Shannon Schuyler – Head of Corporate Responsibility, PricewaterhouseCoopers

How do you get everyone at the table to agree with your plan? PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Corporate Responsibility Leader for the Americas, Shannon Schuyler, shares her secrets.

By Taylor Mallory

As head of corporate responsibility for the $26.2 billion “Big Four” accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Shannon Schuyler’s greatest challenge is getting leaders from every part of the business on board with her do-gooder agenda. Her secret: tailoring her business case to appeal to each department.

“When I’m trying to get buy-in on an idea, I know the CEO will want to hear this to get on board, HR will want to hear this, and the CIO will want to hear this,” Schuyler tells PINK. So she prepares different business cases, showing how her agenda will help each leader achieve his or her goals. “Your goal is to get people at the table to agree, not necessarily for the same reasons. You don’t have to make them look at it your way to win.”

Here, she talks to PINK about leading, shopping and how she created her own job at PwC.

PINK: How has the recession changed leadership?

Shannon Schuyler: A baseline commitment from business to ethics and integrity has become more important. Leaders have to show they have standards – and that they expect their employees to meet them as well. A good leader is the first to accept the blame and criticism, and protect her team, and also the first to put them up front when things go right. And leaders are going to have to support their people more, because we’ll be doing more work and expecting fewer people to perform those tasks for a while. Leaders have to understand that it’s tough for employees, and they have to find ways for them to have time off and not burn themselves out. Especially if you can’t afford more compensation, we have to find other ways to make them feel valued. It used to be easy to throw money at them and say, “You’re valued.” Now we have to find other ways. And that means getting on the phone, recognizing hard work and showing appreciation.

PINK: How do you manage your Life/Work balance?
S.S.: I live with my two terriers, who are like my children. They get all of my attention. Companies are struggling to figure out how to make balance work. But it looks different for different people. I don’t take all my vacation days every year, and including all my travel time, I put in upwards of a couple thousand hours of overtime every year. But I feel like I have good balance. I work from home, and that helps and hurts. Telecommuting gives you more freedom and flexibility. But my office is close, so I might stop in a little more often than people who work in traditional workplaces. People might look at my hours and say all I do is work. But my life isn’t about work; it’s about my dogs, my nieces and my passions. I’m on a couple boards, including the board of the Anti-Cruelty Society of Chicago. I create and sell flower arrangements on the side. Balance is about the person being OK with what her own definition looks like. This is the right balance for me. It looks like a lot, but not if you’re in it.

PINK: What do you do to relax and rejuvenate yourself?

S.S.: I have no problem pampering myself. I love to exercise. I do triathlons, so I run as often as I can. I shoot for at least six days a week and average about 30 miles a week. It gives me a chance to think, unwind and recharge – and it’s the fastest way to do all three at once. And I believe in shopping as therapy. Every time you do something good, there’s not always someone there to say, “Great job.” So you have to be your own cheerleader. So sometimes that means you get a new pair of shoes. Go you. And I volunteer on the weekends, helping people adopt pets.

PINK: What have you always wanted to do but haven’t yet?
S.S.: Run a marathon. I was just thinking that I have to do that before I’m 40. I said I’d do it before 30, but I didn’t make it. So I need to work on that. And I’d love to open my own business one day. I go back and forth between a wanting to open a flower shop, an interior design studio or a dog shop.

PINK: What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received?
S.S.: Listen more than you talk. I’ve learned to do that in meetings or business conversations, especially when I disagree. I try to focus in on what is being said versus quickly formulating my response. Thoughtful listening goes a long way toward making people feel comfortable talking to you. You may disagree but have at least heard them and provided a thoughtful response. Also, my father taught me to be my own toughest critic. He said there should be no one in the world who is harder on you than you are on yourself. I can second guess and be really tough on myself, so I know that my own feedback will be harsher than next person’s. In a way, that makes me more confident.

PINK: What are your professional success secrets?
S.S.: It’s important to feel comfortable taking initiative. My current role didn’t exist. I went to leadership and said, “What if we had a corporate responsibility leader?” We get too comfortable following the status quo or too afraid of recommending things that don’t already exist. Taking that risk to suggest it can really pay off, and even if it doesn’t happen or you’re not the one who gets the role, that initiative is respected. Think what that would look like in your organization. What could you spearhead or start? What’s missing that would support the organization’s overall strategy – and that you’re passionate about? What would it look like? Create a white paper, and have a conversation with leaders. They’ll be impressed.

PINK: How does your workplace celebrate the holidays?
S.S.: Our company has gone away from holiday parties to focus the resources on charity. Over the last two years, we’ve donated about $1.5 million to charities around the country. And our people flourish helping groups of children or working at soup kitchens with their colleagues. It’s much better for bonding than just another holiday party.

PINK: What is the best business gift you’ve ever received?

S.S.: Last summer, our team adopted a school in Belize City. We built libraries and stuffed backpacks for them. A local craftsman made a hard-carved, wooden map that shows where the four schools are, and they presented it to me when I went back. I have it on my office wall. To find the time to do something so special and meaningful when those people don’t have much, it reminds me why we give back – to change someone’s life. I’m proud of that. Every time I look at it I want to tear up and go down to help again.

PINK: What’s the best business gift you’ve ever given?
S.S.: I try not to wait until the holidays or a birthday to buy gifts, but instead do special things throughout the year. Like pick up a book I think one of my team members will like, or flowers because I know someone has had a really tough week, or a new pen that I saw and just had to get for someone who collects them. I want them to feel like they have a cheerleader in me all year.