It's common advice for female founders to emulate their male colleagues in order to succeed in the "cutthroat" world of business. This story perpetuates the idea that success requires a male, even for women. Rather, the conversation needs to shift to examining the attributes that women bring to the table in order to create valuable enterprises.
The typical first picture that comes to mind when someone says the word "entrepreneur" is a male. It's not only a result of the small number of female entrepreneurs; popular culture and the media also contribute to this perception. Being an entrepreneur is generally associated with being aggressive, assertive, and risk-taking — traits typically associated with men. It's common advice for female founders to emulate their male colleagues in order to succeed in the "cutthroat" world of business. This story perpetuates the idea that success requires a male, even for women. The conversation has to shift to examining the contributions that women make in order to businesses of value.
Apart from the typical obstacles of beginning a business, women also face impediments based on their gender. Bank of America and Babson College conducted a research on female entrepreneurs to examine how they overcome obstacles to expand their businesses past the initial stages. It was discovered that the women created creative solutions to get over their challenges. Among other things, they recruited a talented and sustainable personnel, looked into a number of other sources of funding, and planned for the long term. All entrepreneurs need to be growth-oriented, value-adding, and opportunity-seeking, but women can carve out their own route to accomplish these objectives. Given the greater chances against them, they might be more motivated to succeed and put in more effort.
Insadec Training fast-growing training and development company.
The most prevalent misconception about women's suitability for the corporate world is that they lack risk-taking ability, despite the fact that taking calculated risks is essential to success. When Grant Thornton polled 5,500 business leaders, both male and female, they effectively dispelled such beliefs. According to the survey, risk is ranked fairly similarly by men and women. Their responses to danger are the only things that separate them. Men tend to respond to risk more quickly in an effort to come out as decisive and action-oriented. Women, on the other hand, prefer to think things out thoroughly and pay closer attention to details before making decisions. Women business owners also consider the experience of their associates and closely monitor the actions of their rivals.
Another criticism leveled at female entrepreneurs is that they lack ambition to expand their companies past a certain size. Nonetheless, women are just as enthusiastic in expanding their businesses as males, according to a survey by the Centre for Entrepreneurs and Barclays. They also displayed a wider range of growth objectives, including new product and pricing points as well as expansion on the domestic and foreign fronts. The way people see growth is the only distinction, much like danger. Women aim for consistent and sustained growth trajectories, whereas men are more interested in rapid growth and a swift exit. Few women business owners are prepared to put their employees at danger in order to pursue expansion because of their long-term perspective on the matter. Women may find value in seizing various opportunities since they endorse sustained profits.
Using emotional intelligence to lead
In the post-COVID environment, the terms "compassionate leadership" and "soft skills training for management" have gained popularity. However, a 2016 study by Korn Ferry found that women perform better in the workplace and are more adept at applying a few soft skills, which are essential for good leadership. In addition to their markedly better scores in self-awareness and empathy, women also outperformed males in the important areas of coaching and mentoring, inspirational leadership, conflict resolution, and flexibility. Building motivated teams that wish to stick with the company over the long run can be facilitated by these qualities. People are ultimately responsible for a company's expansion and financial success. Getting people to believe in their idea and want to stick with them is a huge part of an entrepreneur's work, whether they be consumers, stakeholders, or employees.
Everybody has their own style of conducting business. Their diverse life experiences and morals will undoubtedly show in the way they approach entrepreneurship. They will approach the same scenario from multiple angles, come up with alternative solutions, and decide to take advantage of various opportunities. When disparate ideas come together in a welcoming environment free from bias, innovation flourishes. When the proportion of female entrepreneurs rises, we will observe this in the kinds of enterprises as well. It is well established that encouraging business ventures for this segment of the population would result in significant economic expansion and employment generation. It will also encourage young girls to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, become financially independent, and have faith in their own ability to manage a firm in the future.
