The Learn about the Laureates series is back so you can learn more about the three 2020 Washington Business Hall of Fame inductees!
We asked Janet a few questions so that you could get to know her better, and here’s what she had to say.
JANET HILL
BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF tHE cARLYLE GROUP AND ESQUIRE BANK
JA: What was the hardest job you have ever done?
Janet: Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army when I was 29 years old. I was the only woman working with 4-star Generals and other top Army personnel on all matters that came before the Secretary.
JA: Did you have a mentor or a role model over the course of your career?
Janet: My mother, a business owner for more than 64 years, was and still is my role model. She gave me invaluable advice before I started a consulting business which lasted 30 years.
JA: What is the one thing you want the Greater Washington business community to know about your company this year?
Janet: I am retired and sold my business 10 years ago. I want the Washington business community to know I applaud all business owners among your ranks who have taken the risks and I hope enjoyed the rewards of business ownership.
JA: If you were to create a slogan or theme song for your life, what would it be?
Janet: As a native of New Orleans, I should say, “Laissez les bons temps rouler,” which means, “Let the good times roll.” But, my favorite word is “lagniappe,” a popular New Orleans colloquial word meaning “extra” or “the icing on the cake.”
JA: If you could choose one person, living or dead, to have dinner with, who would it be?
Janet: My granddaughters, ages 13 and 18. I would want to eat lots of dinners with them and spend more time with them.
JA: The future looks uncertain and challenging for young people. What should students be doing today to help prepare them for a successful tomorrow?
Janet: For those who have the opportunity to attend college, they should include quantitative studies as part of their curriculum even if they are humanities majors. Technology has grown, increased, and expanded exponentially in the past 30 years and all students today must be facile in the ways in which information and data is communicated across mediums.
“Owners and senior executives must hold themselves, as well as all members of management, accountable for the hiring, development, promotion and retention of minorities and women in all parts of the business.”
JA: What can the Greater Washington business community do to embrace a more diverse and inclusive workforce?
Janet: Owners and senior executives must hold themselves, as well as all members of management, accountable for the hiring, development, promotion and retention of minorities and women in all parts of the business. To do so is in their selfish self-interest. The best way to establish such accountability is leadership from the top, leadership by example, and a performance management system that rewards success and penalizes failure...exactly like in other parts of the business. The onus is on management. Cooperation is not optional.
JA: Do you have a teacher or educator over the course of your schooling who had lasting impact on your life?
Janet: I have individuals who have been mentors for me my whole life: My mother, for her example, her business acumen, her resiliency, and her success. Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s, for his example. He also taught me that you can live without Chaucer and calculus but you cannot make it in the real world without common sense. Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta, Congressman from Atlanta and UN Ambassador. His sacrifices, along with Martin Luther King, throughout the sixties changed the fabric of America for the good of all and forever. We call ourselves cousins, and he is a native of New Orleans and really doesn’t know how much his example paved a road for me.
JA: What business idea do you think would be super-profitable but that you would never want to pursue?
Janet: A business that provides digital inclusion to everyone regardless of income. This will include free or affordable broadband access. Young kids who live in areas without such access were born with the same digital gene of which middle class kids take full advantage. The future...and even the present...is digital, online, data accessed, and growing technologically and geometrically. Leaving millions of people behind doesn’t help us, it hurts us as a nation.
Join us December 2, 2020 as we honor and induct Janet and two other outstanding Washingtonians into the Washington Business Hall of Fame Re-Imagined!