Member/Community News

By Maria Evans Kimberle Levin -- an award-winning serial entrepreneur who created several companies and piloted them from start-up phase to multi-million-dollar businesses -- wants all women (and men) to experience a similar fortune. To that end, she shared with nearly 70 members of the Women’s Business Forum (WBF) her guidelines for leading a successful company earlier this month. “The most important thing you can do is find your culture,” she said. Kimberle was a secretary at the accounting firm Arthur Anderson before starting her first business and found that its more rigid culture did not work for her new venture. She prefers to hire people who want to be creative, fun and ambitious. “I give my employees my idea of ‘done,’ and let them figure out how to get there.” She also makes it a point to get to know each hire personally by having lunch with them within two weeks of joining her company. Other ways business owners lead effectively, she said, is to: • Engage and navigate: “Great leader is excellent at articulating what done looks like. Be definitive.” • Show appreciation: In person. Ask people how they approached a task. “Make time and give time,” she added. • Use competitions and contests to incentivize people to achieve. • Be accessible 24/7. • Trust your gut. • Hire show; fire fast. • Hire personalities, not skills. • Find a rock star. Kimberle has received many honors including being ranked on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies, Best CEO Under 40, Philadelphia 100 Inaugural Hall of Fame, and more. She has appeared as a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Success Magazine, and many others.