Lynn Tilton: Turning Around Success One Company at a Time
Lynn Tilton was a single mother at age 25, working her way up the ladder in a man’s world at various Wall Street firms. In 2000, with $10 million dollars of her own money, she founded Patriarch Partners which is a private equity turnaround firm, which works exclusively with distressed and troubled companies that are about to be liquidated.
Through smart investing, management and particularly innovation, Tilton rescues these dying companies from the brink of disaster to make them profitable and valuable again.
Given the nature of the difficult work she does – every day is filled with nothing but adversity, yet Tilton has made it her personal and professional mission to lend her talent and voice to saving these companies and (more recently) to ending joblessness in America.
Recently, I interviewed Tilton about facing adversity in her career for this edition for "In The Spotlight."
What have you learned about yourself professionally and personally throughout the challenges you faced in your career?
I am a believer in “self-reflection” as a requisite to growth and transformation. And as a student of enlightenment, the search for truth is the guiding force in both my personal and professional existence. I try to dissect every company and every issue such that I can understand deeply and make informed decisions and I address my mistakes with responsibility and a focus on building the processes never to allow them to be repeated. I accept that I am frail and flawed but I certainly don’t like it and continue to drive towards being less so each day.
What advice would you give professional women who are just embarking on their careers in financial services?
I would first encourage women to pursue more value added businesses if they have the passion to be creators and entrepreneurs. I think the financial services industry is unkind to women and I believe we need to rebuild America with small businesses and as the maker of things so I would push women in that direction. But for those who choose to follow this path, I believe they should make learning and building the skill set their first priority. In the end, it is our knowledge and talent that we take with us wherever we go and in whatever we do.
What does the future hold for you and your business?
We endeavor to rebuild America one company at a time, one job at a time. It is a long journey so I suspect we will be around for some time.
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