WOMEN AT THE TOP, continued
MONSON continued from page 29
way that your people understand what
you are doing and why, and will follow
your lead even when you’re not there,
following in your leadership shadow. I
also admire and learn from my close
friend Shelly Sun, co-founder and CEO
of BrightStar.
Advice for young female CEO aspirants: Regardless of gender, my advice
is the same. It begins with competence:
you must be extremely knowledgeable
“My behavioral
profile is more
dominant than
accepting, more
independent than
compliant, and
more driving
than relaxed.”
about your field as well as hone your
management and leadership skills. You
must be committed to excellence and
take initiative. The ability to focus on
what is most important is key. Strong,
effective verbal and written communication skills are essential. You need to
be able to develop your vision for the
company (or department or group in
the early days) and articulate it clearly.
You must be committed to never stop
learning, develop good listening skills,
and understand how to set and achieve
goals.
Leadership style: I set the vision,
goals, and standards and then work
through my team to achieve them. I
refrain from micromanaging, except
in those rare situations when I have a
team member who is underperforming. In those cases, in addition to giving
specific feedback and coaching on how
to improve, I will be micromanaging
for a time to ensure the business unit
attains its goals. Thankfully, I rarely
have to partake in micromanaging. I
do, however, have a solid grasp of the
important details of the business—and
I don’t see understanding the details as
a negative in any way.
Was becoming CEO of an organization part of your professional plan?
Yes. I have wanted to lead a company
since I was in high school. Throughout
my career, I was focused on opportunities to gain further experience and
responsibility, with the ultimate goal
of leading an organization.
What is it you love most about
being CEO? I am going to start with
what I love about franchising, as that
is the basis of what I love about being
CEO of Fastsigns International. I grew
up in a small family business, and I am
passionate about small business and
its positive impact on the economy
and our country. Franchising is the
most effective business model to help
people get into business for themselves:
they benefit from being part of a brand
with systems and procedures to help
them succeed, thus being in business
for themselves but not by themselves.
Franchised businesses have a higher
success rate than independent businesses. In my more than 20-year career
in franchising, I gained fulfillment in
helping hundreds of people fulfill their
dream of owning their own business
and, in so doing, build wealth for their
families. I am friends with many franchisees from the several brands I have
been involved with. What I love most
about being CEO of Fastsigns is leading an entire team of people who help
our franchise partners succeed, thus
being able to positively affect the lives
of more people, helping them achieve
their dream of business ownership and
all the benefits that brings.
How much of your time do you
spend at that, and what are you
doing to spend more? I spend about
half of my time in pure leadership functions. I believe that is about the right
proportion for a company the size of
Fastsigns.
What do you like most about what
your brand/legacy represents?
There are many things I like about our
brand. Fastsigns is the leader in the signage and visual graphics industry. We
remain focused, as we have since our
inception, on incorporating cutting-edge
technology in order to offer our customers innovative products and services to
solve their communications challenges.
Outstanding customer service is a hallmark of our brand. Our new, expanded
“More than” brand positioning enables
us to provide a broader range of products
and services to our customers, allowing
us to increase the positive impact we
can have on their organizations. The
challenge of ensuring we maintain our
leadership position is another aspect of
the brand that I enjoy.
If you are expanding overseas,
does being a woman affect growth?
I don’t believe that my gender affects
our growth overseas. We believe that
the power of the Fastsigns brand and
our proven, effective operating system
is what the potential buyer is interested
“You must be
committed
to never stop
learning,
develop good
listening skills,
and understand
how to set and
achieve goals.”
in, regardless of whether they are in the
U.S. or another country, whether they
are evaluating a single unit or a master
franchise. We are sensitive to the potential buyer’s culture. We ensure that
the entire team at Fastsigns is briefed
on the prospective franchisee and their
culture. We have found the book Kiss,
Bow, or Shake Hands to be helpful in
this regard. We educate our team and
modify our approach out of respect to
the candidate’s culture. n
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