Networking for Women Rainmakers Part 8, Take Risks
This article is by Mimi Spangler, a partner at Harding & Company. Some of the material in this posting appears in the second edition of Ford Harding’s book, Rain Making, which will be published in February and contains about 40 percent new content.
This is the eighth and final post in a series of eight blog posts on networking for women. These entries originally appeared as an article in Management Consulting News.
8. Take Risks
Women are presented with challenges on their career path to rainmaker. Peak advancement years in their mid-30s coincide with equally high demands from child rearing and family. Addressing this conundrum effectively requires knowing what you want and then taking risks to get it.
DeAnne Aguirre, Senior Partner at Booz Allen Hamilton, said, “Early on I spent too many years on planes every week. I decided that I needed to develop a local business or find another profession after I married and then proceeded to have four children in six years. In addition, I fundamentally believe that the consulting business is disadvantaged if your operating model keeps you on an airplane 10 to 20 hours per week.
You cannot develop client relationships on an airplane! Therefore, my business development is local, either in the San Francisco Bay area or within a one-hour flight. It took 18 months to develop a solid local business and I did that knowing it was risky to change my client base.”
Another working mom similarly related that, in an effort to stay near her new child, she pursued local companies, at her own risk, that were not assigned by her firm to her as target accounts. As she became successful in generating local business, she found that the local clients referred her to others outside of her geographic area!
Conclusion
Most of the women we interviewed didn’t see significant differences between networking for men and women. All said that it is important and requires strict discipline for professionals, both men and women, to grow their networks and keep in touch. They indicated their belief that the playing field for women is fairly equal. One rainmaker summarized by saying, “There are no excuses now for being a woman.”
Mimi Spangler is a partner at Harding & Company, which helps professionals learn to develop business. She has worked with consultants at many firms, both large and small. For more information, visit the company’s web site at http://www.hardingco.com/ and blog at www.hardingco.com/blog. Spangler can be reached at mspangler@hardingco.com.
