Profile - Lisa Lorimer

@UI&U recently caught up with Lisa Lorimer, UI&U alumna (B.A. 1993) and former chair of the UI&U Board of Trustees.  Ms. Lorimer’s book, Dealing with the Tough Stuff: Practical Wisdom for Running a Values-Driven Business, was published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers in November 2009 and explores the common challenges that face entrepreneurs today.

@UI&U: You co-wrote Dealing with the Tough Stuff with Margot Fraser, founder of Birkenstock USA.  How did you and Ms.  Fraser meet?

LL:  We actually met at an event for women entrepreneurs in British Columbia where we were both speaking. I was so excited to be at an event where she was because, as I was running my company, I didn’t have a lot of role models.  I had heard about Margaret Fraser and saw what was happening with Birkenstock over the years, and she was always a hero of mine because she started her business in the mid-60s and quickly became the head of one of the largest woman-run businesses in the country.  She really created this iconic American brand.  So, we were both invited to speak at a conference at the Hollyhock Retreat Center in British Columbia.  We were on this beautiful island, Cortes Island, on the sea, and we both had a chance to speak and work with women entrepreneurs.  That was how we met.

@UI&U: How did the idea of this book come about?  Was that the beginning of a longer relationship?

LL: When we met, she was just beginning to come out of her company and be out in the world more, and I was doing the same thing.  I think somewhere right around that time, she went to an executive education program at Stanford, and I went to one at Harvard Business School.  In some ways, we were both looking for ways to grow our companies and to reach out a little more into the world.

We ended up speaking together at a few conferences. We did one joint conference together, which was really fun, at a green business event in San Francisco.  We told stories about what it’s really like to run a business, the truth about that, and we had people laughing, and it was so much fun to do that with her.  Entrepreneurs would line up to say ‘thank you so much’ because they don’t realize it’s the same at Birkenstock USA as their company.  There aren’t many places where people tell the truth about what it’s really like to run a business, and that’s what we both tried to do.  That feedback that we got is what gave us the permission and the vision to write this book.

For me, what’s interesting is that this book actually is a continuation of my culminating study in the bachelor’s program at Union/Vermont College.  I was able to find my voice there.  You read 20 books, you constantly write, and in your final semester, you write at least 40 pages of truly polished writing.  My culminating study was a collection of essays about my work and life, and not to say that they’re exactly the same as those found in the book, but those stories—those types of stories—are what led to those you find in the book.   It was gratifying to see how that educational process, where I was able to find my voice, helped me to write this book.

@UI&U: It’s interesting to look at your educational background.  You started off with a liberal arts education at Union and then continued with a specific, business-oriented program at Harvard.  How do you think that blended together to help you create and manage your business?

LL: Actually, I think that’s something that business schools need to look at more often.  How do you lead in this sort of complicated global arena?  I think there’s a definite mixture of ‘nuts and bolts’ business education that you need to succeed as an entrepreneur and then there is the question of how you find your creativity and innovation.   I think that’s an ongoing challenge in business, in life, and in the political arena.  I think the combination was really good for me—to both find my voice and connect to my creativity and to use that as a launch for my business.  It’s putting a language to what I knew.

@UI&U: In your book, there are several contributors.  Do you see that same creativity, that innovation in them as well?

LL: Yes.   The other reason these particular people are in the book is that they are very self-reflective leaders.  They really tell the truth about what it’s like.  There’s so much pressure in our culture to say ‘Everything is good—everything is great’ because you’re positioning yourself to attract customers and investors.  There’s so much pressure to keep that going that it’s hard sometimes to say that there are some very difficult aspects to running a business.  And it’s hard to tell the truth about your mistakes in public.  Who wants to do that, really?  The leaders who contributed to the book were willing to talk about it all—the success, and the challenges, and the mistakes.  That’s how those folks got into the book.

I also wanted some level of diversity; as much as I could get.  I also have nonprofit leaders and for-profit leaders, and people from manufacturing services.  We asked men and women, and wanted age and geographic diversity.

@UI&U: With the diverse background of your contributors, do you think that there are any common philosophies or mottos that all of them would agree upon and would want to share with others who are trying to start their own businesses?

LL: I think what was really telling to me was that none of these contributors read the stories of the other contributors until the book was published.  Marie Wilson, the founding president of Ms. Foundation  read the book after it was done and said, ‘Oh, I’m, really amazed at how similar our challenges are, both in profit and nonprofit .’  She said it was really surprising how so many of the issues were similar.  I’m not sure if I can quote any mottos everyone would agree with, except that it’s important to find some place where you can find the help you need… a place where you can tell the truth to help move your organization forward.

@UI&U: Now, the title of the book, Dealing with the Tough Stuff, I think is very telling, and you’re quoted as saying, ‘Nothing is ever smooth in business.’  This is a broad question, but what do you think are a few of the issues that entrepreneurs face today?

LL: I think, particularly in this time now, the world is not the same place it was a year and a half ago.  Our economy is shifting in ways we have not ever seen.  And the world is moving so much more quickly.  I was laughing with someone the other day about how, when I first started my company in the early 80s, mail is how we communicated.  Then we had overnight delivery, then the fax—even those faxes on the curled up paper!  By the time I sold my company, we were able to work on the same document, at the same time, from two different parts of the country.  And so, that shift in the world and the economic changes that have happened during the past few years are a few of the issues facing entrepreneurs today.  All of the things that used to work one way may not work in the same way now.  It’s been a challenge, and there’s a reason that the cash chapter is first in the book.  We realized, when we first began giving the book to people to read, that they would look for the chapter on cash because, in any growing business, that’s a real challenge.  Cash really is king.

@UI&U: While writing your book, did it take a different shape than you expected?  Was there anything that you learned during the process of planning for and writing the book that personally helped you?

LL: On the book tour I do in New England, I take along Susan Kingsbury, a published novelist.  And I introduced her to the concept of the “Blob that Ate Brattleboro.”  What I did for a number of years, before I actually started putting this in book form, was collect my speeches, my writings, Margot’s speeches.  I had taped and transcribed interviews and they were all in a huge pile on my dining room table.  I knew there was a book there, but I didn’t know how to make that happen.  So I started by making a list of different buckets of stories, chapters that the stories would fall into.  But even that was overwhelming and wasn’t flowing at all.  So I met Susan Kingsbury, who does this for a living when she’s not writing her own novels.  She helps writers tell their stories.  So she worked with me to try to smooth out the voices on the transcripts, because spoken word and written word are so different, and to try to organize those buckets of stories.  I would say that it is definitely a different form than I originally thought it would be, but I’m really happy with the way it turned out.

@UI&U: Shifting gears a bit—I know that, at Union, we’re very focused on female leadership, particularly in light of our upcoming campaign, Women in Union.  You and Ms. Fraser are both very strong examples of female leaders.  How have you seen the landscape change for female entrepreneurs during the past 20 or 30 years?

LL:  I started at the Vermont Bread Company, when I was probably 21 years old. The next year, I started to call on supermarkets to sell my natural, organic bread.  When I would walk into a buying office, the only women in the room was the receptionist.  To be working in business as both a young person and a woman was a bit rare back then.  Today, when I go on calls to food businesses, you see many more women as buyers and in my former role, making presentations to buyers.  So it’s much more common to have women in those roles, which has been a tremendous change during past 25 years.

@UI&U: You sold the Vermont Bread Company in 2005.  You and Ms. Fraser have been speaking together at conferences and seminars throughout the United States for several years.  And now, Dealing with the Tough Stuff reflects on the real challenges entrepreneurs often face, with guidance from business veterans.  What’s next? 

LL: I actually don’t know what’s next.  I just completed my term as chair of the Board of Trustees at UI&U, which will change my time commitments.  I’ll finish up with my book tour in May.  That’s a really great question and one that I plan to focus on here during the winter.  I’ll take long walks, be on the beach, look into the ocean, and really think about what’s next.  I’m 49 years old, and a big chapter of my life is done.  I had someone at Cornell University ask me, ‘Is this book the beginning of something new or the ending of something old?’  And I thought, ‘I need to find out the answer to that question.’

@UI&U: And that’s what you’re looking for now?

LL: Yes, I’m trying to figure it out.  I have a lot of energy, and I really enjoy working with entrepreneurs.  I’ve enjoyed the speaking I’ve been doing, though I’m very much an introvert.  But the actual events and interactions I’ve had with other entrepreneurs have really been lovely.  And I’ll just keep trying to figure out what’s next.