Janice
Bryant Howroyd is an amazing woman who has created an amazing business empire!
She is the first African American woman to own a billion-dollar business!
Howroyd
is the founder and CEO of ActOne, a provider of workforce solutions, including
temporary staffing and software that has transformed the staffing industry.
She
grew up in a small North Carolina textile town and is one of 8 siblings. After
graduating from college, she went on vacation to visit her older sister in Los
Angeles, CA thinking she would be there for two weeks.
While
there, her brother-in-law asked for her help in his office while he was away for
a few days on a business trip. When he returned, Janice had transformed his
office.
She went on to start a staffing company
in the back of a rug store in Los Angeles with less than $1,000, most of which
she borrowed from her mother.
Today,
Janice's company is a global force in staffing with operations in over 30
countries. The world is her marketplace! She has gone on to become a world
renowned business leader, philanthropist and advisor to presidents – and sits on
many corporate boards!
Here
are 13 principles she implements in business, often gleaned from the wise
counsel of her mother.
- Scale
Up, Scale Out and Scale Every Way You Can!
- Make
it important to treat your team with care. They make your business
grow!
- No
matter who signs your check, ultimately, you are the one who writes them – by
the quality of your work!
- We
own our own destiny, so work to make it all it can be!
- You
must have faith in your work and the faith to work.
- Resilience
is a requirement to succeed in business.
- Never
compromise personally to get to what you want
professionally.
- Ask
once, listen three times.
- Use
a “circular communication” process. That’s the Osgood-Schramm model of
communication. This involves a sender who encodes a message and a recipient, who
decodes it. The sender and the receiver hold both of these
roles.
- Know
the difference between the “reason” and the “excuse.” Accept no excuses and
think with reason.
- Winners
use the tools of their trade to achieve the goals of their
dreams.
- Be
honest with yourself about what you want and what you are willing (or unwilling)
to do to achieve it.
- Always
have integrity!