Weaving a powerful and authentic purpose into your business is more important today than ever before, as the corporate world experiences revolutions in technology, accountability, and the workplace against a backdrop of pandemic and war.
As an entrepreneur and small business owner with a growth mindset, you must be open minded and resilient enough to make changes to your business that weren’t part of your original vision, and you have to cultivate foresight so that there’s time to prepare for whatever may be coming next.
Imagine a world - for just one moment - where we had equity. A world where we had balance and fair gender distribution in professional, political and economic life. A world where women were in all the places where important decisions are made. Here are three reasons why we need more women in leadership:
Starting your own business takes a healthy ego, or sense of self-esteem and importance: you have to believe in your own capability. The investors or first customers you attract will be buying as much in your idea as your personality and aptitude. But as you find early successes, it can be easy for a growing sense of confidence to morph into ego and interfere with your ability to learn, spot chances to grow, bring on experts in areas you’re not, and address when you’re wrong—all of which are key for growth.
Women entrepreneurs are the unsung heroes of our economy. The challenges women face on a day-to-day basis are real, especially for entrepreneurs diving headfirst into the unknown. Here are some recent words of wisdom from two incredible women entrepreneurs that I’d like to share.
For the first time in my 25+ years of being a diversity and inclusion expert and consultant, companies are beginning to have conversations about equity in the workplace. Of course, most people understood fundamental equality. But it was difficult for leaders and HR managers to wrap their heads around diversity and inclusion in the early days.By the time I started my business in the '90s, schools and organizations had accepted and pushed forward the ideas pioneered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as he is widely accepted as a forefather of equality because of his legacy during the civil rights movement. I think it also helps that the American revolutionary forefathers had already put forth the notion that all men are created equal. However, they failed to demonstrate any real belief in their claims.
I have the great pleasure of working with state legislators around the country to protect and expand reproductive freedom. However, the lessons they've taught me are more than just political, they're life lessons. Here are a few of my favorites from this year.
The world is undergoing a political revolution and is desperately in need of leadership. People who I call New Citizens are sick of waiting on deadlocked democracies to solve social and economic problems centuries in the making. From the left, right, and center, New Citizens no longer trust their political establishment to enact real change. They are taking matters into their own hands. Leaderless networks of New Citizens circulate information and organize action on social media. From the Yellow Vest movement in France to civil rights causes in the U.S. to the post-disaster protests in Lebanon, New Citizens come from all ages, cultures, and political perspectives. What they share is the implicit demand for a new social order that can solve globalized threats, digitize civic life, and hold elected officials accountable to their constituents.
In recent weeks we have been seeing a string of articles praising the exemplary ways that women political leaders of various nations throughout the world have been handling the COVID-19 crisis. Some of these articles suggest, overtly or tacitly, that women are simply better leaders, period.
Have you ever wondered why women have been kept out of board rooms? Or why we have seen very few female world leaders? Why is our advanced world still holding back power from the beings that birthed us? Divine feminine energy has long been oppressed and possessed by those who would like to own this power for themselves. This imbalance has caused disease, famine and war. Fueled by greed these people and structures have used fear to rule the planet. There is a better way, we only have to look to a not-so-distant past where indigenous people honored the divine feminine within, and all around them. Our ancestors survived for thousands of years on systems built with divine feminine and divine masculine balance in leadership.
While more women are rising to the top of the corporate ladder, a question persists: Why do female CEOs still comprise such a small percentage of the highest leadership positions? Despite the fact that research underscores women's capabilities as corporate leaders and their positive effects on organizations.
If you don't have a history of being paired with wonderfully knowledgeable and encouraging supervisors, you're not alone. According to the latest research from Gallup, only 18 percent of U.S. managers were scored as having "high talent" in leadership skills.