Without mentors we’d have no leaders
Our publisher Donna Brassard likes to point out that women-owned businesses fared better in the recession.
That's because collaboration and communication are at the heart of anything run by a woman. I say that with the authority of being a son of a very strong mother, the younger brother of three successful sisters, the father of two smart daughters in their 20s and the husband of an accomplished wife.
Mentorship is another key aspect of women in business — and a recurring theme in the profiles of our 2016 Women to Watch. Mentors offer encouragement. Mentors teach. Mentors lead by example. They help us through tough times and offer praise when we do something well.
As a sub-theme, there's often a perception that you can have a career or you can have a family but you can't have both. I'd like to think the issue isn't just limited to women. But the women profiled here illustrate that it's possible to have both. As Andrea Cianchette Maker points out, you may not get everything you want at the same time — my wife Jen is fond saying, “You can have it all, you just can't have it all at once.”
Our profiles delve into these themes.
Andrea Maker talks about coaching a soccer team of 11-year-old boys. She didn't know much about soccer, but she brought in people who did. She taught lessons like teamwork and sportsmanship. As a lobbyist, she has to do the same thing: bringing in experts to educate policymakers on a given issue.
Deanna Sherman talks about learning from the longtime Dead River Co. CEO, Robert Moore.
Debra D. Taylor cited a number of mentors, from her mother to her first boss to industry peers to colleagues.
With Lindsay Skilling, there's a theme of the student becoming the teacher, as she takes over the family business and literally takes on the role of watching out for her aging father, who had led Gifford's Famous Ice Cream.
All of this talk of mentoring really came home to me recently at Higgins Beach. I was out surfing a recent morning. The sun was out, the water was warm and there were some tiny waves peeling in. I saw a mom paddle out with her young daughter perched on the nose of the board. The mom spun the board around, paddled into a wave and they were off, hooting and having a great time — the mom standing on the surfboard and the daughter still perched on the front of the board.
I started surfing 40 years ago and didn't see a woman surfing until about the 1980s, and even then it was by no means commonplace. That has changed, fortunately. To see a female surfer out there, with her daughter, was both encouraging and inspiring. Whether we're talking about business or life, we're all working to bring along the next generation.
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