Business & Financial

Being a full-time executive spouse (or wingspouse) is not different from any other career. Some choose this path. Others do not. If you want to be a successful wingspouse, you have to be professional, trustworthy and genuine. Your product is either marketable, or it is not. Customers either like you, or they do not. But who is the customer in your case? As the wife of an executive, your most important customers are your spouse, your spouse’s boss, and co-workers. Their attitude toward you can significantly impact your spouse’s career.

I remember being asked (during one of my husband’s past interviews) if I was willing to accept the “First Lady” role. I laughed at the time, naive to what that really meant but later I understood. My interaction with others has the potential to keep a customer happy or leave them wanting to return the product (my husband being the product). My role as the wife of a C-suite executive is not a whole lot different from the position held by any US Presidents’ wife, although I have never met the queen. The wingspouse role, however, is a powerful one.

In order to successfully market yourself and your product, you need to be resourceful. How can you present yourself as having the qualities that reflect well onto your spouse? First, you have to figure out what makes you different from the next First Lady. What is your “wow factor” and how can you apply it to your partner, employer and community? One of my niches is selling a community. I do not agree to move anywhere unless I know I will be happy, so once I am settled, I enjoy sharing what I think is so wonderful. My love for the community and pride in the schools is what adds value to my husband’s responsibility for recruiting other physicians. I am often invited to dinners with new candidates and their wives, and I usually volunteer to take them around the community the next day. I enjoy playing a part in my husband’s success, and my “customers” remain quite pleased. I was even once invited to dinner to meet the top three candidates who were hoping to become my husband’s new boss. Shortly after, when the new CEO was announced, I was eager to help the new CEO’s wife settle into the community.

She was an impressive woman with a realtor’s license that was not going to do her much good short term. So I set out to make her feel comfortable, telling her what I knew about the dynamics of the community. I was quickly humbled when six months later, she was putting in a good word for me with a local service provider and was hired as the President of the Chamber of Commerce. You can probably figure out what her “wow factor” is.

What do you have to offer that makes you special? What do you want your customers to say about you when you are not there? What skills do you want to learn along the way? When you answer these questions and focus your energy there, you are well on your way to a successful career as a wingspouse. Your product will be more desirable and your career will be a satisfying one.