Christine Comaford-Lynch is a role model for world where entrepreneurial spark and sheer chutzpah trump the more conventional career paths of university degrees and corporate pedigree. That is not to say that she doesn’t have bonafide credentials…au contraire, she has them in spades and with some of the most desired companies. But her life reads a bit like one of those Doris Day/Rock Hudson fantasy movies where cute high school dropout becomes boss lady millionaire in her own right; while flirting, attracting and canoodling with more than one dashing titan of industry. As the best advertisement for her credo of “deciding who to be and building one’s life around that,” she started her 6th corporation, “Mighty Ventures” in 2006. Her just-released tell-all book, Rules for Renegades published by McGraw-Hill – which reads like a manifesto for rugged individualists – forms the nucleus of the new enterprise; if it’s anything like the first 5 companies she previously launched and sold for big bucks – it will most likely turn the former lingerie model into an even multier multi-millionaire.
Lest you think that this is pure hyperbole coined by Comaford-Lynch’s press agent, you should know that her first million was amassed as a non-degreed software-testing temp who seized an opportunity in the chaos of an organizational revamp (that was severing all 1099 hires) and set herself up as an outside contractor to the company in the heat of the resulting melée. When things settled down, she had personally hired 35of her former temp co-workers by promising them benefits and more money to join her previously non-existent company. |
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How did she figure it out on the spot? “If you identify people’s pain and figure out a way to fix it, you quickly become their leader. Purpose comes before money. You have to be willing to handout…to give, rather than to take. And be prepared to follow up which is lacking in most people with big ideas.”
This philosophy led to being named as one of the “top Women in Computing,” by Business Week; one of the “Top New Venture Capitalists,” by Red Herring and one of the “Top 5 Renegade Entrepreneurs” by Success Magazine (the last two mentioned publications now defunct). She is a five-time CEO and company founder of businesses that grew to be either acquired or taken public. In the course of reinventing her life, she handed her personal power over to others, including Bill Gates and Larry Ellison; fell in with a cult and almost lost her reputation and business digging herself out; and she made two seven-figure business mistakes. How she survived all these setbacks is a compelling story and as helpful a teaching tool as all the wisdom she has gained as a successful entrepreneur. Rules for Renegades kisses and tells.
Comaford-Lynch’s life is so colorful that it’s surprising she hasn’t yet been immortalized as the subject for an HBO mini series, but she’s only beginning to hit her stride, so who knows? She certainly exudes guts, smarts and charisma. Thirty minutes with her is like a self-confidence tonic, convincing you that, as she puts it, “It’s a great time to be in business and a great time to be a woman in business.” But back to how she got to where she is today. Where did she come from? How did she do it?
“I grew up bouncing between the West and East coasts. My dad was an executive recruiter and my mom was a homemaker. Dad eventually started his own search firm and Mom sold her art and still does. Sometimes we lived in Palos Verdes (an LA suburb) and sometimes we lived in Greenwich, CT (a NYC suburb).” |
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My challenge
is to know
when to
shine my light
and when to
just shut up. |
When she was 15, Comaford-Lynch went to EST (Erhard Seminars Training) “I learned one of the most important things in life there – that we are 100% responsible for our lives. So when I reached the age of 16, I took responsibility for my own unhappiness, dropped out of high school and ran away to New York City.” Her rationale for leaving home was the need to remove herself from her parents’ troubled marriage. “They were the paddles and I was the ping pong ball. Trouble was, I had no skills and needed money. Once in NY I got a lead into a modeling agency but they said I was too short and ugly. I thought to myself, I can get around that! And landed a coveted gig as a neck-to-knees lingerie model. After one photo shoot I quit…it was just too demeaning. So I returned home and Mom and I left Dad and drove across the country. I talked my way into college at UC San Diego without a high school degree. Two years later I left and started building companies.”
Comaford-Lynch attributes those experiences to preparing her to become super tenacious. “I can persevere through anything. I’ve been rejected so many times that even though it still stings, it doesn’t last long. And I developed a solid sense of humor to go with my solid relationship with my version of God…my best pal…always there with good advice and encouragement. I developed this attitude at age 13 when I began studying Buddhism and other forms of self-discovery. Spirituality is super important. The truth is, I just really cherish my relationships: with God, my family, my friends.”
She credits a colleague of her father’s from his Mattel Toys days, as being her greatest influence in her formative years. “Helga Long was a young, bright executive. She’d come over for dinner and mesmerize me. Helga was the first female executive I ever met; she was fashionable, funny, and feminine. I admire her to this day. She showed me what a possible future self-definition might be. “ (Long is now Managing Director of a division of Hunt Howe Partners, a NY-based Exective Search firm).
Even though she and her Mom left him, she considers her dad her greatest all around influence. “We had a pretty contentious relationship. Early on he said I should have been a boy -- as a girl I wasn’t very bright or pretty. This set me running from myself, trying to become someone else. The cool part is that a few years ago, as he was dying, we had lots of deep conversation. I realized that I had misunderstood his messages all along. He was trying to toughen me up and never intended to damage my self-esteem. It was bittersweet: we became super-close and forgave one another before he died.”
It’s interesting how often this theme of tough, demanding, taskmaster Dad, dominates the profiles of successful women, but it also takes its toll on their emotional makeup. Are they driven to please? Are they driven to succeed just to show the world they can do it? Psychologists specializing in businesswomen patients consider it a common but highly complex thread. In Comaford-Lynch’s case, her spirituality led her to wanting to make a difference. “Money ceased to motivate me after I became a millionaire in my late 20s. I want to touch the world and leave things a little better than when I found them...” She supports several non-profit organizations in education, entrepreneurship and empowerment as part of her quest for self-realization.
Nevertheless, she is proud of her many accomplishments: Getting into college without a high school diploma; getting a job at Microsoft with no degrees; starting her first company despite massive resistance from others and making it a success—continually starting companies, creating jobs, helping people grow and stretch. “It’s so insanely great to hear from people that you have changed their lives for the better. That makes me so high! Consulting to the Clinton and Bush Administrations and 700 of the Fortune 1000 were satisfying accomplishments. All the press, TV coverage and awards I’ve received are nice, too. I think: Life = the people you meet what you create together—coming to that realization has been an accomplishment too.”
Comaford-Lynch cites her thinking that she needed a business partner as her biggest mistake. “It was such a bad idea…a disaster: they didn’t work as hard as I did, didn’t contribute as much to the company as I did. The worst part was that all my partners were chosen out of fear. I was afraid to build companies alone…I thought I didn’t have it. So I had to get rid of each non-performing partner, often in painful ways, and there I was – alone again. Finally I realized that this was best – be alone at the top and hire a great team, but not a business partner. Now my mantra is: I am enough, I do enough, I have enough.”
While she thinks it’s a great time to be a woman in business, Comaford-Lynch says that her husband thinks she intimidates others because she is a woman. “It’s amazing that we still deal with this nonsense! Who cares what gender one is? People still try to interfere with me because they are threatened by my success, perseverance, upbeat attitude. My challenge is to continuously develop compassion coupled with knowing when to shine my light and when to just shut up.”
“I learned from Bill Gates to declare victory as you step onto the battlefield. You must decide to have self-confidence, even before you have evidence. I’ve been in the technology, finance, publishing industries and the advice I rely on most is that business is a meritocracy. You don’t need a ton of advanced degrees – but you MUST have a GSD. If you can Get Stuff Done, people will look up to you, promote you, trust you to come through for them. If you can deliver the goods, you’ll be an asset to any business.”
At the end of the day, Comaford-Lynch is very down-to-earth. She’s approachable and a little goofy. She wants everyone to succeed. “I know there’s plenty for us all…scarcity isn’t an illusion I choose to embrace.”
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