Born for business, baby. 

I happily live at the intersection of business and psychology. 

This intriguing intersection is familiar territory for me because I was born and raised there - “there” being small town New England in an iconic Cape Cod house sustained by family businesses. 

Innovation and hard work infused our family values. My mother’s family owned a mammoth mill that provided grain to New England farmers in the original farm to table movement. My father’s family was a successful bedding manufacturer, and my grandmother was an interior designer with a workroom and vibrant storefront – a keen business woman ahead of her time. 

As a kid, I preferred sewing fabric to milling grain or springing beds, so I spent many industrious afternoons in my grandmother’s workroom making things and mingling with the workers. (I once co-opted the seamstresses into sewing a line of Barbie clothes that I’d designed to sell, but that’s another story…) 

Enveloped by old fashioned Yankee knowhow, my business savvy blossomed and so did my commitment to people, processes, and profits in the world of trade. I helped the workers streamline production flow and lobbied for better lighting and more comfortable chairs for them. I tried out on employer-employee communication troubles the relationship wisdom I gleaned from women’s magazines. And, during the holidays, I loved handing out bonus checks and plump turkeys to celebrate a profitable year and jobs well done. 

I Wanna Know!

Like lots of precocious kids, I loved school, (and I still do – I’m coming for you Ph.D.!), because above all things, I’m a learner and a teacher. In third grade, I started a group for kids who struggled to read because I wanted everyone to know the joy of books and the exciting new worlds they open up to us.  (I love books so much that I’ve written and illustrated a not yet published children’s book on diversity and inclusion).

Later on, my curiosity piloted me to Tufts University to study human development.  Fascinated by why we do what we do and how we grow, I spent hours upon hours observing children and their patterns of behavior and development. Call me a neuro- science nerd, it’s okay - but this stuff lights me up! 

My itch to learn was further scratched by getting a Master’s degree as well as multiple certifications in coaching and counseling. Today, all of this primo people knowledge is passionately employed in transforming traditional paradigms to promote purposeful business.  

Hogwarts Diploma in Grit and Grace 

Early in my career I reached dizzying heights in big-brand consumer advertising, and I produced captivating campaigns for fashion designers, clothing manufacturers, and retail stars. 

I’ve taken entrepreneurs’ doodled-napkin-dreams to market, catapulting product lines and retail stores to fame and fortune, including my own home furnishings manufacturing and retail business. 

Melding community involvement with heart-centric work, I’m an active board member of a girls’ leadership program called Foundation to Fly and fostered best-in-class prevention education programs for children, teaching them life skills within the context of social and emotional learning. 

Half human resources leader, half wizard describes my most recent professional endeavor where riotously multi-cultural teams needed to play nicely in order to be productive in the high risk/high stakes, multi-billion-dollar energy sector. Like an alchemist, I aligned multi-national HR systems on three continents, and when the U.S. office closed, I guided the staff to safe harbor.

Some of my formal job titles have included: 

• Global Human Resources Strategist

• VP Creative Services

• Curriculum Development Director

• Business Owner

• Producer

Though, equally fitting titles might be: 

• Chief Executive Wrangler of Difficult Things

• Director of Opulent Optimism and Cheering Charm

• VP of Out of the Box Thinking

While my career is as vibrant, colorful, and textured as an amble through the Grand Bazaar, my vocation will always be about empowering people and perfecting processes so that everyone profits. 

Mary Poppins Might Be My Great Grandmother

Civility and respect are where I start, and I am firmly rooted in doing the right thing, especially when it’s hard. About those “difficult conversations,” well, I believe that a teaspoon of sugar helps the medicine go down. 

I like to leave the woodpile higher than I found it (my Yankee roots), and my aim is to make this whole life thing sweeter for everyone (my southern inspiration). 

More Mercedes Than Lamborghini, Really

Consider me a high-performance vehicle of human resources. Excellence and elegance (not exotic perfection) matter to me.

I am a systems thinker, and I put my turbocharged energy into organizing and refining systems and processes for smooth efficiency. Solving problems gets my engine revving. 

I’m a determined team player with “four on the floor” power until the job is done. Change doesn’t scare me, and I move sleekly between C-Suite and stakeholders at all levels of influence. 

People empowered + Processes perfected = Profits aplenty

This is the equation to business success, and solving it shouldn’t be as hard as solving the Boolean Pythagorean Triples Problem, though lots of businesses never crack the code.

Do you know how to manifest this magnificent equation in your business? 

Don’t worry! I do. 

I’m Lisa B, and I create diverse corporate cultures that perform, prosper, and profit - on purpose. As you can see, I’ve been honing my people, processes, and profit skills for a month of Sundays. I’m good at it. And I love it.