, Tough, Bold, Loyal, spontaneous, artistic, opinionated, determined, outgoing, flirty, crazy, truthful, independent, innovative, unique, energetic, smart, bitch, driven, odd, wacky, unpredictable, loud, stubborn, witty, bossy, motivated

But I think I'm just me...

Balance is Key

I'm still reading Good to Great. I've raced through to chapter 4, and I can't put it down. I'm happy to see my character traits called out in this book... a "plow horse rather than a show horse", looking for the greater good of the company than the individual... all that jazz. I have to confess, however, that in the last year, I've taken some bad advice and gotten away from the root of who I am in my soul. I'm not a money-hungry person looking for recognition and fame. In fact, I hate all of those things. I don't like being the center of attention in a crowd. I hate money more than you could imagine. At only chapter 4, I'm resolving to get back to the basics: work long hours, work hard, and achieve a vision that will make this company (if not wallpaper in general) take off in America. With the team I have, I think it's completely realistic, but only if I re-invest myself as I did when I first took this job.

I'm on the chapter about people... and how people within the company are driving the ship. They're talking about healthy debate and how important it is to surround yourself in different perspectives, to identify all variables. There is one part of the book where they're talking about the difference between a healthy, strategical debate vs an ego-raging argument and it says, "more like a heated scientific debate, with people engaged in a search for the best answers." To which, I mentally gave a nod to my Rocket-Scientist best friend, Nicole.

"Thanks Nicole, for teaching me that scientific thought process"
How many times in college did we all stay up late into the night, debating everything from shoes, to religion, to guys? We always respected each others' points of view. And we all had completely opposite points of view. Then I gave a mental nod to the rest of the 3rd Floor gang.

"Thanks Sarah, for teaching me the sensitive side of the thought process"
"Thanks Dave, for keeping us grounded in a very Jersey-real-life perspective."
"Thanks Alan, for always reaching for the stars and making anything possible"
"Thanks Erin, for reminding us that people still value traditional ways of thinking"

It was this mish-mosh of perspectives, coming from a scientist, ballerina, regular-joe, and rich-kid that kept my mind open and continually questioning my own point of view. To this day, I always question, "Is this the best option? How will others view this move?"

In fact, I started a very heated discussion once at work, which will probably stay with me as long as I'm with the company. We had the brand manager for a particular line of wallpaper come from the UK to our US offices. The US team had developed a very specific strategy and the new BM was coming to get briefed on the American way of life as well as our new strategy. After we took him around to stores, we had a meeting to discuss the new strategy.

Prior to the meeting, we knew that this new manager was keyed into the UK strategy, and our strategy would be a tough sell. My supervisor explained the strategy to the manager, and the manager waited patiently. He then asked some targeted, thoughtful questions. My supervisor answered something like "well, that's how we're doing it." It didn't seem like enough of an answer for me. I fully agreed with our strategy, but from learning from my college friends to question everything, I began to play devil's advocate. We'd answered all of the questions I was asking prior to the arrival of this new manager, when we were first developing the strategy. I thought it was important for this new manager to understand how we arrived at this strategy rather than asking him to blindly accept it "because we said so". I figured that since we'd already answered all of this questions, it would be simple to do a Q&A session. If there had been some key point that the US team had missed, it gave the opportunity for the new manager, with a fresh perspective, to find it. Better a member of our team find it now, then a competitor exploit it later.

It seems I was wrong. As I repeated the questions we'd already answered weeks, maybe even months prior, I could see my supervisor's anger mounting. He yelled back, got very defensive, and shot me angry looks. What I thought would be a simple back-and-forth had turned into a fight. I was thrown on "the UK side", a traitor. At one point, he even said to me, "I don't know what's wrong with you, we already agreed to this". I tried to plead my case, but it was pointless. I was a traitor, jumping ship to suck up to the head office.

Later, after we all agreed, again, that our strategy worked, I tried to explain to the VP that I wasn't jumping ship. He said, "Don't worry about it. I knew what you were doing. I wouldn't have let the debate go on if I thought it wasn't right. We're smart to question ourselves constantly. We didn't bring that manager across the Atlantic to preach to him; we brought him here to let him do his job."

Though that made me feel better, since then, I've been questioning my judgement. Should I have just made a presentation to that manager and expected it to be held as Gospel truth? In my experience people accept things like that better when they accept it on their own terms. I wondered that if it was different in business? Was I just too green to understand this stuff?

According to this book, the heated debate was right on the money. Thanks Jim Collins and your research for letting me know that my instincts are good, and that my determination will get me far.

According to this book, it's perspective like mine that takes companies from Good to Great.

The Best Me I Can Be

I had a great trip this week. I traveled with the VP and CEO of my company. The VP has become my mentor over the years, and I can only aspire to be close to as great as my CEO. The CEO traveled from England for my presentation. He's a very hands-on CEO. He takes his job very seriously and is truly passionate about his work. He's kind and fair, and he makes sure everyone's voice is heard.

Over a couple of pints (the Brit had Guiness, the Yank had Yuengling), I told my CEO how much I admired both him and the Director of Marketing. The DM is absolutely brilliant. He can see a product and know immediately if it will work. He's formulated amazing marketing strategies, and he's always on the top of his game. Andrew, my CEO, told me that Mark, the DM, went to school to be a teacher, went on to become a car salesman, and stumbled upon product marketing by chance by age 27. He can't be far past 40 now, and heads Marketing and Product Development for an international company operating in 8 countries.

I asked him how I get to that caliber. I've got a great start- 25 and in charge of all of the wallpaper that is sold in the US, several national accounts, product development, etc. He recommended a book to me: Good to Great by Jim Collins.
I've read the first chapter, and it seems like an interesting book. It tracks several companies and they found unique identifiers that made those companies go from good to great. It's not really a self-help book as an objective view of what characteristics are needed in companies to create a successful environment. I see alot of the principles being applied in my company. He's practicing what he preaches.

I also bought Fast Company magazine. Fast Company sets the agenda, charting the evolution of business through a unique focus on the most creative individuals sparking change in the marketplace. By uncovering best and "next" practices, the magazine helps a new breed of leader work smarter and more effectively. Fast Company empowers innovators to challenge convention and create the future of business.

I think I might get an annual subscription for this one. It's really interesting and highly relevant for me. One of the designers we work with, Marcel Wanders, was recently on the cover discussing how Creative people are so important in business.

I also picked up the book Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin, Editor of Fortune Magazine. I have no idea if it'll be any good, but it sounded like something I could wrap my head around. I've always been one to pound myself into the ground to achieve what I want. Just ask my college swim coach. I just about died each practice, but I was there. Hopefully this book gives me some insight into the most efficent way to go about the head-pounding.

So I have a meeting with the VP next week. I'm going to talk to him about the next steps I need to take to progress in my career. I really love the company I work for, so I hope there's a place for me to move up, preferably in the US. The CEO also suggested that I re-take my personality test so we can see my strengths and weaknesses. I'll let you know how the books are. I'm hoping to finish the first one this weekend.

The Bucket List

NiX Bucket List

1. Skydive*

2. Meet my family in Italy*

3. Drive in NYC*

4. See every country in Europe

5. Get into an elite nightclub*

6. Go to Thailand

7. Ski in the Alps

8. Speak fluent Italian

9. Make my own dress

10. Whitewater rafting in the Grand Canyon

11. Have my own art gallery show*

12. Own a pair of Christian Louboutin black heels

13. Own an Armani suit

14. Finish a full triathlon

15. Fall hopelessly and completely in love

16. Go to an Opera

17. Own a pair of 2 carat diamond stud earrings

18. Create a true masterpiece

19. Go to Russia

20. SCUBA dive

*Mission: Accomplished

So far, i've knocked 5 off my list.

Most are shallow, but since forever I've seen them as mile-markers of my life. If I can afford Armani, then I've obviously reached a career goal. If I can complete a triathlon, then I've achieved a great level of physical fitness. If I have giant diamonds in my ears, maybe there's a guy who loves me enough to drop that kinda money on me.... maybe. I'm deadly serious about completing this list. A friend and I put this together long before Morgan Freeman and Jackie jumped out of a plane.

Let's start at the very beginning...

I've been anti-blog so far in life. I never thought i had anything important enough to say that needed to be announced to the entire world wide web. Just to be clear... I still don't. Unfortunately, my very best friends are all far away since we left college, and I read their blogs like a stalker just to see what's up day to day. We chat often, but snooping in their blogs makes me feel like they're a bit closer than they really are. So here's my contribution to them... now they can know every mundane aspect of my life too.

A little background:
I've always been a pretty confident person. I live by those age-old cliches:

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again"

and

"If you think you can, or you think you can't- you're right"

I believe that a little extra hard work can compensate for whatever natural talent you were born without. On that note, I think it should be a criminal offense to waste natural talent.

I believe that I live in a country that's all about new ideas and hard working geniuses. We are given every opportunity to do exactly what we like, even if it might be harder than we'd like it to be. That's a gift that I can confidently say 99% of people born in America do not consider at all. I'll be the first to raise my hand- I'm guilty of losing sight of how lucky I am and what wonderful opportunities are available to me.

As I step off my soapbox, I'll tell you the point of the above rant:
I've had a rough 3 years.
I was thrown into reality like a bum outta a bar at 7am- dazed, confused, and completely unprepared to deal with the next day. I graduated college severely in debt, with responsibilities to face that most people don't have to deal with until they're in their 40's. Let's just say my emotional baggage would not have fit into the overhead compartment of a 747 either. I literally felt like I had the world on my shoulders. To say I was terrified would be an understatement.

Anyone that used to give me my pep-talks was either gone from my life or dealing with their own misery. I turned to new people for help. They were compassionate enough to say "it's not your fault" and "you're going through so much, no one expects anything from you in this hard time." As nice as that was, it wasn't helpful at all.

I had always turned to my father for a good shot in the arm. He gave me the confidence and the tough love to do it all on my own. Without him, I've been in a tailspin. I have good days and bad days. The bad days have turned from anxiety attacks to whining. I hate whining. I hate it more when I'm doing the whining (another reason I don't love the idea of blogs).

In the last 3 years, I've grown up alot. In the last 3 years, I've finally figured out that I've got to be able to pep-talk myself. I've got to have the drive and determination within myself to accomplish my own goals. From here on out- it's all up to me.

If I think I can, or I think I can't- I'm right.