Small Business Spotlight - Cynthia McClain-Hill of NAWBO Video

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Small Business Spotlight - Cynthia McClain-Hill of NAWBO

Ivy Hartman: Welcome to Phoenix, Arizona. SBTV.com is on the road and we are joined by Cynthia McClain-Hill, Esg, the president of NAWBO and we’re still here at NAWBO’s 2008 National Women’s Business Conference in Phoenix. Cynthia talk about your role as president, how it makes you feel, how it’s change your life this year and things like that. Cynthia McClain-Hill: Well, it’s interesting. I just become president and it is an awesome responsibility. I miss working behind the scene and I love organizational development and leadership and really making things wonderful. We’ll I’m not that crazy about is the public nature of any role. So this is an interesting experience because I’ve got to come out front and actually represent the organization in a very different way. Ivy Hartman: You’re a NAWBO member from the LA chapter and the president. Talk about what it means to have Helen as the executive director, of being through this transformation or this restructuring to have an executive director for NAWBO or a CEO position. Cynthia McClain-Hill: Well, Helen is one of the most extraordinarily talented executives I’ve ever worked with. And to take an organization that’s full of so much vitality and energy with so much potential to the next level as a volunteer leader is pretty staggering prospect. So they have someone with Helen’s talent and experience and abilities is what really gives me that sort of extra confidence that will dip there. It’s sort of my own private insurance policy. So I was very, very pleased but she was willing to make the decision to really move to the national platform at the same time that I was seeking of this leadership. Ivy Hartman: And you talk how long how long you’ve been a NAWBO member? Cynthia McClain-Hill: I’ve been a NAWBO member since 1999, so now this is 2008 so nine years. Ivy Hartman: Wow. I bet your business has changed and you’ve changed and the organization has probably changed in that time and right now they’re changing a little by taking out the private entity that has been managing NAWBO for the last eight years or so, almost the entire you’ve known it that way. How do you double changing now that we have somebody like Helen in the role and then somebody else maybe is—? Cynthia McClain-Hill: In terms of one of the most significant development in an organization like NAWBO is to move from being volunteer-driven completely to having staff employed, to help us actually executing us in her plans. Hiring talent represents another evolution. We had a very strong management company that’s work for us. But now, what we’re looking for is leadership at the executive level and Helen brings the capacity to join board members as a peer in executing the leadership strategy and that’s the most critical thing and aids what’s necessary for us to go from really good to great and that’s where we’re heading. Ivy Hartman: NAWBO is not in its infancy, it was established over 30 years ago but it sounds like it’s definitely going to be one of the organizations that the national media works to for opinions and other things about women on businesses. Talk about how being a NAWBO member and now a president of national, the whole nation of organization has helped you as a business owner. Cynthia McClain-Hill: Frankly for a lot of women business owners, still even though there are so many of us across the country, you’re still left in a feeling of isolation as an owner of a company. I mean, you know that. I know that well. What NAWBO does among other things is it puts you in an environment where you’re dealing with your peers as opposed to your customers or your colleagues in the business world. You’re dealing with your peers, people that have to manage 0402 issues you’re managing against, people that are looking for your capital, building companies dealing with and hiring you know staffs and running organizations, and that kinds of interaction and support is critical in order to give you the fortitude to develop and bring your company, so it’s an individual depth what NAWBO stands for me. In terms of the organization or engagement I believe passionately and the freedom that taking charge of the economic circumstances brings to an individual and also the power of that prospect to change communities and to change the world. And NAWBO provides an opportunity for us to come together and to take our values and to assert them into the market place of ideas in a way that we think can really transform this country and the world. Ivy Hartman: I really love how you said that. Talk about what makes this conference difference in other one’s that you maybe have attended. Cynthia McClain-Hill: This conference really represents a continuing evolution of NAWBO. So what you see is an evolution and really a raise in the bar of the kinds of ideas that have been put forward. In the early days our conferences were more about how to run your business, how to do a business plan, how to market. Now whether it continues to be the how to force into members that need it there’s also the how do we want to think about this thing, how do we want to provision or think about our influence, how do we want to see or what do we see the future and how do we want to proceed to impacts and change that. And that’s real and also this conference like our conference in San Francisco and our conference in Atlanta it’s really also where we’re asserting our engagement at the international level. NAWBO is not just seeing itself as a local or a national presence but really we think about our power and our prospects for powerful women entrepreneurs worldwide. Ivy Hartman: I’m speechless, although I was kind of listening to what you’re saying and I think that carried over to educational segments today. You know, it wasn’t just the how to at all it was more about wow, here’s how XYZ things are done and they’re international panel, we have a media panel today that are moderated and I’ve learned that it wasn’t—this one was asking me how to do things. There was a little about but it was more like great, how do you do your job? I have a better understanding in that, let me understand that stuff. Cynthia McClain-Hill: In our first segregated panel in the immigration and it’s really you know kind of what do you thin about this, how is this impacting your business. You know where are those decisions being made, how to engage, not just how to do but how to engage, how to respond, you know how to vow with the punches, how to really make it in this world and how to shape the world that we’re trying to make it in. Ivy Hartman: Okay, I’m going to put you on the spot a little bit. You’ve probably been interacting a lot with the women here at the conference. What are some of the things you’re hearing and talking about with them? Speaking of thinking about and sayings, I’m sure that they’re sharing thoughts with you. Cynthia McClain-Hill: Yes. I had a conversation with the NAWBO member about healthcare and it was really—the question was how are we going to raise an organization and begins with sort of ways in that conversation. And how do we get—you know from the logistical perspective get our 9,000 members and our 80 plus chapters on the same page. So that’s part of what’s coming up and you know where am I going to be, there are lot of request for that. You know things about how we grow. Actually women in NAWBO are hungry for more and better of everything. So more business, more impact, you know better organization, better distribution, it’s really to steer. And when do we get together again. Ivy Hartman: I know. And what are you leaving the conference with? Are you getting to be a national attendee or you’re wearing this other—as a different or not being able to— Cynthia McClain-Hill: I’m loving the conference, absolutely loving it and I’m leaving the conference with a real conviction and commitment to fulfilling on the promise of this organization. The NAWBO was formed out of the frustration of a group of women with their inability to get credit, their inability to really take control of their economic lives and without permission and without a whole lot of resources, they change that reality. And my goal is to do well by them, to honor what they achieved and to you know to make them proud, and so I live here just committed to making them proud and to fulfill in on the promise that so many women here have come and express them and made me aware of as you know bring the conference. Ivy Hartman: You mentioned there was some NAWBO's organization and inception stem from a frustration and that was—. I think that we all face some of those things, frustrations now but do—I see that the reality of the challenges that women business owner’s face has changed a little and what are those—we didn’t give credit still, there’ll be okay with our husband’s signature. Now so that’s a big deal but there are still obvious obstacles and I’m sure you’re facing some and maybe some of your colleagues. Cynthia McClain-Hill: Though, I mean yeah we have certainly the things that every business owners are going through. You know those become obstacles certainly. But for lead man, you know there are little different and part of it is the mindset of women because these women are running their businesses, they still got lives around and families to take care of then they’ve got commitment to the community and so for women is really through their companies or along with their companies, they’re doing other way to make sure that they can run their businesses and live their lives in a way that fulfills them. And sometimes that means change in the business culture and we continue to as we move through the world to reinvent, to change the challenge, the status quo. So access to credit is part of it but it’s not just that, it’s you know any number of rules that can find how we conduct ourselves and our businesses. Ivy Hartman: Or as like you know earlier they did talked about that stigma that we grow up with or it has been— Cynthia McClain-Hill: Yes. Ivy Hartman: Thank you so much for being here with us. Cynthia McClain-Hill: Thank you. Ivy Hartman: We have SBTV.com. Stay along at SBTV.com; we’re going to bring you this conference and its entirety. We’re going to be covering it, so keep it right here for our entire coverage of NAWBO 2008 here in Phoenix, Arizona.

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Ivy Hartman: Welcome to Phoenix, Arizona. SBTV.com is on the road and we are joined by Cynthia McClain-Hill, Esg, the president of NAWBO and we’re still here at NAWBO’s 2008 National Women’s Business Conference in Phoenix.

Cynthia talk about your role as president, how it makes you feel, how it’s change your life this year and things like that.

Cynthia McClain-Hill: Well, it’s interesting. I just become president and it is an awesome responsibility. I miss working behind the scene and I love organizational development and leadership and really making things wonderful. We’ll I’m not that crazy about is the public nature of any role. So this is an interesting experience because I’ve got to come out front and actually represent the organization in a very different way.

Ivy Hartman: You’re a NAWBO member from the LA chapter and the president. Talk about what it means to have Helen as the executive director, of being through this transformation or this restructuring to have an executive director for NAWBO or a CEO position.

Cynthia McClain-Hill: Well, Helen is one of the most extraordinarily talented executives I’ve ever worked with. And to take an organization that’s full of so much vitality and energy with so much potential to the next level as a volunteer leader is pretty staggering prospect. So they have someone with Helen’s talent and experience and abilities is what really gives me that sort of extra confidence that will dip there. It’s sort of my own private insurance policy. So I was very, very pleased but she was willing to make the decision to really move to the national platform at the same time that I was seeking of this leadership.

Ivy Hartman: And you talk how long how long you’ve been a NAWBO member?

Cynthia McClain-Hill: I’ve been a NAWBO member since 1999, so now this is 2008 so nine years.

Ivy Hartman: Wow. I bet your business has changed and you’ve changed and the organization has probably changed in that time and right now they’re changing a little by taking out the private entity that has been managing NAWBO for the last eight years or so, almost the entire you’ve known it that way. How do you double changing now that we have somebody like Helen in the role and then somebody else maybe is—?

Cynthia McClain-Hill: In terms of one of the most significant development in an organization like NAWBO is to move from being volunteer-driven completely to having staff employed, to help us actually executing us in her plans. Hiring talent represents another evolution. We had a very strong management company that’s work for us. But now, what we’re looking for is leadership at the executive level and Helen brings the capacity to join board members as a peer in executing the leadership strategy and that’s the most critical thing and aids what’s necessary for us to go from really good to great and that’s where we’re heading.

Ivy Hartman: NAWBO is not in its infancy, it was established over 30 years ago but it sounds like it’s definitely going to be one of the organizations that the national media works to for opinions and other things about women on businesses. Talk about how being a NAWBO member and now a president of national, the whole nation of organization has helped you as a business owner.

Cynthia McClain-Hill: Frankly for a lot of women business owners, still even though there are so many of us across the country, you’re still left in a feeling of isolation as an owner of a company. I mean, you know that. I know that well. What NAWBO does among other things is it puts you in an environment where you’re dealing with your peers as opposed to your customers or your colleagues in the business world. You’re dealing with your peers, people that have to manage 0402 issues you’re managing against, people that are looking for your capital, building companies dealing with and hiring you know staffs and running organizations, and that kinds of interaction and support is critical in order to give you the fortitude to develop and bring your company, so it’s an individual depth what NAWBO stands for me.

In terms of the organization or engagement I believe passionately and the freedom that taking charge of the economic circumstances brings to an individual and also the power of that prospect to change communities and to change the world. And NAWBO provides an opportunity for us to come together and to take our values and to assert them into the market place of ideas in a way that we think can really transform this country and the world.

Ivy Hartman: I really love how you said that. Talk about what makes this conference difference in other one’s that you maybe have attended.

Cynthia McClain-Hill: This conference really represents a continuing evolution of NAWBO. So what you see is an evolution and really a raise in the bar of the kinds of ideas that have been put forward. In the early days our conferences were more about how to run your business, how to do a business plan, how to market. Now whether it continues to be the how to force into members that need it there’s also the how do we want to think about this thing, how do we want to provision or think about our influence, how do we want to see or what do we see the future and how do we want to proceed to impacts and change that. And that’s real and also this conference like our conference in San Francisco and our conference in Atlanta it’s really also where we’re asserting our engagement at the international level.

NAWBO is not just seeing itself as a local or a national presence but really we think about our power and our prospects for powerful women entrepreneurs worldwide.

Ivy Hartman: I’m speechless, although I was kind of listening to what you’re saying and I think that carried over to educational segments today. You know, it wasn’t just the how to at all it was more about wow, here’s how XYZ things are done and they’re international panel, we have a media panel today that are moderated and I’ve learned that it wasn’t—this one was asking me how to do things. There was a little about but it was more like great, how do you do your job? I have a better understanding in that, let me understand that stuff.

Cynthia McClain-Hill: In our first segregated panel in the immigration and it’s really you know kind of what do you thin about this, how is this impacting your business. You know where are those decisions being made, how to engage, not just how to do but how to engage, how to respond, you know how to vow with the punches, how to really make it in this world and how to shape the world that we’re trying to make it in.

Ivy Hartman: Okay, I’m going to put you on the spot a little bit. You’ve probably been interacting a lot with the women here at the conference. What are some of the things you’re hearing and talking about with them? Speaking of thinking about and sayings, I’m sure that they’re sharing thoughts with you.

Cynthia McClain-Hill: Yes. I had a conversation with the NAWBO member about healthcare and it was really—the question was how are we going to raise an organization and begins with sort of ways in that conversation. And how do we get—you know from the logistical perspective get our 9,000 members and our 80 plus chapters on the same page. So that’s part of what’s coming up and you know where am I going to be, there are lot of request for that. You know things about how we grow. Actually women in NAWBO are hungry for more and better of everything. So more business, more impact, you know better organization, better distribution, it’s really to steer. And when do we get together again.

Ivy Hartman: I know. And what are you leaving the conference with? Are you getting to be a national attendee or you’re wearing this other—as a different or not being able to—

Cynthia McClain-Hill: I’m loving the conference, absolutely loving it and I’m leaving the conference with a real conviction and commitment to fulfilling on the promise of this organization. The NAWBO was formed out of the frustration of a group of women with their inability to get credit, their inability to really take control of their economic lives and without permission and without a whole lot of resources, they change that reality. And my goal is to do well by them, to honor what they achieved and to you know to make them proud, and so I live here just committed to making them proud and to fulfill in on the promise that so many women here have come and express them and made me aware of as you know bring the conference.

Ivy Hartman: You mentioned there was some NAWBO's organization and inception stem from a frustration and that was—. I think that we all face some of those things, frustrations now but do—I see that the reality of the challenges that women business owner’s face has changed a little and what are those—we didn’t give credit still, there’ll be okay with our husband’s signature. Now so that’s a big deal but there are still obvious obstacles and I’m sure you’re facing some and maybe some of your colleagues.

Cynthia McClain-Hill: Though, I mean yeah we have certainly the things that every business owners are going through. You know those become obstacles certainly. But for lead man, you know there are little different and part of it is the mindset of women because these women are running their businesses, they still got lives around and families to take care of then they’ve got commitment to the community and so for women is really through their companies or along with their companies, they’re doing other way to make sure that they can run their businesses and live their lives in a way that fulfills them. And sometimes that means change in the business culture and we continue to as we move through the world to reinvent, to change the challenge, the status quo.

So access to credit is part of it but it’s not just that, it’s you know any number of rules that can find how we conduct ourselves and our businesses.

Ivy Hartman: Or as like you know earlier they did talked about that stigma that we grow up with or it has been—

Cynthia McClain-Hill: Yes.

Ivy Hartman: Thank you so much for being here with us.

Cynthia McClain-Hill: Thank you.

Ivy Hartman: We have SBTV.com. Stay along at SBTV.com; we’re going to bring you this conference and its entirety. We’re going to be covering it, so keep it right here for our entire coverage of NAWBO 2008 here in Phoenix, Arizona.

Transcription by: Scribe4you Transcription Services