April 13, 2016

Cynthia Hardy Young: From a Public Housing Project To Global Business Success

34 minutes

In today’s podcast, Maribeth interviews Cynthia Hardy Young, former C-Suite executive, and now founder and CEO of Pivot Global Partners, a global consulting firm that has helped to raise company performance in many organizations. After her start growing up in a public housing project to global business success, Cynthia truly inspires.

Learn about the importance of customer connection in making tailor-fit solutions for companies in different fields, and the value of diversity in innovation and success in business.

Hear her speak about the struggles and triumphs as she established her own company after years of experience in the corporate sector. She also discusses her own opinions on diversity, and how she believes that creating opportunities for all kinds of people helps ensure that a company get its fair share from an existing market. Listen as she discusses her thoughts on why diversity is a compelling and necessary factor for any organization today.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to establish a successful international business catering to a niche market.

• Why setting a culture and environment with high standards and professionalism is important for any organization.

• The importance of having a fundamental understanding of clients in order to find the right kinds of solutions to the challenges they face.

• What diversity can offer in terms of getting a company’s fair share of a certain market.

Tweetables:

• We work to understand the wants and needs of the customers, then unleash the creativity of their employees, tapping them to come up with solutions.

• We have a very high standard that we have to attain and maintain in the marketplace, and that means we’re doing business for today and for the long-term.

• You have to hold the people in your organization accountable for ensuring that it’s not just activity around diversity, it’s about the outcome.

• It goes back to people and talent. In the diversity space, it’s a platform in which you build to get to even larger excellence within your business.

Big Takeaways:

• It can be challenging to start a new venture, so it is good to first give it a lot of thought and look at the markets carefully to see if there’s a niche opportunity available. It is also important to begin with a foundation of excellence and professionalism that will help the organization thrive in the long-term.

• Helping clients does not always mean pursuing the paths, products, and services that they believe will help their company. It is about really understanding your customer’s organization and having a fundamental understanding of things like what your customers want in the market and what trends are happening at that particular time.

• Understanding and applying diversity in organizations is not necessarily about social good. It is also about bringing in the best people to your organization and making sure that innovation is happening with all these people.