+ One Plus One Equals Power

How often are you feeling stagnant in a sea of concern that your message is not being conveyed to those who have the final say? How many times have your ideas fallen on deaf ears? What is separating you from the celebration of other successful leaders and business people who are finding joy in their achievements?

We see (and share!) many articles of women being paid less than their male counterparts and enduring the shorter end of the deal lately. Some are finding challenges in getting what they need to succeed in their corporate positions. They recognize the need but positioning themselves to inspire their superiors to give them what they want is as challenging as moving a building by hand.

We’re seeing other women advocating that we all need to lean in and take what’s rightfully ours. I believe all points are valid, however, I think there’s one missing link in all I’ve read and seen so far.

First of all, not all women are challenged. Kevin O’Leary from Shark Tank (“Mr. Wonderful”) is betting on women to run his investments this year. He stated that previous investments run by women had the highest internal rate of return. Women are in fact succeeding, so the question is again, what separates those who forge ahead?

For women in leadership and business, I think there is a strong, yet subtle, reliance on someone else to understand the financials and/or statistical data with regards to the business. We’ve heard there’s enormous strength in numbers, which is true, but not the way the quote implies. There’s strength in numbers, yes. KNOWING, understanding and being able to powerfully articulate what they mean is where the difficulties lie for any woman trying to earn her worth.

Mr. Wonderful even noted that those who come to the Shark Tank and know the numbers inside-out get what they want. Think about it. In negotiating, the strongest leverage one can have is knowing the true value of whatever you’re going after and starting from there.

In corporate America, the same rings true. If you’re going to lead, the most valuable player understands the bottom line and how their leadership impacts it. If one is looking for capital, the most valuable player understands the power of financials, and projections. First, it shows you understand your business model, the market and your competition. Second, it rolls out the red carpet for an investor to see a return.

The bloodline of any business is sales, which ultimately leads to profitability; if a viable plan is developed and executed properly.

There are varying sets of numbers, depending upon your role in business. If you’re in corporate America, seek to find how your role impacts profitability and dare to be well versed in the numbers specific to your role. If you’re in business for yourself, you’ll find things like profit and loss statements, balance sheets, cash flow projections, etc. available on the internet.

However if you’re really want to stand out from the rest, become well-versed in lifetime value of the client, break-even analysis, market share growth, acquisition cost, etc.

These, along with your skills, expertise and experience, set you apart from any and everyone else.

Go get ’em ladies and don’t let nobody tell ya, you can’t!

+ Innovation Plus Strategy Leads to Success

As a business strategist, it is often my job to identify challenges that separate current results from the desired goals. Many clients find themselves evaluating a decline in profit margins, difficulty with employee recruitment and retention or simply hit a wall in growth. After a few failed attempts, they seek an expert to support efforts of exponential growth.

For a full evaluation of the organization, we focus on a few areas first.

Vision and Mission – Purpose-driven companies are seeing increased profits due to heightened performance of their team. We evaluate the company's vision as a measure of effectiveness within the staff.

Recruitment – A recruitment and interview process that is strategically directed for inquiries of candidates who are most qualified for the position AND find purpose in the opportunity increases performance and profitability.

The recruitment assessment for our clients is designed to develop a sustainable process that leads to candidates who align with their vision and mission.

Leadership – Leaders who lead the company with vision in the forefront tend to score amongst the most valued, respected and effective of leaders.

Our programs find areas of improvement to better cultivate each leader to foster effective transference of the vision internally and publicly.

Financial solvency – A company who can meet it’s fixed long term expenses and is well prepared for longevity in the marketplace.

We conduct an analysis to find a clear understanding of the company’s overall current state and future growth, financially.

Succession planning – Company leaders and stakeholders find security in a business valuation and knowing the company value. They are better able to leverage their position in the marketplace for mergers, acquisitions, and opportunities to sell. Other areas to see immediate increases profits.

Sales – Sales are the bread and butter of any business. Our first areas of impact lie in sales. The overall objective is to increase sales by 3 to 5% depending on the business.

Expenses – Expenses tend to be heavier than necessary in most business models. We focus in this area to decrease expenses through innovative and creative ways.

These are just a few areas in which we work with our clients. The long list also includes management, marketing, sales, operations, etc. We’re proud of the clients who take on new innovative strategies to build a more manageable and sustainable company. No matter who becomes your business strategist, the value lies in the depth of the research in all of these areas. Each area provides a unique detailed landscape that will position your company for exponential results.

+ The Fastest Way To The Top is Together

You may be familiar with this African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

My mantra for women is "The Fastest Way To The Top is Together"

The Fastest way to the top .jpeg As successful women in business, you probably already know that you can’t achieve success on your own. Yes, you are the leader of your life and you’ve worked hard to get to where you are, but if you’re honest you know that many people helped you along the way. Many of them were women, looking out for their sister who was trying so hard to compete in a male-dominated corporate culture.

Hollywood likes to depict women as cut-throat adversaries out for themselves but more often than not, I’ve found that women are conscious of the struggle we share in succeeding in the world of business and the "do" lend a hand when they can. Maybe a kind HR woman gave you the inside scoop at your first job or maybe a colleague explained a gaff you made in a presentation—we all have stories in which women were kind to each other. Women know, on some level, that the two sexes are often perceived as pitted against each other, and realize they need to stick together.

Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In” was an important book for igniting the conversation around women’s lack of equality in the workplace that is still going strong two years later. In an illuminating critique of the book, Vanessa Garcia explains how Sandberg’s advice for women to “lean in” sounds good on the surface but is too mired in male-dominated corporate structure to succeed. Garcia argues that what Sandberg is really asking women to do is to lean into a corporate culture created by men and that by submitting to those rules women can make changes to that same structure. For Garcia, this gives women a false sense of hope and it won’t work. She continues suggesting the system needs to be altered on a structural basis. When it's just women leaning in they are submitting to the status quo.

I agree that seeking to alter the corporate structure and working together is the only way to bring about change. When women work together and speak as a collective change can occur at a structural level. When my colleague and friend Sheree Mann, COO of The Right Plan, achieves great things and I point to her success in my presentations, it reinforces our collective strength, even though she’s not there. The fastest way to the top is together, not alone!

Who can you support whom you’ve not thought of or maybe even taken for granted?

If you find yourself stuck in fear of speaking up for yourself or fear of standing up for what you deserve and you need a strong results-oriented confidante who can propel you to greater results, contact us for a personal coaching session or business assessment.

+ Did Hillary Break the Glass Ceiling?

What a moment we experienced recently, as Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

Many tears were shed as we embarked on a new day. Young girls and women of all ages faced a moment of inspired energy as she took the podium. For the first time in history a woman accepted the nomination. It certainly was more than your usual Democratic National Convention. As Hillary stood there addressing the world with her plans as the first female President, she had indeed broken a long time record of men standing in that very spot. But had she really broken a glass ceiling?

I suggest that Hillary may have broken the record, but the glass ceiling was already shattered awaiting her arrival. Consider Oprah Winfrey, Shonda Rhimes, Michele Obama who have all represented women soaring through barriers. They’ve blown the glass into a million pieces and blazed a path for other women to follow.

In fact, Shonda Rhimes said “Making it through the glass ceiling to the other side was simply a matter of running on a path created by every other woman’s footprints. I just hit at exactly the right time in exactly the right spot”.

When TIME asked her last year about that statement, she said, “I did not feel like I had come up against obstacles. One, because my parents raised me to believe that there weren’t any. If you believe that there are obstacles, that’s why there are obstacles. And two, because I came along at exactly the right time in history”.

Shonda’s words opened up a dialogue. Is there really a glass ceiling?

I think Shonda raises a question for all women to consider. A question that could set all on the road of succeeding in every path they chart. If there is a glass ceiling, where is it, really?

Shonda mentioned her parents teaching her to believe there were no obstacles. This changed her course in life. I’d even venture to say, if you haven’t reached the success you long for or you’ve been relegated to the glass ceiling that is often mentioned, perhaps the ceiling is only relevant to your belief. It only exists in your mind and there’s no real ceiling or limitation on what you can achieve or become.

So how do you break something that doesn’t really exist?

Shift your belief that there is a glass ceiling or limitation in your ability to have what you want.

Find your voice. Be bold and never settle for less than you deserve.

Trust your instincts. If you know you want something, go for it.

Perfect the ask. Become more effective in asking for what you want.

The next time you tell yourself there is a glass ceiling, remember there’s a path awaiting! Take the leap of being bold and courageous. Perhaps you’ll be the next to break a record!