Helen Orloff, Founder & CEO of Right Choice Consulting and Training Services

It's 30 minutes past the hour. "Success is when preparedness meets opportunity" - Steven Spielberg

Helen Orloff is in the studio with us this afternoon. I met Helen a few months back through a mutual associate, named Rod Colon. As one of my coaching clients, I have great respect for Helen as her zest for life mixed with a rock solid determination to succeeed and her excellent social networking skills insures her star will be continuously on the rise. Thanx for joining us in the studio today, Helen.

What is the name of your company and what products or services does it provide?
Right Choice Consulting and Training Services. Right Choice designs and provides innovative consulting services, seminars and workshops in the areas of diversity, disability policies and procedures, employee relations, and fund development.

For information on how Right Choice can help you make the right choices, email HMTOrloff@aol.com or call (917) 822-0287

What role do you play in your organization?
Founder, CEO, I write the curricula and facilitate conferences.

As a successful person, how did you get started?
Before starting my own company, I worked for organizations that I felt I would not have to compromise my focus and passion— companies where education, development and diversity were key to their mission. As far as what led me on the path of starting my own business, I am an out of the box thinker with a must do attitude and results oriented. I got tired of some of the bureaucracy and knew my own company was the way to go for me.

How did you learn what it takes to succeed?
I can not speak to how I learned to become successful as it is a continuing growth process. I don’t want anyone to think success is like a recipe. In my experience it’s not “get some of this, add a smidgen of that, and a pinch of luck, shake vigorously and presto you have the formula for success. But there are some key elements—a desire to learn, hard work and unfaltering tenacity are great qualities that one can build upon. Being open and not resistant is as must. I also believe you can say anything so long as it is tempered with tact. Arrogance (very different from confidence) is a deal breakers to prohibiting any success.

What personal/family activities do you enjoy?
Being a single mom my family activities focus around my son. He’s something else- 25 years old independent and a fine young man. Our schedules are hectic, so visiting with him, sometimes at the oddest hours, is always fun. It is wonderful to have a grown son at an age where I can really connect and understand his goals and challenges. He truly is the apple of my eye! Cooking for me is one outlet for my creative side while keeping it in the realm of healthy cuisine. I also enjoy home renovations, museums and traveling. I enjoy being a person who is open to new experiences so I would have to say activities in every realm from the corner diner to the beaches of Aruba.

What experiences in your life have helped you expand who you are as a person?
I was a “back into it” kind of person. I didn’t necessarily know what I wanted and by default was left to examine what was left. In my life I experienced many things I did not like which made me stretch to change them. I learned early on that taking a more proactive approach would be helpful. I did and still do self assessments. The daunting question I ask myself is what do you want to do about it? The actions needed for resolution or solution helps and continues to help me expand who I am as a person. I thrive on challenging myself.

What are your concerns about the world today?
The state of our race-Human! When did so many forget that we are all part of this world?
Diversity and inclusion is so important in every aspect of life. I also concerned about the working poor, teen issues, domestic violence, and the education of our youth.

If you had all the time and all the money you needed, what types of things would you do? - Consider money as no object.
In addition to traveling and being a very generous mom I would start a community of schools and universities, businesses, for and nonprofit, and support services organizations for at–risk teens. Taking a holistic approach for creating change, teens would gain an education, have business experience and the support needed to keep motivated and productive. Each entity would have an “I get it” mission recognizing that everyone does not flourish within “standardized methods.” The goal of these components would be to act as a unit to in creating curricula and technical business experiences and opportunities for the students. When “graduation” ensues, teens have been nurtured, are savvy to the business community and have technical skills so they can contribute to society. At-risk teens far too often are written off. In my experience it’s the system has failed them not the kids failing within the system!

Are there any tips or advice you would like to offer people?
Be honest with yourself.
Remember that compassion is learned.
No need to be grandiose, your accomplishments and who you are will speak for themselves.
“I don’t know is an acceptable answer”- it allows for learning and teachable moments.
Give back-always.

Are people more interesting than product stories?
Always!

What are your goals and aspirations for the future?
My aspirations can be summed up in a brief fashion— to achieve all that I want for myself. I hope it is never truly fulfilled which will leave room for me to continue to challenge myself both professionally and personally.

What obstacles do you have to overcome to achieve your goals?
As I “raise the bar” on challenges for myself, both in business and personally, it is to remain focused and grounded and continue to develop strategies to reach my goals. It is great to have goals. But goals without a strategy on how to obtain them is like eating a decadent cupcake with a cold. You know it is good—but you can’t taste it

Which people have been role models to you?
As a youngster, it would have to be my family. In a very different way they laid a foundation for who I became. As a teenager, two teachers come immediately to mind. They afforded me the opportunity to challenge the system, learn in an unconventional way and they were always there to support me when I was correct and provide guidance when I wasn’t! Thank you Ms. Hobson and Mr. Reddick, I will be forever grateful. As an adult, wow, that gets a bit sticky. I don’t think I had or have role models as much as I looked for and continue to seek mentors. Oh, I can mention Ghandi and other individuals who have inspired me. However, mentors are very different. You can admire characteristics about an individual and seek to model them. But with mentorship you have an opportunity to bring your own style to the behavior or characteristic you wish to incorporate within yourself.

What are your favorite books, computer programs, or forms of entertainment?
I love to read but my all time favorite books are Down These Mean Streets and Dibs In Search of Self Entertainment for me is socializing with friends and colleagues, the theater, movies (no horror films for me), going to the ballet which I love, pool playing (although I stink at it) and enjoying various local activities in the cities I am in at the time.

What is it that you are most passionate about or gives you the greatest enjoyment in life?
When I facilitate a conference I get jazzed watching that “aha” moment people have when they “get it. That moment that leads to a shift in their perspective. It is the greatest feeling in the world because you know and more importantly they know they have gained information and can not go back to their old way of seeing or doing things. What a sense of empowerment they feel- it’s wonderful to be a part of that process.

Ted Santos, Chief Thinking Officer of Worldwide Corporate Communications, Inc.

It's 10 minutes before the hour. "The will to win is worthless if you do not have the will to prepare."- Thane Yost

I have the distinct honor of having Ted Santos in the studio this morning. Ted and I met as members of the NY State Technonology Council Board of Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA). Since we first met, I have always been very impressed with Ted's innovative creativity for improving organizational performmance on a continuous basis. It's a pleasure having you in the studio today, Ted.

What is the name of your company and what products or services does it provide?
The name of the company is Worldwide Corporate Communications, Inc. We are in the business of inventing the future. We coach, train and advice businesses to think differently and capitalize on unrealized opportunities (avoid missing opportunities). We also advice them to develop infrastructures to support future growth, like financial strategies, risk analysis, marketing, operations efficiencies, legal advice, sales training, leadership development, and implementing appropriate HR structures.

What role do you play in your organization?
I am the president and founder of the organization. My colleagues may refer to me as the Chief Thinking Officer. I am committed to leading the organization in thinking and creating something new, instead of doing the past in a way that appears more, better or different. When it comes to working with clients, I provide leadership development services for senior management. I also play a significant role in developing new business.

As a successful person, how did you get started?
I worked for a number of consulting firms and have experience turning around troubled companies. While working for my last employer, which was an executive coaching firm, as good as the firm was, I saw a few things missing. What was missing was once management creates a new paradigm for growing their business, it is imperative to build an infrastructure to support new growth. When I saw the opportunity to build an organization that provided a holistic approach, I made the decision to start my own company.

How did you learn what it takes to succeed?
Studying is part of it. However, a clear commitment as to what I wanted to accomplish and a desire to take risks is what allowed me to succeed in my career. Commitment, risk taking and discipline are things that I learned at a young age. Much of it was learned by playing sports, where commitment was necessary to succeed. However, without discipline to practice and learn the sport and the insight to take calculated risks, I would not have succeeded as an athlete. Those same principles have guided me in my professional life.

What personal/family activities do you enjoy?
Since I lost my parents 20 years ago, I have developed more of a parent relationship with my grandparents. My grandfather is well versed in current events. I enjoy speaking with him about business and political events. With regard to my personal time, I have a passion for travel. I have lived in Mexico, Costa Rica and Belize. I have traveled to places as remote as Greenland and Iceland. Travel is a great opportunity to learn things that I do not know and to see myself in unknown environments.

What experiences in your life have helped you expand who you are as a person?
The first was the death of my parents. I am the oldest of four children. At the age of 21, I immediately took leadership in the family. I took care of my youngest sister and learned a new level of responsibility.The other experience was becoming a business owner. I am responsible for everything. There is no one to blame except myself when things don't go as well as I expect. Ultimately, my performance drives my income. In addition, I learned the true meaning of "no man is an island". As a business owner, I have a different value for building a network of support. I learned the importance of allowing others to contribute to me.

What are your concerns about the world today?
I am most concerned about the way people communicate with one another. I believe that most conflict in the world could be averted if people communicated in a way that promoted compassion. Equally as important as compassion, is to listen to people in a way that leaves the other person with a feeling of being understood, even if you don't agree with them. Many wars, marriages and jobs could be saved if people learned to communicate more effectively.

If you had all the time and all the money you needed, what types of things would you do?
I would travel more extensively. That way, I could learn about other cultures in the world and what makes a culture successful or unsuccessful. That would give me greater insight into what works when developing effective communication.

Are there any tips or advice you would like to offer people?
I encourage travel. You will experience aspects of life that your birthplace cannot provide. As a result, you will learn new things about yourself and you get to see that there is more than one way to accomplish things.

What are your goals and aspirations for the future?
My aspiration is to create a business model that currently does not exist. The model will become a marketable service for my company. The goal is to use the model as an effective service for clients. In addition to providing services, I am interested in taking equity positions in small to medium sized businesses. That will allow my organization take an active role in growing other businesses whether we keep existing management in place or take over management ourselves. Ultimately, as an organization, we are interested in buying several companies in the same industry, that way we have the option of selling the consolidated company as one new enterprise or doing an IPO (Initial Public Offering).

What obstacles do you have to overcome to achieve your goals?
The biggest obstacle is capital.The other obstacle is to get a group of brilliant business people to think completely out of the box and build a business model that is not necessarily predicated on what they know. Building the model to which I am committed requires my entire team to think things that they have never thought and think through periodic confusion, while staying united as a team.

Which people have been role models to you?
This is the most difficult question for me. I have not used role models in the sense people think of role models. I do, however, ask myself how another person would handle a situation. For example, when my parents died, I asked myself: What would my father do in this situation? Outside of that, I have been my own role model. I suppose that is a longer and much riskier road. I am often left with the question: Who do I want to be? After that, it is up to me to take actions to be that person. Most often my strategy for taking action is done without a blue print to follow.

What are your favorite books, computer programs, or forms of entertainment?
Some of my favorite books are "Good to Great", "Communication Catalyst" by Mickey Connolley and "Being and Time" by Martin Heidegger.As for entertainment, I enjoy plays, I exercise and I enjoy training and competing for bicycle races.

What is it that you are most passionate about or gives you the greatest enjoyment in life?
I would have to say traveling.