Joan Tishkevich, Corporate Vice President & Core Themes Graduate
"The Core Themes process validated my desires and gave me the confidence to see that I was well suited for the work I wanted to do. As a result I understood how important m y Core Themes were in finding true success and happiness.”
Joan Tishkevich, Corporate Vice President
Balancing family and work: Is it possible?
Joan Tishkevich left a fabulous career to find the right combination
Reprinted from the
Maine Women’s Journal
Summer 2006 Issue
By Elizabeth Elder
MWJ Editorial Coordinator
Skeptics told Joan Tishkevich she was chasing an impossible dream. She wanted a full-time job that she loved, and she wanted to be an involved parent and community volunteer. She wanted it all. There must be sacrifices, the skeptics said. Make your choice, as we all must do, they told her. But Joan believed in her dream and was determined to make it come true.
For eighteen years she worked for L.L. Bean, in management for merchandising systems. It was a secure position on a career track that would take her far. She traveled around the world looking at manufacturing facilities and inspecting production. A few years ago, pregnant with her second child, she was returning from a company trip to Turkey, when she had a talk with herself. Her work for L.L. Bean had been a wonderful experience. “It was a great company to grow up in,” she said. But she knew something was missing. Her children would be growing fast and she did not want to miss out on their childhood.
Joan and her family live in Kennebunk. For nearly two decades, she commuted to Freeport and her husband commuted to Boston, working some days at home. When his career changed and he needed to be in Massachusetts five days a week, Joan found the hour drive to Freeport got harder, and her workdays, and time away from the children, were long. She was not home for school plays and parties. She donated financially to charitable causes, but wanted to be a hands-on participant in her community.
She had a job she loved in a company she respected. It would have been easy to stay with L.L. Bean, she said. But Joan would not settle for less than what she believed was possible. She left the company in July 2005, walking away from a secure future and taking with her only some ideas about what would be coming next for her.
Joan got in touch with Ray Inglesi of Core Themes, Inc. in Portland. The company offers tests and studies for people who want to make career changes that will satisfy their core needs and abilities. Joan said the process validated her desires and gave her confidence that she was well suited for the work she wanted to do. She wanted flexibility, autonomy, a professional environment, and the variety that a small business, or an entrepreneurship, could provide. She considered becoming a project consultant for businesses and began to network in the Kennebunk area.
It was networking, she said, and not the interview process, that put her in touch with principals at Salem Capital Group and its parent company Hissong Development Corporation. Joan is now director of corporate development and marketing for Salem Capital Group and works on projects for several companies under the Hissong umbrella. Her hours are her own. She takes her son to kindergarten before work and is home before her daughter, a fourth-grader, steps off the bus from school. She is a United Way volunteer and attends school functions whenever they come up.
Joan said she sometimes works at home, because she loves her work. And she has defied the skeptics. She has a full time job on terms that suit her interests, the needs of her young family, and the needs of the companies she works for. Her workday may be shorter than the eight-to-five concention of the past, but it is not less full. There is less time spent in meetings or on urgent but unimportant work, Joan said, and more opportunity to focus on tasks that make a difference.
“There is something empowering and motivating about feeling like you do have that balance between your family and your work, that you are definitely focused,” she said. She agrees that employers in many areas of business should take note. Managers, owners and administrators who want enthusiasm and energy from their staff should take a look at what is working.
Oh, and don’t tell Joan Tishkevich you can’t have it all.
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Joan Tishkevitch