ICE Founder DeLinda Forsythe | President Alysse Cooper
My transition into retirement started gradually, then was instantaneous. On March 13, 2020 I stopped going into the office—forever. Mind you, it’s not just “the office”, it’s the company I founded from a spare bedroom, leading since 2006. This leadership and success defined me, creating my personal brand.
As the CEO of ICE (Innovative Commercial Environments), San Diego’s most creative and resilient office furniture dealership, I knew who I was and what I was going to do every day. It was hard work with endless failure as well as success but my days were predictable. I knew what our purpose was—inspire leadership in every team member. I knew who my audience was—our mostly Millennial staff. I knew the goal—build long-term relationships that led to increased furniture sales, steady revenue growth and our resilient business model.
I showered every day, wearing lovely clothes. I knew who I was but with a husband who has health challenges and both of us over sixty, I knew in an instant that my thirty-five-year career was over.
And that was OK because I’d started preparing myself and more critically my company, for this inevitable transition for five+ years. I started mentoring my successor when she was twenty in 2008. Of course, I wasn’t aware of my gift of mentorship when I was charging hard in the early years but as time passed, I realized no one was better able to continue my legacy than this talented, heart-centered leader. She has no ownership but always behaved as if she did. This attitude has served us all quite well.
In 2019 I started my journey of trying to understand why we’d been so successful. My research introduced me to the Conscious Capitalism movement, leading me ultimately to capture my insights in my first book, Inspiring Generational Leadership: Your Guide to Design a Conscious Culture, (IGL).
I am passionate about developing tomorrow’s leaders, especially young, marginalized women, because I was never provided this consideration. I also never worked in an emotionally safe workplace. As a single mother, juggling the duties and financial responsibilities of motherhood and career, it was incredibly challenging. All inspired me to start ICE and create a better business model. The only leadership experience I had was as a mother so that’s how I led. My nurturing style was confirmed when I read the book Conscious Capitalism, validating my intuitive leadership principles.
IGL is a guide that takes the reader on a journey revealing the financial, societal, and emotional benefits in leading, building, or working for a conscious business enterprise. It provides tools to create an ideal workplace for leaders and employees; shining a light on what it means to create a workplace that is passionately alive with ethical values and purpose.
IGL captures fifteen years of field-tested leadership policies coupled with extensive research, intimate interviews with other conscious leaders and educators; all captured in a storytelling style. IGL confirms that when leaders align with inherent Millennial core values—incorporating the four tenets of conscious capitalism, emerging neuroscience data and emotional and spiritual intelligence—companies can thrive through the most challenging times.
Did we suffer from the Great Resignation? Not really. Employees seek us out. We have no competitors in our industry that have the employee-centric, inclusive and inspirational brand that we have worked hard to create and are now well-known for.
I invite you to learn more about how to create an inspiring legacy. You can receive your free excerpt of Inspiring Generational Leadership, at www.delindaforsythe.com/book.