U
D

Conversation

the

02/20/14 | Uncategorized

Highlights From Sarah Friar’s Closing Keynote

Lessons from the Square CFO’s powerful closing keynote and exclusive backstage interview with Women 2.0.

By Jessica Schimm (Editorial Assistant, Women 2.0)

Sarah Friar walked in with a commanding presence to close a packed house last Thursday afternoon at the Women 2.0 conference. What did we learn from Square’s CFO? Well, she likes numbers -but more importantly- having a big vision, a can-do attitude and doing work that gives you adrenaline rushes are key to happiness and success.

In an exclusive backstage interview with Women 2.0, she shared how she manages work/life balance -calling it a work/life integration- and the importance of not letting fear dictate your decisions.

Her keynote lessons are broken down below:

Be Quantitative

Do you use numbers in conversation? In a Women 2.0 backstage interview, Friar told us that women should be using numbers more.

“I’m not afraid to be quantitative. I think a lot of women shy away from utilizing numbers or utilizing more quantitative facts even in conversation. You shouldn’t, its a great thing to back up what you’re saying, albeit qualitative with the facts of the case.”

Have a Big Vision

Start small, Friar said, but don’t narrow the vision.

Assemble Your Own Personal Board of Directors

Friar doesn’t recommend a ‘single’ mentor, but a variety of them -each one serving a different purpose. She also said not to only look to higher-ups for mentorship because you can learn a lot from everyone around you. In fact, Friar added her own children to her personal Board of Directors. Assemble your own Board of Directors by following Friar’s strategy here.

Optimism is Key

When an intimidating opportunity arrives for either the company, or yourself, it can be easy to brush the request off with a simple ‘no’. Friar suggested to flip the script:

“Find all of the reasons to say yes, not all of the reasons to say no.”

Do Work That Gives You an Adrenaline Rush

Make sure you’re excited about your work. Even before we think about the kinds of jobs we want, we should ask ourselves what really matters to us. As she said on stage:

“Do what you love… What is it that matters to you?”

Work/Life Balance  Integration

In an interview backstage Friar told us that there really is no work/life ‘balance’ so to speak. In today’s world, it’s about work/life integration.

“During the day, if I have to book a doctors appointment, or I need to run outside to buy a birthday present for the six-year-old birthday that I’m taking my son to at the weekend, I have no guilt. That has to get done. But on the weekend if I’m [near] the playground, and I need to quickly check an email or something that just needs urgent attention, again I have no guilt.”

She added that being open with your children is an important part to integrating the two lifestyles.

“…it’s being very honest, even with your children… A lot of people treat their children like they’re too young to understand; absolutely not. They want to be part of it.”

Go For It, Don’t Be Afraid

Friar explained that she felt a lot of pressure to take a more traditional route and thought that because she did well in school and science that she should become a doctor or lawyer. It had never occurred to her to be an entrepreneur.

“I grew up in Northern Ireland, this very poor area, and I worried about all these things like student debt and so forth, and I think I let a lot of fear guide me in the beginning, taking the safe route, instead of just, you know, going for it. And I think I’ve grown a lot more comfortable as I’ve gotten older, to go for it, but I always wish I would have done it earlier.”

Sarah Friar from Women 2.0 on Vimeo.

Photo by Sierra Jewell.

What did you learn from Sarah Friar?

 

Editor

Editor

The Switch Editorial Team.

Straight to your inbox.

The best content on the future faces of tech and startups.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

SHARE THIS STORY

NEW COHORT STARTS JANUARY 2024

Join the Angel Sessions

Develop strategic relationships, build skills, and increase your deal flow through our global angel group and investing course.

RELATED ARTICLES
[yarpp]