Earlier this year, I was blessed to have connected with the affable Margaret Heffernan after I found one of her articles on BNET. She is 
an author, entrepreneur, CEO and keynote speaker, as well as a wife and mother. She was born in Texas, raised in Holland and educated at Cambridge. Intrigued by her writing style, tech industry experience and thoughts on women in entrepreneurship, I asked Margaret to spend an hour with me one morning via VoIP. In my next few posts, I’ll share our discussion with you to provide you some insights for your business from this author of The Naked Truth and Women on Top.
Stillman: How did your family react to you starting your own business or even saying going from your role as a producer with BBC into entrepreneurial work?
Heffernan: I think that’s a great question. The first time I made that transition I don’t think any of us knew what we were getting ourselves in to. Subsequently, it has always been after a very explicit discussion, particularly with my husband. My kids were really too young. Because, if you’re running a business everyone really has to be behind it. It’s so all-consuming and requires such a degree of obsessive-ness. It’s also so exhausting, and unless everyone is behind it you’re going to have a real problem. I can certainly remember conversations with my husband, “Are you really up for this?” and “Never mind if I am. You have to be as gung ho about this as I am, because otherwise I won’t be able to do it.” I’ve been very lucky that he has been immensely supportive and typically very excited by the opportunities that I have pursued. And, I think although we have always thought they are my businesses and it’s my career, I am doing it for us, so it’s not just me. It can never just be me.
Stillman: What advice do you have for women whose husbands may not be as supportive; who she feels she has the talent or it’s the right decision for the family, but he’s not on board or does not have an entrepreneurial mind, so he doesn’t have that same passion or that same understanding?
Heffernan: I don’t think that’s necessarily a problem. I’ve interviewed a lot of very successful entrepreneurs whose husbands have been corporate executives. This is a pattern I have seen a lot. The fact that the corporate executive has a relatively secure job has meant that the wife hasn’t felt that the risks were as great. When she has built the business to the point of where it’s proven itself – he will often come onboard to take a position within the business. I’ve seen it over and over again. She had to prove it before he would dare to make the leap. It’s kind of interesting and I know a lot of female entrepreneurs who have felt that they could take the risk of starting their own business, because some chunk of the household income was already guaranteed. That has certainly been true for me in the sense that my husband is an academic, meaning he doesn’t make a fortune but his work is very stable and secure, so when things were tricky, we weren’t going to be completely destitute. But, I think the hard moments come if your partner is truly a naysayer, and I think that would make it very hard to succeed. I remember interviewing Eileen Fisher about starting her business, and she said at the time she was starting it, her boyfriend stated she wasn’t good at math, she knew nothing about business, she couldn’t sew, so therefore she must be out of her mind to start a clothing line. She said the boyfriend had to go. It’s just not possible to be as confident as you need to be if you have someone sapping your enthusiasm every day.
Stillman: That’s true. That’s so true. I’m glad she made that decision!
Heffernan: Yeah, I think she is too! And he probably realizes he goofed.
Stillman: Oh I bet he does now!
Stillman: Looking back at your career and what you learned from all of your research and book writing, and your experience –is there any advice you wish you would have received 10 or 20 years ago that you would like to share with other female entrepreneurs?
Heffernan: I think there are a couple things. I think one is not to take business personally. By that I mean, when you lose a pitch, or you lose a customer or you fail to hire someone you really wanted or whatever setback you have – I think it’s very important not to take it personally. Don’t think, “I must have done something wrong.” Stuff happens and you have to move on. I think women in corporate careers, as well as entrepreneurs, often take their setbacks too personally. It’s important to learn from it and not to always think “Oh, it must be my fault.” All businesses have setbacks and nobody ever gets it their own way all the time. It’s very important not to let things attack your confidence. I’d also say it’s very important to have some kind of external sounding board; somebody who really cares about your success, who isn’t working for you. We need somebody who is a bit of a cheerleader who can be critical, too, and ask those hard questions. I think they are instrumental and I have never seen anyone succeed without that sounding board. Sometimes it’s more than one person. We cannot succeed alone.
Stillman: Tell me a little bit more about your latest book.
Heffernan: Well my latest book is something of a departure in the sense that it’s not a pure business book. It’s more of a thought-provoker, I suppose, and it’s called, Willful Blindness. It’s about why we ignore the obvious. Part of the argument of the book is that the things we need to worry about are not the things that are hidden and secret but the things that are staring you in the face that you don’t want to look at. That is as true in our personal life as it is in our professional life. So the book looks at everything from how we’re often blind in love, how we often don’t notice the biggest problems in our families, to how we don’t notice the biggest problems in our companies.
It’s quite provocative but what is really interesting to me is the minute I start talking to anyone about Willful Blindness they all can come up with three examples in about a minute. There are companies that they know that did things that are just obviously stupid, companies that failed to see the market coming, because they just didn’t want to, and people who hire executives that are just obviously wrong. The book really looks at why we do this. I think its pretty eye opening. One of the things it also looks at that I’ve been very fascinated by is how money blinds us.
Stillman: When will this new book be published? Do you have a date yet?
Heffernan: It comes out in the States next March and in the UK in February.
Stillman: Margaret, do you have any parting words or pieces of advice for women entrepreneurs emerging from this economy?
Heffernan: Well, I think it’s really important to remember that recessions are fantastic environments in which to start companies. Money is cheap, there is more talent around than ever. Vendors and suppliers are often much more willing to deal with new businesses in a downturn than they are in a boom time. Sometimes they are too busy and they can pick and choose. In a recession they will often back young companies in ways they haven’t before and customers are so hungry for innovative products. So, I don’t think you should let the economic gloom get to you. There are loads and loads of entrepreneurs who started their businesses in the middle of horrible economic times. And, they have done phenomenally well. It’s a fantastic environment in which to start a new business.
To read more about Margaret Heffernan’s work and what she’s doing now, visit www.mheffernan.com.
Tags: action, Business and family, Business Planning, confidence, Entrepreneurs, goals, model company, small business, vision, women in business, work life balance
