An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Define success on your own terms. When I first started my business, I thought success meant having a lot of employees in different offices across the nation.
As a part of our series about “How Diversity Can Increase a Company’s Bottom Line”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Christie Lindor.
Christie Lindor is the founder of Tessi Consulting and an award-winning Workplace Culture & Inclusion Strategist with over 20 years of management consulting advising clients for firms such Deloitte, EY, and IBM. She has served 100s of global organizations across 31+ industries in 10 different countries. The breadth and depth of her experience range from IT transformation and mergers & acquisitions to change management and organizational development.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I’ve been a consultant my entire career. I knew I wanted to become a management consultant while in college. As a first-generation college student, I had never heard of consulting as a career until I was working at my first corporate internship. My boss at the time asked me to bring some files to some folks in a conference room having a meeting and the room was full of consultants working on a project. I was immediately intrigued and drawn into the group, they didn’t even notice I had been standing there for five minutes. I had no idea what they were doing, but they seemed really passionate, working together, and really polished.
I spent the rest of my summer internship getting to know them, learning about consulting, and by the end, instead of focusing on getting ready to interview for a full-time job as a marketer, I decided I was going to become a consultant. Twenty years later, I have never looked back. Fast forward, my consulting work now is focused on a subject matter that is personally meaningful and while it can be challenging, DEI consulting brings me a lot of joy and purpose.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Every day we are working with our clients to help them create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces. Everything about what we do is disruptive. We are focused on helping our clients challenge the status quo in a way that aligns with the business strategy while helping all (not some) of their workforce feel seen, heard, and appreciated.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I started my company by accident! My former employer told me that they didn’t see a market for DEI consulting work (in 2019). I had done extensive research and at the time, DEI was an $8 billion industry so the numbers told me that I was on to something. I had already built up experience in this space for more than a decade, so I decided to take the plunge and go for it.
But when I started, I created a website and business cards that showcased how I offered more than 12 different services across any industry, from diversity work to HR to project management to operations strategy! And while yes, I did have experience in all of these spaces, it was complete insanity to think I was going to be able to successfully offer all of these services, especially as a one-woman company at that time. The lesson here is that in business, you cannot try to be all things to all people. Refine what you do. Find what you offer that is uniquely valuable. What sets you apart? This is much more strategic than offering endless services.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I’ve had some amazing mentors along my journey. One of my mentors (also my former supervisor and now a very successful entrepreneur) gave me the best advice about always fixing things while they are good in your business, whether that is deepening client relationships, building financial capacity, or refining internal processes. It’s more expensive to try and fix things when they are broken. It was brilliant advice and has kept me focused on making sure I leave time to work on the business instead of always being in the business.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Being disruptive in and of itself is neither good nor bad. It just is. I think it really depends on the intent of your disruption that gives your efforts meaning. For example, if you are seeking to disrupt solely for the purpose of making money or building power, disruption may not be deemed positive because your intent, thoughts, and actions ultimately are not from a positive place. Disruptive from an ego driven space will create confusion, arguments, and divisiveness. Depending on how influential a person seeking to disrupt is, this can be a dangerous combination.
However, if a person is being disruptive intentionally from a place of creating positive impact, helping people feel seen or heard, or serving underrepresented communities, I believe that this disruption (while challenging), will be met with longer-term success.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
- Own your journey. Know that you are 1,000% accountable for what happens in your business, which means being a no-compromise leader (even when it’s unpopular).
- Define success on your own terms. When I first started my business, I thought success meant having a lot of employees in different offices across the nation.
- Know the financial story of your business. Even if you have CPAs and bookkeepers, you should know the financial performance of your company at all times to help inform your decision making.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
I hopefully will be ready to release my next book within the next year. The working title is called, “Why great people quit good jobs: 10 ways to create a progressive, high performing, and radically inclusive culture.” Between the pandemic, raising a 2-year-old, managing my family, and running a business, it’s been a challenge!
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
I will speak about “double sworded” challenges faced specifically by Black women disruptors. There is a narrative that Black women are usually strong and bold, oozing with confidence. And this “superwoman” narrative creates unnatural expectations by some and threatens others. In parallel, some individuals see being a Black woman as a major deficit and as a result, others underestimate or doubt our capabilities. Black women disruptors are constantly walking an imaginary tightrope and having to navigate multiple perceptions along the way.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra was a game-changer for me. I really internalized the law of detachment in all areas of my life. While I continued to be ambitious, work hard, and have dreams, being detached on the journey to those outcomes has become a superpower that has served me well throughout my life.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I believe that most major movements start with one person doing something really simple extraordinarily well. I would like to see more people take an active role in helping restore our planet to healthier conditions. Just like there is an “Earth Day” when people turn off lights to observe the holiday, I would like to do a “Tree/Plant Day” where every family around the world takes a moment on one of the last days of each year to either plant a tree, flower, or shrub in an area that needs greenery and spend the next full year taking care of that tree, flower, or shrub. Then repeating the cycle. Imagine what we could collectively do in less than a decade. While I’m sure there are more factors to consider with such a movement and more guidance to be provided in each region to keep an ecosystemic balance, it would be really powerful over time.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My mom was into quotes and affirmations, so I have hundreds of quotes that I reference at different times. The one simple quote that keeps me grounded is “Always be creating.” Our emotional and physiological state is so critical to our well-being and what we can accomplish. I really believe that if we are constantly in a state of creation, lower frequencies such as insecurity, anxiety, and fear cannot coexist.
How can our readers follow you online?
Thank you!!
- You can check me out on LinkedIn @christielindor, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram @christielindor1
- To learn more about my company, go to www.tessiconsulting.com.
- To learn more about my passion for consulting, check out my archived podcast at www.mecemuse.com.
Thank you for these excellent insights. We wish you continued success in your great work.
Christie Lindor Of Tessi Consulting: “Here Is How Diversity Can Increase a Company’s Bottom Line” was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
