Glass Ceiling Sends More Women Into Business Ownership

Small business is in for a big change and it involves women who are saying "yes" to entrepreneurship. As a group, the people who go into entrepreneurship are different from those who did so a generation ago.

A new breed of entrepreneurs will emerge. Entrepreneurs will no longer come predominantly from the middle of the age spectrum, but instead from the edges. People nearing retirement and their children just entering the job market will become the most entrepreneurial generation ever.

Entrepreneurship will reflect an upswing in the number of women. The glass ceiling that still limits the career paths of women in larger companies will send more women to the small business sector. Locally, some of our most dynamic and noteworthy businesses are run by women, founded by women, owned or co-owned by women, or some mix of the above.

The Intuit Corporation and the Institute for the Future recently released a very interesting study (which includes above findings) on small business designed to identify, analyze, and forecast the significant trends and forces impacting small business over the next decade. Read more about it here.

And if you are a female entrepreneur, check out the Women's Entrepreneurship Institute conference at the Wharfinger on April 24.

Read my lips: There IS a glass ceiling ...

... and it will take more than a hammer to bust through it.

Two spectacular commentaries penned by a colleague of mine, Judith Dobrzynski. I absolutely love her style. She hits you right between the eyes and doesn't flinch. A great wake-up call to the world.

Return of the 'glass ceiling' (LATimes 3/17)

YOU HAVE TO hand it to Catalyst, the women's research and advocacy outfit. It always manages to see a few rays of light in a field of gloom. Next week, Catalyst will host a big, fancy dinner in New York to honor companies with successful initiatives to advance women in corporate America. In the 21st century, you might think, it shouldn't be hard to find lots of companies to applaud for expanding opportunities for women. Think again.

Read more here.

Female CEOs still rare sight (Chicago Trib 3/28)

For women of the corporation, the news from around Chicago has seemed pretty good of late. After taking a few years off, Brenda Barnes easily moved back into the executive suite in 2005, becoming chairman and chief executive at Sara Lee Corp. in Downers Grove; last June, Irene Rosenfeld left Frito-Lay to take the CEO title at Kraft Foods Inc. in Northfield; and, two months earlier, Patricia A. Woertz leapt from Chevron Corp. into the top job at Archer Daniels Midland Co. in Decatur, Ill.

Considering that there are just about a dozen women at the top of the entire Fortune 500, Chicago seemed like a place where women had a good chance of climbing high on the corporate ladder.

Read more here.

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

Chapter 45
Billie Jean King

Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn't allowed in a photo because I wasn't wearing a skirt, I knew I wanted to change the sport. ~ Billie Jean King

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