Empowered Leadership in a Family Business

My podcast guest, Sarah Hiner, is President and CEO of Bottom Line Inc, a family owned provider of information and products to help people live happier, healthier and more informed lives. Their flagship publication, Bottom Line Personal is the largest consumer newsletter, and the company sells nearly one million books each year, with none of them ever passing through Amazon or book stores. She’s leading the company through the transition from print to digital delivery channels and audiences.

Sarah is passionate about giving people the tools and knowledge to take more control of their lives in areas like women’s health, the challenges of the healthcare system, commonsense financial advice and family life. She appears often on national radio, writes a blog entitled Common Threads and hosts the Bottom Line Advocator podcast.

In this episode of the Woman of Value Podcast, you’ll hear:

Why Sarah is a ‘people-ist’ and not a ‘feminist’
The importance of developing outside skills before working in the family business
The $500,000 mistake she made at Gray Advertising
How a health crisis helped Sarah create her healthy lifestyle
How Bottom Line is evolving into the digital age
Sarah’s style of empowered leadership
And more…

Audio

Video

S2 EP 9: Sarah Hiner – Empowered Leadership in a Family Business

What is a woman of value to you? “She’s a great role model for everybody; a great citizen, giving back to the world. I’m not someone who lives in the ‘gender’ tract. I’m for ‘people of value’.”

Challenges Faced Early in Her Career

She followed her path and passion in advertising and developed her self esteem by succeeding on her own before joining her family company. She learned to respectfully value the strengths and weaknesses in everyone on her team.

It took many years to transition from her father running the company to her own empowered leadership at Bottom Line, Inc. They brought in consultants to help them plan the transition as seamlessly as possible.

Finding the Top Experts

Bottom Line is directly in touch with top experts around the world. Sarah’s father realized that in every book, there’s a nugget, and all you need is that nugget. He wanted to bring those nuggets and what to do about them to the world.

“People have more power over their lives than they think. They just don’t know what to do. Bottom Line gives them the wisdom to make good choices.”

The Amazing Bottom Line Dinners

In the early days of the business, her father spent five days a week in New York City. He’d bring 15-20 experts together in his apartment and eventually to high end restaurants to share ideas. It created a level of rapport between Bottom Line and the experts, and the dinners have continued year after year. These experts love to contribute to Bottom Line. (I’ve been to these dinners and have contributed to Bottom Line on video and print, and I’m honored to be included).

Sarah’s Empowered Leadership Style

She has to get in sync with whoever she’s having a conversation with. You can have a 5-minute conversation in 30-minutes or a 30-minute conversation in 5-minutes! You have to adjust your communication style according to who you’re talking to. She shares a challenging leadership story with her father. Check it out at 28:00.

The $500,000 Mistake

When she worked at Gray Advertising, she forgot to order knee pads for a Kool Aid commercial that involved kids rollerblading. Listen to what happened and the lesson she learned here: 32:30.

From Health Crisis to a Healthy Lifestyle

When she worked in advertising in her twenties, her diet consisted of pop tarts, cereal and diet coke. She ended up with hives and panic attacks in her mid-thirties. Doctors gave her all kinds of pills, and they made her feel worse. She found a naturopath who removed wheat, sugar and dairy from her diet. She hasn’t had hives since. And she feels so much better all around.