According to the most recent State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, commissioned by American Express OPEN, between 2007 and 2013, at a time when the economy faced substantial headwinds, female entrepreneurs started businesses at a rate 150% higher than the national average, adding 175,000 jobs to the U.S. economy. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the American Express OPEN for Women: CEO BootCamp at the American Express Global Headquarters in New York City, a first-of-its-kind program designed to build on these accomplishments by helping women become even better chief executive officers and unleash the full potential of their companies. As a woman business owner and CEO, I believed I could benefit from this day of programming and it truly did not disappoint!
The event feature a number of female business leaders and recognized industry experts including:
-- Charlotte Beers -- Businesswoman and former Under Secretary of State
-- Gina Bianchini -- CEO and Founder of MightyBell
-- Mika Brzezinski -- Co-Host, MSNBC's "Morning Joe"
-- Tory Burch -- CEO, Tory Burch and President, Tory Burch Foundation
-- Robin Chase -- CEO, Buzzcar and Co-founder, Zipcar
-- Jean Chatzky -- Financial Editor, NBC's "Today" Show
-- Melinda Emerson -- Author and small business expert known as the
SmallbizLady
-- Angie Hicks -- Co-founder and CMO, Angie's List
-- Valerie Morris -- Author and former CNN anchor
-- Mally Roncal -- Founder and CEO of Mally Beauty
During this full day of programming, the fundamental pillars for successful ventures–confidence, competence, and connections as recognized by a number of renowned experts in entrepreneurship.The program content, which was developed based on findings from the American Express OPEN Mindset Survey, reinforced some of the fundamental pillars that lead to success. Specific themes included:
-- Leading so others can follow
-- Only 26% of women entrepreneurs rate themselves as excellent
delegators and subsequently a majority of women entrepreneurs
(70%) say they are hands-on leaders even though sharing
responsibility might be beneficial
-- Harnessing the power of money
-- Just 39% of women say they are excellent in managing their
finances/accounting
-- Learning to love the spotlight
-- Roughly a quarter of women entrepreneurs (27%) report positioning
themselves as leaders in their industry in order to drive business
to their business
-- Tackling tough decisions
-- Nearly half of women entrepreneurs (49%) say they are excellent
decision makers; while only 26% say they are excellent negotiators
-- Establishing a path for growth
-- 53% of women entrepreneurs say they are motivated to make more
money and 62% say they have clear growth targets and a budget plan
to reach them
-- Broadening your network and building a board of advisors
-- 34% of women entrepreneurs rate their networking skills as
fair/poor and the vast majority (85%) of women say they
rarely/never seek business advice from a formal board
To reinforce these themes, American Express OPEN has developed a number of Insight Guides that will be used to deliver the CEO BootCamp curriculum to thousands of business owners across the country.
“I am pleased to learn of this new initiative to help prepare women chief executives around what we deem to be the three most necessary competencies of an effective business leader — confidence, competence and connections,” said Marsha Firestone, Ph.D., president and founder of the Women Presidents’ Organization. “Possessing the self-assurance and optimism to grow a business, combined with having a fine-tuned skill set and developed ability to network, equate to the most successful business outcomes.”
PR Diva’s Aliah Davis-McHenry (Aliah Public Relations) at the American Express OPEN: #CEOBootCamp.
I received many take-aways from the entire event. After her insightful breakout session, I had the honor of sitting with advertising legend Charlotte Beers for an impromptu pow-wow lunch where myself and others were able to discuss and listen to her expertise and sage advice:
Advertising icon Charlotte Beers
“For major communication: be personally clear, so you say what you mean, make your words memorable.” @CharlotteBeers #CEOBootCamp
— OPEN Forum (@OPENForum) September 20, 2013
“R>W Relationships > Work”-@CharlotteBeers @OPENForum #CEOBootCamp
— Yoli’s Green Living (@yoliouiya) September 20, 2013
Mika Brzezinski asks Tory Burch about her experience as an entrepreneur and growing her passion.
Panel hosted by Dr. Marsha Firestone, Women Presidents’ Organization – Shelly Sun, BrightStar – Marianne Cooper, Stanford – John Gerzema, The Athena Doctrine, Gail Warrior – Warrior Construction
Being amongst so many established and emerging entrepreneurs was a mind-blowing experience. There was a huge amount of energy and passion in everyone I encountered. In addition to the panels, keynote presentations, and break-out sessions, I participated in mentoring sessions with Laurie Benson, founder and former CEO of Inacom Information Systems, and Marianne Cooper, a sociologist at the Clayman Institute and lead researcher for the book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg. I am grateful for these two women’s advice and sharing their time.
@coopermarianne is hitting on the gender stereotypes (likability, emotions, confidence) that can hold women back #CEOBootCamp #adapt
— Jenae’ Jones (@Jenae_Jones) September 20, 2013
Believe in yourself and believe in person next to you. And KNOW YOUR VALUE! #ceobootcamp
— Anne Palmer (@annepalmertgt) September 20, 2013
I am proud to be a part of the first CEO BootCamp. I left energized and invigorated–I gained confidence, competence, and connections thus building the three pillars of success. I found inspiration in Angie Hicks of Angie’s List who said: “Give people an opportunity to take on risk and fail. If you didn’t fail you didn’t learn anything.” Final words of wisdom came from Susan Sobbott: “Believe in yourself, be generous, and believe in the person next to you.”
“Risk and confidence go hand in hand. Being an entrepreneur is being a risk taker.” – @toryburch #CEOBootCamp
— Aliah Davis McHenry (@AliahPR) September 20, 2013
Couldn’t attend #CEOBootCamp? Visit http://t.co/iZwiZXjlOQ and join Mightybell circles for great content and program updates. Programming and content will also be offered at the NAWBO Women’s Business Conference 2013 (Oct. 3-5 in Miami, FL), Digital UnDivided’s Focus 100 (Oct. 4-5 in New York City) and Women Leadership Exchange events (Oct. 15 in New York City and Nov. 7 in Chicago).