We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dorine Andrews. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dorine below.

Dorine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

As an entrepreneur for much of my career, success had three components – (1) creativity and discovery, (2) positive impacts on organizations and people, and (3) the freedom to decide how, when and with whom I work.

I refused to bend to the expectations of others or their rules. I grabbed unexpected opportunities and pursued that which filled me with enthusiasm and excitement, disregarding my own fears of failure. I had to be honest with myself about my strengths and weaknesses, constantly listening and learning, then adjusting and reinventing.

My career provided me with financial independence but not wealth. You wouldn’t find me in Forbes or among the entrepreneurs who turned their talents to power and wealth. They are very different animals, quite frankly. My path was different. In the 1970s women faced hurdles men never imagined. I couldn’t a open bank account, obtain a credit card in my own name, or qualify for a mortgage without a male co-signer. What I would become wasn’t clear, but I knew I would never be a contented homemaker, assistant, or secretary. Mom cautioned me when I took typing in high school. “Don’t tell anyone in a job interview that you type,” she said. In the end, typing was a critical skill in my first job that led to computer programming.

When Dad lost his corporate job after 25 years at age 47, I saw that loyalty to the “boss” was no guarantee of success. Later, that made my decision to walk away from a 12 year corporate career easy. I struggled for a time, living off savings, driving a stick-shift bare-bones Toyota and eating my share of Ramon noodles. I slowly developed the necessary business skills to market, sell and communicate, and found a business partner. When she asked, “What happens if we can’t convince anyone to hire with us?” I responded, “Well, we can always wait tables or start over.” We did neither. We persisted, turning men’s negative belief, “You’re just women. What do you know that we don’t know already,” into a positive one because they also believed us to be non-threatening. So we found a brave few who said, “Let’s give these ladies a try”.

Someone once asked me, “Why don’t you grow your little consulting business into a larger government contracting operation. There’s tons of money to be made. All you need is a financial partner to help push the growth. My reply was simple. “I don’t equate success with money and power. Leading a small high performing team of people and working directly with customers is the most satisfying for me.” That is my success. That belief carried me throughout the rest of my working life.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Airline Attendant. At 21, my protective Midwestern parents and my frustration with the traditional homemaker-wife path were suffocating me. I quit college, not to run away but to run toward something. As an Airline stewardess [attendant], I found an independent lifestyle, security in my uniform and a glamorous profile. It was exhilarating. Within a year I learned to connect with people. It became my passion to engage with people of all ages and backgrounds, in all types of situations.

Technologist. In 1970, I snagged a technical clerk job to support a sea of electrical engineers, by punching and running card decks between the engineeering programmers and the main frame operations room. Within six months, my office buddies started teaching me computer programming. Twelve years later, I was at corporate headquaters in a division manager role, orchestrating operational planning, developing methodologies for systems design and implementation, particpating in business transformation efforts, and earning degrees in psychology and business.

Business Innovator. After smashing my head against the glass ceiling multiple times, I left restrictive corporate life. Over a period of 25 years, I co-founded two technology/business transformation consulting practices. Leveraging my technology, business expertise and organizational know-how, my partners and I developed and applied a novel methodology that merged information engineering principles and facilitated group decision making. Our clients included many industrial, financial, and manufacturing companies as well as federal agencies.

Intrepid sailor. In 1980, when I first stepped onto a sailboat I was enraptured by the freedom of being in the open air and on the water. In 1989, it culminated in a six-month work sabbatical, sailing as first mate on a 40’ boat down the Atlantic coast, then to the Bahamas and back. It was a mind blowing experience, giving me the skills, inner strength and confidence to dream about captaining my own boat one day.

Research professor. In 1998, the internet exploded onto the scene, provoking my return to university. Research and teaching grabbed me. My research demonstrated how the marriage of culture, technology and language will transform the workplace. Over four years, I taught at two univeristies after earning a doctorate in Communications Design.

Chief Information Officer (CIO). One colleague’s conversation led to another, and I became the Peace Corps CIO, a global federal agency from 2010-2015. My IT teams modernized the agency’s network of headquarters and 65 worldwide offices , designed global databases and common applications.

Seasoned Sailboat Owner. At 69, I took the helm of a 15 year old, 46’ ocean worthy sailboat. With my husband as first mate and my female marine mechanic, we lived aboard for a year traveling the Atlantic coast and Bahamas. Nothing ever tested me so much, both physically and mentally. I never regretted a moment of it but I don’t own a boat any more.

Author and Blogger. In 2006, I started blogging. In 2017 I started writing historical fiction, inspired by my family history and I continue to greet each morning with energy and drive.

Any advice for managing a team?

As CIO I was challenged to modernize IT across 65 offices world-wide to improve data quality and eliminate the costly complexity of unique solutions that had evolved over years. My vision was simple – deliver a high quality IT engineered product that can be maintained easily by local offices’ in-country IT staff. I named “IT in a box”. At the announcement, my headquarters IT engineering staff rebelled. They told me that I was not an hardware or networking engineer, so I couldn’t comprehend the complexities; there was no way a standard solution could be installed across the broad range of physical and environmental conditions; and the offices’ IT local staff didn’t have the talent to maintain it once installed. Customized solutions had to be developed, delivered by HQ IT engineers through a continual multi-year replacement cycle. They took great pride in their services. It was the only way they said.

I had to turn their attitudes from “Can’t do” to “Yes, we can.” I identified several key engineers, who if I could change their mind set, the rest of the HQ IT staff would likely follow. I said, “Imagine you’re members of a company’s product development team. You’ve been tasked to ensure the company’s existing customers buy new products (the current ones need replacing) while simultaneously reducing costs. If you fail, the company may fail.” I then described, from my experience, several situations where this product approach was operating successfully. Could they compete with that? I challenged them to do the same.

The HQ engineers stopped complaining and started listening. They dug in, took ownership of the product concept, stopped assuming “they knew better”, identified requirements by listening and consulting with the offices’ IT staff, and then designed their first “IT in a box” product. Within six months it was ready along with a strategy for roll-out around the world in months, not continually over two years. Instead of HQ engineers traveling to the offices, IT local office
staff came into HQ. They were trained in how to execute all aspects of new product delivery, installation and operations. The HQ and 65 local IT staff merged into a single integrated team of product experts and their IT customers. It changed the culture.

Have you ever had to pivot?

My career was a series of continual pivots. I’ve always been driven by curiosity and challenge. If I lacked knowledge or skill, I recognized it and educated myself. I paused college to explore. I took stop gap jobs. I pivoted away from working inside corporations because I struggled against its constraints and its politics. I pivoted to partner in entrepreneurial ventures because I needed counterbalance and support to ensure flexibility and sound decision making. I pivoted to university mid-career to integrate internet technology into my work with positive results. I taught for four years to test myself in academia. Throughout my career, I listened to my “gut” when something no longer felt quite right. I didn’t retire, I pivoted, learning how to write fiction, instead of business proposals, and books. I sought not notoriety, but personal satisfaction.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dorineandrews.com
• Instagram: dandrews_author
• Facebook: Dorine Andrews – Books & Blogs
• Linkedin: Dorine Andrews