You could call Rose Fass, 76, the “C-Suite whisperer” — because she knows exactly what it takes to transform some of the world’s most powerful companies.
Image Credit: Courtesy of fassforward. Rose Fass.
In 2001, following her role as chief transformation officer at Xerox and her establishment of the Center for Business Transformation at Gartner Group, Fass started her own firm: fassforward Consulting Group.
Fass co-founded the company with Gavin McMahon. McMahon didn’t have a background in transformation work, but he was “very smart” and seemed like the right person for the job, especially at a time when a woman co-founder could gain more credibility by partnering with a man, Fass tells Entrepreneur.
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Fass and McMahon continue to lead the company together today. Fass is chair, and McMahon is co-CEO with David Frost.
“ We translate complex strategies into something simple and executable,” Fass says. “We help leaders tell stories around those strategies. We do a lot around storytelling, leadership development and shaping culture. It really works, and we find that our clients stay with us a long time.”
Today, fassforward is the “how-to” firm that helps top companies like SpaceX, American Airlines, Chick-fil-A, Verizon, Yahoo! and more position themselves for growth and success.
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But when Fass and McMahon launched the firm, first out of Fass’s house, then in a small office above the post office in Pelham, New York, they had to be strategic to land major clients — without borrowing any money along the way.
The co-founders relied on three key principles to generate business, Fass says:
1. Be choosy and build a reputation: “We realized we weren’t famous, but we needed our clients to be. We didn’t want any dinky clients.”
Estée Lauder was fassforward’s first client, followed by Interpublic Group and Mastercard.
2. Touch a client every day: “ You have to touch a client every day. You’re in business to do business, not to play office and get your business cards ready.”
3. Never compromise on the deliverable: “ If a client wants you to do something that you know you can’t do in the timeframe they’re requesting, be open and honest.”
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Entrepreneur sat down with Fass to learn more about how business leaders should think about some of the most pressing opportunities and challenges in the workplace today.
“AI should be considered an asset.”
Fass has lived through the development of technologies that many business leaders now take for granted — like voicemail, email, text messaging and the World Wide Web — and she says that it’s a mistake to consider technology adoption “a risk.”
Of course, AI is the latest to shake up the workplace and world, and Fass says that if leaders don’t embrace it, the technology will embrace them.
“ How you use AI is important,” Fass explains. “It’s augmented intelligence, not a replacement for your intelligence, and you have to ask intelligent prompts and intelligent questions.”
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Many of the C-suite executives Fass counsels insist they need an AI strategy, but that’s not the right way to look at it, she says. Their strategy should always be their business strategy: AI is just a tool that can help them pursue it.
“ AI should be considered an asset like your people are an asset, your product’s an asset, your footprint’s an asset, your IP, everything that you have in your company that helps you deliver on your strategy,” Fass says. “And that’s what AI does. It helps you deliver on your strategy and on the promise to your customers.”
“We [women] need to be glib enough to hold our own.”
When Fass started at Xerox on the management track in 1977, “it was all men selling machines.” She was supposed to learn from one of the company’s top bookers, but he was “not interested” in working with her. Then another representative asked her if she’d like to see his automatic input device — and everyone laughed. “I was so embarrassed,” Fass recalls.
Fass saw two options. She could run to HR, but who would care? Or she could be glib. She chose the latter: Fass said she might be interested, but heard he shuts down after one copy. All of the men laughed again — and the booker who hadn’t wanted to work with her immediately changed his mind.
“We [women] need to be glib enough to hold our own,” Fass says. “We don’t have to act like men, but we also don’t have to act like we are skittish and sensitive. I don’t think you should take any crap; you have to be able to give it back in a way that you gain respect.”
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What’s more, Fass says women don’t have to be “one of the boys” to stand out in the professional arena. A recent client told Fass she couldn’t relate to her boss’s passion for golf and was concerned it might hinder their relationship, but Fass told her not to worry.
“ I said, ‘You just took him to a really creative session,'” Fass recalls. “‘He’s brilliant. He loves to use his mind. That’s where you create the opportunity.’ You don’t have to be in the boys’ camp. That’s the advice I would give any woman. Find ways to be yourself and authentic and do it in your own way.”
“Women and men both need mentors that have been around.”
Two in three working adults ages 50-plus (64%) think older workers face age discrimination in the workplace today, and just over one in 10 say they’ve been passed up for a promotion or chance to get ahead because of their age, according to an AARP report.
That means that young people are missing out on the institutional memory that older people bring, Fass says.
”Women and men both need mentors who have been around, who have seen the good, the bad and the ugly,” Fass explains. “People who have lived through 9/11, people who lived through odd and even gas lines, people who lived through assassinations, people who’ve lived through recessions, the big bank fail.”
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Fass stresses that an employee’s potential shouldn’t be based on their age, but on their vitality, experience and willingness and readiness to do the job.
“Emotional intelligence is more important now than it’s ever been.”
Needless to say, Fass has honed her leadership expertise over more than 50 years in business.
Leaders who want to make a real impact should remember that people are their No. 1 asset — and that the more people they work with, the more their leadership will improve, Fass says.
“Emotional intelligence is more important now than it’s ever been,” Fass adds. “We’re living in a really tough world. We don’t have a lot of leaders as mentors. That’s really critical. You can raise a high bar when you have a high touch.”
Cultivating a “high touch” workplace environment can be challenging in today’s digital world, where the technology that connects employees with their leaders can also create distance.
“ You have to get on a calendar and an appointment with your boss,” Fass says. “I never grew up with that. I could walk into the office or pick up the phone.”
To combat that divide, Fass says a leader’s calendar should always leave space for what she calls “office hours.” Fass sets aside two hours when anyone on her team is free to reach out with anything they’d like to discuss.
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Additionally, ever since the pandemic hit, Fass has hosted virtual team check-in meetings twice a week. Mondays are for people to share what’s on their plates; Fridays are for people to share what’s on their minds.
“It’s a great practice, and my CMO from Mastercard has adopted it,” Fass says. “A lot of people have. Everybody gets to know what everybody else is doing, and it’s very quick, 30 to 40 minutes.”
Finally, as important as it is for leaders to be emotionally intelligent, available mentors, they should make sure they’re never overstepping into someone else’s role.
“[Your job as a leader is] not to do the job of the people that are working for you,” Fass says. “It’s allowing them to do the job, teach, train, get out of the way. They make a mistake, let them help you figure out why they made that mistake. So they don’t do it again. You don’t go in and do it for them.”
This article is part of our ongoing Women Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of running a business as a woman.
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