Companies
that invest in their employees know personal development translates into
organizational success.
Not
surprisingly, the list of corporate clients that have turned to longtime
management consultant Dr. Kay Potetz for leadership training is vast. Think
Cleveland Clinic, Marriott International, Marathon Petroleum Corporation,
Rubbermaid, Kent State University, the American Lung Association, and more.
After
hearing her speak, people within these organizations would ask Kay if she’d
written her ideas down. For a long time, the answer was
no. Kay had a huge barrier to overcome before she could publish the first two
books in her personal leadership trilogy: her own self-described “stinkin’
thinkin.’”
Negative
self-talk in the form of “I’m not a writer; how can I do this?” gave her a
decade’s worth of trouble. This experience was not merely frustrating, Kay
reveals. It was the worst part of crafting and publishing her two books.
Yet Kay
persevered. Eventually, like many authors, she found that the process of
writing was in fact a creative one. She explains, “Now I’m always interested in
seeing what emerges as I write.”
With the
aide of a writing coach, Kay published the acclaimed Take It Back: The Personal Power You Give Away Each Day in 2012 and
Don’t Ever Let It Go: Hanging on to Your
Personal Power in the Turmoil of the Twenty-first Century in 2017. She
expects to publish her third book, What’s
Your Part in It?, in 2019.
What she
found was that being a published author promptly gave her presence and
authority. She explains, “People think you’re brilliant if you’ve written a
book. It gives you an immediate air and makes your business more acceptable.”
Now
semi-retired but still in demand for her leadership training seminars and management
expertise, Kay finds it convenient to sell her books at conferences and
lectures, through her website at drkkp.com, and in eBook form on Kindle and
Amazon.
She
expects to begin her third book in early 2018, again with the help of her
writing coach. She took out an ad in Psychology
Today to publicize her first two books. This time, she’s considering hiring
a marketing firm to help with promotion.
She muses,
“People are thrilled to associate with those who have written a book. That’s
why I tell first-time business book authors, ‘Don’t give up. Don’t let your own
stinkin’ thinkin’ prevent you from putting your ideas down on paper.” She adds,
“Like me, you might be surprised at what a difference it makes in terms of your
credibility and in meeting the expectations of your clients.”
Kay’s
advice to organizations—“Invest in your employees … Invest in yourself!”—are
words she clearly takes to heart.
