WOMEN AT
24
THE TOP
Karen Pitts
Co-CEO, Link Staffing Services
company in the country. Her tenacity
and vision are amazing.
How has your life experience made
you the leader you are today? Learn-
ing to be an effective leader takes time,
coaching, and experience. Through the
years I have learned that charging up the
hill without followers is an ineffective
way to lead. Delegation with accountability, clear and concise goals, and an
expectation for results has helped me
lead Link to where we are today.
Advice for young female CEO aspirants: Find great mentors and always
have resources who know more than you.
Leadership style: It has changed
greatly through the years. Initially it
was very dictatorial. However, I learned
that management style can get you only
so far, then you have to learn to be collaborative and to teach and trust.
Role models? First: my husband, who
has an incredible ability to seek clarity
of issues and whose vision has always
made us stretch. Second: many of the
women in The Committee of 200, who
have grown spectacular businesses and
who unselfishly give back to women
who may be walking in places where
they have already walked.
Was becoming CEO of an organization part of your professional
plan? No, I am a nurse by education.
I never even gave running an organization any thought.
What do you love most about being CEO? Achieving goals and seeing
Management gurus or books that
have deeply affected you: There
have been so many books that have
helped me through the years. Peter
Drucker and Kenneth Blanchard have
always been interesting to follow.
Has mentorship made a difference
in your professional and personal
life? Yes, the ability to reach out to
someone who has experienced issues
that confront us as business people goes
farther than education. Resources in
business are just invaluable.
others grow.
How much of your time do you spend
at that, and what are you doing to
spend more? Most of my time now is
SYSTEM REVENUE: $88 million
NO. OF UNITS: 45
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE: Private
GROWTH PLANS: 1 year, 55 units; 2 years,
65 units; 5 years, 90 units and $200 million
revenue
FOUNDED: 1980
What do you like most about what
your brand/legacy represents?
BEGAN FRANCHISING: 1994
YEARS WITH COMPANY: 33
YEARS IN FRANCHISING: 19
Female leaders you admire: Nancy
Peterson, owner of Peterson Tool in
Nashville: Nancy was widowed at a young
age with 5 children, a tool business she
knew nothing about, and no income.
Today Peterson Tool is a very successful
company and is now being run by her
children. Kay Unger, Unger Designs: she
started a design business in New York
with a partner, the relationship went
south, Kay lost everything and went on
to build it into a highly sought women’s
brand today. Gay Gaddis, T3 in Austin:
Gay founded T3 and has grown it to be
the largest woman-owned advertising
dedicated to mentoring our daughters,
who are learning how to run an organization the size of Link and who hope
to assume the role of co-CEOs one day.
INTERNATIONAL LOCATIONS: 0
“Management
style can get
you only so far,
then you have
to learn to be
collaborative
and to teach
and trust.”
Link Staffing Services matches wonderful clients with incredible employees.
Our clients tell us that Link provides
them with the type of employees they
like to hire with the advantage of being
there when needed, and gone when not.
What role does diversity play in
your management team? I am a
very strong advocate of diversity, but
only if the talent, skills, and values are
a good match for what we need to grow
our enterprise.
If you are expanding overseas,
does being a woman affect growth?
Not currently expanding overseas. n
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