Breaking Bottlenecks: Culture, Agile, and the Hidden Risks Inside Your Organization

Episode Title:
Breaking Bottlenecks: Culture, Agile, and the Hidden Risks Inside Your Organization
Guest:
Robin Sims Allen
Founder & CEO, Phoenix Marcus
Creator of Total Her
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Episode Summary:
In this episode of Financial Forward, Jim McCarthy sits down with Robin Sims Allen to explore a critical but often overlooked dimension of fintech and organizational performance: the human element.
Robin shares her experience working with financial institutions and technology firms undergoing agile transformations—and why many of those efforts fail to deliver results. Her insight is clear: the real blockers are often not technical, but cultural and emotional.
The conversation also highlights Robin’s work building Total Her, a professional platform designed to support and elevate women, and ties directly into Financial Forward’s commitment to supporting women-owned businesses.
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Key Topics Discussed:
•Agile Transformation in Practice
oWhy many organizations struggle to implement true agile frameworks
oThe gap between theory and execution
•Cultural & Emotional Bottlenecks
oHow internal dynamics impact delivery timelines and revenue
oIdentifying non-technical barriers to performance
•Leadership in Fintech
oThe role of leadership in driving meaningful transformation
oBalancing speed, innovation, and organizational alignment
•Building with Purpose: Total Her
oCreating a platform dedicated to women professionals
oThe importance of representation in fintech and tech ecosystems
•Human-Centered Risk
oWhy operational risk isn’t just systems-based
oThe hidden cost of ignoring internal friction
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Key Takeaways:
•Transformation efforts fail when organizations ignore culture and behavior
•Agile is not a framework—it’s a mindset shift that requires alignment
•Emotional and cultural friction can directly impact financial performance
•Leadership must address people, not just process
•Supporting diverse founders and platforms strengthens the entire ecosystem
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About Financial Forward:
Financial Forward explores the intersection of consumer finance, regulation, and innovation—bringing together leaders who are shaping the future of the industry.
🎧 The podcast also proudly supports women-owned and protected businesses by offering free promotional opportunities.
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Call to Action:
•Connect with Robin Sims Allen and learn more about Phoenix Marcus
•Explore the Total Her platform
•Follow Financial Forward for more insights on fintech, regulation, and market transformation

More from Jim: 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mccarthyhatch/
https://www.mccarthy-hatch.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Because there's a lack of that connection for women in the marketplace. When you have traditional social media or professional social media platforms, they're not dedicated to women. In fact, it actually puts women at a disadvantage in a lot of ways. They're on these platforms trying to showcase whatever it is, their product, their service, or things of that nature, and they may not get the attention that they necessarily need.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Hey, welcome to Financial Forward, where we explore the forces shaping consumer finance, regulatory strategy, and the future of financial services. I'm Jim McCarthy, chairman of McCarthy Hatch and the former founding member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Today's episode is a powerful reminder that not all risk lives in data, systems, or regulation. Some of the most important, significant barriers to growth sit inside organizations themselves. I'm joined by Robin Sims Allen, founder and CEO of Phoenix Markets, a fintech consultant and builder who works at the intersection of agile transformation, leadership, and human behavior. Robin brings a unique lens to financial services, helping organizations identify not just operational inefficiencies, but the culture and emotional bottlenecks that quietly undermine performance, delay delivery, and ultimately impact revenue. She's also the creator of the women's business social network Total Her, a platform designed to elevate and connect women in professional spaces. This is a conversation about transformation, real transformation, and what it actually takes to move organizations forward. Robin, good to see you. Why don't you tell everybody who you are and kind of how you got to where you're at today?

SPEAKER_01 1:58

I would love to do that. So I am Robin Sims Allen. I'm the founder and CEO of Phoenix Marcus. And with Phoenix Marcus, we do multiple things on one end of the spectrum. I am a fintech consultant focusing on agile, working with software development companies as they try to have their agile transformations or the lack thereof of a transformation. I identify cultural bottlenecks and emotional bottlenecks that may be impacting their revenue or delaying their delivery. And then on the other end of the spectrum, we are app developers and we have established an app called Total Her. It is a social media platform, professional platform dedicated to women. And that is what I do.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

That's fantastic. Now, did you know that the Financial Forward podcast donates time to women-owned businesses? And we give a one-minute ad in the middle of our podcast to a woman-owned business. And we haven't had an ad in for the last couple of episodes, but I thought you'd be interested in that. We're very much behind women and entrepreneurship and uh businesses and kind of driving us forward. So I'm so glad to hear that, Robin.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

That's exciting. All right.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Yeah. What did you what kind of made you think that there was a need for that?

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Because there's a lack of that um connection for women in the marketplace. When you have traditional social media or professional um social media platforms, they're not dedicated to women. Um, in fact, it actually puts women at a disadvantage in a lot of ways. They're in these platforms trying to showcase whatever it is, their product, their service, or things of that nature, and they may not get the attention that they necessarily need, or they may attract the wrong attention that's taking away from their brand, or it may be taking away from the focus you have on some platforms where it's predatory, where a lot of times a woman may be um showcasing her information and she may get unwanted attention. And I wanted to create a safe space for those women to showcase their talents or their brands or um their services in a protected space where it's intentional, where it is designed with them in mind and where it also kind of packs in the audience. If your target audience is women, it's a platform that has nothing but women there. So that takes away from you having to spend a lot of money on ads and and trying to target them demographically or geographically. I'm I'm taking a lot of those elements and putting it into the platform where you don't have to do all of that. Um and just making it very intentional and it's built on a safe space where there's no trolling, harassment, um, or any of those things that you may experience in traditional social media. So I wanted to make an alternative for women where they just felt empowered and able to do whatever it is that they do best at. And I wanted to have a supportive environment for them.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Well, good on you. That is fantastic. And they deserve an environment like that. Every everyone deserves an environment like that. And that one for women is certainly needed, and I'm certain will be really successful. So, Robin, let's let's uh let's talk about your career. It spans a couple of decades technology, entrepreneurship, and you've kind of uh reinvented yourself several times along the way. But what pivoted you or what moments pivoted you to where you're at today in building your own company?

SPEAKER_01 5:56

So the pivot came because it was a necessary step. Um, at any juncture in my career, when I reach the point where I'm no longer learning or no longer expanding, that means to me it's time to pivot. Um, so reinvention is what I do, and I do it often. Um, once I reach that growth pass or that ceiling, so to speak, it's time to move on into something else. And that's just a pattern that I've learned over the last 22 years. I've worked in multiple industries doing the same type of activity, but once I reached a certain level, it was time to do another challenge or time to tackle on something new. And it's just something that I find passionate about, being able to expand my tool debt, being able to move in different circles and different arenas and do different changes. That's that's kind of what I just had to do out of necessity and ask for a passion of mine as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Okay. And you kind of specialize in the government contracting technology space. So what would you what would Phoenix Marcus advise women to do that want to succeed in in that in that space?

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Well, the first thing is stay away from predatory companies. Um, there are a lot of companies out there that um sell services saying that they can help you get government contracting, or they can help you write proposals, or they can help you um make connections. Um, government contracting is about relationships. Um, prior relationships is what is going to get you the contracts. So no matter what course you take or or what um one of these programs that they're trying to sell you to get you into the game, they usually do not work. Um, you need a prior connection. So my best advice to women, instead of doing like I did, spending tens and twenties and thousands of dollars just to go in a circle, my best advice to you is to start as a subcontractor. So, what that means is if you have a resume, um, let recruiters find you on LinkedIn and different things of that nature and go into government contracting that way versus trying to set up an LLC, trying to pay a consultant to do your paperwork and different things of that nature. It is very time consuming and it's a very uh strenuous process. Um, whereas if you just leverage your connections that you have already, you can go into government contracting that way. And once you have established your relationship with what I would call a prime vendor or those who have the larger contracts, then you can start to branch off and do your own thing. And the easiest way to do that is create an LLC. Um, showcase your information on LinkedIn as a subcontractor. And instead of going on that project as a W-2 employee, go on as a contract-to-contract or a C to C and then let that be your past performance and you build those relationships. And then once you are at a point where you can now go for contracting yourself, then go ahead and set up your registration in SAMS and then go ahead and use your past performance of what you've already established and let that speak for you and gain you um bigger exposure. Um, but definitely don't fall for the trap of let me buy this course and that course is going to set you on a path of success. It will not, it will lead you down a money pit and it will not be to your advantage at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

That's great advice. And I think it it also comes back, going back to the beginning of that, to goal setting, really, what is the person's ultimate goal? If your goal is to earn revenue through government contracting, yeah, the subcontracting route, and I think that's great. If your goal is to own a company that does contracting with the government, whole different ball game, right? Which you've explained here very well, but I think one should set out with the proper goal. So I think that's brilliant. What does your company do to assist people with those types of decisions? How do people engage you?

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Well, right now, everything that I do right now for government contracting, instead of me going out as a prime vendor, um, I'm going out as a subcontractor. So the same steps that I'm advising everyone to do, that's exactly what I do. Um, and that's how I'm able to work with some of the largest companies in the world because I came in as a subcontractor. So as I'm building my past performance, that's going to open those relationships for when I decide to become a prime vendor. Um, so a lot of times I may bring consultants who may be experts in different areas and help um and bring them on to my team where we go after um teaming uh contracts, where we're working with another company that has a little bit more experience, and I'm working with them again, leveraging their information with my information and going after those contracts. So I'm kind of skinning it backwards, but it's moving me forward rather than what I did before, which was a money pit, pumping money into the system.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

And you've you've intentionally structured Phoenix Marcus to operate in multiple sectors instead of focusing on just one. So, what strategic advantage does that give you? And what have you learned about managing a company with multiple lines of business?

SPEAKER_01 11:46

One that leaves you marketable. Um, it if one avenue of your venture is not um handling the task well, having another revenue stream makes your company more valuable to someone. And when you're trying to present your company to an investor or someone to come on to allocate funds into your company, then being able to see that you have ultimate you know, unlimited ways of earning a potential, that speaks volumes because they'll see that, hey, you're not just this niche area. Um you're not just this one particular area. And then if you come to a point where the business slows down or if it's not um successful anymore now, you're either gonna have to close that venture or you're gonna have to learn to pivot. So I intentionally set my company up where I don't need to do that. I simply just add another arm. It's just like being a tree. The tree is Phoenix Markets and the branches are the different passions that I have. I love technology, but I also love empowering women. I also love, you know, um putting money into systems where like franchising or or different things of that nature, bringing those under my umbrella. And I strategically set myself up for that because I did not want to dedicate to one lane. I wanted to be on a path where as I'm bringing um opportunities into the company, it adds value to the total picture. So I'm always thinking big picture versus little picture.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

That's fantastic. And your new platform, Total Her, and that's Total H E R for the audience, is designed um to be a protected digital space for women, as we kind of touched on a little bit earlier. Yes. And you you touched a little bit on the gap. Maybe you could get more technical here, but what gap did you see in the existing platforms that are out there today that absolutely convinced you that this is needed?

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Well, just as my experience over 22 years, during that time period in the tech industry, I realized that the deck was stacked, um, especially for women in technology. Either you're not moving up the corporate ladder or you're not able to have an entrepreneur opportunity where you can brand yourself effectively. The market is literally flooded with too many opportunities. And when you go on traditional social media platforms, those are to build communities. They're not necessarily designed for you to market a product. Um, and now it's come to the point where it's oversaturation of products. You can't open the app without someone banging you across the head with another opportunity and another one and another one and another one. And that is where I saw that gap. Um, what was designed to just build friendships or or communities is now being leveraged in a whole nother avenue. And it's kind of like social media just followed the trend. Um, so I wanted to set up an opportunity where it was designed for the purpose of professional networking, where it's designed for the promotion or the um effort of building your brand or expanding your brand or getting the exposure for your brand. And that's the intention that it is today, and the intention that it will be 10 years from now. It will not be an opportunity where I'm just following the wave. It's about creating the wave or creating the environment from the very beginning in its infancy. Um, that way, when women come to that platform, they know that that opportunity is there for them to do exactly what they intended to do, brand their companies or brand their opportunities. And that's what I wanted to build.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

That's absolutely fantastic. So let's talk about empowerment and leadership. So you've built a career centered on resilience and women's empowerment, which I totally am behind. Um, so for women who are considering launching their own business or entering a technology field, what mindset or habits um have been important to your success that they might benefit from?

SPEAKER_01 16:17

You have to be open to opportunity. Um an opportunity can come at unexpected times. A lot of the ideas that I have for my company came about just by simply watching TV and just watching an episode of something gave me a business idea. So I think if a woman is just open to whatever is happening, take the experiences and take the pain points that you deal with every day and consider an opportunity. There's a business idea around every corner. If there is something that you are struggling in personally and it's impacting your life in any manner, professional, emotional, um, relationship-wise, nine out of 10 times, there's another person out there experiencing that exact same thing. And if you can think through that problem and come up with a solution, there you have your business idea.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

That's absolutely fantastic. And talk to me about your success. How does it feel today? Are you where you want to be? Are you still in growth mode? Talk to me a little bit about where you're at in your business growth cycle.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

I'm gonna say that I'm a professional learner. So right now, no, I would not say that I'm at the point where I want to be, um, specifically because until I reach the point where I am creating entrepreneurs, specifically women, I'm not at the level that I need to be at. I want to be on a pedestal, but I don't want to be up there by myself. I want to have women with me. And I want it to be a woman from every directional path in life. So wherever, if you're a mother or if you're a homemaker or a consultant, a lawyer, a doctor, whatever it is, I want you up there with me because I believe in having a level playing field. I don't think anyone should be above anyone else. And until I get to that point, I'm not where I need to be.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

That's absolutely fantastic. And I raised a daughter, and that's why this is so important to me, because I think about what my daughter in, you know, um experiences as she goes through her life and her dreams and making sure that there's clear paths for her to be able to do what I was able to do, which is dream and build and grow. Um, but it doesn't fall on deaf ears to me that I'm also a uh a class of of and uh gender that has has um benefits that not even I see and recognize every day. Um but I do have the ability today as I've as I've gotten older to stop and reflect on that. And when I do see hurdles for women um in businesses, I work as hard as I can to remove those hurdles. And they're still there, they're still very there, they're very prevalent, yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Yes, like even investors, um nearly 11% of funding goes to women. That's not enough. That is not enough in this world when it comes to the fact that there are millions of women out there building brands and building companies, and just to know that there's only 11% of funding for them, that is not sufficient. Um, which is why once I reach the level of success where I feel like I am um supposed to be, my next opportunity is to be of one of those types of individuals, to put the money into the women physically and not just being there and building systems for them to be successful, but physically physically putting the dollars behind the women. That's my ideal objection of where I want to go.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

That's absolutely fantastic, Robin. And I've really enjoyed talking to you. It has been wonderful. So thank you very much, and I appreciate it. And uh hopefully the audience will be able to contact you in our show notes. But why don't you say again where you can be contacted and how people can reach out to you?

SPEAKER_01 20:27

The best way to reach out to me is on LinkedIn. I am live and active there. I do have Instagram, but I am not um as on there as often. I usually go on there for entertainment purposes to leave a few comments and watch a few videos, but I don't actually communicate much on there. Um, same thing with Facebook, not my friend. Um I I'm I have an account, but it won't probably be me that'll be responding or probably a member of my team that responds to you if you reach out to me on any of those avenues. But if you want a direct conversation with me, LinkedIn is where you'll find me.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

And they can find you at Robin Sims Allen on LinkedIn. Definitely and we'll link you in our show notes as well. So thank you, Robin, and I hope you have a great rest of the day. I so appreciate you stopping and talking to us.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Definitely, it was a great opportunity, and I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Robin, this was a fantastic discussion. What stands out most is your focus on something the industry often overlooks the human layer. We spend so much time talking about systems, compliance, and process, but you've made it clear, culture and behavior are often the real constraints on progress. Your work sits right at the intersection, helping organizations not just move faster, but move better. And I also want to recognize the work you're doing with Total Herb. Creating space and opportunity for women in professional and fintech environments is not just important, it's necessary. To our listeners, if you're leading transformation, building products, or navigating change inside your organization, this is one of those conversations worth revisiting. Thank you for joining us on Financial Forward. And as always, we're proud to support women-owned and underrepresented businesses by donating time on this platform because progress in the industry requires more voices at the table. We'll see you next time on Financial Forward.