Female Founders: Alicia Reece of The Reece Group On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Don’t Try to do Everything — In the beginning, most people don’t have a lot of funding. In some cases where you don’t have external funds to help you with startup costs, it’s crucial to figure out ways to leverage additional resources. There are many great contractor resources out there that can help optimize your time. Don’t try to do everything; outsource. I had to learn that the hard way, but when I did, the business became extremely successful, because I was optimizing my time to the areas that mattered the most.

As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alicia Reece.

Alicia D. Reece is a certified Executive Coach, Corporate Consultant and Facilitator, Talent Strategist, Author, and Speaker. She brings over 20 years of global experience working with an array of Fortune 500 and enterprise clients, including: KPMG, Cisco, LinkedIn, Gilead Sciences, Kite Pharmaceutical, Lyft, FedEx, Salesforce, Warner Brothers, and others.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

Over the past 25 years, I’ve really worked at the intersection of people and business, which translates to various HR leadership roles throughout my career. Twelve years ago, while I was working at Cisco, I noticed that I wasn’t fully energized by my work anymore. I was doing great work, delivering great results, and my clients were happy. From the outside looking in, I was living an overall perfect life, but I just felt like something was missing. So, I decided to do some reflective work and clarify what I wanted to do next.

All of this led me to executive coaching. The work is energizing, and more importantly, it is purposeful and a way to give back to people. When I was going through my executive coaching program, I was smitten with the content and people I met. I was surrounded by a global tribe of individuals who had a shared love for supporting people in reaching their highest potential professionally and personally.

Once I graduated, I became an internal coach at Cisco and transitioned into the Leadership Development function while starting a part-time coaching practice. I worked in all three areas for a couple of years, which allowed me to immerse myself in the world of coaching and leadership development while putting the building blocks in place for my coaching practice. Unfortunately, my full-time job at Cisco was eventually eliminated as part of a cost-cutting exercise. So, I flipped the switch and decided to transition my part-time coaching practice to full-time.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

Since I began leading my own company, one of the most exciting experiences I had was when Forbes reached out to me regarding a speaking opportunity for their popular Forbes 30 under 30 global conference. I was initially shocked that Forbes sought me out for the opportunity considering I was in the early stages of running my coaching firm. I experienced imposter syndrome, which led to me thinking that I wasn’t qualified to present at such a highly acclaimed conference. I quickly moved passed my feelings of fear and accepted the invitation to be one of the featured speakers. The experience was truly amazing and set the stage for me to, not only write my book, Driven to Thrive, but to speak at other events across Fortune 500 organizations and in academia. It was a tremendous opportunity for me, both personally and professionally. It just goes to show you that you never know who’s watching you, including esteemed companies like Forbes in my case and the power of pushing pass your fear to increase your confidence and success.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When starting my business, I focused on generating new business and did so by undercharging.

I had a big opportunity with a Fortune 500 company, and I was meeting with them to officially seal the deal. At the beginning of the meeting, the potential client reviewed the proposal as well as the pricing quote and started to laugh. I was a bit nervous, wondering what was so funny, and he came right out and said that my services looked remarkable but thought I was undercharging.

At that moment, I thought to myself that I should be charging clients based on my worth and experience instead of charging based on the fear of not winning the business. This was a huge learning experience for me that strengthened me as an entrepreneur.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Many people have helped me to get to where I am today. Earlier in my career, I went through a formal, 2 ½ year rotational HR leadership development program at Owens Corning, where I had the opportunity to work across different facets of HR. One of the people I was exposed to was David Harris, Head of Employee Relations at Owens Corning. He and his team gave me an introduction into coaching and consulting, which I had never been exposed to and didn’t even realize it was a career path. David and his Employee Relations coaches and consultants worked with different organizations across the company to audit and provide thought leadership in various areas of employee engagement. I was very smitten with this type of work as it was helping the heartbeat of the organization — the people. This stuck with me throughout my career; had I not had that experience and opportunity to step outside of my regular day-to-day work, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

The biggest lesson I learned is that people can’t be what they can’t see. David gave me visibility beyond the world that I was in at the time, and that exposure planted a seed in me, which eventually materialized into running my own coaching and consulting firm.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?

I think women, particularly in underserved communities are being held back because they typically don’t grow up seeing other women in their communities running their own companies. Similar to the story I shared previously about David, I think it’s essential for young women in underserved communities to have visibility to women founders and even get mentored by them along the way.

I also believe the lack of resources and funding can hold women back from becoming founders of their own businesses. Women are typically lower on the totem pole when it comes to receiving funding to start a business. Additionally, I believe women are holding themselves back. For example, some women contend with the imposter syndrome, which erodes confidence.

Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?

• Mentorship Programs — I believe it is crucial to have strong mentorship programs that highlight different career paths and entrepreneurial opportunities. For example, when I was in college, I was a part of the Big Brother, Big Sister program where I would mentor my “little sister” regarding the track I was taking from an academic and professional perspective. I believe it is crucial to start a mentorship program at an early age for both girls and boys alike which can give them the visibility to see the many opportunities the world has to offer.
• Pay Your Experience Forward — People constantly reach out to me asking, “How did you do it? How did you transition from corporate to entrepreneurship, and how have you maintained your success?” I’m always happy to share my wisdom and experience with other women and men, because other people did it for me.
• Business Coaching — I think it is essential for women to invest in business coaching and general coaching to build their businesses and alleviate the imposter syndrome. I have three coaches: mentor coach, business coach, and a life coach. Just as it takes a tribe to support the growth and development of a child, it takes a village of people to support the growth and development of women founders. Many wonderful and free programs are out there through the Small Business Development Council and other resources.

This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?

The reality is, we don’t have enough female founders. According to Score, The States of Women Entrepreneurs, 6.2% of women owned established businesses compared to 9.5% of men. There needs to be more female founders’ voices in business, because our voices matter and can be quite influential across multiple industries.

We also need to elevate the visibility of entrepreneurship to young girls everywhere and let them know that entrepreneurship is a viable path to success and a way of making a difference in the world. In watching the Olympics right now, we see all of the amazing female talent competing on the global stage. My little girl loves Simone Biles, but imagine if Simone Biles wasn’t there, imagine if other young women were not there setting the stage and planting the seeds in young minds. I do feel like the more female founders we have; the more visibility will be created for young girls to map out their plans to become the new female founders of the future.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

There’s an underestimation around the amount of work you do as a founder. People believe founders tell everybody within their respective organizations what to do while delegating their work. However, as a founder, I try to concentrate on working on the organization as whole. Founders actually spend more time working, because the organization is their ‘baby’. Personally, my firm is my baby, and I have never worked this hard in my entire life. I have done many things, including attaining my undergraduate degree, master’s degree, several certifications, and worked for top Fortune 500 companies in some very affluent roles. But, being a founder is another level of work which requires another level of commitment. I work an average of 70 hours a week, and when I first started my business, I had to prove myself to gain credibility in the industry. I knew that it could take a long time before seeing a return on my investment, and it took me six months before I was able to see any real money. This is because I had maintained strong relationships with some very influential individuals who gave me various opportunities. Not everyone will be provided with those lucky breaks.

Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?

No, I don’t believe everyone is cut out to be a founder. Founders do a lot of things that the average employee does not. For example, if you have to work weekends, founders are willing to do that; they will do whatever it takes to ensure their companies are successful, and I don’t think everybody’s willing to do that. Throughout my career and working with different resources, I have learned that all of them are not created equal. Some people would prefer to go in, do their job, and when they’re done, they’re done. They don’t want to be bothered with another email after 5:00 PM. You’re never off as a founder.

As a founder, you also have to have the ability to step outside your comfort zone. For instance, my specialty is executive coaching, and I have been in the world of HR, leadership development, and talent management for over two decades. I never saw myself as a salesperson, but I quickly learned that I had to sell my coaching and consulting expertise to perspective clients. I also needed to wear many different hats and embrace additional core competencies.

Lastly, as a founder you must be resilient and patient. If you receive a no, is it a hard no? Is there another way to get a yes or a soft yes? Being very resilient is essential to becoming a founder. You also need to be good at relationship building. When I am in sales mode, I don’t call it business development, I call it relationship development, because people tend to buy from people they like and trust.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder?” (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Don’t Try to do Everything — In the beginning, most people don’t have a lot of funding. In some cases where you don’t have external funds to help you with startup costs, it’s crucial to figure out ways to leverage additional resources. There are many great contractor resources out there that can help optimize your time. Don’t try to do everything; outsource. I had to learn that the hard way, but when I did, the business became extremely successful, because I was optimizing my time to the areas that mattered the most.
2. Lead With One Core Service Out of The Gate — Once you capitalize on the one core service/product, expand from there. For me, I’ve always led with coaching, even though I’m an author, a consultant, and a speaker, as well. You can be a Jackie of all trades, and a master of none. Once you capitalize on what you are good at, clients will realize what you have to offer in other areas of service too.
3. Relationship Building — You’re not in business development mode, you are in a relationship development mode. The more you cultivate relationships, the stronger your platform will be for business. In terms of opportunities, there are two differentiators of success in your career — Results, and Relationships — you need to have both in order to be successful. Sometimes we put more stock in the results, and we fall short on relationships.
4. Pay your Experience Forward -This is circling back to helping others. Particularly as female founders, we’d like to have more women founders and women founders of color at the table with us. It is hard for me to be in a room or a business meeting and be the only person of color. I always say there is enough business out there for all of us, and you can share and support one another by paying your experience forward.
5. Work-Life Integration — Take time for yourself. Take a shot of espresso every day, and when I say that, figuratively speaking, a shot of espresso is anything that’s going to energize or re-energize you. I’m a runner, and I run every morning, to relax and re-charge. Whatever that shot of espresso is for you, consider doing it and doing it for yourself every day, so you don’t burnout.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I use my platform to give back to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. St. Jude is near and dear to my heart, because my brother passed away from osteosarcoma — bone cancer — when he was 16 years old. St. Jude was a saving grace and anchor for my family at a time when we didn’t have the money to pay for the type of care my brother needed. St. Jude never turned our family away for our inability to pay. Because of what St. Jude did for my family, even though my brother lost his battle with cancer, I give a percentage of my business profits to them.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I would inspire a movement around inclusion for all. As a world, we’ve seen a lot over the past year and a half with the untimely and injustices associated with the deaths of unarmed black people, Asian people, and other underserved communities. I would love to see inclusion for all — not just in words, but in deeds, in how people show up at work, at home, and in their communities.

Imagine a world where people are respected by the content of their character — by the fact they’re a part of the human race. As Gandhi said, “Be the change that you want to see in the world.”

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I would love to have breakfast with Oprah Winfrey. Oprah has been a mentor in my head for as long as I can remember. Her impact and reach transcend race, gender, age, and cultures. Being a Black woman also from Tennessee, Oprah inspires me to dream bigger, climb higher mountains, and make a HUGE difference in the world. I am sure you can tell just how much I admire Oprah. I love that she has dedicated her platform to serving humanity. My intention is to continue to do the same through my book, coaching, consulting, and speaking platforms.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.