Sarah Avery is the director of accounting at Franchise Group. She’s also a Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC) member! In this member spotlight, we asked Avery a series of questions about both her professional role and personal life, including the woman that inspires her, her leadership style, her advice for the next generation of female leaders, and much more, so that you can get to know her better.

  1. What’s the best book you’ve read recently? 
    “Dare to Lead” by Brené Brown really helped me learn to be introspective and better understand people. As someone who thrives in an analytical, numbers-based space, it’s easy to hide behind the work product that is so tangible in finance and  accounting and leverage high performance to catapult success. In being promoted to a director, I quickly realized that leadership was more than strong performance, it was about fostering relationships and driving change in an organization. Reading this book allowed me to take a step back and evaluate the leaders I admired and the behaviors I wanted to emulate, such as grounded confidence, being curious, and knowing and living my core values. Learning to connect with people is critical to developing high performing teams and meaningful partnerships with our business or operating company customers. People are also the heart of the Retail Industry, and until we truly know ourselves, understanding our customers and the behavior behind the data will be a challenge. I certainly haven’t mastered this, but do carve out time every day to ask myself critical questions such as “am I leading from a place of confidence or fear” and “am I living my core values today?”
  2. What is a tip you have for productively leading a WFH or hybrid team?
    If your team is hybrid or WFH, leaders need to be intentional about setting aside time to connect and as a team and individually with each of their direct reports. Prior to COVID-19, I experienced a work environment where our team was split and separated into two physical locations, and quickly realized how much communication was lost just by us having to walk across the street to talk to one another. That taught me the importance of prioritizing intentional communication, to proactively ask questions in a manner that extracted critical information, and to ensure my team knew I was available if they needed me. Understanding that each associate will be different in the amount of “face time” that they desire, leaders must open the door to allow associates to feel comfortable to express their preferences such that the virtual nature of our work does not diminish personal connection.
  3. What’s a mistake you made early on in your career?
    Not letting go of mistakes. In finance and accounting, a significant emphasis is put on high-quality work product due to the nature of the reliance on financial information. While I continually push myself and my team to strive for excellence, understanding the impact of a mistake, the risk to inaccurate data that mistake creates, and being able to have perspective on materiality is something I have had to develop over time.
  4. What’s the toughest part of being in charge?
     Leadership is often focused on problem solving and decision making. Understanding when and when not to delegate is also challenging, and I often find myself pulled in many directions at once. Learning to say no to things that are lower priority and ensuring everyone is on the same page is a skill set that can continuously be improved.
  5. What’s the best way you motivate team members? 
    Leading by example is something that I have found to be extremely important in developing a high performing team. If you as a leader are willing to go the extra mile, have a strong sense of personal accountability, and provide a supportive environment for your team to stretch themselves, your team will resonate those behaviors. I always tell my team “I will be in the trenches with you” and have gained their trust by supporting them during challenging times and never asking more of them than I was willing to do myself.
  6. What are you looking forward to the most for the industry over the next year?
    While we are still seeing the lingering impact of COVID-19 on the retail industry, I’m excited to see how the customer behaves now that many activities and lifestyles are somewhat back to normal. Retail is fast paced, and I enjoy that it keeps me on my toes, I expect nothing less this year.
  7. What is one thing you look for when interviewing a potential candidate? 
    Someone once told me that “motivation comes from within” and I am a big believer of that. While skillset and technical ability are critical in finance and accounting, I place a significant emphasis on bringing someone in the door that is excited about the work at Franchise Group, Inc. and is looking forward to making a difference.
  8. What’s something that you learned about yourself in the past year?
    This past year, I’ve taken on a significant amount of new responsibility that I didn’t have prior knowledge or experience in. Learning to navigate stepping out of your comfort zone in front of a high performing audience is a skill set, and making sure you surround yourself with experts in an area where you have limited exposure is critical to being successful in these situations.
  9. What’s your favorite podcast? 
    I don’t really listen to podcasts but do focus on books that help me be my best self.
  10. What values are most important to you as a leader?
    Integrity, courage, and resilience. Leaders must be willing to be self-accountable, and as a CPA ethics are the foundation of our industry. Leaders also must be the first ones to step into unknown territory, which is often uncomfortable. Being courageous during times of uncertainty is critical for moving forward, and we undoubtably are going to make mistakes, which is where resilience comes into play.
  11. What’s the most important thing people should know about you?
    Some would say I am not the typical finance and accounting professional. I’m very focused on associate and personal development, and really enjoy the people aspect of my job!
  12. What practices or boundaries have you implemented in your personal life to create more work/life balance? 
    Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer once talked about understanding what it is you need to recharge and maintain during times of high stress. She said that balance is different for each individual, and I couldn’t agree more. I often reflect on that article when I start to feel overwhelmed or burnt out and will then carve out time for the things that help me re-charge. That is often exercise or spending time with my family. To me balance ebbs and flows and self-reflecting on what balance looks like for you personally and meeting those needs is what is critical to maintaining work life balance.
  13. What do you do to recharge?
    Exercise and ensuring I get the right amount of sleep are the two things that I need in order to be my best self at work.
  14. What is your biggest accomplishment? 
    Many associates have told me that I have inspired them in some manner, being someone that helps someone else achieve their goals or step outside their comfort zone is the best compliment and biggest achievement I could ask for.
  15. What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders?
    Don’t be afraid to own your career. I recently presented to a group of finance and accounting professionals across the FRG operating companies about the five steps to owning your career which have helped me achieve success. Those steps are:
    -Recognizing that you are in the driver seat — it’s your job to get you where you want to go.
    -Identifying your goals and objectives — identify what it is that you truly want.
    -Proactively communicating goals and objectives to leadership — don’t wait for your review, you should be discussing your goals with your manager on an ongoing basis.
    -Building your success squad — who inside your department and out of it is rooting for you?
    -Making this process a lifestyle — career ownership is a lot like wanting to achieve a fitness goal, you can’t go to the gym one time and say I’ve achieved my goal, it requires consistency over time.
  16. What gets you up in the morning?
    My team! They are constantly striving to improve our processes and deliver quality results to our internal customers and investors.
  17. What do you like most about being a member of Women in Retail?
    Women in Retail has done an amazing job building an environment that fosters authentic and transparent connections across female leaders. I attended my first Women in Retail Leadership Summit in 2021 where I ended up meeting my current career mentor. Without this amazing community, I would not have had the opportunity to connect with someone who I consider a close friend, mentor, and person I strongly admire.

Interested in connecting with women like Sarah? Apply today to become a Women in Retail Leadership Circle member!