![]() Our Women2Watch highlight of the month is the one and only Monica Banks! Monica’s found her success in the baby industry, so Remodista sat down with her to learn what makes her tick. Read more for all the details she shared. ![]() Written by Kelly Stickel, Founder and CEO of Remodista In community, the ultimate gifts are the unexpected surprises that lead to new commerce streams and opportunity. This particular insight led me to focus on this model for a business that would somehow educate brands, cultivate women leaders and connect globally. In 2013, we built an agile methodology for research, so we had the same process for every project focused on something that hadn’t happened yet. “Not yet happened” meaning, it had not reached mass consumer adoption in business. Most businesses do not have time to focus in this space because the money is not there yet. It is typically called "research and development". After 40 projects over three years, we had a base line for what was to come in retail disruption, and could start making predictions. At the same time, there was a pattern emerging where we were clearly solving the future, and the women involved still weren’t taking their credit. It was then, I realized that it's not in most women's nature to seek outside credit for their work. Therefore, if you don’t educate her as to “why” getting credit is important, she will continue to not seek it. Learning this, we launched our first Women2Watch program in January 2016, with 80 honorees and the spotlights were on them. We worked with these leaders through out the year, to help solve problems and support the cultivation in their thinking around new ideas in the market -sanding off the edges. By December, we had enough research and success stories of business challenges being solved in retail, that we published our first Look Book filled with analysis and insights. The thinking was just ahead of the market, and created by our innovative community. Immersed in many areas of the business, we were learning quickly, while helping women leaders gain credit for their work. Turns out our predictions were on point, and the book just happened to be written mostly by the pioneer-first-to-market-complex-puzzle-solving-women-leaders we rarely get to see. Why, because they are usually on to the next puzzle, rather than running to the stage. We are no longer in the time of Hidden Figures, and we can get the credit for our work. Three unexpected surprises from our Women2Watch program:
As we head into 2018, we have gone through our 2nd year of W2W and expanded to Australia and Europe. In addition, we opened up nominations to the financial vertical. We recently published our 2nd Annual Look Book, again combining our collaborative research and Women2Watch program. Our thriving community will continue to test assumptions and shape them as more insights are gained. Doing this through a community creates a quickening of knowledge, and a high level of accuracy. When you use purpose to attract your customer, they will answer that before their own needs. This creates a self-policing environment where its members make sure the purpose stays intact and fulfilled. Now, we have 12 global conference partnerships where we help match women speakers and their developed thought leadership focused on things that are just happening in early mass consumer adoption. As the innovation is accurate and it builds momentum, so do our Women2Watch. Look forward to announcing our 2018 Women2Watch in Business Disruption Honorees on December 31st. Down the Look Book for 2018: Anyone who has hiring responsibility for sales people knows what a challenging ongoing task that can be. Creating a competitive team that is inclusive and collaborative will attract the best sales peopleAt any level, the sales role can be what makes or breaks a business, as it works to churn out new solutions and thinking. We rely on the strength of our sales team and their product knowledge to help sustain the growth of a healthy business. The quality of the sales team could improve, if leaders at the top spent more time creating an inclusive environment. If 50% of the workforce does not feel welcome, than you are doing your organization a disservice. According to CEB, women only make up 19% of the sales workforce. The companies that identify the value of the female workforce will win. The ones that cultivate an environment that is inclusive of the female sale leader (at the very top), will win bigger. Why is it important to make everyone feel welcome? When people feel welcome they preform better, more ideas come to the surface, leaving you with more options for solutions.Uber is a good recent example of a business that doesn’t make women feel welcome. You likely think of the CEO, but go to the board member who, at the thought of adding a woman to the board to gain more understanding, responded with a remark that it would mean a lot more conversation. A ding that strong women leaders often get charged with. "Shares of companies with a market capitalization of more than 10 billion and women board members out-performed comparable businesses with all-male boards by 26 percent" according to a report by the Credit Suisse Research Institute, created in 2008 to analyze trends expected to affect global markets. So, what does being inclusive mean again? It stands for making everyone feel welcome. If Kelly and Joe work together and sell a 2.5 million dollar deal, and Kelly uses 30,000 words and Joe uses 500 words in that duration. We could agree that there are ways to embrace more words. A women is not going to start using less words to fit in, and asking her to do so, is not very welcoming. Having a diverse workforce can stabilize a company according to CEB's research. Including women on your sales team, increases your talent pool and caliber. Women are the global asset to invest in today.
Our business coaching program focuses on whole-self selling. We offer a 12-week course focused on empowering women in sales, while teaching partners how to build an inclusive environment to retain their female talent. For information on our business coaching modules email kelly@remodista.com. |