What do you all think? Is it the same? Well, Sharon Hardary, Former Executive Director and Founder of the Center for Women's Business Research is very sure that this is true."I am convinced that the problem is twofold. First, you have women's own self-limiting views of themselves, their businesses and the opportunities available to them. But equally problematic are the stereotypes, perceptions and expectations of business and government leaders."
In her article from the wall street journal, she discusses how women are holding back as business owners. Clearly, women can have vision and everything it takes to run a successful business.
"Research also shows that the differences between women and men entrepreneurs begin with their own reasons for starting a business. Men tend to start businesses to be the "boss," and their aim is for their businesses to grow as big as possible. Women start businesses to be personally challenged and to integrate work and family, and they want to stay at a size where they personally can oversee all aspects of the business."
What needs to be done is a my personal favorite part of the article. It take the thoughts it to an actionable plan which could be an inspirational part for creating tools and structures created to help them be better business leaders. Change your mindset. Learn from other women. Use banks in your favor. Get advisors. Measure it all. Think even bigger.
Here are some possible futures: What if we created an online advisory network for them? Or what if we created metrics that were more relevant so they could use to validate their efforts? How could we help them to broaden their ability to think bigger?
This especially makes me want to go deeper into talking and observing women business owners because it seems like they have even more tensions present. Do you know of any women who would be inspiring to talk to? Let me know!
Thank you again Elizabeth Glenewinkel for this in-depth, thought provoking article. It's priceless!
I agree that most of the fatal challenges have to do with mindset. I been studying this out of my personal interest in creating something sustainable. I believe the desire to create something "better" is noble and real. There will be challenges because new ideas bring change (and threaten old systems) and most of us do not know how to deal with conflict. Moving through conflict effectively unleashes co-creative potential but few ever get there. Women especially have been taught to avoid conflict at all cost. There is a large network of women mentoring women in online communities with courses and talks. I am part of one coming from an evolutionary spirituality perspective. Check out womenontheedgeofevolution.com and inspiringwomen.com. That being said, your ideas is very relevant for a wider audience and there is opportunity to collaborate with those who are doing this work. We are in a rare moment of collaboration and I believe this is the key to sustainability. I look forward to helping you in any way as I am very interested in your work!
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