Thanks to a networking opportunity for alumni of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, I had the opportunity for an interview on the Lead Like A Woman podcast. As part of this lively conversation, Andrea, asked me what advice I would give to aspiring entrepreneurs. Frankly, my answer is excellent advice for anyone. It came from someone who I now consider a great mentor, although I know I didn’t appreciate him much at the time. Whether you recently entered the workforce, are a seasoned manager, a CEO, or a business owner, you will benefit.
Capture Your Successes
I learned the benefit of capturing successes very early in my career. Working in corporate Human Resources for a billion-dollar publicly-traded company, the VP of HR required our team to keep track of everything we did. Yes, everything. I assumed that this task was a giant waste of time. It annoyed me. And, I plead my case with vigor. And then, the “why” behind the mission was finally revealed.
The VP of HR sent a memo to the CEO. In the memo, he outlined the wins, the many amazing accomplishments of the entire HR department. And, he copied each member of our team. And I remember how incredibly grateful I was to my VP for caring about us so much and how great I felt when the CEO responded in kind. I also felt pretty stupid for fighting it. My VP thought that was hilarious. But, to be fair, the joke was definitely on me.
Entrepreneurship
Andrea writes, “The journey of entrepreneurship is challenging, and entrepreneurs are bound to make a couple of mistakes along the way. [B]usiness owners are better off working on their businesses as opposed to working in their business. But what is the difference, and how does focusing on the former [e]ffect the way that their business is run?”
We talk about the value of outsourcing business services to other companies who are experts in that field. We discuss running a 100% virtual company and the importance of values and culture in the hiring process. And we half-laughed together over how I became CEO overnight.
Lead Like A Woman: A podcast by Andrea Heuston
Listen here.
And please let me know what you think.