Bluster or Blowhard?

Another thought-provoking piece by Karen E. Klein and published by Bloomberg Businessweek:

Must Women Entrepreneurs Learn to Bluster?

Truth be it, I had to look up the word to figure out what it meant in the context in which it was being used because I only thought of bluster as "a fierce wind blowing!"  But take a look at the definition above, especially how the two examples referenced are from "men."  And don't miss the word "blowhard" either because they might be interchangeable.

Great article by Karen -- definitely worth a read -- and how refreshing to catch Camile Alcasid's insights:

Camille Alcasid, a software engineer who runs Santa Monica, Calif., new media consultancy Westside Websites, says she routinely experiences the double standard. "Men can get away with bluster because it is more accepted or expected in society and in the workforce, while bluster is sometimes confused as noise when not properly executed or received," she says. Working in a male-dominated field, she says, "I've come to learn some of the tricks men do to cover up for what they don't know and how they expose or conceal their flaws and strengths, depending on the situation."

Ladies ... What do you think?  Can you muster up the bluster?  Or should you bother?

Illustration credit:  Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Posted by:  Laurel Delaney, Escape From Corporate America blog

Do It Your Way: Create Your Own Business

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In creating a business of your own, don't look back.  Only focus on making the best of your brilliant idea.

Having said that, let's re-visit an old article that is still relevant and timely for today's business climate, especially for those who are looking at leaving corporate America to start their own business.

She Did It Her Way

Now, I ask you this:  How are you doing it your way?

I welcome hearing from you.

Graphic source here.

Posted by the official Escape From Corporate America blog

Women Entrepreneurs Know How to Lead

Collaboration, team-building, leading by example and inclusiveness are becoming increasingly important as companies break down silos and remove layers of management.

There's still a huge gap that most organizations still face when it comes to putting women in senior leadership roles. Women head up fewer than 3% of the Fortune 1,000 companies. This has caused a lot of women to leave corporate America to start their own businesses.

Read more here at:

Women Leaders: The Hard Truth About Soft Skills

Snippet from the article:

"The outstanding women," Fontaine notes, "used a better blend of what we think of as traditional masculine styles—being directive, authoritative, and leading by example and as well as feminine ones. They also knew when to be more nurturing, inclusive, and collaborative."

O Sisters: Female CEOs, Top Execs and Entrepreneurs, Where Art Thou?

The numbers of female CEOs, high-level executives, and entrepreneurs in the U.S. today are surprisingly low. Why?

We will let Vivek Wadhwa (an entrepreneur, senior research associate at Harvard Law School, and executive in residence at Duke University) discuss his research (in an article for BusinessWeek) that shows that women entrepreneurs are very similar to their male counterparts in background and purpose ...

... which is why he thinks the lack of female entrepreneurship, especially in the tech industry, is a "societal failure" on our part.

Read all about it here.

Be Happy. Rely On Yourself.

BusinessWeek's small business team keeps cranking out great articles, contests, resources and tips for small businesses. Here's an excerpt from a recent guest blog post, "Anatomy of An Entrepreneur," authored by the newest edition to the BW team, Emily Schmitt:

Carol Clark, who has founded four companies in her 62 years, also fits the profile of the typical entrepreneur in this study. She says she thrives on the risk involved in running her own company, which gives her the chance to earn more than a standard wage. Clark, who lives in Hattiesburg, Miss., co-founded a hang gliding school in Salt Lake City when she was 32 years old. Today she owns DigiDentist, a dental patient enducation software company that she founded when she was 55 years old. Clark is well educated. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from San Fransisco State University and started (but did not finish) master's work in speech communication at Oregon State. She says the thought of waking up at six in the morning to pull on pantyhose and sit at a desk appalled her. "I’ve had a lot of office jobs, too, and I don’t have a problem with authority per se, but I’m too smart to really work in a situation where it doesn’t demand the most of me," said Clark. Why does she love being an entrepreneur? "I think it’s the appeal of having to rely on myself." she says.

Read the entire post here.

A Little Shame Goes A Long Way

Should Catalyst go back to naming companies without women at the top?

Apparently Diane Brady at BusinessWeek thinks so and she does a great job convincing us why in this provocative commentary.

See you what you think and let me know.

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

Chapter 49
Diana, Princess of Wales

Don't call me an icon. I'm just a mother trying to help. ~ Princess Diana