Navigating Through Challenging Times - the Fall Edition

The other day I balked at a podcast.

The guest referred to the wives of their clients. They didn’t say spouses and they weren’t inclusive.

Geez! What about male spouses I thought! Business leaders can be female too!

Sadly, that guest was me. I was ashamed. I usually do correct myself when telling stories about how working with small and medium businesses lets us, as Finance Leaders have a personal impact including the praise we get from spouses. Hearing that you are helping a founder sleep better is the ultimate compliment. Knowing that you are giving business leaders their time back because they are confident and restored and profitable and growing makes what we do worth it.

We do have female business owners as clients, as well as business leaders. But out of the 20+ clients we serve as CFO there’s only 3 where a female is the main contact. In fact, there’s only 4 where we are on an executive leadership team with a(nother) female.

Yes, we are actually beating the odds!

Oh, did you think otherwise?

Unfortunately, the number of female-led companies that hit $1m is under 2%. Meanwhile, 40% of businesses are owned by women. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/345356

Once a growing business has as little as $1m in revenue they will become more profitable working with an Amplify Finance Leader. That’s what our numbers and net performance score tell us. And the value proposition of working with a client from the early days ($1-5 million) is strong. It’s like a garden, we are fixers and we can come into a weedy mess and put backbreaking labour in to get to a fruitful and flush result (profit) but if we have the chance to scale and set you up earlier it’s the same result without the cleanup. Either is fine but we target $1-5m entities so that we can show our value quick.

As we grow Amplify’s business and work hard to analyze the small and medium business worlds we play in, we consistently see fewer and fewer female businesses on the prospect list.

Why? The article I linked tells part of the story. There simply aren’t many growth-focused >$1m female-owned businesses to talk to.

The Sidepreneur & the Solepreneur is Often a Lady

When we read the Amex report (https://s1.q4cdn.com/692158879/files/doc_library/file/2019-state-of-women-owned-businesses-report.pdf) it validates that women are more likely to be sidepreneurs. They want to be self-employed, offer a strong client experience but prioritization goes to their spouse’s career in the household & they carry the weight of primary parent.

Personally, I’ve found any time I try and join women in a business group, that sidepreneurs & solepreneurs are the majority. I don’t have a chance to meet and connect with many women that want to build sizeable entities or are focused on growth in big ways with teams of high employment. Statistics Canada (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2018083-eng.htm) confirms my exposure to non-employer female business owners is an accurate reflection.

It’s amazing to run a successful business & meet personal goals. I think these women have a ton to be proud of. The level of work/life balance or integration they achieve is incredible. They are role models for their kids at home too. But these ladies aren’t likely to need a CFO to meet their goals. And they aren’t likely to empathize with the stresses that I face running a business of different size and being a CFO if a mid-market entity. So I haven’t found a group to join, yet.

The Politician is More Likely A Dude

All entrepreneurs look to make a difference, to have autonomy & to build something. Female entrepreneurs have more in common with their male counterparts than not.

As noted, some female entrepreneurs go on their own in order to find the work/life balance or integration they seek. Being on their own gives them control over their hours, their commitment, whom they work with and what they work on. This wasn’t the circumstances for me but most women I know that became entrepreneurs were driven by this and the expectations they had for themselves as mothers.

Another key difference that I think subconsciously plays a role for most of us is politics. Some women are great at office politics & some even like them. At the end of the day, the corporate world remains a patriotic system & the politics you must play were designed by men & for men. The activities that happen that increase exposure & build relationships are largely male-centric (hockey, golf, other sports). There are instances where the “me too” movement has ignited a fear of evenings one on one with those ladies that can find time for happy hour or supper out. The navigation of politics is played more by men & comes more naturally to them. Those women that excel are rare and that alone can be a stigma.

Women entrepreneurs, like men, take the leap because they have the confidence & the optimism to try & succeed on their own. Generally, it isn’t to run away from something but the ability to avoid traditional office politics & to create your own work/life balance are two factors that might differ for the females when compared to male business owners.

An interesting read on politics. https://hbr.org/2018/09/is-office-politics-a-white-mans-game Is Office Politics a White Man’s Game?

Politics are how things get done. They are unavoidable in large organizations due to the complexity of those businesses & the number of people.

You can largely avoid or be ignorant of politics when you are focused on developing skills & gaining experiences. It’s a good thing that management and leaders protect the junior levels during their early days. Learning and technical skills are a better focus when you are young. But as you get to the top you live the politics day in and out.

Entrepreneurial and smaller entities don’t get bogged down as easily. Again it’s often about size & complexity. In other words, it’s about people and the number of them & how they are organized.

This article raises many important points. About how it is the design of the game and the perception of who’s playing that emotionally drains players that don’t fit the original mould. It’s not a lack of leaning in. It’s not a lack of skills.

This article rounds out the same conversation: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/297165 Corporate Politics and Toxic Environments Are the Real Reasons Women Are 'Leaning Out'

You can be very experienced & effective in politics. You can have a track record of achieving results while navigating political environments & organizations. This doesn’t mean it is sustainable. This doesn’t mean it doesn’t drain you. This conflicting dynamic is especially likely to exist for those that aren’t classic members because after all, it’s likely not their game.

And here’s the thing, as you grow in your own business the politics come back. This time you’ve “designed” them but societal norms are still influential. There’s politics within and for B2B there are politics within the clients too.

I’m convinced that the reason I can’t even find an article or stat on female-owned businesses hitting $5m is that the ladies who didn’t want to succeed within the corporate game hit a plateau. When politics come rearing into their own company they have another hard decision to make - do they play a game that they can be good at but don’t feel authentic or do they try and carve a new way and a path through the ceiling they are banging their head against?

We could discuss more on this. And it’s more than one ceiling that creates the plateau. The facts also show that women get hardly any access to financing. At Amplify, we know that raising debt and equity to support our client's growth is fundamental. The growth ambitions of our clients outweigh their organic growth opportunities and the cashflow of their growth is too volatile to do it without proper access to liquidity. A growing company needs access to financing and liquidity & managing that financial strategy is where our Finance Leaders show immediate value.

Behind every amazing business, there tends to be an influential woman. Being married to a business owner is no small struggle and carries a significant amount of stress and risk. The daughters of businessmen play their part. Even the mothers do! Women contribute to the team at all great businesses. And some women are on the executive leadership team or on the shareholder or founder list too.

I want to recognize each of these ladies, regardless of the role they play because it makes a difference.

Our clients are extraordinarily focused on diversity and inclusion and take balanced teams seriously. Amplify does too.

The good news is these numbers are terrible so there’s plenty of opportunities to do better. We can’t wait to grow our list of female clients and do our part with them.

Introduce A Pesty Virus

Why does this matter more now than ever? Everything I've discussed is not new.

COVID-19 has introduced new problems. The working mom that was able to balance her job with her personal choices as a mom now has home-schooling or quarantine or a lay-off to deal with.

The sidepreneur and solepreneur that was finding great success are now balancing an economic crisis with customers and clients watching their purse strings close.

The biggest impact in our country with regards to employment? Industries that are largely employing females.

The issue goes on. Others write it better:

• https://calgaryherald.com/business/local-business/one-third-of-canadian-women-have-considered-quitting-job-during-pandemic-survey
• https://www.scarymommy.com/2020-will-be-the-death-of-the-working-mother/ 

Now What?

Let's do better together. While we work hard together to prioritize #supportlocal and health and safety let's add this to the list.

But wait! Who has the capacity to add more? Fair enough but a strong economy is stronger with contributing adults. Female-led businesses do well. They add to employment, they add to the GDP and they make a real contribution. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53548704

We need to support the ladies that choose to stay home, the parents that had to pick online learning, the part-time workers, the women in all industries, the career-focused working parents, the dedicated ladies that focused on giving back to their community and didn't have kids, the sidepreneur, the solepreneur, the husbands of the empire builders and all the great people in between.

Navigating Through Challenging Times

My last feminist rant was back in July. I have been obsessed every day since and was enthralled before that publication too. https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/navigating-through-challenging-times-jamie-l-smith/

I've updated my suggested action points below. Most are 100% the same but I'm thankful I have deleted the one advocating for schools to open. They did, it is not easy but it is largely successful and society is better off for the choices that families have.

Here are my solutions and ideas one more time:

1. Be aware of the impact of school restrictions while you plan to re-open the office. If the current plan gets altered or if the school that your employee’s kids attend isn’t fully open this needs to be part of your re-opening plan too.

2. Consider incentives to get the dads to take on the responsibilities more. That might not help the woman on your payroll, but it will help another organization & the community you operate in.

3. If you are a dad, set an example. Yes, your wife might make less or maybe she is a full-time mom, but you can still help and you can be a mentor in the office by doing it.

4. Use a hybrid approach, even if it’s temporary.

This will reduce stigma. Go as far as limiting office days for every single role so that the perceptions aren’t as highlighted with women still remote.

5. Do not allow the environment you create to make women consider quitting. Provide concessions, grant leaves, and realize if even one mother quits you’ve failed to be supportive. Unconsciously your likely going to shut her out of decisions and creative chaos but don’t let that become a permanent shut out. Do your best to mitigate the risks of your underlying biases and the consequences of being remote.