Patricia Laureys: "I don’t believe in the glass ceiling."

Patricia Laureys, CEO of Brixadvice, has built a solid reputation in her field. As the founder of Artemis and a board member of Markant, she is also known as a strong advocate for female leadership and feminine energy. However, in the podcast “Beyond the Meeting Table,” she also emphasizes that women need to take more control themselves. “I don’t believe in the glass ceiling. It’s up to women to be less perfectionistic. Although I must admit it’s not always easy to find the right balance. Personally, I feel, perhaps due to my technically and numerically focused education, that I am somewhat too much of an exponent of what is considered male leadership.”

Entrepreneurship Learned Early

Her decision to become a self-employed entrepreneur 16 years ago was instilled in her from a young age. “I grew up in an environment of entrepreneurs. My grandfather founded a sawmill that is now run by the fourth generation. My grandmother managed the company’s accounting and was active in the female entrepreneurship community. My father owned a plumbing and heating company. My mother not only helped him but also founded her own business importing products from England. For both my grandmother and my mother, female entrepreneurship was a given. I actually learned the trade by standing at our booth at the Ghent Fair at a young age and accompanying my mother in her van to pick up goods in England.

It’s therefore all the more surprising that when I chose the entrepreneurial path myself, my mother wasn’t very happy about it. She frequently pointed out the difficulties and risks associated with it. Even now, I don’t fully understand her reaction.”

Women Are Already Making a Difference

When asked if more feminine energy could have a greater impact on business and the economy, she responds with slight irritation. “Women would never ask that question,” she says. “In fact, they’re already making a difference, not always in top positions, but in many other ways. The more women reach C-level roles or board positions, the more visible they become. Still, I think my female peers need to take more initiative. When women meet nine out of ten job criteria, they’ll still doubt whether they should first gain the skill for that tenth criterion. Meanwhile, men are confident they’ll learn the rest when they meet six criteria.

I’ve long struggled with this hesitation to step forward, partly because I always felt there was a threshold for me to stand on a stage. Now, I don’t have that anymore. I dare say I no longer have to prove myself in my field. I even have the courage to call male event organizers when they assemble an all-male panel and tell them they can always call me if someone cancels. Whether they act on it is another matter. Assertiveness from a woman is often perceived as arrogance. Due to my technical education in electromechanics, I sometimes feel I lack the ‘female touch’ in my leadership. I might even be more masculine than my partner and lack the softer side that leaders also need. It’s a matter of finding balance.”

Work Always Takes Over

Patricia Laureys still finds being an entrepreneur extremely rewarding. “You always have to look ahead,” she says. “That’s the most exciting part of entrepreneurship. But at the same time, it pushes you into a pattern where work always takes precedence over the rest of your life. I still haven’t found a balance, and I sometimes regret that. But not for long, because as an entrepreneur, you face new challenges every day.

During the COVID-19 crisis, a major challenge was maintaining team cohesion. I found the shift to online work particularly difficult. For me, this period showed how crucial it is to physically see one another if you want everyone in a company to pull in the same direction. The transition to online work was also challenging for employees. Of the three new hires I brought on, two have already left. Yet, during COVID-19, the focus was on keeping everyone employed while not losing sight of the long term.”