International Women's Day

I remember when I was the youngest in the room.  My first job was working for Texas McCombs School of Business as a student advisor. After I graduated I went to work for the family technology business.  I learned a tremendous amount about priorities, budgeting, technology planning, strategic partnerships, IPOs, investor relations and much more from Dad and his business partners and leadership team. I also learned about corporate culture.

Texas turned out to be a hotbed of a territory for me with companies like Dell Computers, IBM , and Compaq just coming out of the ground as the PC industry evolved. It was an exciting time. I remember I was thrilled to reel in the first order from Dell Computers. Now I would be taken seriously!

I was not thrilled to have a buddy of the VP of Sales be hired to "help" me with my accounts. 

One day I found a spreadsheet left carelessly on a desk that the new sales guy was paid 4X my commission on MY accounts. I am known for not having a great filter.  This was me 30 years ago with no filter.  I was livid and stormed all 110 lbs of myself (10 lbs of it hair) into my bosses office. 

I angrily asked him how he could pay this guy so much more than me when he knew I had closed the business.  He looked at me and smirked and said to my face as he looked at the front of my shirt "Aren't your nipples sore?" 

I stared at him and gasped like a fish out of water until I could speak. “WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?”

He repeated his statement and asked why my husband was still "nursing " and going to graduate school instead of bringing in money for our family.  The sales guy had a wife and kids at home that he needed to take care of so, clearly he deserved more that I did. 

I stormed into the CEO's office and waved my arms about in self-righteous fury.  Mr. CEO, aka my father, calmly shrugged his shoulders and asked if I slapped the guy and when I said I hadn't he asked if I was going to quit.

I told him not only was I not going to quit, I was going to take legal action. He explained that his hands were tied as we were about to IPO and any change might make the investors think the team wasn’t stable.

I had the same fish-out-of-water expression on my face, except this time my eyes filled with tears and I turned and left in completed silence.  I didn’t bother to slam the door on my way out. 

I learned in that moment several things I have never forgotten. It felt empty and almost hopeless to be valued less than another human for the same work just because of my sex. I was also incredibly sad to understand that the business meant more to my father than I did. 

I didn't take legal action, instead I moved across the country to New York and started reporting to Jim Hopkins , who was everything anyone could ever want in a mentor or boss, or let’s face it, a father figure. He cheered me on or chewed me out as the situation demanded. He let me take on any challenge I thought I could handle. There was another member of my Dad’s leadership team Randy Eisenbach who was a tough coach and always pointed out what I could do better, when I was shying away from things that were difficult for me and basically helped shape the leader I would become. My division began to contribute a large percentage of the profits of the entire business.  I was desperate to prove myself and that desperation showed in my harsh edges and my defensiveness in how I approached things for a long long time.

There was an IPO and a Secondary offering and I got enough money to buy a pair of silk sheets.  They were nice sheets, but the guys  on the management team received enough to buy houses or fancy cars, or even to retire. 

I eventually started my own company so I could choose to do things differently. Each of my mentors took a turn and helped lead the company during each of my pregnancies. I could not have done it without them, but I was clear that we were doing things differently in my company. We took the best parts of fiscal responsibility and a desire to innovate and combined it with a level of respect and inclusiveness that was important.

There were no trips to strip clubs, there was no screaming or name calling in meetings. I built a team that was full of ally’s. People who were dedicated to treating each other with respect while challenging each other to do better.

We had a tremendous group of people at all levels and eventually my leadership team was more than 50% women.

I learned that I wanted to give talented, capable, people a chance to be all they could be. I did that. I hired many a talented kid in college as an intern or a first big job out of school and they kept on taking more and more and more. These people were from all walks of life, sexes, genders, ages, religions and they made our workplace a true community. We had a great time while we were doing great things.

Now 30 years later I am far from the youngest in the room.  I will do my damnedest to make sure I am not the only woman in any room as i will use my influence to bring balance to the table.  

Be an ally. Be a mentor. Give job opportunities to talent that is blooming, to potential.  Look for the things that can't be taught. IQ, Determination, Passion, Compassion. Those are the people you want to be working with.

If you have an experience that hurts or frustrates you, take that and USE it to do better. My experiences taught me the culture I wanted to aspire to.  They taught me the kind of people I wanted to surround myself with. 

I had a nursery at the office so I could see my children every day. I built family offices so other people could have their children with them. I had a group of tremendous women and men leaders in all level of the organization.  I almost walked away from my big exit (sale of the business) because of a child crisis and I unashamedly put my child first. I was able to do that because of the team I had built and how they supported me and my priorities.

My girls were in the room when I recently talked to my Dad about this story from all those years ago. He is very proud of me and what I have achieved, even though we went about it in very different ways. My kids could not imagine a world where I didn't put them first. It was inconceivable to them. "Our" business was built on our lives, our lives were not built on the business.

To the women on my team and in my business circles I offer my unending gratitude. I couldn’t have done it without you. To the men who supported me tirelessly both from within and outside my company I say thank you and the world wouldn’t keep changing and “bettering” without you and more men like you.  A special thank you to YPO for giving me a community of talented and compassionate men and women who were also CEO's to help me in my journey.

To the small minded, the abusers and the bigots I say "well done" because without you I wouldn’t have felt the burning desire to make change happen. I would not have the passion to achieve success both professionally or personally.

I am grateful for the lessons learned and the chance to prove that a more balanced culture wasn’t just “nice”, We innovated more, delivered more and achieved more business success, no matter how you define the bottom line. 

Q. E. D. 

Copyright 2024 Vanessa Ogle All Rights Reserved