Founder of Rand Construction Didn't Care for Teaching I GREW up in Grosse Pointe Woods and Bloomfield Hills, Mich. My father, who immigrated from Germany in 1925, worked in the automotive industry for 35 years, retiring from Chrysler. He was a brilliant inventor and businessman who occasionally took me with him when he visited engineering companies on Saturdays. Philip Bermingham Photography Linda Rabbitt is the founder, chairwoman and C.E.O. of Rand Construction in Washington. VIEW FROM HER OFFICE The Capitol and the Washington Monument RECENTLY READ Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg When I was in high school, the career path for women was largely teaching or nursing. I didn't like the sight of blood, so I majored in social studies and minored in education at the University of Michigan. I had heard teaching was a great profession for women for a few years - until they got married and had children. After graduating in 1970, I relocated to Washington, hoping to find a teaching job. There weren't many available, so I got a master's in education at George Washington University and then found a teaching job in a Washington suburb. I didn't care for the job and left after three years. In 1975 I married a doctor; we divorced in 1980. I had two daughters and had to start over financially. In 1981 I got a job as a secretary making $16,000 a year at what was then Peat Marwick (now KPMG). A year later I was promoted to the managing partner's executive assistant, and three months after that I was promoted to director of practice development, or marketing. That job gave me a foundation in business. The managing partner took me under his wing, and other executives there, who are still friends of mine, taught me about business as well. In 1985, Sherry Turner, a fellow member of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, asked if I wanted to join her in starting Hart Construction, a rare women-owned construction company. She was a marketing executive for an architectural firm, and I knew C.E.O."s in Washington from my job in accounting. Between our Rolodexes, we were able to hire people with construction experience. Washington was experiencing a building boom then, and there was a dearth of construction companies willing to do small projects, so we pursued these jobs in the commercial sector. Washington general contractors are much more sophisticated now, and if we were just starting out today I doubt we'd be as successful. In 1989, Sherry, who owned 51 percent of the company, said that she wanted to dissolve the partnership. With the money she paid me for my stock, I started Rand Construction. In addition to my time at Peat Marwick, my teaching skills and courses in adolescent development really came in handy when running my own business. Being a female in a male-dominated field didn't present difficulties when working with clients, but I occasionally experienced discrimination from members of the building industry. I was the antithesis of the stereotypical macho construction executive. It was a daunting task to walk into a room full of men who didn't want me there. But being different also gave me the courage to do it. Once I called a subcontractor about a coming project. He hung up on me, called back and asked to speak to the president of the company. Our receptionist told him, "That's who you were talking to." After that, he treated me as he would any construction company president. As I became more successful, I started serving on company boards and saw how few other females there were around the table. I'd hear that companies couldn't find enough qualified women. Last fall I financed an executive education program at George Washington University to teach women how to be successful board members. The first class, 15 women, began in February. I like to move the needle where it can make a difference.