Do You Have The Gene For Change?

The 3rd Annual Fearless Women Summit happened in Miami at the top of the day for the Nitrogen Fearless Investing Summit . Each year, our event gets bigger, but this year in 2023, we made some major announcements. Big changes...they were coming!

From adding Linda Wittich of Top Line Focus as our Interim Chief Operating Office, to our new membership tiers , new pricing models, new community app in development, new membership portal, new benefits, etc. (Did I mention the word “new” enough? I don’t think I did!) It has been a world of change.

Add to this, my husband and I sold our home, we packed up a 2400 sq. ft. house in 14 days, and moved while attending The Wealthies , EXCELL , and the Fearless Investing Summit. It was a lot of change!

It seemed timely that this McKinsey & Company article on BOSE CEO, Lila Snyder, landed in my eyesight asking, “Do You Have The Gene For Change?” Honestly, I was really questioning this during all of this stuf and not even realizing that was the question. (Article found here: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/leading-through-disruption-requires-the-gene-for-change )

Snyder discusses how she was brought in during the 2020 Pandemic to transform the company and their product distribution. Nobody needs to say, “That was a tough time!” We all just know it was because it was for everyone.

“I looked for people with the gene for change and a desire for change to be a key element of what they do.”

The Gene for Change is much more than grit and resilience. These are important, but you must also have intellectual agility and the willingness to think about decisions from a new perspective as market conditions change.

This was exactly where I was with Females and Finance this past year.

We grew so fast.

I never imagined we would be into the thousands of members and as quickly as we were. It didn’t allow me a lot of time to pivot or change or even enjoy the success of our mission. I was just so busy trying to keep up and keep everyone happy. That’s a tough order to fill.

Disruptions are constant.

The Pandemic, the focus on DEI (and the billion different views on this), and so many other things in financial services were also demanding my attention during our growth phase. And in order to keep going and be sustainable, I knew I would have to stop, breathe, think, feel, determine, act, and stay accountable to everything our community and network needed to continue our mission to make financial services and financial technology a more welcoming industry to women and DEI professionals.

Being a Role Model...as a Woman

I hate that I have to add that part… “as a woman,” but even in 2023 we are fighting so many stereotypes and biases, that it must remain. I’m not really a pioneer. I do consider myself an Accidental Activist, however. I just got mad about stuff one day and decided to do something. I never realized that decision would change the course of my professional life forever. But, I do hear women say to me how they look up to me and I’m humbled. I just want to keep shaking up the system on how we think and act when it comes to building a better professional landscape.

Keep Being a Risk Taker

I fall prey to the same things anyone else does. I do like the feeling of putting on my old shoes and walking my walk. I can do that without too much thought. Sometimes, that feels really peaceful. But, does that get the real work done? In order to be a change maker, you have to not only be ok with being uncomfortable, you have to almost seek out the discomfort and go into it knowing it will be hard. That’s where that Gene for Change really kicks in. What others would dislike, even hate, I get excited about and keep looking for more opportunities to be uncomfortable.

Now, it’s your turn.

Interview yourself and BE A PERSON OF ACTION:

• You have to question yourself if you have the ability to do this in your business. If you don’t, you owe it to yourself to hire someone who will do that part of the work for you.
• Are you holding yourself back? If so, examine deeply “why”?

Sheryl Hickerson

Founder & Chief Engagement Officer, Females and Finance

This article originally appeared on the Females and Finance website: https://femalesandfinance.com/blog/do-you-have-the-gene-for-change