Name: Kathleen Cloud

Position: President

Company: M. Frank Higgins & Co., Inc.

How many years have you been in your current field? 8

What motivated you to step out on your own? My husband, Steve Cloud, motivated me to join him in our commercial flooring business several years ago after retiring from a successful high school physics teaching career. He thought that my skills in leadership and relationship development would be a great asset to expand our business. This expansion over the past few years has many facets. We offer more flooring services, have a focused approach on business development, make education and training part of our framework, and pride ourselves on being the experts in the industry.

What project, transaction, honor or accomplishment are you most proud of? I am most proud of my work with the architectural and design community. I enjoy visiting these A&D firms to see how I can help them with any flooring specifications. Often this takes the form of a “lunch and learn” presentation, as I am certified to provide AIA CEU programs related to flooring topics. Last fall, I presented over twenty CEUs to various firms in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Education is power! 

What is the best leadership advice you have ever received? Who was it from? The best leadership advice I have ever received was from leadership guru, Sam Allman a few years ago at a Starnet Leadership conference. To be a good leader, you need to be respected. But what about being liked? Being liked was pretty easy for me. Sam did not dismiss this as many consultants may. He feels strongly that great leaders need both being liked and respected. “Finessing these two contraries is one of the most difficult challenges in leadership. But, when you learn how to extract maximum power out of these two opposites, the rewards are great!”