Ever wondered how meaningful relationships can a play a pivotal role in shaping our personal and professional life? We joined Susan McPherson, serial connector, founder of McPherson Strategies and author of The Lost Art of Connecting, in an intriguing conversation about the power of authentic connections. Susan shares her journey of becoming a connector and provides valuable insights on how to build these relationships in today’s digital era.
We further delved into the impact of businesses in addressing societal and environmental concerns. Susan highlighted how the advent of social media has changed the way companies interact with stakeholders and the potential corporations have in leading crucial initiatives. We also discussed the complexities of scaling a business, with Susan revealing her experiences as an "accidental entrepreneur" and imparting wisdom on overcoming these challenges.
Finally, we touched upon maintaining a healthy balance in life. With Susan emphasizing the importance of reading and prioritizing health, she imparts a simple yet powerful challenge for us all - reach out to two people tomorrow. As you tune into this episode, you'll gain a fresh perspective on connections and acquire practical tools to foster them effectively. So, are you ready to transform your approach to building relationships?
If you enjoyed the episode share it with a friend and don't forget to leave us a review. If you are ready to take your career to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Check out our VEST Membership and apply today! www.VESTHer.co
Ever wondered how meaningful relationships can a play a pivotal role in shaping our personal and professional life? We joined Susan McPherson, serial connector, founder of McPherson Strategies and author of The Lost Art of Connecting, in an intriguing conversation about the power of authentic connections. Susan shares her journey of becoming a connector and provides valuable insights on how to build these relationships in today’s digital era.
We further delved into the impact of businesses in addressing societal and environmental concerns. Susan highlighted how the advent of social media has changed the way companies interact with stakeholders and the potential corporations have in leading crucial initiatives. We also discussed the complexities of scaling a business, with Susan revealing her experiences as an "accidental entrepreneur" and imparting wisdom on overcoming these challenges.
Finally, we touched upon maintaining a healthy balance in life. With Susan emphasizing the importance of reading and prioritizing health, she imparts a simple yet powerful challenge for us all - reach out to two people tomorrow. As you tune into this episode, you'll gain a fresh perspective on connections and acquire practical tools to foster them effectively. So, are you ready to transform your approach to building relationships?
If you enjoyed the episode share it with a friend and don't forget to leave us a review. If you are ready to take your career to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Check out our VEST Membership and apply today! www.VESTHer.co
Hey everyone, this is Erica Lucas, your host and founding member of Vest, an organization connecting women across industries, regions and career levels so that together we can expedite the pipeline of more women in positions of power and influence. Welcome to another episode of the Vestor podcast, where we explore the investable barriers holding women back in the workplace and share stories of women building power collectively.
Speaker 2:What are the benefits when I make time for this? One of the first things I learned in the research that it's going to help your health in. Making meaningful connections will actually add to your longevity as much as eating kale every day and running every day. A study came out earlier this year that the actual kind of lonely loneliest people in the workforce are ambitious women. Men have been joining golf clubs and joining men's clubs for years. I mean, thankfully now we've woken up and we're doing that. But I would prioritize this as not something like something you'll get to, but something you'll do.
Speaker 1:In this episode we talk about the importance of making meaningful connections with Susan MacPherson, author of the Lost Art of Connecting and founder of MacPherson Strategies. Join us as we explore how nurturing authentic relationships can improve our health and well-being, the role of social media and how we can make this practice a priority when time is so limited. For our guest full bio and show notes, go to wwwvesthercocom. This episode is sponsored by Audible, the leading provider of audiobooks, podcasts, guided wellness programs, theatrical performances and more. They have over 1,000 titles for you to choose from, including our guest book, the Lost Art of Connecting. Go to wwwaudibletrialcomcom for slash vesther and get a 30-day free trial plus a free credit to use on Susan's book. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend and don't forget to leave us a review. This episode was recorded as part of a more intimate coaching session with best members and has been repurposed to accommodate this episode. Thank you so much, susan, for being with us today.
Speaker 2:I am absolutely thrilled and I'm in awe of what you have created, truly, truly wonderful to see.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you so much, susan. Tell us a little bit about you, more about your firm and just your overall passion for everything you do under the social good and corporate responsibility umbrella.
Speaker 2:I, for the last 10 years, have been running, as mentioned, a social impact communications firm. I have 15 employees, we are B-Corps certified and we help the communications of the impact of major corporations, ngos and nonprofits. I live in Brooklyn Heights. I'm single, looking to date. If you know anyone, even if they live in Oklahoma, I can be mobile. I love making connections. I've loved making connections since I was in high school. As Erica mentioned, just a couple of years ago I wrote a book about building connections which, of course, was published during the pandemic, which I would not recommend to anyone. But the good news is is because of the pandemic, the topic is still relevant. We talk about connections much more than we ever did pre-pandemic, and thanks to the Surgeon General back in May, who issued an urgent proclamation stating that we, the culture of loneliness that is taken over not just the US but globally, is extremely harmful and one of the number one ways to solve loneliness is to build meaningful connections. So the Surgeon General helped me stay relevant. I love that.
Speaker 1:I mean, that was going to be my next question, while I inspire you to write this book but I think you can cover that but I mean, writing a book seems to me like such an overwhelming it is. Did you ever think you would be?
Speaker 2:writing a book, a couple of things that led me to writing the book.
Speaker 2:And forgive me for being so open, but my mom was killed in a horrible tragedy when I was 21, which is a long time ago, and she was an ultimate connector using the technology at the time, which was her manual typewriter and the rotary phone and I'm not, I don't mean the push button phone, I mean the lalala lalala and her automobile, which you know she used because she made pit stops. She did public relations for public television, so she'd make pit stops at various media entities. And in my mid-20s I used to fantasize that someday I would write a book. I had no idea what the topic would be, but just so I could use that white page you know that every author's always do and to dedicate it to her. And so, all these years later, when I was 56, and I finally did, if any of you end up reading the hard copy of my book, you will see the dedication right up front. So that was something for years I carried in the back of my head, obviously without thinking about the amount of work I had to do to get there.
Speaker 2:And then, in 2007, I went away with eight of my dear girlfriends, and the goal of the weekend was to articulate our elevator speeches. We were going to workshop it and, for those of you who may remember, 2007 was when Twitter was coming of age, linkedin was becoming prominent and it became really, really vital for all of us to be able to quickly enunciate, articulate our superpowers and who we were, so that in the goal elevator speeches, you know, you meet someone in an elevator and they say tell me about you and you can quickly rally off or rattle off, excuse me. So by the end of that weekend I finally had the guts to say hi, I'm Susan MacPherson, I'm serial connector and blah, blah, blah. Of course I wanted to pee in my pants because it sounded so damn ridiculous, but 16 years later the book came out. So a couple of things led the journey.
Speaker 2:And then, lastly, about 2016 or 2017, a friend of mine told me that every morning she would go to the school bus stop, drop her kids off her 10 year old and 12 year old at the time and she would send them up and they take their seats. And she see it through the up unto the window that as soon as they sat down, their heads pop down to look at their handheld devices. Here's the kicker Every other child on the school bus did the same thing. So, in other words, I was like whoa trouble, we need to fix this. And then, of course, the pandemic came. But people, when they see the title of the book, assume it was the pandemic that spied spawned, but now you see it was a conglomeration of other things.
Speaker 1:In preparing for today's conversation, susan, we asked members and LinkedIn subscribers what their biggest barrier to making meaningful connections at work, and the number one answer was limited time not having enough time. And at a time where 50% of women in the C-suite are reporting wanting to step down or back down due to burnout, and in a world where women still account for the majority of unpaid labor, both at home and at work, what would be your advice to women, or anyone, on how they should prioritize making meaningful connections, the value of it, but also how should they make time when we have so much going on?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean and this is gonna be so personal, because every single person has responsibilities, obligations taking care of parents, taking care of kids, getting food on the table, all the things. So I wanna be careful that I'm conscious of. We're gonna have different moments in time when we have more time right, and that's when we need to capitalize. But I think it's first to understand what are the benefits. When I make time for this, what is the upside? And one of the first things I learned in the research that it's gonna help your health, right, like, just as making meaningful connections will actually add to your own longevity as much as eating kale every day and running it right. And my running days are long gone, I mean, I still try to putter and I love kale, but I don't eat it every day. So I think number one is understanding the value that it brings. Number two a study came out earlier this year that the actual kind of loneliest people in the workforce are ambitious women, and I think you just nailed why. But I think I make a priority every morning and this may not be your cup of tea, but every morning I've had a habit for years of reaching out to three to five people in whatever means is easiest. So I might be in between my shower and my cup of coffee and I'll zap off a text with no, you know, there's no spreadsheet, but it's who pops in my mind. It might be through WhatsApp, it might be an email, but it's just you popped in my mind. I wanted to say hello, or I'm thinking of you, or sending a bit of love, just like that, and I've done that for years. And the reason why is threefold. One, it puts a good little bit of happiness in the world. Two, it's a wonderful thing for anybody to receive it. And three, people don't forget about me. You know, during the pandemic we were all alone, you know. So it was a and I live alone and I don't have kids or parents. So it was kind of like, hey, I'm here. So I know some people like, oh my God, three or five, do one a day, do two a week. But set that as a goal and I would make a habit of, you know, depending if you work at a corporation, reach out to colleagues maybe not in your own department, and just say I'd love to learn a little bit more about your role and how I can be supportive, right, lead with how we can be helpful. So I think the important point is, one, realize how much value this will bring to you, to the people in your community. And three, it's not a huge time suck when you prioritize it, okay. But I say that with also the caveat that there's gonna be times when you can't do those three a week or what have you. And then you know technology can be your best friend. I, you know.
Speaker 2:Sometimes, I think you know technology and social media has been the bane and the curse, right, Because what it's done is it's taken away our intentionality. We don't think about what we zap off and sometimes we may not be warm and friendly. You know I often share the story that in the 70s, when I was growing up in upstate New York, every morning at the breakfast table my parents would have the five local newspapers and yesterday's or the day before is New York Times splayed out, and then they'd have their scissors or razor blades and they'd be clipping and cutting. Then they would go to their respective manual typewriters and type little short misses, put the articles in actual envelopes and send into the mail. That intentionality is gone and I am not suggesting any of you do that because it's a time suck, but we have the technology now to do that maybe once a week and send little articles or podcasts that make us think of people. So those are some tips.
Speaker 1:You know one of the things I have, to be completely honest. I was one of those women who worked really hard and did what I had to do at the time what I thought I had to do to get to the C-suite or whatever and I became very cynical about networking events and I think that there's a difference, right? One of the things I love about your book is that you talk about intentionality and meaningful relationship, and that doesn't equate to just networking events and the fear of missing out and being at everything and being visible and everything. It talks about saying a note to certain things so that you can be intentional and build meaningful relationships with people. Can you talk to us a little bit about that? Because I find it it's funny.
Speaker 1:I have a joke now. My husband hates social media and I understand why, but it's enabled me to meet people like you, susan. I mean, I think I connect with you a lot just through social media and it's enabled me to meet so many other people. I leveraged LinkedIn for professional relationships. I leveraged other platforms for social interactions and maybe a little bit of like uplifting and different thinking and finding people that have the same beliefs. But anyway, I joke because I tell my when my husband was like, oh, you're in the damn platform again. I'm like shut up, I'm networking.
Speaker 2:You know, because I mean, if you You're connecting, there's a difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but if you use it intentionally, I think it could be a fantastic tool. You know, I tell women that are fundraising for their companies like, yeah, you can go to all of the events, but most of the fundraising events are bros. Most of them are full of investors that are not really writing checks. Or you can use LinkedIn and find the people that actually are deploying capital. There's a lot of bad with it, I agree with you, but there's also a lot of good with leveraging those platforms if you set disciplines 1000% and also using the platforms to lift others up right Again.
Speaker 2:you know this goes back to that notion of reaching out to people and saying hello, not for expectation of a response. And I have found over the years, you know, there's no hidden agenda. I'm not doing this because I'm like I wanna be like, you know yay.
Speaker 2:I'm doing it because it's a nice thing to do and it's fun and it doesn't take a lot of time and it makes others feel good, and God, we all need to feel good, right? It's been tough for you years, so I find that all the platforms can be used for that and, yes, you do need to do your best to weed out the vitriol. You just do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what about the balance? Right, because even with Vest, we created Vest back in 2020. So, during the pandemic, but honestly, we didn't design it the way it is just because of the pandemic. We know women are busy, we know women are managing a hundred things, so we want it to be remote. And another reason, because a lot of our members are elsewhere, yeah, you know, and so we wanted to create these safe spaces for women to come together without judgment. When you come, come as you, you know, with makeup, no makeup at work, whatever, and if you can make it, you can watch it on the app. But one of the consistent patterns of feedback and the latest survey that we just did with members is that they, a lot of them, crave in-person events as well, of course. So how do you balance the two, especially as we're talking about this like time?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean, I live in New York City. I could be in an event every day and every night. And, believe me, miss Extravert, here I want to hide, like I'm like, oh my God, I don't want to go, I don't want to go. But I also, you know, I go with this philosophy that maybe some of the more introverted folks might find this appealing. When you walk into a room and you can do this in a virtual room too Go with the goal of meeting three people, sharing three things about yourself, because the only way we can get others to open up is if we're gonna be slightly vulnerable and learning three things about other people, and then you can go hide in the bathroom. But that, you know, set that kind of mind frame I also, whenever I walk in a room, I, you know, five minutes before or a half hour before, I do a bit of a mantra to remind myself of my superpowers. And when I walk into a room, my first kind of what guides me is always thinking about how can I be helpful to others, because when you frame a conversation that way, first of all people are interested in speaking to you and it doesn't mean you have to the next day step up and write them a check for $1,000 or $10,000. That's not what I'm saying, but it shows you're interested in them and it's a kind, compassionate way to show up in the world. Lastly, when we go to events now, often not all the time, but often we have the opportunity to find out who is in the room and that's where that you know fine three can be really helpful, because look ahead and see who is it that you want to look up.
Speaker 2:You know, my first job in the 80s was a researcher at USA. Today, and before I would interview people anywhere in the country, the way I had the ability I had to research them was the Yellow Pages and the Encyclopedia Britannica. Well, you don't find a whole lot about people in the Yellow Pages and unless you were like famous or infamous, you would not be in the Encyclopedia Britannica. But today you have so many ways to find out unless someone is so stealth. You can find out their career trajectory on LinkedIn. You can find out what they're angry or upset about on Twitter. You can find out if they have grandchildren on Instagram. You can find out what their favorite you know dance and music is on TikTok. So there is plenty to kind of arm yourself before you walk into a room. So I'm just I know I'm throwing a lot of information at you, but these things can be, you know, just tools in the toolbox.
Speaker 1:No, I love it, because that was actually gonna be my next question. What is your advice for introverts or people that are not as comfortable, you know, with just starting out this conversation Plan?
Speaker 2:plan. And you know, I see a question in the chat what was your process of identifying your own superpowers? Well, I think I mentioned, you know, I went away with my girlfriends that weekend, all the way back in 2007. Couple of things. One superpowers are gonna change. You're gonna have superpowers now that maybe in 10 years you don't.
Speaker 2:And there are many people who say to me well, I'm, you know, 25, I don't have any. It's like we all have them, whether you know you speak multiple languages, whether you raise 10 kids, whether you, you know, you are great at making spaghetti sauce, like we have them. And when you walk into these rooms, it's important and I, for me, the book is divided into three parts gather, ask, do. And in the gather section, one of the first parts of the gather section, is doing this kind of deep audit and self-reflection of yourself. You know, I wish I had some like secret sauce no pun intended to tell you how to come up with your secret superpowers, but actually my number one tip is ask the people closest to you. Okay, and that's what happened that weekend. I was able to, over discussion, really hone in on what it was that I could do, and then you know if you, if you state it and you repeat it and you write it down, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, right? It continues to emanate and shine on you as a person.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that, susan. I wanna ask you something else, because we, you know, part of us. We have women professionals in corporate America. We have women professionals in philanthropy, in nonprofits, in venture capital, all over. But I think that one thing that's very consistent about most women in general, I think even outside of the network is our passion or desire to do good in the world. So I wanna focus a little bit about what you've done with your firm and in your career as a leader in that space. How do you see the role of businesses evolving and addressing some of the social and environmental issues that we're seeing so present today? I mean, they've always been there, but I feel like, because of platforms, because people now have a platform to actually address their concerns we perhaps are a little bit more, a little bit more at the forefront. What would you say to that?
Speaker 2:Well, a couple of things. Study after study shows that the average American trust business more than it trusts government, more than it trusts faith-based institutions. So what that has led to is a real, dare I say, kind of gap in who are we looking to for leadership, right? So that kind of led to in 2014, you started to see CEOs speaking up about various and climate was a major issue, marriage equality was a major issue, and I think what also became apparent is business can't operate in a vacuum. Like everything that happens in society affects business and vice versa, what business does affects society.
Speaker 2:So you nailed it, erica, when you said the rise of socials, because it meant that companies could directly communicate with their constituents, with their I hate the word stakeholders, but their customers, their partners, their distributors, their boards, without a middleman, which used to be in the 80s and before even the 90s was the media filtered right. Like you would have to go right in our bed and talk about how angry you were at Delta for screwing up your flight. You didn't have the ability to go direct or at least go publicly and make a case and say Delta sucks, and I have Delta on the mind because my flight was delayed, coming home by 24 hours. Anyhow that happens. And then when you had the previous president take office and you started to see very just controversial kind of things happen with the denying Muslims entry into the United States and when business actually hires a lot of Muslims and a lot of immigrants, that creates tension. So business stepped up. You had the horrific murder of George Floyd and we've never seen so many business leaders step up about the whole notion of how do we solve anti-racism.
Speaker 2:So I think it's been a migration to get to where we are today and we are seeing a bit of a backlash, and my personal thought is that backlash is not long lived.
Speaker 2:The average American doesn't care about woke or anti-woke. They really care about how companies are treating their employees. They care about what companies are doing to the environment. I mean, I think the summer of heat and the Maui fires, et cetera, I think has raised a new level of consciousness that we have never seen before, and everything from abortion rights to transgender rights to the bathroom bills. So the good news is is study after study shows that the American public wants business to step up. Now there's always going to be the people that are like stop them, nobody cares what business says, but again, the vast majority and I encourage you to just Google it, you know, weber-shanwick, which is a major communications firm, just came out with a study, I think Monday, that showed the latest numbers showing, and it divide by issue everything from companies speaking up on proper gun control to, you know, again back to climate and human rights, et cetera.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, our previous session last month it was about GenC's in the workplace, or GenC's.
Speaker 2:Well, and yes, they want to work for companies that are stepping up.
Speaker 1:And you know what's in the future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they represent the largest group of you know labor force, particularly as boomers to start retiring in the next decade or so. So yes, absolutely Okay. But abortion why is it easier for CEOs and business leaders to take on some of those certain issues social issues, environmental issues but when it comes to women's right, why are so many people still clinging to the myth? And I'm going to say it is a myth, because if you look at the data and you look at the surveys, most Americans actually support women's right to make their own decisions? Yeah, so I think it's when people say it's a controversial topic. Not really. I think we are health hostage by a very few, very vocal people that are in power or in office. But why haven't more businesses spoken up about the issue? Or are they starting? And then I want you also to talk about your, the coalition that you're very involved with.
Speaker 2:Sure. Well, why don't I start with that and give you kind of the background? In 2018, one of our clients was Nehra, the National Abortion Rights Action League, and our remit with Nehra was to help them better articulate how they talk to the private sector, because in the past, nehra was very much around. It's a moral right for women to have the choice, and we guided them that, yes, that's well and good, but business doesn't care. Business is going to look at the bottom line and want to understand why making sure women have access to reproductive health care is going to actually make them better employees, going to help economically all the reasons we know in this room. So we coached them. But we did a survey at the time and we found that CEOs all over the US would talk about contraception health care, but they would never say the word abortion, and I contend one of the reasons we're in the situation we are today is because they were so afraid to say anything.
Speaker 2:So in 2019, eight states passed egregious bans that were against what was then the constitutionality of Roe v Wade, and at that point, we had enough fodder to be able to go back to companies and create something called don't ban equality, which showed the economic distress that was going to be caused because of these bans and we were able to get 330 companies to sign on. We took a public, we created a coalition between Nehra, planned Parenthood, aclu and the Center for Reproductive Rights, and that coalition meant we were all going to, instead of going having these organizations go their separate ways on their own, messaging, we were going to have one message that went out to the private sector, got 330 CEOs ranging from Estee Lauder to H&M to Bloomberg, and we published a full page ad in the New York Times and, honestly, it was the first time the news media started covering abortion as an economic issue rather than, you know the traditional morality of you know, women's rights and those. Now, I'm not saying that's not right and I'm not supportive of that, but I was. We were very much in the you know the swim lane of how do we get this behemoth of the private sector to stand up? And then, unfortunately, if we had done that 10 years ago, honestly I don't think I mean I don't want to overstate the power of business but I honestly don't think Roe would have been obliterated as it was, because politicians pay attention to business leaders After Roe was overturned or after the Dobs decision, the numbers climbed. Were now up to 1000 companies that have signed on and there are many more that publicly won't sign on but are taking steps internally within their companies.
Speaker 2:And to answer your question about why, because people are scared. People are scared. They know the numbers, they you know. I mean we're living in a society where I was just reading in Time Magazine a 13 year old child was forced to have to give birth. She's in seventh grade. How many of you have teens that age? Could you imagine seventh grade? I think I just got my period Like I can't even. What kind of world do we want if we so? Anyhow, I'm sorry I'm getting off course, but that kind of world somehow allows businesses to remain silent on this very much issue. But I also you know, when you and I were on the Fortune stage, I blame those women in the room For years. You did not. When you would gather a group of women, people would be like a portion People you know. Nobody was out there, one in three of us have it.
Speaker 2:And then if you add miscarriages, which, desperately, if you go through a miscarriage, you need Miphaprisone, the drugs that they're trying to, you need that. And then two women have had miscarriages, so we need all of us. You know I can't blame them if we're not right, so I'll stop.
Speaker 1:You don't have to stop. I am with you. I think that you know, when it comes to gender equity, I think that we, as women, have settled and we have assimilated into workplaces and systems that were never designed with us in mind and because of that, we're not ambitious enough when it comes to equity. Yeah, I have all of the respect for all women on how they worship, what they believe in, how they want to do life. I know, gentlemen here, I just want the same right for me, right and for everyone. Like I want my privacy, I want to make my own choices, I want to decide how I worship, who I eat, all of those things, and I want everyone else to have the same. And I think that if we collectively would do more to support one another without judgment and to really demand true equity, not just in the workplace but in general, I think we would be somewhere else. And to your point, susan, I just did an interview, actually earlier this weekend.
Speaker 1:People still to this day say you know, oh, my gosh, you're so brave, but isn't this hurting your business? Yes, of course it has. Of course it has. Like you know, I've lost LPs that said, no, we won't invest in you or you know, or you're too vocal, or you're too this or you know, or maybe even members that feel like we're too progressive or that we shouldn't be saying.
Speaker 1:Yes, of course that hurts business, but I think that when you're rooted into your values and what you believe and you want to build an organization that truly stands, then you know the right people will come along and will be your customers or will be your backers or will be your LPs and the ones that don't don't. And I think that that's another problem with us, that sometimes we get into this care city mindset, thinking that like, oh my gosh, we're going to lose certain people. Well, it's life, you know. Like, yeah, you probably will. And then you find new ones that do align with who you want to be as an organization, who you want to be as a person and that's okay too.
Speaker 1:1000%, and I shared the don't benefit equality linked on the chat. I definitely, if you are a C suite and your organization and you can bring this up to your organization to become part of the coalition, please do so. Can you do it as an individual as well, or does it have to be on behalf of the audience?
Speaker 2:It needs to be a company, okay.
Speaker 1:So just you know, if you're, even if you're not, I mean hell bring it up. Yes, yes, Susan. Some people would argue that it's hard to build meaningful connections at work because, say, you sometimes have to let people go, you have to be more disciplined with who you can trust. What would you say to that?
Speaker 2:Well, one thing I mean and one of the reasons you're part of this community is to build meaningful connections outside of work.
Speaker 2:But I will, I will push back a little bit.
Speaker 2:You can make meaningful connections at work and still let people go if you have to, right, because again, it's about the business and I'm not when you know.
Speaker 2:Study after study shows that if you encourage and if you're the leader, you should be doing everything you can for your employees and workers to connect and make meaningful relationships. Okay, that may not mean you going into the you know the trenches, but what are you doing, because you have power to make that a priority, as opposed to just having it be a monthly happy hour where you know people are getting together and drink. What are you doing to put into their actual job function that they need to interface with people outside of their own departments, beyond, you know, just a cursory, once a year email? So I would suggest you really kind of make that a core part and remove yourself from this idea of I may have to fire somebody at some point. I mean we all might have to, but we also have friends that we actually may not be friends with sometime too. Right, I mean it's, it's part of life. I don't think when we befriend somebody it's a like I'm going to be with friend with you in 30 years.
Speaker 1:Susan, I'm going to ask you something that I know has become a controversial question because a lot of women would say, well, you don't ask this question to man, but shed. No, we don't ask it to man because they're not doing most of that and most of the things that managing household and stuff. But I mean, you're so accomplished you're doing, you know, you're managing a successful firm with, with multiple clients. You are also in all of those nonprofit organizations that we mentioned. So how do you decide? I'm not going to say how do you balance, but how do you decide what to say yes to and what to say no to so that you can focus on the things that really fill you?
Speaker 2:Well, for years I've made mistakes because I've said yes to way too much. Okay, now I will quote Adam Grant, because years ago in his first book, give and take one, one of the points he contended was the more meetings you take, the more efficient you have, and I do subscribe to that. We become more efficient with our time when we are scheduled. Now I want to be honest with you. I don't have kids. I mentioned earlier. I don't have a partner and I don't have parents. So I probably have a good deal more time than some of you. But those of you who have kids now, those kids are going to be gone someday and you're immediately going to have more time.
Speaker 2:So life has different changes. There were times in my life when I couldn't do a lot and I couldn't say yes, and then there have been other times, like now, where I have more bandwidth. So I think it's, you know, setting up expectations and also, again, not to plug my book, but if you read it in the gather phase, you think about what are your goals right? And I really try to think about now, when I get invited to speak or, if I like, does this fit, what the goal is, and I make exceptions because I may just like the person, or I'm just like why not? Or I'm curious, but I think sometimes think about what your goals are and then assess each opportunity based on one your goals and your bandwidth. But I would encourage you to say yes more than you say no, and I know there's books out there about say no, turn away.
Speaker 2:My contention is you don't know what you don't know and you're missing out sometimes, right, I mean, you know, if we knew what was on the side, the other side of every door, life would be really boring. So I'm a big believer in taking that chance and seeing where it goes. And yes, you may make a mistake and yes, there are going to be days where you're like, oh, my God, I can't deal with it, there's too much. But then there's going to be other days where you're like, oh, I can breathe. So to me it's about filling, filling in. And but also just let me caveat there are going to be times when maybe somebody in your family is sick, or you're exhausted, or you're just frustrated about something. It's okay to say no.
Speaker 1:Kristen on the chat says you have completed a big cycle of integration to write your book. What are the questions you're living into now? What is your next book?
Speaker 2:Well, I think I mentioned I really want to fall in love. I'm 50, I'm going to be 59 and a couple of months so kind of that. That's on the. You know, I've been single now for almost nine years. It's kind of like time, you know, and I know it's going to happen because I'm already starting to feel it. It's like how would I fit it in. So I don't want that to take over.
Speaker 2:And I I met a place with my business it's 10 years old where I am really trying to figure out what are the 10 next 10 years. So I'm putting a lot of my mind. Share in that. I am contemplating a sequel, but I don't know yet because it is a huge, huge commitment and I may actually be better suited to maybe write a few pieces and create a talk to keep the book alive or to come up with kind of like the next version, rather than making the major. Because the beautiful thing, we live in a society today where there are other alternatives besides a book. So I don't know, but as soon as I do, I will share with with this community and also I'm open to ideas. You know, let me know.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of entrepreneurs in this group to and in a subscriber of the podcast. How did you? You started your firm small, like most businesses. How did you scale it to the point that the firm that you have now? What are some of the biggest challenges you face? But also, how did you figure those out and how did you achieve scale? How did you achieve building capacity in all of those things?
Speaker 2:Well, I first must be honest with you. I was an accidental entrepreneur. I never had this burgeoning desire to run my company. I think in much of my late 30s or 40s everybody was like, susan, you really should just run your own business. I was like get out of town, I can't do that. And I remember thinking I can't master Excel. How am I ever going to run a company Like that? For some reason was the blocker I mean little in my mind thought well, you can just hire somebody to do the Excel stuff Anyhow. But I was blind to that. And then in 2013, the company I was working for was suffering from a Darth of talent. There were a lot of the consultants leaving, and in the consulting world when talent leaves, it's kind of like mourning the skies falling. So I kind of very confidentially put out to the world that I was looking for a job, and two organizations one called Girl Rising, which some of you might be familiar with, and another called Global Citizen Year, said Susan, if you leave, we'll hire you as a consultant for three or four months. So that gave me the runway and McPherson Strategies was born in October of 2013.
Speaker 2:And the thing is I always say like if I thought it was going to be something, I never would have named it that it's my ex-husband's name. We broke up in 2003. I mean, he's a good guy, so there's that. But I would have been a little more creative, like, excuse me and forgive me, if any of you have your own businesses with your name, I'm all for it. It just I just would have given it more far.
Speaker 2:And about six months in, I met with this woman, Jacqueline Ottman. I still remember the day and she said to me Susan, I have a feeling you are doing what a lot of women entrepreneurs do, and I'm like waiting for it. And she said you're hoarding. I was like what? And she said you are afraid to spend because you're waiting. You want to have money from your current consulting deals so that the rainy day comes. You're okay. And she was so right, I was so afraid to you know all the money coming in. I was just like, well, I need to save that because there's going to be no business down the road. And she said this is the time to spend. So that's when I brought on other contractors to help me, so that I could be out there blabbering and doing what I'm good at and that is, you know, working rooms and talking to people and connecting right, and that was the best advice I was ever given.
Speaker 2:And now, whenever I talk to new entrepreneurs, totally I also built. You know, the business was impact, but I ensured that we were doing impact and I decided I wasn't going to have an office and that I was going to hire people virtually, which limited our carbon footprint. I also established really early on to encourage my contractors to contribute to nonprofits. I set up a matching situation where I would then, at the time I mean we didn't have the structure because we weren't a, you know, I didn't have a, they weren't employees but I would then also match personally what they were contributing to, because I was trying to build in a culture. So, you know, those are some ideas. But I guess the fourth tip would be asking for help. You know, I mean, none of us can do this alone and men are so good at asking for help and supporting one another. So somehow, you know, maybe because we give birth although I never did we have this notion that we have to do it all ourselves. You know what we don't.
Speaker 1:Before I end this question, I want to remind members if you know somebody that needs to listen to this conversation, once we publish the podcast, share the podcast with them. Again, I think our goal as an organization is not just to help those of us that are members of the organization, but just help women overall, because I think that if we can share our stories of how we are navigating spaces and how, most importantly, how we can build more equitable ones, I think that it will be easier to do so than just by ourselves. Okay, so last question, susan what is your takeaway for the members here? Like, give us tangible things that we can do with this session. So what would be your tangible asks?
Speaker 2:Well, I would start, you know, trying some of the things I suggested right. Like you know, set up tomorrow you're gonna reach out to two people. You can be very intentional about who those two people are and you can just decide who's gonna pop in your brain and maybe it's a member of this community, maybe it's not and use whatever manner you want. I'd love for you to read my book or listen to my book. I'd be honored and I'd love you know. If you do share feedback. You know what could I've done better?
Speaker 2:It doesn't, you know, be honest, because, as I'm contemplating, perhaps book two, but I do want you to, you know, really think about the fact that this is good for our health. I think sometimes we forget and we think it's just kind of a fun thing to do or that we're supposed to do. But I do think like we need to make this a priority and to bring up. Men have been joining golf clubs and joining men's clubs for years. I mean, thankfully now we've woken up and we're doing that. But I wouldn't prioritize this as not some like something you'll get to, but something you'll do.
Speaker 1:If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend and don't forget to leave us a review. And if you're ready to take your career to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Go to wwwvestherco and apply today.