Leading The Field
Ten women who are making a difference in the incentive industry
By A.E. Smith
MAY 01, 2006 - It is a sad fact that according to the most recent research on the progress of gender equality in the workplace, the glass ceiling is still solidly in place at many U.S. offices. Women are underrepresented in the upper ranks of industries as diverse as education, accounting and law, and those who do rise up the corporate ladder can expect to earn just seventy-six cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts.*
LEADING WOMEN
Martha Rogers: Founding partner, Peppers & Rogers Group Consulting
Gail Fitzgerald: Vice President, Hotel Sales & Marketing, Bellagio.
Lois LeMenager: Chairman of the Board and CEO, Marketing Innovators International.
Michelle Smith: Vice President, Business Development, O.C. Tanner. Vice President, Incentive Marketing Association.
Marilyn Carlson-Nelson: CEO and Chairman, Carlson Companies.
Karen Renk: Executive Director, Incentive Marketing Association.
Brenda Anderson: CEO, Society of Incentive & Travel Executives.
Norma Jean Knollenberg: Owner and CEO, Top Brands Inc.
Joyce Landry and Josephine Kling: Founding partners of Landry & Kling, Meetings at Sea.
The good news is that this disparity seems to be less pronounced in the incentive industry than in many others. Women are well represented in top positions at many incentive houses, destination management companies and industry associations, and they are gaining ground in the traditionally male-dominated special markets divisions of manufacturers.
The 10 women profiled below are among the best and brightest minds working in the performance field today. Each has taken her own path to success, with personal motivations that range from frustration to family obligation. But with a combination of creativity, courage, resourcefulness, tenacity and attention to detail (qualities of great use for any incentive planner), all have excelled. Together they serve as role models to those of us currently working in the industry and to the young women and men of the next generation.
Joyce Landry and Josephine Kling: Founding partners of
Landry & Kling, Meetings at Sea
For Joyce Landry and Josephine Kling, founding partners of Landry & Kling Meetings at Sea, there's nothing tiresome about shipping off. Even after 25 years of planning cruise events for corporate groups, they see each new project as a challenge to surpass all the ones before it. "We're excitement junkies," confesses Kling. "We like it when we are presented with challenges. If things were boring, I don't think we would continue doing this."
From a startup company in 1982 built on $26,000, an office in Manhattan and a list of contacts, Landry & Kling has become a textbook example of how to successfully build a niche market and is now the first name for corporations looking to host meetings and incentives on the water, with a client list that includes AFLAC, Motorola and AIG. In the meantime, the company has weathered its share of rough seas: In 1998, Landry & Kling was acquired by a private entity that specialized in consumer travel, and Kling left the company for personal reasons. "The intent was to have a bigger, better company," recalls Landry of that period. "It was great for a while. But I had a growing disinterest to work as hard as I was working and not have a stake in it." By 2005, Kling was ready to return, and the pair arranged to buy back the company they had founded. Today, Landry & Kling sends out an average of 25 to 30 trips per year and is looking to expand into international markets.
Their extraordinary partnership has certainly contributed to their success. "I think we balance each other well," says Landry. "Jo is very strong in marketing; I am very strong in sales. We fill in the gaps for each other." The two women met while working for cruise line Holland America and decided to partner when they saw an opportunity to sell corporations on the cruise experience. "Nobody thought it was a good idea when we started," recalls Landry. "We were paving ways, and it took a bit of innocence just to keep on going."
The most important lesson learned from their early experience was how to manage their limited budget, while ensuring clients had a top-drawer experience. But after being written up in a few magazines and scoring a brief spot on the NBC Today show, the young company's business took off. "To be honest, luck had a lot to do with it," admits Landry.
Luck and a lot of persuasion. To sell clients on just how unique a cruise event can be, Landry and Kling have had to work around the sometimes limited imaginations of cruise operators. "We often feel like lobbyists onboard," says Kling, "We ask for exceptions to their normal policy, so we can provide an experience people would not have on their own."
Landry advises anyone entering the industry "not to be afraid to roll up their sleeves. If someone gets into this business and feels that pursuing some little detail is not their job, that person is not going to go far. You have to be willing to take on anything to show the client you have what it takes."
Looking back on their careers, both women laugh at the naiveté with which they began on this path, but they acknowledge that they wouldn't change a thing. Says Landry, "We are happy that we started this [business] at a point when we were fearless. Once they get older, people have so much fear that they stop themselves [from taking big risks]."
For Kling, returning to her old job has not meant lapsing into an old routine: "We are recreating the wheel with every program. I think of it as a great fun puzzle." She admits that sometimes the drive for constant novelty can be demanding, but says her greatest motivation is "introducing people to a new experience," like looking up at a night sky from the middle of the ocean, where the stars and constellations have little interference from smog or electricity.
As for Landry, "I get a lot of inspiration out of the travel I have gotten to do-being in an exotic location and being treated like a local, seeing people's faces light up when they see something new. It's really true what they say about being on the same boat together; it builds a strong bond." She recalls a memorable moment standing on the back deck of a ship with one of her clients as they looked out on the Bosphorus Sea. "He looked over at me and said, 'It doesn't get any better than this.' And I really had to agree."
Fast Fact: Given the opportunity to design an incentive trip for themselves, Kling would set off for the rugged beauty of Alaska, while Landry would set her sights on rugged, but warmer, regions in the Aegean Sea.
For more information about Landry & Kling, Meetings at Sea, check out: www.landrykling.com