“When talking with Connie, you never feel you’re talking to a CEO, she’s more like a friend. Regardless if you’re a sales consultant, a PR agency or someone in the street, her attentiveness and level of understanding makes you feel important. I call it an art.”
Norma Galeana | Two-time Emmy Award-Winner, News Producer, CNN Newsource & Reuters Television News
Leadership through Adversity
Weathering the Storm
When Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, Texas—Princess House’s second largest market—the company had to jump into gear quickly. This forced Connie Tang, the President and CEO, into crisis management mode. “My sales team was preparing ahead of time,” she explained. “As the news started flowing in, we stayed connected with our independent consultants through social media. The first question was: Is everyone okay, are they safe?”
Drafting a Plan
Connie and her team developed a plan to broadcast in English and Spanish to the predominantly Latina independent sales force. “We needed to let them know we were watching and aware of what was happening.”
The plan outlined specific, timed actions to be deployed by functional areas:
• Sales Team for direct and personal contact with leaders and consultants
• Communications Team for all internal and external messaging to multiple stakeholder groups, including relief efforts
• HR Team for potential employee and family impact response and statements
• Customer Satisfaction Team and all Operational Teams on call
Leading with Love
Connie’s message was succinct, “We wanted them to feel our love, let them know how proud we were of them as they literally weathered the storm and such a scary situation and that they were ‘not alone.’” Connie tapped into her abilities to take action and move through fear, skills she had practiced often and continues to employ throughout her career.