Smart Business Magazine, January 2014

Winter 2014 Smart Business Philadelphia 13 Born Wilmington Del Education Bachelors degree in psychology and a minor in business West Chester University of Pennsylvania West Chester Pa Did you want to be a psychologist No but its not totally unrelated to what I do I think I learned more through my experience of owning this business than I would in a degree I just met with a bunch of alumni from West Chester and it was a great college But what it teaches you is the basics Its all up to you on how to apply it in life What was your very first job I used to cut my neighbors flowers and sell them on a little card table until my neighbor started yelling at me for selling their flowers Who has been the most influential person in your life My mother She just passed away in June You prepare yourself all your life for the departure of your parents In my eulogy to my mother I said that she used to say to me Where did you come from It was in a funny way In the eulogy I said I came from the essence of you because of her strength and her sensibility A lot of who I am my tenacity my sense of center and balance it all comes from her NAME JANICE LEONE TITLE PRESIDENT AND CEO COMPANY CORPORATE INTERIORS The Leone File Many workplace cultures are going through dramatic changes as companies seek more open workspaces and collaborative working environments Its what Corporate Interiors is all about but Leone is still conscious of the need to manage a culture whether its that of her customer or for her own business The more you make it open and collaborative the byproduct of that is more potential for disruption and distraction Leone says There is a huge and delicate balance between creating these environments Leone was thinking about culture when she made the decision to not make significant staff reductions she thinks about it with her customers and she thinks about it with her company going forward in 2014 The human spirit is very important to me Leone says The encouragement and recognition of people and the total engagement of our leadership group is very important to me I believe in contact leadership Sometimes I refer to it as post heroic leadership The lead positions are heavily engaged in the journey and the work They are able to roll up their sleeves and get intimately involved Leone is happiest when everyone is working together and feels empowered to meet the challenges that the company faces And she wants people to feel comfortable being who they are and not to feel like they have to put on a show in order to impress her or the companys clients We have a 100000 square foot operational center outside Wilmington Leone says We take clients through for a facility tour Our warehouse supervisor says to me Janice Im not a presenter I said I dont want you to be a presenter Tell them what you make a living doing and what you are so good at doing Hes been with me 15 years and clients gravitate toward the genuine nature of people not through some contrived formula or saying something because they think they have to The best people to present to our clients are the people who are natural at it They are not there to give a canned speech