Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Women Lead Business Surge

Don't you just love comments like these:

"Women have been managing their families for years, so it should only stand to reason that they are able to move to larger projects," she said.

Well read more of what this great little article has to say about women business owners. It's like a race ... out in front ... against all odds ... and winning.

Separately and from the book "Women Who Changed The World:"

Chapter 26
Eleanor Roosevelt

At all times, day by day, we have to continue fighting for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom from want -- for these are things that must be gained in peace as well as in war. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Friday, January 26, 2007

Breaking The Glass Ceiling: Black Women in Business

I like to always begin with the end in mind:

The biggest barriers are within the institutions which are still male, pale and stale. They are fading in numbers.

Read this wonderful article
highlighting top achievers (Angela Sarkis, pictured, is one of them) who share their tips for success and then find out if you have what it takes to become an entrepreneur.

Separately and from the book "Women Who Changed The World:"

Chapter 25
Coco Chanel

Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening. ~ Coco Chanel

Monday, January 22, 2007

Derailed Rock Star CMOs

So you wanna be a rock 'n' roll marketer (top to bottom: Kerri Martin, Jerri Devard and Julie Roehm)?

Just pick up a gig at a troubled Fortune 500 company that thinks it needs a change agent. Be quick with a quote; cruise the conference circuit; fire your agency; and say you want a revolution that, instead of being televised, plays out on any number of sexy new digital channels. Sit back and watch the awards, press clippings and speech invitations flow in. But beware the comedown. The author claims that even Coca Cola's Mary Minnick fell or hit the proverbial ceiling.

So business ownership is not a bad option. You can be who you are and be happy.

And one other thing ... I noticed three women contributed to this article but a man claimed authorship. Makes you want to ...

Oh, and just in (1/23 at 8:07 a.m.) from our friends at re:invention blog. WOW! Read it. You'll love it!

Separately and from the book "Women Who Changed The World:"

Chapter 24
Virginia Woolf

A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. ~ Virginia Woolf

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

How She Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs Are Changing the Rules of Business Success

You read about it here first! I am a big fan of Margaret Heffernan's ever since she wrote an article in 2002 for Fast Company on the topic of women entrepreneurs that led to a book called The Naked Truth.

Now, she's back -- bigger, bolder and wiser than ever -- with her new book, How She Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs Are Changing the Rules of Business Success.

And how could we NOT like this book? It's terrific and right in line with the whole purpose of this blog!

Margaret was kind enough to email me a sneak peek at her first chapter and then followed up with a copy of the book (which I offered to pay for since I was going to order anyway on Amazon). It's everything I expected and then some. For example, here are a few juicy gems from 1a., The Need to Achieve:

... The study of entrepreneurial motivation is fraught with inconclusions. Entrepreneurs are clearly different from corporate executives – but quite how, and why, no one is quite sure. For men as for women, money is never the prime driver. In no studies does it top the list of reasons why people choose this riskiest of careers. Entrepreneurs seek adventure, they want to learn more, they want to stretch themselves. A lot of them had entrepreneurial parents.

... But the fact that more women than ever – 420 a day – are starting new businesses suggests that something extra is driving them. Some of this is a collision of social and economic trends. More and more women are well educated. There is a larger pool of women with high level experience of traditional businesses. There is a rise of entrepreneurship throughout the world’s economy and much of this is undoubtedly fueled by the development of new technologies which make it cheaper and easier than ever to set up in business for yourself.

... But the single reason most often cited by women to explain why they go into business for themselves is simple: they want independence. They seek control of their own destiny. They don’t want to be passive victims of corporations and strategies and men that don’t value them.

... When you start your own business, you can work your own way: you’re the boss. And so business becomes a way of proving that the old, stale, male ways of working are not the exclusive avenues to success. We don’t have to choose between work and family. We don’t have to measure employees’ value by how many evenings and weekend they’re prepared to sacrifice. We don’t have to do business via shoot-outs and bake offs. Macho work environments, rigid career patterns, turf wars and internal competition – these are not women’s ways of working. They are profoundly alienating and while not all women start their business with a mission to overturn age old business paradigms – many do.

... This has profound implications for the businesses women run and the way that they run them. The bond, between looking after the business and looking after the people, is not rhetoric and nurturing isn’t weakness. They are what make these companies so strong. When you feel such passionate affinity with, and responsibility for, your employees, it changes what you do and how you do it. It places values, ethics and culture squarely in the centre of every decision you take. It forgives mistakes and enables you to reach out to everyone and anyone that can help. It makes you profoundly connected, courageous and creative. And, as motivation, it provides inexhaustible staying power.

As women entrepreneurs, we are important. You've got this blog. Now go buy this book.

Just caught this from Babson College -- great interview with Margaret!


Separately and from the book "Women Who Changed The World:"

Chapter 23
Helen Keller

Her spirit will endure as long as man can read and stories can be told of the woman who showed the world there are no boundaries to courage and faith. ~ Senator Lister Hill of Alabama

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Women Entrepreneur Farmers A Growing Business

Cheryl Rogowski (pictured checking her radishes) wanted to do something different when she took over her family’s farm in New York’s Hudson River valley.

She began growing organic vegetables — 250 types in all — and started other programs to help local families in need.

Rogowski told her story Tuesday as the keynote speaker at the conference on Celebrating Agriculture’s Women Entrepreneurs. The conference was part of Women in Agriculture Day at the 2007 Pennsylvania Farm Show.

Her key quote:

I just love to have fun with my food.


Read more here.

Separately and from the book "Women Who Changed The World:"

Chapter 22
Helena Rubinstein

I believe in hard work. It keeps the wrinkles out of the mind and spirit. ~ Helena Rubinstein

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Ace Is The Place That Is Behind the Times

"Entrepreneurship is what made this country great, but so many people are afraid to fail and don't even try to start their own business even if they want to," said Bill Rancic, the first winner of the television show "The Apprentice" and spokesman for Ace's "Dream Ace" contest.

And look what an Oppenheimer study found:

"We are particularly pleased to learn that women are moving beyond tasks such as balancing the checkbook and increasing their role in saving and investing in retirement," Coulston said.

Ah ... hello ... you can come out of your cave now.

Read both clips here.

Separately and from the book "Women Who Changed The World:"

Chapter 21
Rosa Luxemburg

Freedom only for the members of the government, only for the members of the party -- though they are quite numerous -- is no freedom at all. Freedom is always the freedom of the dissenters. ~ Rosa Luxemburg

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Entrepreneurship At Its Best

Whether in theory or in practice, entrepreneurship is the way to go. Read about one of my favorite colleges and favorite professors -- and how they are, together, pioneering research in women's entrepreneurship. From all us who connect through Escape From Corporate America ... congratulations Professor Brush!

Separately and from the book "Women Who Changed The World:"

Chapter 20
Emily Murphy and the Famous Five

Women, children, criminals and idiots are not legally persons. ~ Emily Murphy

Friday, January 05, 2007

Women Are A Powerful Force

Kick back, enjoy and remember women entrepreneurs are a powerful force to reckon with.

A very funny ad: Yahoo Garden ... bringing good things to life.

Separately and from the book "Women Who Changed The World:"

Chapter 19
Marie Curie

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. ~ Marie Curie

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Ladies, Fix Your Pitch, Not Your Hair

This article is authored by Guy Kawasaki's colleague at Garage Technology Ventures.

Motto: In 2007, don't wig out, get your team in place and focus on your pitch!

The Entrepreneur's New Year's Resolution: "I Will Fix My Pitch."

Separately and from the book "Women Who Changed The World:"

Chapter 18
Emmeline Pankhurst

The argument of the broken window pane is the most valuable argument in modern politics. ~ Emmeline Pankhurst