Female Founders: Helene Lerner of WomenWorking On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
DON’T QUIT BEFORE THE MIRACLE. Keep on keeping on, even when you are down and out, frustrated or want success before it happens. Just keep taking the next right action.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Helene Lerner.
Helene Lerner is the founder of WomenWorking.com. She is a prolific author, independent public television host, Emmy award-winning executive producer, and workplace consultant. She is an influencer on social media with over 19 million followers.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
When I started my company, Creative Expansions, Inc. several decades ago, I remember interviewing a high-level woman in government. When I asked her, ‘did you ever imagine you’d be where you are today?’ her answer to me was that “if I knew what was involved, I probably would never have made the move.” Of course, she was referring to the challenges, frustrations, etc. That wasn’t true for me. In my 20s I was obese, and I found a group of people who helped me take the weight off and keep it off. Group support was key to my growth and ultimately my business success. It kept me going in the roughest of times and made me stronger. I could conquer the 20th NO, because I knew deep down that what I was selling made a difference. The mission of my multi-media company is to empower women and girls. I truly believe that together we can do what we cannot do alone.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
About 10 years ago my social media went viral. For our website, womenworking.com we had interviewed several celebrities and asked them to publicize their articles on their social media — that might have accounted for some of the increase, but I truly believe that I had been asking from a deep place within me to be used in a greater way; I am a spiritual person and it seemed that the world needed every bit of resourcefulness from its citizens. That week, I returned from a long weekend, and my 11,000 followers had grown to 5,000,000 on Facebook — I was amazed, to say the least! Being a smart businesswoman, I told my staff that we were going to create content based on what people were asking for — and that is what we did. We’ve since grown our following to 19 million, and in the last quarter of 2021,we were the number 1 page on Facebook.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
A Fortune 500 company had agreed to sponsor one of my early television shows, and I received a check for a very large amount of money from them. About two days later, I received another check for the same amount. Of course, I returned it promptly…but on second thought, maybe I should have taken my friends for a long vacation to Tahiti! Just kidding…on a serious note, people know they can trust me — what you see is what you get. They count on my integrity.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Early on there was a terrific leader, Barbara Cowden of State Farm, who has since retired. She was responsible for supporting many of my shows — she believed in the work we were doing to empower women and girls. She also introduced me to C-Suite leaders at her company. I consider her a sponsor of mine. Barbara had this idea of taking our television forums directly to her company, and we created events for employees that were truly special. Subsequently, I have been hosting similar events for other Fortune 500 companies for over a decade. Truly powerful sessions — in the last two years they have been virtual.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
Since Covid, women are rethinking what they want from work. We have seen women exiting corporations — with the stress of childcare and eldercare. However, many are staying and figuring it out how to make it all work, and advance. Women are an important part of the talent pool, and there is a war on talent now.
Corporations need to rethink what is necessary in terms of travel, meetings, being on site, or working from home. FLEXIBILITY is key. And many corporations have come back to headquarters in a hybrid way.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder, but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
I do think that owning and running your own business is an alternative to working for someone else. I originally started out in the corporate workplace and worked my way up the ranks of the New York Times. But I had a deep desire to empower women and girls and to start a multimedia company. After my first and only son was born, I had a choice to go back to my corporate job, or not. I tortured myself with that decision the week before I was to report back after maternity leave. Golden handcuffs won out, and I decided to go back to the newspaper. However, something happened which I did not expect. I walked into the building in a trance-like state and did not go to my office, instead went to HR and resigned! And the rest is history. My heart won out!
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
I think the biggest myth for me was that if I worked from home/having a home office that I would get the best of both worlds. Do my dream job and see my young son more. However, what I found is that to run my business efficiently, I had to hire someone to help. For him to see me at home and working wasn’t easy — he wanted to play with Mommy. There is no perfect way of integrating work and life. Ellen Galinsky, the founder of Families and Work Institute talks about “navigating work/life. One day you give more at work, and other times more at home. What women need to do, me included, is to “give up the guilt.” We just can’t be things to all people. OUR BEST IS GOOD ENOUGH!
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
No, I don’t think that everyone is cut out to be a founder, but I do think everyone is cut out to be a leader. In fact, the challenges we are all facing in this world makes it necessary for us to step up. I have a new book out, Confidence Booster: How to Boost Confidence, Set Boundaries and Practice Self-Care in the Changing Work World. Here is what I say about leadership.
“A strong woman knows that fear is part of the journey. But her commitment to making a difference is greater.
Her motto: being of service trumps fear.” I encourage people to ask themselves: Why not me? Who knows better?
I support women to pick their issue and speak up now!
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “3 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
DON’T QUIT BEFORE THE MIRACLE. Keep on keeping on, even when you are down and out, frustrated or want success before it happens. Just keep taking the next right action.
MAKE BUSINESS FRIENDS. Especially these days after Covid, conversations are getting deeper and more courageous. Even though there is competition, which is sometimes fierce, we are all in this together. People remember you because of your kindness. Listen beyond their words. (Everyone wants to be heard and listened to). They want to do business with people like that.
GIVE MORE THAN YOU GET. Go to each sales meeting with a full heart. Don’t just think of the sale, think of how you can have impact in more ways than one. How can I make a difference in the life of your prospect, not just professionally. I look at my mission statement each morning, and I say it to myself. Here is part of it: “I empower people to be their higher selves, and they in turn, empower others. I am richly rewarded in all ways for the work I do which is part of my spiritual destiny.” Good luck and God Bless!
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I try to do that every day with our 19 million followers — there is so much negativity around. In our books, website, and social media, we offer practical information and inspiration.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
It is already here. Good Deeds Day….A terrific business started by women in Israel.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
I have met Oprah briefly, but I would love to sit down with her. We are very much aligned.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Helene Lerner of WomenWorking On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.