“My long and winding road of life has taken many twists and turns – too many to count – and I am better for each of them,” says Susan Allen in her memoir, Count Me In: A trailblazer’s triumph in a world not built for her. The Mississauga resident, UTM grad, award-winning business leader and author, spoke to MPulse about her book, career as a leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, and the lessons she learned along the way.
Allen moved to Mississauga from Toronto to study geography and drama at UTM in the late 1970s. After considering a teaching career, she turned her interest and ability in math into becoming a CPA and working her way up at PwC in Mississauga.
In 1994 she was the only woman appointed to partner at PwC Canada, later becoming the first woman elected to PwC’s Global Board. She was at the forefront of the tech boom in the 1990s, spending two years in Silicon Valley and working with top tech CEOs in California, Boston, and Canada.
Looking back at her 34 year career at PwC, Susan told MPulse one of things she learned was, “just because it’s hard, doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.” Whether it was overcoming “imposter syndrome,” or balancing motherhood with work, Allen has plenty of advice for young professionals beginning their careers.
Allen’s book offers practical tips for navigating personal and career growth. “Daring to say it out loud” she writes about becoming a partner at PwC, “Here I was, coming into my thirteenth year with the firm, being asked to state my long-term goals, and I was hesitant to put down anything courageous on paper. I wanted to be a partner, but I was afraid to commit to a goal I had no control over.”
Allen then identifies this hesitancy as “the double-bind” that can hold women back. She told MPulse, “If we [women] are aggressive, assertive or ambitious, we are not likeable. If we are too nice, we are not considered competent. So we straddle this tight rope, understating our true potential, and are overlooked for stretch assignments that can propel our career forward.”
On managing family time, Allen says she found “permission to be a happier mom” while living and working in Silicon Valley, California. She writes, “Disconnecting from work to see my kids playing their favourite sports, on my terms, was my elixir when the days were too long and stressful to bear. An hour or two in the middle of my workday was my personal win-win.”
She then brought these insights back with her to Canada and in the leadership position of Women in Leadership/Retention of Women at PwC.
Now that she’s retired, Allen is still “paying it forward.” She serves on corporate boards, spends time with her 5 grandchildren, and the proceeds from her book go toward a scholarship for women in STEM programs at UTM.
She also still lives in Mississauga. “We love it. It’s a great city,” she said. Her book is available on amazon.ca and her website, countmein.info
