BusinessWeek Online has a story that profiles 18 women who have left high-power corporate jobs to join the ranks of start-up entrepreneurs. The reason — “Only 2 of the 18 women on our list mentioned making more money as their primary motivation.”
Building a different kind of organizational culture seemed to be a major driving force for many of these women. While still striving for high performance, these new entrepreneurs want to create a more collaborative and team-driven culture. It appears that they also want to create cultures that are more supportive of employees.
Cecelia McCloy, the 52-year-old co-founder of Integrated Science Solutions, a Walnut Creek (Calif.) science and engineering firm with $9 million in sales, says she specifically set out to create a company that was friendly to families. Her employees also get eight hours of paid time off per year to participate in civic or charitable activities — say, to volunteer in their children’s classroom. Last year, about 20 of her 75 employees took advantage of the option. And every month, she asks managers to give her information on employees who did something exceptional for customers or their colleagues. McCloy then writes a thank-you note to those folks.
From our own research for our new book, we have found that these types of goals are also shared by many male entrepreneurs. It is heartening to see entrepreneurs of both genders pursuing such rich and well-ordered definitions of success in their businesses.
(Thanks to Ben Cunningham for passing this along).
I actually have been hanging on to this issue of Business Week meaning to read this article because it was on the cover and it really interested me to read what they had to say about women as entrepreneurs. I am really impressed with the story about the company that gives 8 paid hours a year to do philanthropic work, even when it is volunteering at a child’s school. I’m not saying that men are incapable of doing the same, but I am very happy to find that women are working to make the professional lives of their employees better. I would find it interesting to see what kind of financial consequences, both positive and negative, these decisions have on the company. I would think that turnover is lower so regardless of the 8 hours per year alotted for charity and such, they are able to keep costs down because their employees enjoy their work.
I’m glad to hear about all these women becoming business owners. I just wish banks and lending institutions were more supportive of new entrepreneurs. But, I know that may never happen.
I’m just happy that my daughter has her own business. She’s a fashion designer and her company is called Jahqoi. It was a bold move and she had no idea how it was going to happen. I’m working with her and our company is still small. But, both of us have decided that we want a very different type of company from the ones usually found in corporate America. Jahqoi will be family-friendly, multi-cultural and definitely have a team attitude. Thanks for providing this forum. I’ll be visiting often.
This particular article hits very close to home for me. One of the struggles I have been facing is a work/life balance. It has been drilled into my head that if I plan to succeed in an accounting career I have to start off working 50 plus hour weeks. While I am about to embark on a new marriage and family life, this is not my idea of a healthy work life. I have already decided that public accounting is not the place that I need to be. This article gives me hope that there are other people like me, and that I will be able to find a career with a healthy balance that suits my lifestyle. I want to have a successful career, but I also crave family time. With others beginning to desire this structure as well, I can only hope that there will be more opportunities available soon. I don’t think it is fair to have to choose between work and family.