What 300+ women know about risk and courage - Women's Agenda

What 300+ women know about risk and courage

Leaving an employer and the safety of a regular salary to start your own business is a huge risk.

But that’s not stopping plenty of women from doing so.

Yesterday, I shared lunch with more than 300 female entrepreneurs and small business owners at the annual She Business Fearless event. The event is as much an end-of-year celebration as it is a motivational boost to get more courageous for the year ahead.

Many of those in the room had left very large corporates at some point to pursue their own idea or passion. They were now running businesses covering everything from financial planning to accounting, legal, communications, marketing, coaching, fitness and food.

Opened by She Business founder Suzy Jacobs, the Fearless crowd heard from a number of different speakers sharing their own experiences with being courageous in their career and life.

Regus CFO and Thomson Reuters’ 2013 CFO of the year Paula Kensington presented the key turning points that have created the career she’s in today.

She left school at 16 for a career in retail – rejecting her father’s idea of a life in accounting. At 21, she realised she needed to be more financially independent, and gave up that career in retail to go back and study accounting.

Six weeks before her 40th birthday, she lost her long-term partner in an overseas accident. Determined to keep moving her career forward, she became the first female CFO of an ASX-listed software company here in Australia. “I’ve grown so much with all of those experiences. They’ve opened my eyes to living in the moment,” she said. 

Kensington offered the audience three important tips: the first being to say yes more often; the second to get scared – it will support growth; and the third being the quit worrying about all the details regarding how you’re going to do something so you can instead concentrate on what you’re actually trying to achieve. “And if you don’t have all the answers, get people in your little toolbox who do.”

Newly minted CEO of Sunrise Cambodia Lucy Perry shared her career story covering her time running a marketing and graphic design business to being a ‘doula’ or birth partner, raising more than $7 million dollars for Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia, and more recently taking on the leadership of another international not-for-profit.

The latter was a tough job to get. Perry recalled being grilled for three hours by the board on why she was the right fit for the role.

When they were done and asked if she had any questions, Perry decided to grill the board instead. “I said, ‘this whole time I’ve been auditioning you as my board of directors. I only want to work with a gun team who is passionate about the organisation … I’d appreciate it if you would go around the room and tell me who you are and why you’re here.”

Perry said she could confidently do that because she knew she had made her case. “When you really know you truth, you can be your most courageous. When you know your shit, when you know what you’re talking about, it’s hard for people to talk down to you or to misguide you.”

She urged the audience to quit caring about what other people think and to overcome a fear of asking. 

“One of the biggest fears we face everyday in business and in our personal lives is the fear of no. I’ve discovered ‘no’ is not a terminal condition. No is temporary. No, is just a no for now.”

Later, the founder of CBA’s Women in Focus turned author and entrepreneur, Karen James, delivered a keynote session that was all about finding your purpose.

She urged the crowd to first think about their fears, and to determine what’s driving them.

“Fear and worry are interest paid in advance on something you may never actually own,” she said. “Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil. If we worry about evil, we let it pull us in, then they win. We have to fight the good fight.”

Vision trumps fear, added James. So think about where you want to be by the year 2020 and focus on what you can control.

As for living a life with purpose, James offered a number of steps for getting there.

The first is that you absolutely need to care, and surround yourself with people who care – about your customers, your business and themselves.

The second is that you need to be clear what you stand for. “Know what you stand by and what you’re never going to stand with. When you know that, that’s your rock,” she said. 

From there, James said you need to be consistent with your character everyday, and to know your values (which are different from your ethics). You need to get clear on your work and life purpose, and then bring the two together. And you need to weave purpose into your vision for the future, and to develop a clear strategy on how you’re going to achieve that vision. “And embed the purpose,” added James. “Everything you do has to reflect your purpose.”

That means developing processes, procedures, key performance indicators and bonus structures that underpin whatever that purpose is.

Major Matina Jewell (retired) provided the final keynote of the day, sharing the courageous moments behind her 15 year military career that saw her awarded eight war medals, complete the Navy dives course, serve with the elite American Navy Seals and be eventually posted as a peacekeeper with the UN in Syria and Lebanon. “We are all guilty of placing limitations on ourselves,” she said. 

It was courage and persistence that enabled Jewell to keep moving and working during difficult times, and she urged those in the crowd to embrace change, seize opportunities and to acknowledge that great goals take time and persistence.

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