Hard starts do not have to equate to rough endings and Jules Pieri is an amazing example of the success you can create in your own life with enough determination! In this installment of Interviews with Influential Women, we discuss how learning to be comfortable—outside of your comfort zone, can be your key to success.
In 200 words or less, please give my readers a short background on your personal journey that brought you to today.
The Grommet is my third startup. I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in Detroit and left home when I was 14 to become a scholarship student at a beautiful boarding school. I did not know it at the time, but that bold act was the beginning of my entrepreneurial career.
I studied industrial design at Univeristy of Michigan and was the first designer to graduate from HBS, where I was the only person in my class to join a startup upon graduation. I also had leadership roles at Continuum (product innovation consultancy) and Ziggs (sold to Reputation.com).
Along the way, I did gigs at three large consumer products companies, worked in France as a designer right out of undergrad, and moved my family (three sons, husband) to Ireland from 2001-2005.
Who are your top 3 female role models, and what about each inspires you?
Meg Whitman — She was my mentor and boss in three companies: Keds, Stride Rite and Playskool. She communicates clearly and is always working to advance the company mission, rather than a personal agenda.
Eleanor Roosevelt — She was so ahead of her time in advancing social and economic agendas.
Sheila Marcelo, CEO of Care.com — Because she took her company public.
One more can’t hurt, right? 🙂
Patt Morency — My junior high English and Latin teacher. She let me come in early every day and sit in her classroom while she graded papers and occasionally doled out life lessons. We remained lifelong friends until her recent death. She was the first person in my life to paint out higher expectations than what I could see directly.
What challenge (s) did you face & overcome to get to where you are?
Throughout my career, I have been initially underestimated in new roles or situations. I am soft-spoken, blond, and somewhat introverted. I like to come on slowly and not throw myself out all at once. I have learned to use that chronic underestimating as a superpower.
You can learn a lot from someone when they don’t take you seriously. And by the time they do, it is too late. I have seen my middle son do that as a child: he could always sniff out people who were the “real deal” because he realized that how they behave with children often reveals their character and motivations.
What are the 3 most important things you do (or did) that contribute to your success?
- I learned at an early age to put myself in uncomfortable positions and now associate that with growth and success. I am most uncomfortable when comfortable, if that makes any sense.
- I’ve always been a bit of an activist and like to design everything: products, systems, business models, cultural beliefs. It started with rabble rousing in elementary school: I was the first girl in the Detroit public schools to wear pants to school. I was the first safety boy (girl) in my school. I have always questioned things as they are.
- I built confidence by trying hard things and surviving. The first step was getting a scholarship to boarding school. It made me sick to my stomach every day to go to class—I was woefully underprepared. But I did it and eventually excelled through sheer willpower. I still have that perseverance and belief in myself.
What do you consider the top issues women face today?
First, not enough of us are founding companies.
Second, when we do, only 2.7% of venture capital gets to women.
This is not just an issue for women: it is holding back our society and economy. VC backed companies create 21% of our GDP, 11% of private sector jobs, and are the shining stars of business. If they start with founding teams that are only half the population, we are setting them up for underperforming. This is because diverse leadership teams have a 31% higher return on capital.
It is also criminal for our society because it means that even if you don’t want to found a company, your chances of getting a great job in one of those high growth companies is greatly impinged if you are not a lookalike to the founding team.
This is where the DNA and networks and hiring practices of any company begin and then tend to endure. This is entirely why we need affirmative action programs: companies have historically gotten off on the wrong foot, talent wise, from the very start.
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Jules Pieri spent her childhood days reading every single biography her Detroit elementary school offered, filling her head with gigantic ideas about how each and every person can impact the world. This inspires Jules as she leads the Grommet. She’s building a Citizen Commerce-powered platform to help people support the kind of products that align with their interests and values. Jules’ confidence in attacking seemingly impossible challenges was formed at a young age. Her first trip to Europe was not a mere visit…she moved herself to Paris right out of college. Similarly, she relocated her family of five to Ireland for the first half of this decade. Why? Why not?
The Grommet is Jules’ third startup. Jules started her professional life as an industrial designer working for computer enterprises. She soon realized consumer products companies shape the majority of our economy, so she followed the action over to consumer brands as an executive at Keds and Hasbro. Jules is told she is the first industrial designer to get a Harvard MBA, where she is now an Entrepreneur in Residence. Jules was named one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs in 2013 and in June 2014, she was invited to launch The Grommet Wholesale Platform at the first-ever White House Maker Faire.
