Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) is proud to support International Women’s Day (IWD), which celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political contributions of women. With robust female-focused initiatives and a longstanding history of empowering women leaders, EO upholds the mission of this global program every day. Terry Segerberg (pictured at left) is an EO member in Cincinnati, Ohio. As the CEO at a manufacturing company, Mesa Industries, she is often the only woman in the room. She shares her perspective on breaking habits, women’s strengths and motivating a new generation of female professionals. I have been the lone female in the room for my entire career. In the past two-plus decades, this was because I chose to return to my family’s business and assume the leadership role. We serve the petroleum and construction industries, neither of which have traditionally been known as places for females. That said, as I step back and look around our offices today, we have more women than when I started. Breaking HabitsTwenty years ago, women often were limited to being the secretary at the front desk. While women seem to be well suited for the role of greeter because they tend to relate to the people walking in the door or calling on the phone, for us, this role has evolved. It probably happened because I saw myself doing that job, and saw that secretaries could do so much more if we gave them more tools and left them to their own devices. The role did grow and these women became people we all rely on for so much. No one is getting anyone coffee these days. Yes, this change happened because I came along and valued a female as much as I value a male. It does take someone to lead the change. Old habits are hard to break, but it can be done with a conscious effort embraced by all. Today I believe the average workplace is much more sensitive and safer for women than it was 20 years ago, but it is still not perfect. Part of the problem is that many women don’t know how to advocate for themselves. Men do it and women don’t. Natural Multi-taskersWomen underestimate what they bring to the workplace. They are natural multi-taskers and it always amazes me how adeptly they can have a conversation with one person while continuing with a project they were working on. I watched one woman have two different conversations—one with me—while assisting another person with a transaction, only to find that in the middle of all that she had researched the name of a business I was talking about but couldn’t remember and had emailed me its name and new location. All at the same time! Left alone, women can see the questions coming, asses the challenges and propose solutions. It is just something that comes naturally to our gender. As a mom, I knew that I had to see things coming before they arrived with my children. I do believe that women are somehow wired differently even if they choose not to have children. The tradeoff is that I am seeing our females working longer hours and perhaps dealing with more frustrations when others aren’t being supportive. I don’t think they have completely found their voice in expressing frustrations. Again, they may not know how to advocate for themselves and when they do, they can be labeled a “b*tch.” Recently, my human resources manager came to me with a pretty ugly situation. As soon as she finished reporting the problem, she gave me two viable solutions. She was calm (calmer than me) and prepared to take on the challenge no matter which path I chose. I think many women can see the outcome and find the path quicker than men simply because they isolate the challenge from everything around it. Inspiring the Younger GenerationsI am watchful and concerned for the younger women, especially the Generation Zers. I realize that we have a new challenge and obligation to them. They are wired so very differently—and perhaps there’s a pun intended, since they are the most connected generation. They communicate differently and, importantly, respond differently to the social interactions in the workplace. While it was somewhat easy to assign projects to their older colleagues and check it off your list as a manager, younger women (and men) require an entirely different approach. They need frequent reassurance that they are progressing as you had anticipated. Their view of the world is not rosy and so in the workplace we need to be mindful to help them find the positive in what they give and do. We must respect them and not measure them by our yardstick. They hear a different drummer and we must work harder to hear that drummer. Gen Z and Millennials together represent over 50 percent of the workforce. To not recognize that they tick differently and expect them to play by the old rules is foolish. Even so, we have traditional needs, as does every company. We need someone to do the bookkeeping, get invoices out and manage inventory. These are essential to any business, but I find they can be seen as “boring” by younger employees. We make an effort to make it fun by providing an upbeat work environment. We are also exploring ways to cross-train as a means of supporting coworkers and providing variety in the workday. Our rising leaders and future entrepreneurs face a similar challenge. They, too, must find a way to engage a younger workforce to ultimately run an organization that inspires people to want to work for while simultaneously maintaining an age-old business necessity: profitability. It’s a longstanding challenge that I anticipate they’ll tackle with unique solutions. The post Leading Change as a Female CEO appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2TtMaZM
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Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) is proud to support International Women’s Day (IWD), which celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political contributions of women. With robust female-focused initiatives and a longstanding history of empowering women leaders, EO upholds the mission of this global program every day. This year’s IWD falls on 8 March, 2020, and its focus is #eachforequality, which recognizes that equality is not a women’s issue—rather, it’s an economic issue. Equality between genders is good for business, great for communities and essential for business growth. We asked EO Colorado member Ashley Picillo (picutred at left) to share her insights on gender equality in business. Picillo is the chief executive officer and founder of Point Seven Group (Point7), a women-owned and -operated boutique cannabis consultancy based in Denver, Colorado, and Sonoma County, California. 1. What specific ways are you supporting gender equality in your business and your community?As a certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE), it is absolutely my responsibility to support gender equality in my own company. This is demonstrated in the way that we recruit, staff and train Point7 employees, paying careful consideration to employee retention. When selecting third-party suppliers, we strive to engage with women-owned companies whenever possible. I have developed a team that is over 50 percent female, with a 100 percent female C-suite, and specifically seek out women whenever possible when it comes to hiring contractors, writers and other part-time positions. Beyond our efforts internally at Point7, we are in a unique position to help shape the broader cannabis industry by working with our clients to develop their business strategies. As consultants, we spend a great deal of time designing business plans, hiring and training programs, and brands with our clients. We are therefore in a position to shape these companies from the outset. We have thoroughly developed standards of procedure regarding all personnel, hiring and training matters and make it a point to highlight best practices for curating a team that is diverse and inclusive of women and minorities. 2. Have you personally witnessed the benefit of gender equality in your business or local economy? In what ways?Absolutely. Companies that prioritize gender equality are stronger, smarter companies. Period. Any time you have diverse thinkers, with different backgrounds and unique perspectives, co-tackling an issue, the company (and the participants in this dialogue) win big. I truly believe that our clients see the benefit in working with a women-owned, and largely women-led company. I also think female consumers are being more thoughtful about their buying habits and are more consciously spending their dollars at other women-owned businesses when possible. A benefit I’ve noticed within my own business is that the women on my team truly have a voice—and are not only heard, but also respected. By endeavoring to create an even playing field at my company, where everyone gets the respect they deserve, each member of the team feels comfortable ideating, brainstorming, leading and participating in meetings, and being in the workplace. 3. According to research from the British Chamber of Commerce, women are better at identifying gaps in the market, developing innovative products, and applying technology in their businesses. What unique characteristics do you believe women bring to business and to entrepreneurship?I believe women need to be far more planned, polished, and prepared than men when launching a new company because of the challenges women face when starting on the path of entrepreneurship. There are barriers and biases in front of women that do not exist for men, so for women to succeed, we need to be prepared and extremely thoughtful about how we are going to execute on our business strategy. As a female founder myself, I’ve understood from the beginning that my margin for error is extremely narrow; I cannot afford to make mistakes in the same way I believe a male counterpart can. Technology implementation has allowed me to maintain a fairly lean payroll (critically important if fundraising is challenging). I need to constantly evaluate and reevaluate the market so my team and I do not lose sight of the problem(s) we are solving for our clients and customers. My team laughs a lot about this, but we are constantly ‘pivoting’ to make sure that we stay relevant and that the products and services we offer are innovative and necessary in the marketplace. I don’t think these issues are unique to a women-owned company, but I do think the pressure to excel is greater because there are fewer options for women-owned businesses when it comes to capital. Beyond this, I think women who are able to channel their emotional intelligence into leadership can truly thrive and push past their competitors. In my role of owning and operating a consulting firm, I need to understand how my customers, clients and team are feeling at all times. People management and understanding is absolutely critical to our success and something that seems to come naturally to women. 4. What trends or changes do you predict will take place as younger women assume leadership roles and launch businesses?For starters, I think we’re going to see a major shift in the way that women-owned start-ups raise capital. The unfortunate current reality is that women often struggle to gain the same access to capital as their male counterparts. However, studies have shown that global GDP could rise by more than 3 percent if women and men participated in entrepreneurship equally, equating to trillions of dollars in growth to the global economy. Venture funds would be crazy not to examine this possibility and in turn, invest heavily in women-led businesses. If this happens, more women can start—and sustain—their businesses. Currently women-owned businesses fail at higher rates than male-owned businesses, in part due to capital constraints and limited access to cash during critical growth phases. Greater investment in women-owned businesses will also result in more women in business, and therefore stronger, more powerful social and professional networks. These networks will result in mentorship as well as greater interaction between female founders, giving way to new companies and even more innovation. I also expect to see a rise in diversity in the workplace as more and more women become business owners. The post How Gender Equality Improves Business appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2wCdzzx Contributed by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, disaster avoidance expert, speaker and author. History’s headlines are filled with examples of companies brought to their knees by bad decision making. Decca Records famously turned down the Beatles. Motorola chose not to make smartphones. Elon Musk tweeted about taking Uber private and plummeted his company into chaos. Boeing’s leadership made some terrible decisions to cover up problems and rush production of the 737 Max. In all cases, their competitors took advantage of these failures to seize market share. Good decision making is the essence of successful leadership, which is why the term “leader” is often equated to “decision-maker.” Tragically, too many leaders get it wrong. It’s not a matter of luck or timing. Disasters happen when leaders go with their gut. The process of decision making is anything but intuitive, because our brain is wired to make terrible decisions in the modern professional environment. After all, our mind is adapted for the tribal savanna, not the globalized, digitalized business world of today. As a result, we make a series of dangerous judgment errors that scholars in behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience call cognitive biases. For instance, Kodak’s leaders ignored the increasing popularity of digital cameras and instead dug their heels in with film, despite Kodak actually inventing the digital camera. Falling into confirmation bias—a cognitive bias in which we choose to ignore uncomfortable information, Kodak’s leadership overlooked the reality of a major market shift. Their competitors took advantage—and Kodak went bankrupt in 2012. Business lore paints leaders as having an almost magical ability to chart a course, made possible because the decision maker either has decades of experience or is a special genius, or both. But dangerous judgment errors can cause disasters for businesses and careers at any stage of decision making, even for businesses that were highly successful in the past. Fortunately, recent research in cognitive neuroscience has identified strategies help you know when you’re falling into cognitive biases, as well as ways to defeat these dangerous judgment errors in your professional life. In reality, a first-rate decision making process is not only possible, it’s teachable. It’s not a mystery or an innate gift. It’s not mythical. It’s a learnable strategy based on a distinct sequence of eight simple steps. This decision-making process combines best practices from the most effective leaders along with cutting-edge research in behavioral economics and cognitive neuroscience. Whether you’re a leader in a small, midsized or larger organization, whether business or nonprofit, these eight steps will enable you to make better decisions and avoid potential disaster by overcoming cognitive biases. 1. Recognize that a decision needs to be made.Such recognition bears particular weight when there’s no explicit crisis that cries out for a decision, or when your intuition makes it uncomfortable to acknowledge the need for a tough decision. The best decision makers take initiative to recognize the need for decisions before they become an emergency. They don’t let gut reactions cloud their decision making capacity. 2. Collect relevant information from a range of informed perspectives on the issue.Leaders should particularly value the opinions you disagree with. It may seem counterintuitive, but those are the perspectives that enable you to best distance yourself from your own status quo. They will help you detach from a habitual and too-cozy reliance on your gut instinct and help you recognize potential your own bias. 3. Determine your goals and envision the desired outcome.Use the data collected from those varying perspectives to accomplish this step. It is particularly important to recognize when a seemingly one-time decision is a symptom of an underlying issue with processes and practices. Address these root problems as part of the outcome you want to achieve. 4. Develop clear decision making criteria to evaluate your options.These criteria will show you how to get to your vision. 5. Generate viable options that can achieve your goals.Too often we can fall into the trap of not generating enough options to make the best decisions, especially for solving underlying challenges. It’s important to generate more options than you’d think. While it goes against instinct, that’s the point. Since this is a brainstorming step, don’t judge these options. They may seem outlandish or politically unacceptable, but experience shows that the optimal choice is often drawn from out of the box and innovative elements. 6. Weigh these options, then pick the best ones.Considering the situation at hand, mix and match parts of different options to determine what suits it best. As you weigh the options beware of going with your initial preferences. Instead, try to see your preferred choice in a cooler light. Don’t go with what “feels right.” Moreover, separate the option from the person who presented it. You want to keep the decision free from the influence of personalities, relationships, or internal politics. 7. Implement the option you chose.Before and during the process of implementation, consider how your decision can go wrong, and guard against these failures. Most importantly, ensure clear accountability and communication around the decision’s enactment. 8. Evaluate the implementation process, and revise as necessary.Being too committed to a decision that you can’t fathom how to revise it is a common mistake that’s completely avoidable. Instead, note that you’ll often go back and forth among these eight steps to make needed adjustments. Doing so is an inherent part of making a significant decision. For example, if you’re at the option-generation stage, and you discover relevant new information, you may need to go back and revise the goals and criteria stages. But this does not indicate a problem in your process. It should be part of the process. By breaking the decision process into eight steps, committing to follow through on each step, and being flexible enough to revisit steps as needed, decision making becomes more rational that reactive, and more productive than impulsive. Gut instinct may have served us when we were tribes fighting to survive in the primitive savannah, but the business world is an entirely different environment. It takes more than instinct to prevail. Dr. Gleb Tsipursky is on a mission to protect leaders from dangerous judgment errors known as cognitive biases by developing the most effective decision-making strategies. With over 20 years of experience as CEO of the training, coaching, and consulting firm Disaster Avoidance Experts, he also spent over 15 years in academia as a cognitive neuroscientist and behavioral economist. He’s an EO speaker, a recent EO 360° podcast guest and author of Never Go With Your Gut (2019), The Blindspots Between Us (2020) and The Truth Seeker’s Handbook (2017). The post 8 Steps to Making Better Business Decisions appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/38hutkj |
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