profile: sabrina miller
by nancy russell-forsythe

Driving to Sabrina Miller’s office in the Bank of America headquarters, I notice how delightful it is to visit an executive in Asheville, rather than New York or Philadelphia. The spring air smells sweet, the distant mountains look serene and parking on Wall Street is inexpensive. A welcome change from commuter trains, dark subways and towering skyscrapers—not to mention the $30 cost of parking a vehicle on that other Wall Street.

As a corporate coach for CEOs, executives and managers in Fortune 500 companies (financial, pharmaceutical, utility, manufacturing, and consumer products), my job is to help folks be more successful or, in some cases, to avoid failure. I was sure Sabrina, President and Market Executive for the bank’s Western North Carolina region, needed none of my help. She’s risen to the pinnacle of her career and not only attained honors for her region like “top 3 in the US for customer satisfaction” and “top 10 nationally, ranked by her peers in other banks,” but also stayed married to the same man for 34 years and raised two great children. How did she get those kudos, while managing 23 direct reports and 150 indirect ones and balancing a hectic work life with a personal one?

When I met Sabrina, a smiling, forthright, “40-something” Asheville native, I was immediately struck by her positive attitude. As soon as she ushered me into her conference room overlooking Pritchard Park, we began a jam-packed conversation about work, life, success, community service and some solid advice for women.
Sabrina married her high school sweetheart, before graduating from Erwin High and assumed she would settle into a traditional life as wife and mother. When she was younger, she “thought about being a dancer in New York,” but reality was a job as a bookkeeper at Talman’s Office Supplies. After leaving to have a baby, she worked at her parents’ grocery store.

At Talman’s, she made her first banking connection, as she often took the store’s cash to the Bank of Asheville, where she was impressed by the friendly and helpful attitude of all the employees. So, when the baby got older, she managed to get a job there as a teller, at the age of 20.

As a consultant to hyper-competitive women on New York’s Wall Street, I was familiar with their need to strategize each progressive career move. I wondered how Sabrina had planned her rise from teller to President of a region. What a surprise to hear that “nothing was mapped out,” and she “just went wherever they needed me.” She spent several years as a bank auditor, then as a customer service representative, followed by six years as a manager in different locations in western NC. Along the way, she agreed to become the Consumer Banking Director over five banks and helped 120 business customers as a Commercial Client Manager.

As she climbed up the career ladder, the bank expanded. What was called The Bank of Asheville in the 1970’s merged with North Carolina National Bank (NCNB), which later became Nations Bank and then merged with Bank of America. The fact that Sabrina survived during this period is quite an accomplishment. At the height of the 1980’s “merger mania,” I counseled many unhappy bank executives who had been “downsized” (another expression for “lost their jobs”). Sabrina Miller not only kept her job but thrived, by being herself, managing inclusively, displaying a strong goal orientation and fearlessly taking on new responsibilities.

The Center for Creative Leadership, which has studied success for decades, points out that in order for women to “break the glass ceiling” and make it into the board rooms of corporate America, they have to be better then men at most things, share what they know with others, be able to be both empathetic and challenging and still show their feminine side. A woman executive who mimics a tough guy quickly gets branded with the B word (rhymes with witch).

Remembering the high-powered women I’ve coached, I ask where she went to college, expecting to hear some ivy league name-dropping, but Sabrina smiles as she reminds me, “I started working right out of high school,” a pause, “and didn’t go to a four year college.” However, while working in banking all these years, she attended classes at UNCA and AB-Tech, as well as numerous leadership training courses. “The main thing in banking is to be able to prove that you can lead."

“The bank hires many people as tellers, and they use the position to get tuition reimbursement to go to college.” She took advantage of these educational opportunities and “could probably get a degree, if I took a few more courses and had enough time to fill out all of the paperwork.”

Sabrina had some excellent tips to offer about the types of education and experience that could lead to a banking career. “Accounting, business, and finance are good degrees, but we also hire people with retail sales backgrounds. And today, banking is just as open to women as it is to men, even at the officer level.” Other areas include computer skills, knowledge of mutual funds and the stock market, and real estate experience. She also offered some topnotch advice for women seeking a career in banking, or business in general:

Leadership—“Inspire people to perform, lead from the heart, be passionate about what you do, develop a coaching style with your people and stress the positive things they do. Because we live in a global economy, value diversity of all kinds and learn a foreign language if possible.”

Tips for Women—“Learn all you can, work hard, be aware of making a good impression and be patient - your career will come. Always displaying a positive attitude is important.” Women also need to stretch - get out of their comfort zones. For example, Sabrina learned to play golf (a sport favored by corporate men) and became more comfortable flying in the US and overseas. Corporate coaches, like me, call these GAG (go against the grain) experiences, meaning “Those things you find hard to do are just the things you ought to do!”

Lessons of Experience—Mike Lombardo, a co-founder of Lominger, Ltd., a well-known company in leadership development, says that successful people learn from their past experiences, adding to their set of skills and helping them refrain from making the same mistakes twice. Sabrina says that one of her early lessons was “not understanding the importance of networking (working in the community, socializing with other business people, etc.).” Today she serves on community boards, helps in charitable organizations and is a member of the Leadership America Program (made up of 120 NC women business leaders). Another valuable lesson is, “You can never afford to burn a bridge, because you may need to cross back over it at some time.”

Managing Stress— I’ve seen my share of high level women executives, whose lives were pressed with overbooked schedules, whose eyes either darted back and forth from stress or glazed over with fatigue —behaviors that can lead to burnout and career derailment. But here sits Sabrina, calm and composed, giving me her undivided attention. What’s her secret?

“It’s very important to establish a solid relationship with your boss. When you know his or her expectations and you know the playing field, it can help you meet those expectations. It’s especially true when you get a new boss. It’s smart to meet and get to know your new boss quickly.” Having an understanding family helps, too. When her work life has gotten hectic, her husband and children always “figured out how to manage.” All in all, Sabrina strives to communicate openly with everyone around her, which keeps her stress, and theirs, to a minimum.

Daniel Goleman, the author of Working with Emotional Intelligence, points out that the best executives have a “high E.Q.” — an awareness of their own emotions, keeping them in check, recognizing the feelings of others and striving to be empathetic with them. Many of my derailing clients displayed a deficit in E.Q. It’s something that takes a lot of work to change. But for Sabrina, high E.Q. comes naturally.

Like many successful business women I’ve met in the past, Sabrina Miller met women along the way who served as inspirations and mentors. She mentions Helen Powers, a leader from the Bank of Asheville, who taught younger women to believe that “anything can be done,” at a time when men, not women, were the industry leaders. But the most inspirational woman in Sabrina’s life has been, and still is, her mother, who was a manager for Blue Ridge Trucking and helped run the family grocery store. Always positive, she instilled in her daughter the attitude that “you can do anything.” “At 88 years of age,” Sabrina told me, “she continues to be interested in my career. She validates me every day.”

As our meeting draws to a close I think again about the career women I’ve met on that other Wall Street and contrast them with Sabrina Miller, who works near our own Wall Street. The difference is striking — soft spoken and feminine, definitely not the tough-guy type; moving to the top by “going where’s she’s needed,” instead of carefully plotting each move; open and warm, rather than “pressed and stressed.” She has done it in her own, distinctive way — including early marriage and children and getting her education as she worked. Yet on Sabrina, success looks effortless.

I had to smile, a couple of days later when I noticed a quote in the NY Times (John Tierney/June 24, 2005) by a businessman who buys companies: “The companies run by women are much more likely to survive,” (compared to those run by men). Women CEO’s know how to hire good salespeople and create a healthy culture with the company.” I nod and think of Sabrina Miller. How true!

Nancy Russell-Forsythe, Ph.D. is a freelance writer and co-owner of Leadership Bridge, where she provides people with management/executive coaching and life/career counseling.
[ [email protected]; leadershipbridgeltd.com;
828 681-8999 ]