Action Key To Success For Women In Business
5 QUESTIONS WITH: LISA KAISER HICKEY

Published Sunday, September 28, 2003
By Rachel Pleasant
The Ledger

LAKELAND -- Lisa Kaiser Hickey knows business. And as the president and CEO of Lakeland-based Douglass Screen Printers, she had more than enough experience to discuss at the Women's Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century Summit in Tampa last week.

Hickey, 45, attended Lakeland High School and began her undergraduate work at Emory University in 1975. She later transferred to Florida Southern College, where she graduated in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in fine arts. She obtained a master's in business administration from FSC in 1995.

Hickey's work at Douglass Screen Printers began in 1975 with her position as a commercial artist and then art director. She left the company in 1981 when she assumed production management of an Atlanta screen printing company.

Three years later Douglass Screen Printers hired her back as vice president and chief operating officer. In 1997, after 20 years with Douglass, she assumed ownership of the company and became president and CEO.

Her memberships include Rotary International, the Florida Southern College Presidents Advisory Council and MBA Advisory Council, the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce Small Business Awards Committee and the Lakeland Economic Development Council. She also was a member of the White House Steering Committee for the Tampa area Summit on Women's Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century and has served as president of the Lakeland Metro Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. She's now a national director-atlarge for NAWBO.

Hickey took a few minutes to tell The Ledger about her experience as a female president and CEO, and what she thinks the future holds for women in business.

Q. What was the most important message you wanted to convey to those who attended the Women's Entrepreneurship Summit last week?

A. The most important message I wanted to convey to those who attended is that being informed is not the same thing as deciding -- and deciding is not the same thing as acting.

Every attendee heard a wealth of information that they could put straight to use in their lives and in their businesses. Now the issue for each of them is determining how to implement that knowledge and then to act on it.

If you only attended for information, then I can assure you that you will quickly lose every great idea that you do not quickly act on. As one of the speakers I heard commented, `Would you be willing to pay for an idea?' Certainly not. We pay for products and services that started with ideas.

Q. How effective are summits like the one in Tampa and what did you learn from the day?

A. For growth-market enterprises such as those women are renowned for starting, I think the summit was exceptional. We heard about the public policy issues, we heard about the capital issues, and we had the opportunity to connect with a multitude of resources, not the least of which was fellow entrepreneurs.

I always learn new information when I hear Melanie Sabelhaus (deputy administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration) speak, and `Hurricane Melanie' did not disappoint.

The most stunning thing she said was that women control 51 percent of the nation's wealth, 83 percent of the nation's purchases, and will inherit 80 percent to 90 percent of the nation's future wealth.

Q. Over time, how have things changed for women in business and what do you think is the biggest challenge now facing women who want to own their own businesses?

A. It was quite clear from The Public Forum Institute's interactive polling (at the summit) that the No. 1 challenge for women entrepreneurs is access to capital.

This has, regrettably, not changed over the years. Attendees revealed that they fund their businesses first from personal assets and lines of credit followed by credit cards. Only 8 percent of those attending had a business line of credit. This is shocking and reveals a true disparity for women entrepreneurs.

Q. When you look back on your career and the path you took in becoming president and CEO of a successful business, what was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome and how did you do it?

A. The biggest obstacle that I had to overcome in my career path has been solving crises, which were crises solely because they occurred at a time when I didn't have the immediate resources or knowledge to deal with them.

Thankfully, I have few of those these days and I feel it is because as my sphere of knowledge and experience has widened, so has my sphere of influence and resources. I am squarely in that group of women (32 percent) who said in response to how they face adversity that they figure it out themselves.

One of the best resources I have ever had is TEC (The Executive Committee, an international group of more than 8,000 CEOs. I was for many years the only female member of my Tampa based group). I highly recommend to any entrepreneur that they seek role models that they admire and then use them as mentors or else join an executive forum such as TEC, WPO (Women Presidents' Organization), NAWBO or the like that can provide this kind of peer mentoring.

Q. Why is it important to encourage a sense of entrepreneurship in young women and what can parents, educators, business people do to accomplish that?

A. It is not only important but critical that society encourage a sense of entrepreneurship to all young people, not just women. Our economy is driven by small businesses, and small businesses are created by entrepreneurs. I think the central issue is one of fostering the young persons' absolute belief in themselves, and this is particularly true of any young person who is at-risk for whatever reason.

I remember applying for my `nth' job in Atlanta and saying I don't care what the job is, I can do anything. I could say this because my parents convinced me this was true and besides, my dad regularly warned me not to be a quitter at anything I tried.

Everyone in our society needs to be in charge of their choices, just as everyone in our society needs to be responsible for those choices. I can't help but think of (longtime Lakeland teacher) Hazel Haley and how she does so easily what all of us must do so consistently: encourage and support our young people that they are OK and that achieving their dreams is not only possible but expected of them.

Rachel Pleasant can be reached at rachel.pleasant@theledger.com or 863-802-7592.