How is the love in your life alive in your work?

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Amy Langer is the kick-off speaker for the 2014 Good Leadership Breakfast this Friday.
Amy Langer is the kick-off speaker for the 2014 Good Leadership Breakfast this Friday.

Amy Langer is a fiery leader who will melt the subzero Minnesota funk this Friday at the Good Leadership Breakfast. That’s also Valentine’s Day, so why not come out and meet a good leader who will talk about how following the love in her personal and professional life paved the way for her success and happiness?

The Good Leadership Breakfast has moved to Edina Country Club, in Edina, Minnesota.  Please consider this an invitation to join us for Breakfast on Friday to meet Amy Langer.

A quick Google Search for “Amy Langer, Salo” delivers more than 3.5 million hits – including an endless list of business awards she and co-founder John Folkstad won since founding the non-traditional financial and HR staffing firm, Salo. She put herself on an award-winning career path as a small farm girl who won the Reserve Grand Champion with her Guernsey “Marci” at the Michigan State Fair. The picture sits on her desk as a reminder she can do anything she sets her heart to.

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Farm girl Amy, with her award-winning cow Marci. The smile on her face says: "Look out world, here I come."
Young Amy, with her award-winning cow Marci. The smile on her face says: “Look out world, here I come.”

Here’s my quick summary of that Google search: farm girl, Michigan State graduate, former CPA turned award-winning entrepreneur and recession-survivor, who is also an active mother, sports fanatic, marathon runner and power community volunteer.

A closer look reveals she comes from a hearty family of Michigan farmers who knew how to share the joys of a good life together.

What caught my attention most was the joy and passion she radiated in person, over the phone and through a series of playful text messages. On her corporate bio, she claims her favorite thing about Salo is: “Celebrating anything – small and large, I love how we appreciate and celebrate at any chance!”

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Amy with a joyous group of young MSU Spartan fans, ready for a Rose Bowl victory.
Amy with a joyous group of young MSU Spartan fans, ready for a Rose Bowl victory.

Lately, she celebrated a prosperous 2013 at work and her first trip to see Michigan State’s Rose Bowl victory. But her journey hasn’t been all that rosy.

“The courage it took to break away and start Salo with my partner John paled in comparison to how hard it was to hang on through the downturn,” she explained. Like so many other good leaders the Great Recession of 2008 chipped away at her personal and professional resilience. “But like every other challenge in my life, I found my way forward by focusing my energy on what I love to do,” she reflected. “That may sound too simple, but it’s been the key to every good thing that’s come my way – both personally and professionally.”

The process of selecting speakers for the Good Leadership Breakfast is one of the things I truly love about my work: there are so many good leaders with great stories to choose from!  Selecting Amy Langer was easy because she demonstrates how to blend together her passions in ways I hope my daughters will emulate when they grow up. And I just adore this picture she sent me of herself and her grandmother. IMG_0474

Good leaders make a habit of blending their personal and professional lives around what they love.  And they stay focused on that love, especially when things get really rough.

So how is the love in your life alive in your work?

PS: I hope you get to hug your grandmother for Valentines Day.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

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