Kindness & Karma
Kindness & Karma is a special reader space. This is one of the pages where readers can send their personal stories, unique experiences and photos. Each month the editors solicit responses from our readers to questions that embrace unexpected inspiration. Please send along your name and state or country. (Editors reserve the right to edit for content and word count.)
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MARCH '18: |
The editors want to know...
OVERCOMING BUSINESS CHALLENGES:
Attention Women Entrepreneurs & Business Owners: Tell us about a challenge you were faced with and how you overcame it.
You may send responses to: [email protected]
Attention Women Entrepreneurs & Business Owners: Tell us about a challenge you were faced with and how you overcame it.
You may send responses to: [email protected]
Reader responses...
"In 2008, I was appointed to a one-year term on a board of directors by the female chair of the board. At the end of that year, despite my attendance, input and support of the organization, I was not asked to come back and fill a longer term. I was very angry because I realized I was being pushed out by the organization’s president who didn’t like strong women or small businesses.
At the end of that board meeting, I spoke up and shared my opinion that if I was not invited back (or replaced by another small business), there would not be small business representation on the board (of an organization with a majority of small business members). Additionally, I asked the board to look around the room and notice the disproportionate number of men to women. By the time I finished talking, my hands were shaking. I was surrounded by about 25 community leaders and CEOs, and I was a home-based business.
As I left the meeting, a few people, including men, told me they agreed with me. It was encouraging. The board took notice of my remarks and within a few months, changed the bylaws to allow for more board members. Shortly thereafter, three new board members - all women and all small business owners - were voted onto the board. I was one of those three.
As a side note, I am now the president of this organization, the second woman to run it in its hundred-year history. We still have a disproportionate number of men to women on the board. I think about this as we recruit new board members, and I’ve come to a few realizations. In our community, there is still a greater number of men in leadership roles of privately run companies. However, there is a greater number of women successfully leading many of our nonprofits. Unfortunately, our board needs to be a representation of our membership and nonprofits are only a small portion." ~ Karen Groh, business owner since 1996
At the end of that board meeting, I spoke up and shared my opinion that if I was not invited back (or replaced by another small business), there would not be small business representation on the board (of an organization with a majority of small business members). Additionally, I asked the board to look around the room and notice the disproportionate number of men to women. By the time I finished talking, my hands were shaking. I was surrounded by about 25 community leaders and CEOs, and I was a home-based business.
As I left the meeting, a few people, including men, told me they agreed with me. It was encouraging. The board took notice of my remarks and within a few months, changed the bylaws to allow for more board members. Shortly thereafter, three new board members - all women and all small business owners - were voted onto the board. I was one of those three.
As a side note, I am now the president of this organization, the second woman to run it in its hundred-year history. We still have a disproportionate number of men to women on the board. I think about this as we recruit new board members, and I’ve come to a few realizations. In our community, there is still a greater number of men in leadership roles of privately run companies. However, there is a greater number of women successfully leading many of our nonprofits. Unfortunately, our board needs to be a representation of our membership and nonprofits are only a small portion." ~ Karen Groh, business owner since 1996
