(Continued from My Career Path)

Much of the skill sets that I use today as a professional organizer, I learned from these positions:

Global Operations

While working in Asia, I established a professional network that went on to become the largest of its kind, with 19 chapters and 45,000 members across Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.

With only 1 FTE, we were able to expand worldwide because we got the entire operation down to a science – SOPs, event checklists, web tools, you name it.

Energy & Flow

I have always been sensitive to the way that rooms flow.

But my ability to read a room really kicked in from my many years as global coordinator of these events.

Of the 1,000+ events we held, I attended about 90 of them, always studying the venues and how they affected group dynamics.

If venues weren’t conducive to conversation and interaction – if they were too narrow, too open, too dark, too bright, had too much furniture or all the wrong furniture – guests felt awkward, at best.

Because of this, I can now read a room in a matter of minutes.

Furniture & Product Design

I was a product and design editor for four years at the World Trade Center in Taipei, Taiwan.

Part of my job was to summarize publications about the latest furniture designs, product ideas, human factors and ergonomics. It helped shape my perspective as a professional organizer.

Processes & Procedures

I always thought I’d pursue a career in process reengineering because my brain is wired that way.

Though I never did, many of the jobs I did have involved creating or enhancing processes so employees – myself included! – could spend more time doing what they were hired to do instead of cumbersome administrative work that was often frustrating and unnecessary.