By Scott Raymond
Like a seasoned ballerina, Kay Barnett possesses energy, discipline and poise. Her discipline, she points out, was developed at a very young age through her training in ballet.
“I was actually a ballerina from the time I was five until the time I was in high school,” she says. “Ballet gave me so much discipline; it was a very structured activity, and I was extremely disciplined. I believe that kind of background helps you begin your career — when you’re disciplined and you have a focus.”
Born and raised in Lake Charles, Barnett went to LaGrange High School, where she was involved in a number of clubs and organizations, including the Gatorettes. She then went off to college at LSU in Baton Rouge and got involved in various campus activities there. She graduated in 1976 with degrees in French education and journalism.
After college, Barnett says she started her career with commercial real estate work and radio advertising sales in Baton Rouge. Marriage and a family soon followed.
She says her career didn’t really get developed until about seven years after the first of her two boys was born. It was during that time that she started work at the McNeese Foundation in Lake Charles and her career took off.
Development And Growth
Over the years, Barnett has developed a very extensive career resume, covering a swath of leadership and support positions in the private, public and non-profit sectors.
Photo By Summer Richard Boudreaux
Today, she is the executive director of development for the Christus St. Patrick Hospital Foundation, a position she has held since the foundation’s inception in 2005. She says the purpose of the foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, is “to support the hospital; to help get other people engaged, connected to what we do; to cultivate them about what we do.”
“We’ve got to get out and tell our story,” she says. “This is a key factor in the success of a business. If no one comes to your store, they don’t know you are there.”
Barnett calls on major potential donors: “people who have a capacity to give back and want to give back,” she says. “They have a need and we have a need too, and we’re trying to match those needs together.”
Barnett says there are three areas the foundation is concentrating on with donors: heart disease, cancer and spine and neck injuries. Most of the time, their major fundraising activities are for advanced, state-of-the-art technology.
“What we have found out in speaking to the community [is] they really want to stay here for their healthcare,” she says. “They don’t want to have to go out of town. It’s very hard on a family; it just disrupts the whole family. It’s hard on the patient, just riding in a car for several hours. So we feel like, because we are one of the main tertiary [referral] hospitals here in this area — meaning a lot of the rural hospitals send patients here; we have the Regional Heart Center — if someone has a major heart issue and they live in these outlying areas and they go to their hospital there in their town and they need more specialized health services, they’ll come here. We need to be able to provide this community with the most advanced technology that we can based on what our community needs.”
It soon became obvious to this writer that Barnett is well suited for her work and fully committed to making it successful.
“It’s a creative kind of work because you have to think when you go to meet someone, what are we going to talk about. I have to find out if they have an interest in the hospital and do they know where that interest lies; or can I suggest some things that we’re trying to do?” Barnett says.
Kay Barnett On Kay Barnett
To better know Kay Barnett is to better understand how she sees herself.
“High energy,” she says. “I want to always have a passion for what I do, and I do have a passion for seeing things happen. It’s not about me; it’s not about one person; it’s about that journey and having fun and enjoying that experience.
“Stress is one of those things that we all have to learn to manage. That’s ‘me time’ and getting out and working out, yoga, or whatever. I’ve had to learn how to de-stress in my own kind of way, then welcome and approach challenges and learn from them.”
“Feeling others,” she continues; “being able to relate to the feelings of others [is important]. I think that it’s intuitive, probably, in women; but, for me, I can feel things. I go with my gut a lot, and my gut has been very good to me.
“[I like] being able to be assertive; straightforward in our communications style; not beat[ing] around the bush and try[ing] to make it look all pretty. But I will tell you that one of the best things that I have ever learned is [to] say something when you feel like what you can say is added value to the situation. But don’t just talk to talk. It just makes people uncomfortable when one person seems to dominate the whole thing.
“[There’s] the passion I mentioned too, and not worrying about the perfection, and believing in yourself, and just get[ting] over playing it safe all the time. You’ve just got to be able to make some intelligent kinds of risks in your decision-making and try things to make them work. And all these to-do lists and all that: why would you want to pressure yourself with all that? Just organize your day.”
Another thing Barnett says is important to her is to live for today. She says that yesterday is gone, “and if you made a mistake, you learn from it. Admit it, learn from it, and move forward. Don’t worry about tomorrow. We all tend to worry about that way too much. We know we’ve got this thing in a month, and so we’ve got to start preparing for it.
“What has helped me [is] I’m not a last-minute person. So I don’t do well if I don’t prepare far enough ahead of time before I have to present something. That keeps me relaxed, knowing that I’m working on it. I still have a few more weeks or whatever; because you never know when that curve ball is going to be thrown; and all of a sudden you’re going to be asked to put down everything you’re working on and work on this. And it may throw you off a week. And if that happens, you’re darn glad that you were working ahead of schedule.
“Now everybody has different work styles, so I’m not saying one is better than the other. I’m just saying for me that’s what works. I want to be able to go home in the evening and have my family time; have time to myself; and relax — rejuvenate — and get up the next morning and say, ‘Oh, boy, I’m excited. I’m going back to work. It’s another day!’”
Reflections On Being Successful In Business
Based on her own extensive experiences as a professional business woman, what are some of the suggestions for success that Barnett has for young professionals coming up in the business world today?
Barnett cites believing in yourself as one thing to work on; one can do this by getting involved in different activities, which, she says, will help teach you about who you are. She says it builds self-confidence and also shows you your strengths.
“We really need to use our strengths to learn about who we are and quit worrying about our weaknesses,” she says. “Surround yourself with people who are strong in areas you are not.”
“I believe that women need to learn how to be assertive, [but] not overly aggressive,” Barnett says. “We need to have a very strong voice and … just basically have very pointed or very focused questions and answers when we are out there in the workplace … [You need to be] intelligent in the field in which you are doing business.
“I’ve done a number of things over the years, like serve on the Port of Lake Charles Board [of Directors]. I served as chairman a few of those years. I had to make sure that I asked intelligent questions, and I spoke when I needed to speak.”
Barnett says she thinks women have the ability to be “compassionate and passionate about things” that can be helpful in developing relations and business — things such as the ability to feel others’ emotions. She also says that earlier in her career she tried to be perfect, but she learned that nothing is perfect, and that is OK to ask questions and to make time for yourself.
“You have to decompress; you have to let it go,” she says. “And when you walk out of your office, 99 percent of the time, you’re not going to have done everything you needed to do. And I kind of look at it as job security, because I have something to come back to the next day.” (She laughs.)
Barnett says that someone in a leadership role should build a team around them and then let them do the jobs they are there to do.
“You don’t need to know it all,” she says, “but you have a structure where everybody is reporting in and you know that they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing and that you are there for them whenever they need you. You have to be very hands-on at a high level when you are in a leadership position. Whether it’s a volunteer group you are working with or whether it’s your employees, they will come on board when they know they are working with someone who is organized, and that’s key, very key. Things are planned out on where you need to be; what your end result needs to be. You’ve got to be able to work with [others], you can’t do it by yourself; that’s key too. Not only you can’t be perfect, [but] you can’t do it by yourself. And it does take a team of people. It really, really does.”
Barnett says she has found networking to be the most valuable asset in her career. She has found it important to go to events and mingle face-to-face with people in the crowd. She says it “develops you as a good listener.” She acknowledges that social media, cell phones, text and other forms of communication are all out there and can be effective. But she doesn’t think there is anything like face-to-face contact.
“I don’t think the younger generations are uncomfortable with speaking to people, but I can tell you that it is important to be able to develop that skill. You need to find that balance in your approaches with people. A lot of people do like e-mail, including the baby boomers and even the ones before them.
Part of Barnett’s daily morning ritual is reading the newspaper — either hard copy or the e-paper.
“You don’t have to get (the news) from a particular media, but you need to be versed in what’s going on in your community, in this country, and in the world,” she says.
With regard to the younger generations coming up, and those among them working for baby boomers, Barnett says that her generation needs to be an example.
“Your work ethic needs to be strong to be successful,” says Barnett, “and you’ve got to involve people to get there and take them with you, and you have to be comfortable with yourself. As we get older, we’re ready to turn it over at some point in time. I really believe that there are a lot of people out there — men and women — who don’t have any self-confidence or lack some self-confidence. They’re afraid to take risks; they’re afraid to step out of that box and try something different. I’ve learned more by doing things differently or looking at them from a different perspective than I have by just doing things like they are normally done. Depth is very important, because depth is how you figure out who you are.”
Barnett says that it is also important to have friends and a support system at home.
“Our friends are very, very, very important,” she says. “And it’s good to spend time doing some things; not just with family, but also with friends.”
On Gratitude, Faith And Fun
Says Barnett: “I’ve always expressed a lot of gratitude, and I thank people — ‘Thank you for your time’ — [with] a thank-you note or whatever. That can come back at you so many times. You have to work hard at [a business reputation], and it’s not going to be handed to [you]. You have to have the right attitude that you’ve got to work it to make it successful. You’ve got to go over and beyond.
“Some people are happy with the average. That’s OK, but I’m not … I want to make a difference. I don’t want my name on anything; I just want to walk away and say I was part of something that truly made a difference in this community, in my work, in someone’s life.
“The gratification should come in making a difference; it’s the journey, and you’ve got to have a very strong faith and that has helped me a lot in my career. You reflect on the day some, and you ask for help when you need it. (She smiles.) Have God in your life.
“Most of the work I’ve done has been [with] fairly high stress positions; you can’t let it eat your lunch. Faith is a big part of taking a step back during the day; taking a few minutes; and just being still and quiet and thinking about [things] … and praying because you can’t do it by yourself.
“We have to have fun; we can’t be too serious about everything or take ourselves too seriously. It’s great to laugh, to laugh at yourself, to laugh with friends, to laugh at work.”
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