Power = Revenue + Capital

It’s October and the last quarter of 2012. I keep one thing in mind every day: Power = Revenue + Capital. We will celebrate that equation and women who live it at our Bottom Line Broads Awards Luncheon on November 3rd at the Olympic Collection Banquet and Conference Center in Los Angeles (learn more). You will be inspired by the achievements of these women. For those of us who are on the journey, the Broads Circle Monthly Huddles are turning out to be a great way to really connect with a smaller group of women and expand on our revenue generating relationships.

This month the world lost Steve Jobs. The story of this “adopted” American of Middle Eastern descent who dropped out of college only to become a multi-billionaire is a great American success story. I have heard more wisdom about life and business from Steve Jobs since his death than I ever did during his short life.

I thought I would share a few Steve Jobs quotes that really appealed to me. Enjoy the below and remember to stay on top of your Money and Power game.

Human Resources – A Strategic Weapon in Driving Revenue

By Kimberly Congdon
Regional Vice President, Human Resources
Time Warner Cable, West Region
Broads Circle Bottom Line Broads Member

As a Human Resources Executive, having to convince others of the value of our function is not a new phenomenon.  The role of HR has changed as well as the name. Many forward thinking organizations refer to the role as People and Organization or Human Capital.  Me, I really like the terminology Human Resources as long as people think about both words – Human and Resources – instead of conjuring up that nice HR lady that helps me when I have problems with my benefits.  Frankly, her job was outsourced a few years ago.  There can’t possibly be a savvy business person out there that doesn’t understand that people are expensive, but the question is: Do you view it as strictly an expense or as capital that is at your disposal to either use effectively or waste?  Once the concept of maximizing human capital instead of getting rid of expenses takes hold, you’re ready to welcome a Human Resources executive in as your partner.

In my own experience, I have been engaged in lead roles of five sweeping and dramatic organizational changes over the past 7 years.   The bigger the ship, the harder it is to turn it, and the West Region that went through those changes consisted of 9,200 people and was a little over $3billion in revenue.  Those five changes were:

Your Personal Board of Directors

Over the last couple of years through relationships expanded as a result of Broads Circle, I have formed a personal Board of Directors. You know, a little group of people who as Keith Ferrazzi says, “have my back.” I highly recommend that you create such a group for yourself. Think about it this way: it takes a village to help you succeed, and a personal Board of Directors can help you get there!

As for who should be on your Board, look close to home: friends, colleagues, professionals and family members. Who do you admire and who has information that can be valuable to you? Picking the right people is really tricky. It took me a while to figure this out. Before I was able to choose my Board members, I had to get to know myself on this issue first. No matter who you choose, it is absolutely necessary that you always keep one thing in mind: those serving on your metaphorical Board are doing so because they care about you and your future. Like the Board of Directors of a company, your personal Board of Directors need to have the right mix of necessary elements. Taken from the Caroline Dowd-Higgins study and book: Look for the connector, the accountability master, the shoulder to cry on, the dreamer and the mentor to sit on your Board. They can be 5 different people or just a couple of people who possess all five characteristics.

The Necessary Elements:

Broads Circle Celebrates 3rd Anniversary

Broads Circle celebrated its 3-year anniversary with a reunion event on July 13th, with the Marketing Me lunch.  Three years ago in July, Broads Circle hosted its very first meeting and the topic of the event was “Branding Yourself” and our speaker was Joy Chudacoff.  Joy has since become a member of our Advisory Board, and she moderated this marketing event lunch for us.  We had a record turnout for this event and an expanded workshop version is in the works.  The topic is important because women tend to be worker bees, and forget that real power and money comes from driving revenue and growing capital.  Marketing drives revenue and that means Money.  We forget that it is not how brilliant and hardworking you are that gets you ahead — it is how you market all that you do.

A piece that David Darst sent me this week reminded me of this.  Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, gave a fabulous commencement address at the Barnard College graduation.  As you may know, Barnard is mainly a girls’ school, and Sheryl gave those girls some straight talk about gender equity and goals to strive for.  She sited many studies, but said three things that as a woman and mother of a daughter, I found interesting (the following points are based on her commencement address):

Special Membership Offer for C-Level Women

By Darya Allen-Attar
Founder, Broads Circle

This month I want to share with you that I have joined the corporate board of Mann Healthcare Partners, a private local company founded by someone you may know from Broads Circle, Carla Mann Woods. As founder, CEO and Chairman of Mann Healthcare Partners, Carla brings her 20 years of experience in the development, marketing and distribution of life science products to this new venture. It is exciting for me to be involved at the corporate board level with Carla’s new start-up company that focuses on high tech life science!

Broads Circle is committed to Money and Power for women, and that includes support for women-owned businesses. If women want to benefit from an increased share of global capital, they must increase their participation through active involvement and support for growth capital opportunities. Our Buy the CEO Spot event in May discussed this topic in depth, and presented a lesson on how women who know a business can partner with capital providers to buy a company and lead it up the value chain!

In the spirit of getting more women leaders involved with Broads Circle, we would like to extend an offer of free membership to women who are C-Level at middle market companies (positions like CEO, CFO, Controller, CIO). Kim Christensen (kim@broadscircle.com) can help you qualify referrals to Broads Circle for the free membership offer.

We are happy to announce that we have some great new members:

• Renee Becker, Esq., Counsel, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
• Andrea Belz, PhD, President, Belz Commercialization Consulting Group
• Alice Cardenas, Executive Director, Alice Cardenas Consulting Company
• Chris Hagemann, Director of Finance, Sunkist Growers
• Rochelle Moulton, CEO, Rochelle Moulton & Team, Inc.

You can view member bios on our Leadership Profiles website page. Later this summer, there will be an opportunity for members and past speakers to gather at a private dinner event. If you are not a member, and have not been to a Broads Circle event, please join us for our Marketing Me event this summer or any of our terrific events this fall. Have a great start to your summer, and see you in July!

To your success,
Darya

Darya Allen-Attar
Broads Circle Founder
Financial Advisor
Email: darya@broadscircle.com
www.BroadsCircle.com