Jan Davies McDermott: Getting to the Root Cause

By Bud on October 16, 2007 TrackBacks (1) Comments (1)

Jan Davies McDermott describes how the Southeast Michigan Chapter of the Women Presidents Organization helps its members resolve significant issues that arise as they grow their businesses beyond the initial entrepreneurial stage.

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Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Facilitation | Jan Davies McDermott | Managing Growth | Women Presidents Organization

In this nine and a half minute segment (download iPod compatible, 49MB), Jan Davies McDermott describes her role as facilitator in the Southeast Michigan Women Presidents Organization (WPO). The WPO is an organization founded 10 years ago to help women owners of "second stage" companies. Second stage companies have over $1 million (service) or $2 million (manufacturing) in revenue and have begun to experience problems related to growth beyond the early entrepreneurial venture.

Jan's WPO chapter uses roundtable techniques developed by the Edward Lowe Foundation. In a roundtable, second stage business owners gather together and focus on a problem raised by one of the individual members. The philosophy behind this peer-oriented approach is that entrepreneurs are strong individuals who will accept advice from other strong individuals who have the credibility of having gone through the same issues. A further advantage of this approach is that over time the group gets to know and trust each other allowing members to burrow to the root cause of one another's issues.

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» Jan Davies McDermott: Getting to the Root Cause from Terry Hilton

Jan Davies McDermott: Getting to the Root Cause In this interview, Jan Davies McDermott, explains how the Southeast Michigan Chapter of the Women Presidents Organization help each other resolve problems related growth with their second stage businesses... Read More

Tracked on October 18, 2007 11:49 AM

1 Comments

Emily Bender on April 1, 2008 10:49 AM
Jan, I can't tell you how pleased I am to know that there is an organization that looks out for women in business. I have always felt of somewhat of an outsider in the field of business. It is so refreshing to see more and more women in business markets. I would like to open my own day care center in the near future. I know that this field is generally run by women. I have had a wonderful time talking to women business owners and have had great conversations that have definitely boosted my confidence in the business atmosphere The round table idea is fascinating to me. In what other forum do you have the ability to talk amongst othere business owners to understand the hardships and questions concerning one's business venture. Being a soon to be graduate of Eastern Michigan University, it truly gives me hope in the upcoming months that I will be able to connect with women and others in the business field. With the economy in Michigan being so unstable, this is one positive that I can see. I hope that women in Michigan and the surrounding areas can take note of this special time for women in business. Emily Bender EMU Student

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