7. Effective Urgency with Cathilea Robinett

Cathilea Robinett, the President (now CEO) of e.Republic and Center for Digital Government, has her finger on the pulse of government leaders. She built the platform that informs their thinking when it comes to digital government. 

Cathilea’s sense of urgency fuels her ability to build an incredible business with what many consider to be one of the toughest markets: State and local governments. In this episode of HiPERleadership, you’ll hear how Cathilea uses this HiPER (High-impact Performer) trait to drive productivity and engage her team to achieve ground-breaking success.

Transcript

David Morris  00:10

Thank you for joining the HiPER leadership Podcast. I am your host, David Morris, CEO and founder of HiPER solutions, where we provide tools and services to help drive change that creates lasting impact for Fortune 500, government, and private equity companies. In this series, we have set out to define the key attributes of a high impact performer, or as we call them, HiPER leaders, so that you, our listeners, can more quickly identify your next game-changing leader for your next big transformation. When we talk HiPER leadership, we're really talking about a mindset for driving outstanding results. Being mission-driven out of the box thinking, engaged listening, and rebounding from failures are the attributes we've covered in past episodes. Today, my guest is Cathilea Robinett, President of  E.Republic, where she oversees operations for the company's award-winning media platforms, governing, government technology, emergency management and others. What makes Cathilea distinct in her approach to HiPER leadership is her sense of urgency. Welcome, Cathilea. 

Cathilea Robinett

Thank you, David. It's great to be here. 

David Morris

Cathilea, as we've gotten to know each other over the years, one of the things that I have been struck by is this calmness when we interact, yet it seems to be an intensity to get things done in your mind. And I'm so curious to unpack that today.

Cathilea Robinett  01:41

Well, thank you. Good. I'm glad I'm giving that off. I do have a calmness and there is always a sense of urgency for sure. 

David Morris  02:00

Great. You know, it's interesting as we were going back through your background, and you know, seeing some of the breakthrough successes. There was one example in particular that I thought would be great for the audience to hear about it. I think it was back in 2000. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about what you are tapped on the shoulder to do and the significance to the country as you talk about the mission of your organization for state and local government? 

Cathilea Robinett  03:00

Well, sure, so back before 2000, I actually was the Chief of Staff for the company. I was doing a variety of things: marketing, design, running our events that were starting up at that point. And our CEO came to me, we had launched a new part of the company, a center for digital government that was really supposed to be on the sales side for the folks who carry the bag, and really developing tools. He came to me because we had started actually in 1998, and it just hadn't gone well. It was not going the way that he wanted it to. So, he tapped me and asked me and I said sure. Which is part of my whole thing as a leader, and took it over in the beginning of 2000. When I took it over, I always like to say we had five customers, they were not happy. I had to go make them happy. And then I had to hit the ground running; creating a new product, doing quality assurance, selling it myself, creating the vision and selling something new. So, this is a sales tool. It's our government navigator that we still have to this day, but no one had it in their budget. Marketing didn't really understand it. And I would really have to get to the head of sales for state and local government to really talk about this. So, it was a wild year and literally that year I hit the ground running and went from place to place, company to company, and sold my heart out and really created a new product that really hadn't been created before. So, it was a wild time. And there was just a sense of urgency because there was a team there that needed to function. And we needed to succeed, because as a company, we were not that big in those days. So, there was a lot riding on this moment and this year.

David Morris  

You know, in terms of what activates your urgency, one thing we have found with HiPER leaders is they're mission driven rather than politically driven. In fact, oftentimes, they'll go from assignment to assignment. They're almost unrelated assignments, but the common theme is: the mission matters to them. And I'm just curious, in terms of the mission you felt you were on when you were driving this, what was this going to ultimately do for state and local government if you were successful?

Cathilea Robinett  

You know, I love that David, it is true. I feel like my career has gone from, you know, one thing to the next thing. It's always on a mission. So, you know, back in the day, there was no information for industry on state & local government. So as a company, we have really created this market. And at the time, there was no research information. You couldn't find out anything about the market, let alone an RFP service, because of the way the government procures, finding out who the leadership is, how its organized, it's all based around technology, you know, technology was still relatively new. You were just getting your first Chief Information Officers at the state and local level in those days. So, you know, I really felt that to be good, industry really needed to understand this market. And we were really becoming the market evangelists. And, you know, I feel really proud of the fact that you were able to take companies from 0 to 60 and help them be really successful in this market and do great things for government, because overall our company mission is making government better. So, I was definitely a woman on a mission to bring government and the technology industry together to create better government. 

David Morris

That's a great story, you know, wondering what else you needed to activate that sense of urgency and what type of air cover you felt you had above and even blind spots, you know, what blind spots you may have had as you were on this quest? 

Cathilea Robinett  

Well, I had some good air cover for sure. Because as a company, it was a priority. You know, I think, blind spots: I had to kiss a lot of frogs, let's say. So, there wasn't really a market for this. And anytime you have to start something new, you run into a variety of barriers and walls. So, having to overcome that, having to create the budgets for that, and, you know, just my own knowledge of the industry. You know, I had been a little bit more on the government side, most of my career really, you know, working on programs and meeting with government officials and developing those relationships. And I had to pivot over to industry. And I remember the moment that I really pivoted, and really thought, how great this was to be able to help so many companies, that was a thing that I really had to overcome. And as soon as I really embraced that, and the power of that, and what that can do for the market, I think, for me that, that was the game-changer. 

David Morris  08:00

Great. Well, it's probably tough to some extent for the audience to understand the magnitude of this because, you know, so much gets done at the state and local level. Without collaboration with industry, so much less we get done, and this really became the enabler of it. And so, I find often times it's interesting when I hear these HiPER leadership stories, it can sort of just sound like business as usual. But this really was a game-changer, and anything else that just fundamentally changed the industry in your mind as a result?

Cathilea Robinett  08:12

 As a media company, we look at this word media, which means in the middle. And, you know, I think what we've tried to do as a company, and back in the day when I was running the Center for Digital government, was really bring the two together around best practices and great communication. So, at the time, we had launched the Digital State survey, where we ranked all 50 states on their use of technology. We also ranked the counties and the cities around the nation. And by being able to look at that, analyze that, showcase best practices, and bring the industry and government together, I think we've really just strengthened the technology fabric of the country, and you know, it's great talking to you because I don't think about these things, really, you know, these are things that I've just done along the way. And we as a company, it's part of our mission. But, you know, overall, creating that sense of industry and government coming together, you know, particularly in a time like now, here we are in a pandemic. And you know, it's still a great story because we all have to work together. And, you know, I think it's, it's a good story. 

David Morris

Well, for the audience to know how humble Cathilea is on this, I've heard this story through others as well and the speed at which she operated was really second to none. And I would like to take this now into today, the pandemic, it is July of 2020. And Cathilea, as president of a media company, how many people in the organization?

Cathilea Robinett

We have about...almost 200 people. 

David Morris

Okay, and coming into the pandemic, how many more events did you have scheduled for this year? 

Cathilea Robinett 

Well, we had 41 live events, just our digital government summits. We had some education events, and then we had national events. So probably total, we probably had 70 live events across the country scheduled, this was going to be our biggest year ever. 

David Morris

Okay, so think about this, you know, think about if you're an investor at a private equity firm, a chair of a board, public company, or venture capitalist, and you're saying, “Okay, what kind of HiPER leader do I need to be able to transform my business in a world that we live in today?” and I had the pleasure of connecting with Cathilea, at the beginning of the pandemic, where there was not yet a plan, there was a lot of discovery. And, I just cannot imagine the level of sense of urgency to take a 200+ person media company, okay, with lots of live events and having to pivot. Most people would say it's impossible. So many restaurant chains, etc. have just shut down because they just could not figure it out. So, I want to kind of think about urgency and how urgency came into play over the last few months, Cathilea, and how you deal with the fact that, you know, most people are just not going to quite have that sense of urgency. They'll have other great things to be part of the team. But when you have uber levels of this, how do you deal with the fact that others may not have that same feeling?

Cathilea Robinett  12:00

Yeah, those are great points and great questions. You know, I think it always starts with me, right? It started with me, because one morning, I got up and I read a quote, I read every morning, it's part of my routine. I found the perfect quote, about the state of affairs. And it just spoke to me about what I needed to do, and this literally put me into hyperdrive that morning. I'll never forget it. A lot of this was just gut instinct. And then that gut instinct of: I have got to move now, and we, as a company, have got to move now, because there's so much at stake. And then, from there, it went to information gathering. I think that that's such an important key to driving urgency with others because you have to make a compelling story, right? You have to put together your facts, and present this in a really compelling fashion. So, what I did is really went to the stakeholders of the company, and luckily, we have some sales leaders who had just become incredible evangelists, that we had to move now. And I used that passion to help me motivate the other teams that really needed to change quickly and move. And then once we surveyed our government customers and our colleagues out there, it really became clear that we were heading in this right direction of going virtual, and that pivot just became really vital for the company and it just put everyone into motion. The other thing that I did, because I believe in this, is I kept the pre-existing deadlines of all of our events, we had already moved our live events all starting in August, through December. I kept those events for virtual, just because we need deadlines. I think deadlines are powerful. Dates are there and then put together a program that we just launched. And I kept setting dates, like we're going to do a webinar launching the events here, we're going to send out an announcement to the entire market here. And that really drove that. And even if people weren't maybe as caught up in this urgency as me, they couldn't help but be swept along with that urgency based on dates and deadlines. And the fact that we had to pivot and we had to pivot now. 

David Morris  14:00

I think dates are a great example, [I would] love to get some other tactical ideas for you on this front. How did you deal potentially with some individuals that just literally you could not inspire that level of urgency on? I mean, would there be arguments, debates? Was there passive-aggressiveness? I mean, like, what, what would happen with those people that were dragging their feet? How did you deal with this? 

Cathilea Robinett  14:20

Great question. So, there were definitely debates, you can imagine, I went back and forth with various people. And for me, it always goes to gathering enough facts. People are pretty logical. We have a great team, if I can gather enough facts and paint a picture, that will communicate. And then, I will tell you something else that I did that some people I think, underestimate. I really embraced the team and really wanted to make sure that everyone felt secure, as a company, in this moment. You know, I was starting to see that people were coming apart a little bit. You know, we had been working at home now, we had never done that, most of us have never teleworked ever. And, I wanted to create a team and make everyone actually feel that they didn't have to be super stressed out. We were going to get through this. It was going to be a great moment. And I think painting that, even though that sounds the opposite, actually helped me with the urgency because I think when people went, Oh, okay, there's a lot of change. Lots of change going on right now. But we're good. And we're solid, and we're going to make this happen. So, I kept painting that hopeful picture, and that, believe it or not, really helped with the urgency piece because everyone came together. And that's really how you know, it's how we did it.

David Morris  16:00

It is so interesting. As you put that team together, were there any big surprises in terms of people that you may not have thought would have the urgency but something activated them; any lessons learned from that?

Cathilea Robinett  16:20

Yes, I had one sales leader that...she just came to the party. She's always been tremendous, but her leadership skills and her sense of urgency and her compelling information to me: I don't even know what to say. It was that powerful. And I give her a lot of credit, her enthusiasm, her gut instincts, the information she was getting from her clients. She's still like this. She's very hopeful. So, she had been a great leader, but something happened in her and she has become incredibly responsible for our company, the company's future, and where we're heading, and she is still enthusiastic. So, she was a big... not surprise, because she's always amazing, but, you know, I have a lot of admiration for that. And, you know, then I had a few other people who normally are, you know, strong and together, you know, who actually fell apart a little bit. And were having a bit of an issue kind of making this transition. And you know, I, I'm always about communication, more communication will help resolve anything, and just kept communicating. And now, we're four weeks away right now from our first virtual event, we still have a lot to pull off. And you can imagine the details we're in the middle of right now, but we've really come together as a team. And you know, now we have dates and deadlines, so there's no turning back. We've got to make this go. So, even a little bit more urgency right now. 

David Morris  18:00

I love it: dates and deadlines. Really. Huge takeaway in the communication. Couple other things as we unpack urgency further, as you think about other leaders in government. That you have been most inspired by, who were able to drive urgency: just curious what stands out to you and how they do it and, you know, in one of the most difficult environments to do it in government, maybe even somebody that was challenged early on, fell a number of times and then developed a good playbook on driving urgency. 

Cathilea Robinett

Yes, urgency is interesting in government. I think it depends on the time that you're serving, right? So, I think back to Mark Warner, who's now a United States senator out of Virginia, he became governor, and in Virginia, they only serve four-year terms. That's it, one four-year term. And to this day, it was so impressive to me: he really made a play on technology. He wanted to be number one in our digital state survey. And he doubled down in so many ways and was so urgent about that and laid out a plan. So, during those four years I watched him as a leader, just with his thoughtful ideas. He's incredibly smart. He had come from the tech sector. He picked the best people. That team was cracker jack. He was able to work hand-in-hand with the legislature, which was a Republican legislature. He was a Democrat, and he just had strong leaders. So, I've watched him do that. And he was very charismatic, and he was single-minded, and he pushed and pushed and pushed. So, I've seen that with him. I've seen that when other leaders when...when they come on board, and they have an agenda, and they are trying to drive things, and usually what I see is there has to be a single-mindedness, right? Government is responsible for so many things, so, you can't pick 10 different things you're going to do. You really have to pick a few and then double down, and the leaders that I've seen do that, you know really lean in heavily. There's Greg Fisher, who's the mayor of Louisville. He is one of my favorites as well. I've really watched him lean into very specific issues and do the same thing. It's actually the same attributes, hiring the right people, going kind of outside government a bit and bringing in some innovative thinkers, and being able to just really focus on the right things.

David Morris

Cathilea, transitioning to the world of nonprofits and foundations, I understand you're the chair of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library foundation in North Dakota. What have you learned about urgency in that type of environment and what if anything, have you had to adjust from your core role,  President of a media company? 

Cathilea Robinett

Well, it's been quite an exciting adventure for me. I'm very very proud of this foundation we're building a presidential library for Theodore Roosevelt in the beautiful Badlands of North Dakota. So, he went to North Dakota after his wife and mother died on the same day. And it really healed his soul and changed his life. So, I took over as the chair last July. So, it's been a year and you want to talk about urgency, we had to bring on a CEO who needed to be world-class, we needed to help develop and build a world-class board. There had been legislation passed by the state of North Dakota, which actually gave the foundation a grant from the state, so we had funding there and we had to be able to match that with other money. This whole year for me has been a sprint, as I've gotten to know all the ins and outs of running a large foundation that also has a lot at stake. We've run a design competition. So, we've got it down to three of the world's best architects. And we're doing that right now. Next month, we'll be able to select one of those. Everything has been on an aggressive timeline that...I can't even tell you how intense that has been. And, you know, a lot of eyes on this. And you know, it's just been an amazing experience. 

David Morris

Beyond dates and deadlines and communication, any other tactics you picked up in the spirit of urgency and this assignment? 

Cathilea Robinett

Well, I think on this, it's different because you're working as a non-profit board. So, it's board-led, and thank goodness I'm really blessed with a CEO who is unbelievable. I can't say enough about Ed O'Keefe. He has a media background and, you know, I really feel that I am so fortunate to be working with him on a day-to-day basis now, from an urgency standpoint, it's just a little different. Also, I have to do this in my spare time, right? I'm doing this at nights and, you know, putting it into my already crazy schedule. But to be honest with you, I wouldn't trade this for the world. I feel like I have this beautiful opportunity to help create something great for the world and create something great for the country. 

David Morris  23:31

That's terrific, Cathilea.

Another question specifically on recruiting for urgency, this whole kind of burning desire and this drive to do whatever it takes to achieve a noble cause. What is the best way to determine if someone has that? 

Cathilea Robinett  24:00

Urgency. Well, I think that has to do with motivation. I think it really boils down to self-motivation, because people who really wake up like that every day, I think we're just wired a little differently. And you've got to have that. You’ve got to want it. And I think if you're self-motivated, you are mission-oriented and you are deadline-oriented and you just want to make it happen. You want to make those targets. You want things to be good and be successful. It really, to me, boils down to that. You got to find the people who are really self-motivated. 

David Morris

Fabulous. Well, Cathilea, this has been terrific. And again, urgency being one of the most critical traits in HiPER leadership. Thank you. 

Cathilea Robinett

Well, thank you, David.

David Morris  24:43

To our HiPER leadership listeners, this would not be possible without you. Stay tuned for our last couple episodes this season, as we covered the distinct HiPER traits of having a consistent pattern of inconsistency and being able to really rally a team. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe to the HiPER leadership podcast on Apple podcasts. And if you want us to help identify your next game-changing leader through our proven playbook, visit our website at www.hipersolutions.com.