Women's Leadership Blog

Featured Leader - Elizabeth Fraley, CEO of Single-Sourcing Solutions: "Maintaining Transparency"

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Elizabeth Fraley is the Founder and CEO of Single-Sourcing Solutions, a team of consultants that specialize in everything related to dynamic product information creation, publication and delivery.  Industries served by their organization include: Defense Contractors, Aerospace, Commerical Manufacturing, Life Sciences, Communication and Government.

Elizabeth attributes the success of her organization to maintaining transparency in all of their relationships.  Her team and network of partners are empowered to propose new ideas and constantly be a part of the decision-making process.  Futhermore, the organization maintains an open salary policy and encourages its employees to donate 10% of their time to community educational efforts.

To meet Elizabeth and connect with her in person, please RSVP through this link and join us for brunch at 11AM on Sunday, April 19th at Lisa's Tea Treasures in Menlo Park.

Question#1: Tell us about your background

I have both a BA and an MA in English and a BS in Computer Science, done in that order. I find that the combination of these disciplines has uniquely positioned me to do what I do today here at the intersection of writers and programmers.
 

My team says that I build clubhouses. I keep trying to find new ways to share information and strengthen the ecosystem of professionals around me. This means that I give back. I've been a volunteer/officer for the Association for Computing Machinery since 1998. I've volunteered for Society of Women Engineers at various events over the years. I started the Arbortext PTC/User group and continue to donate resources and logistics to help it flourish. My dedication to growing the community is so strong that it's carried over into the way Single-Sourcing Solutions does business. Each one of our team members is active in one or more on-line user communities and it is expected that each one devote a portion of their on-the-job time to helping people find answers to problems.
 

Question#2: What were some of the biggest work-related challenges you have experienced?  How did you overcome them?

The biggest ones have come in the last several years. Growing a company is hard work. You’ve got to be a bit of a gambler to start a company. I’ve learned an unbelievable amount about professions I never really got to see when I was an engineer – sales, marketing, management, finance. It’s challenged a lot of preconceptions that I had.
 

I work with a company that has no women in positions of leadership. I’ve had to build partnerships and credibility in a channel that is extremely difficult.  We’re taught to react to situations, almost from the time we could talk. A lot of the time, we end up beating our heads up against the wall. It’s one of the biggest challenges for leaders: Stop, look, listen, then react.
 

It’s been a constant battle but we haven’t let it determine our company’s future.  You take the controls on your own destiny. No one feeds it to you and just because everyone else does it one way, doesn’t mean you have to. Once you realize this and learn how to capitalize on it, then you can really strike out ahead.
 

Question#3: Tell us about the mentors you have had in your life (male/female).

I’ve always had strong women and men around me. A long-time family friend was Chief of Staff for a US Congressperson for nearly her entire professional career. She’s probably the earliest advisor I remember. She was inclusive, collaborative, consensus building in everything she did. You have to be, to survive in that kind of position. You have to know how to bring people together and how to get things done.

My brother is another. We’ve been classmates, coworkers, and good friends for most of our lives. We’ve cooperated and collaborated on all sorts of things from recreational game play to professional projects. I still go to him whenever I want to sanity check my ideas. He’s a consummate learner who brings ideas together.

I’m lucky enough to work with a very good friend who’s been absolutely essential to my growth as an effective executive, professional, mentor, and leader to others. Her background is an interesting blend of Engineering and Psychology. Her professions have given her insight into people and strategy that is unparalleled. That I get to borrow her perspective from time to time is a gift.

I’ve also been greatly inspired by a number of writers – classical and colloquial – throughout my life. My background’s in literature. It shouldn’t be surprising that I read 500+ blogs, newsgroups, feeds, information sources daily. There are a lot of people I follow and learn from. Not all of them know it.

Question#4: Anything you wish you had known when you were in your earlier stages of your career?

I wouldn’t change anything, my experience as brought me to where and who I am today. I stayed in school a really long time. I don’t regret it, I don’t think I could have gotten “here” without having been in the many past “there’s” first. And I really love what I do. It would have been interesting to have arrived here a little earlier. 
 

One of the things we’ve learned over the last year is that there’s no alternative to being yourself in whatever role you take on. It sounds cliché, but people buy from people. Customers come to you for who you are. People hire you, buy from you, work with you. You have to be genuine. You have to be who you are. That’s the only way it works.

 
Question#5: What are leadership qualities you value in others?

There are so many qualities I respect. Strength of character; the inclination to try, especially when failure is a real possibility; self-knowledge and an ownership of both strengths and weaknesses; and the commitment to improve, grow, and work with others for the betterment of everyone. Above all of these, I feel the team building skills are the most valuable to me.
 

Collaboration and respect for differing opinions is one of the key defining characteristics in the people I respect. At Single-Sourcing Solutions, we have a circular, rather than triangular reporting structure. We’re more team lead than individual led. We vote on important decisions. It may take us longer to make a decision, but once a decision is made, we’re all behind it and we’ll defend it with our lives. Without the support of other people required to make it a success, you can’t get very far or sustain growth for very long.
 

Question#6: What is your greatest achievement?

I collide worlds. I have a knack for gathering people around me and connecting them to each other. In one sense, you can see this with the team we’ve gathered at Single-Sourcing Solutions. I trust my team to do what they do well and they trust me the same way.

Everyone has responsibility, expertise, and an equal voice.
It’s the same with our customers. We work with them as partners. What we do is very technical and the knowledge in our industry is very tribal. We are constantly educating our customers so they can grow their own knowledge, skills, and proficiencies. It’s a good thing for our company and a good thing for theirs as well.
 

Question#7 - Who inspires you?

This is a long list. I’ve been inspired by family, friends, writers, people of history. My mother made sure my first toy was a truck. I can’t tell you how much that inspires me. I remember that truck. She was always encouraging me to try anything and everything. Failure was never something to be afraid of.
 

I’m inspired daily by the people I work with. They’re amazing and incredibly good at what they do. I love it when they’re the stars and when they save the day.
 

If there’s one person that I’d call out, it’s Ricardo Semler. He writes about how a business can be both successful and a democracy. When I first read, “Seven Day Weekend”, I was amazed. If you take out the anecdotes (and there’s a lot of them), 40% of what he said had come out of my mouth at my last corporate job. I knew there was a better way. I worked that way, even when the organization around me didn’t value that approach. Here he was doing all that and more. It inspired me to push even farther than I thought possible.

Question#8 - Do you have a mission statement or tenet that you try to live by?

I own my weaknesses as much as I take advantage of my strengths. I am constantly learning and asking other people for help. I push myself to see other people for who they are. I want them to be successful. For me, this means helping them take advantage of who they are without trying to get them to be someone or something they’re not, while still giving them the opportunities to stretch themselves and grow.