There’s no doubt that the strides made in gender equality are increasingly evident, however, the glass ceiling remains – not only in corporations, but in the full strata of businesses, including small to medium-sized enterprises founded and run by women themselves.

Carissa Reiniger, CEO of Small Business Silver Lining, sees this daily and says there is still a lot of work to be done.

“As a woman in leadership, it’s assumed I got where I am because of my appearance or because I was helped, not because I’ve worked really hard.”

“There is so much systemic noise coming at women, telling us what our place is and will always be – to be nurturing, to be nice, to be the primary caregiver. We get overridden by that external messaging more than we realize and many women are making choices that are not even authentically their own. It is just so deeply entrenched in society,” she explains.

“One of the most frustrating stats we have is that 65 percent of our customers are women but they are less profitable than our male customers. They require so much more support because it’s so much harder for them to just say what they want.

“It’s harder for them to go and do the actions than it seems to be for men who have been programmed to think they can set a goal and go get it. My mission is to get to the point where women are as profitable as men in business.”

Confidence Building is Essential

Reiniger’s business supports small business owners through its Silver Lining Action Plan (SLAP), a tech-enabled, data-driven program, which helps users set defined goals and plot an attainable route to them using behavioral psychology. She has worked with over 14,000 small businesses in more than 76 countries, helping them to become more profitable and sustainable.

But daily she sees the manifestation of how societal expectations and pressures on women are affecting their career trajectory, noting that when men work on tasks in the SLAP app, they complete, action and log out in an average 27 minutes, whereas women take on average 93 minutes to perform the same task.

“It’s the second guessing themselves and worrying about how other people will perceive them – think about that expounded over a year,” Reiniger says. “If it’s taking you three times longer to do the same behaviors as well then there’s mental anxiety, it’s just exhausting. You have less time to be productive and achieve.

“One of the big things I wish for women to know is that one of the most amazing ways to care for the world is to actually make money. It’s to be profitable and sustainable, to create jobs.”

“I think as women we need to talk very openly about the fact we’ve all experienced that and give ourselves permission to go for it, to do what we want and to be who we want. I think it can increasingly happen when we hear the lived experiences of other women who feel the same way and have been able to break through.”

In fact, Reiniger believes the female skill set is uniquely equipped for business in the future, if only women could recognize it. “We are exactly the types of people that need to be CEOs of companies in a moment where there is so much uncertainty in the world and so much complexity to the human experience,” she says.

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“Female business owners are better equipped to succeed in this moment than their male counterparts.”

And she believes reframing the demands of starting and running a business would be a smart way to encourage more to take the plunge. “One of the big things I wish for women to know is that one of the most amazing ways to care for the world is to actually make money. It’s to be profitable and sustainable, to create jobs,” she explains.

“Decreasing business ambition or financial ambition does not equip us to care for more people – it’s the opposite. I really do believe that the way we can change the world is through business, and small business is critical. Female business owners are incredibly powerful and beautifully equipped for the new world we live in.”

Supporting Change

With a background in psychology and 20 years’ experience growing a business without any venture capital – as well as trying to start and lead systemic change globally – Reiniger knows change takes time. She also acknowledges that she, too, has faced the challenges those engaged with her program have.

As a member of global leadership community YPO, Reiniger, who was recently named one of YPO’s Global Impact Award Honorees, is determined to challenge preconceptions and help push systemic change to support both small business and women.

“There are not a lot of women in YPO. And it’s not their fault because it represents what’s going on in the world, where men still hold significant amounts of power and leadership positions,” she says.

“That said, inside my YPO chapter, the men have been unbelievably supportive of my leadership. I think as a woman in leadership it’s assumed I got where I am because of the way I used to look or because maybe this person helped me, not because I’ve worked really hard and accomplished something.

“The gift that my YPO chapter has given me is that it is probably the first time in my life where I have business colleagues who have treated me as a genuine equal and advocated for me. I don’t want to use the word healing, that’s maybe too dramatic, but it has been something very consequential.”

“I’m convinced I’m going to look back on my life at some point and see what an amazing, lucky opportunity I had and also that I did one percent of what was needed to be done. But if all of us do our one percent we could change the world.”

Moving forward, advocating for others remains at the forefront of Reiniger’s own plans. Just as she pushes the shopping small ethos, she hopes to inspire other leaders to take steps and make time to encourage change for the better in their own industries.

“Businesses are the most incredibly powerful tool for justice – more so than governments and non-profit organizations. There’s so much power inside a large organization,” she explains.

“I don’t think I’ll see the full impact of my work in my lifetime, so I focus on how I can lay a strong foundation to enable the work of the future to be better and faster. CEOs are taught ‘quick returns and exit fast’ but systemic change takes a totally different approach.

“I’m convinced I’m going to look back on my life at some point and see what an amazing, lucky opportunity I had and also that I did one percent of what was needed to be done. But if all of us do our one percent we could change the world.”

One thing is for sure, Reiniger is going above and beyond making her one percent count.