Ladies Who Launch

Co-Founder and Senior Advisor, Omega Institute
www.eomega.org

Elizabeth Lesser co-founded Omega Institute, the largest adult education center in the U.S. focusing on health, wellness, spirituality, and the arts, long before words like “downward dog” and “tofu” meant anything to anyone.

What started out 31 years ago with under 10 employees (mostly volunteers) and a couple hundred students has grown to be perhaps the most famous institute of its kind. Omega Institute now sees 30,000 students annually, is 350 employees strong during its high season, and holds workshops, retreats, clinics, and conferences all over the world. Elizabeth has also published two books, raised three sons, has dedicated her time to women’s rights and environmental issues, and most recently created the online curriculum for Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth, which appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s Web site, touching the lives of countless millions of people.

What we learned from Elizabeth: Don’t try to be something you’re not. Do what feels right rather than what you think everyone is going to want. You’re always going to be tempted to fake it, because maybe you could get this other constituency or make more money, etc., but that will never work.

Hitting the Ground Running

“Our launch was relatively miraculous in how quickly it grew. At the time there was nobody doing what we did, so our earliest faculty members were people like Deepak Chopra and Bernie Segal, who spoke for free because they were thrilled anybody would listen to their ideas. Our first season we put out a small Xeroxed piece of paper and had a couple hundred people show up, the next season we had 1,000 people, and the next, 4,000. We just started running behind it and learned as we went. We had no business experience and never took any business classes, but my ex-husband has a brilliant business mind and I learned a lot from him. Eventually I took some seminars on marketing and brought on consultants. We also hired people who were strong in the areas we weren’t.”

From Midwife to Mother of Omega

“I was living in a spiritual community in the mid ’70s where we were doing everything ourselves—growing food, delivering babies, etc. The person who started our community, an Eastern meditation master, had the idea that most Americans weren’t ever going to want to live on a commune, but that so many of the things we were exploring—natural foods, yoga, alternative healing, cross-religious pollinization—might be things people would enjoy learning about. He encouraged me and my then-husband to start a school. I was a midwife with a degree in early childhood education, and he was just starting out as a doctor. We had no idea how to start a school, but we were fearless and young and entrepreneurial. We were also at the right place at the right time.”

Money Mantra

“The first few years we rented a prep school for very little and made just enough money to pay for rent and food for our very tiny staff, most of which was volunteer. The most interesting struggle back then was having this sense that if you’re spiritual you can’t be a businessperson. We were a nonprofit that was all about teaching workshops in spirituality, healing, and alternative living, so how could we be about making money too? We came to realize that business is a sacred art itself and that if we weren’t smart businesspeople, we wouldn’t get this off the ground.”

Personal Business

“When you start a business with your husband and get divorced from said husband, it’s quite a transition. We had personal and financial struggles but didn’t let them affect Omega. It’s almost the same as how you’d deal with children after divorce. Omega was like one of our children. We tried to put it first and to depersonalize our struggles so it didn’t bleed over, but it was incredibly difficult. People would be so impressed with how well we worked, meanwhile I’d be thinking I was crazy! In the end it worked well for Omega that we both stayed involved. At times it didn’t work well personally, but getting through that struggle really helped me grow personally.”

Know Thy Strengths

“My ex and I found out very quickly what each of us was good at and it was a great learning experience. It helped us know what to concentrate on and what to trust the other to take care of. Any founder of a business eventually must understand that they can’t do everything, that they need to focus on what they do best. Sometimes as an entrepreneur you don’t even know what that is because you’ve been doing everything yourself for so long, but you have to figure it out. Don’t try to control everything. That’s how you start, but in order to grow you have to hand over some control.”

Daily Goal

“I take responsibility for what’s not working in my personal life and my business life. I try very hard not to blame others.”

Spiritual Growth

“As we got bigger I was afforded the luxury to take a leave of absence and I went off to write my first book. When I returned we had a new executive director, which meant my imperialistic royal attitude had to go—I’d given away my power because I’d given away my responsibility. It was a fantastic spiritual learning for me. If you’re not in the trenches doing the work, you have to let the people who are put their imprint on the organization. I’m on the board, I take on certain projects, and I mentor, but I’m no longer the person running it day to day.”

Meditate Your Way to Success

“Meditation teaches you how to make peace with whatever’s happening in the moment. When things get really tough with your staff, you’re less inclined to lose your temper. You also won’t make poor decisions based on stress because you can, at will, calm yourself down and see a bigger perspective. Even the art of being able to say, ‘I don’t know right now, I’ll get back to you,’ is valuable, because as entrepreneurs we feel we need to know everything, but it’s okay not to.”

Would She Have Done Anything Differently?

“I just don’t live like that. Whatever I did was perfect because the mistakes made us who we are now. An exercise in regret is a waste of time. I believe so much that mistakes make you who you are just as much as your successes. If you pull out one straw and say, ‘I would have done this differently,’ the whole thing will fall apart.”

Next Up …

“I’m taking a little vacation in a couple of weeks, but I’m trying to practice what I preach. There is no next—it’s just right now, and it’s quite enough for me.”

This Featured Lady was profiled by Jen Sincero, an author, columnist, and Ladies Who Launch leader based in Venice, CA.

Ladies Who Launch is asking you … would YOU have done anything differently? Share with us in the Comments section below!