Creative Path to Growth founder Sherry Collier reckons that women were born for business.
On her website, she says that women possess some brain differences that can help them to navigate some of the challenges of starting and growing a business. She goes on to say that that nature’s default setting for fetal brains is female.
“Until eight weeks old, every fetal brain looks female until a huge testosterone surge begins to change the brains of infant boys. This surge of testosterone kills off some of the cells in the communication centres of the male brain and more cells grow in the sex and aggression centres in the brain. In the female infant’s brain, the cells grow more connections in the communication centres of her brain and areas that process emotion.”
“What are some of the implications of these differences for women in business? (This can) help a female entrepreneur tend to the important details of her business while tuning in to the relationships that are vital to her business. Women have sometimes struggled against stereotyping (being the weaker sex, being overly sensitive, being too emotional to be able to make good decisions, etc.) that results from misunderstanding differences between the sexes. I hope that men and women will begin to understand these differences in a new light and that we learn to value the differences in our brains and our strengths.
There have been times when women have been influenced to try to approach business from a male perspective (the old’ boys club) and to suppress her unique feminine strengths in business. Take heart and strength from the knowledge that the female approach is equally valid and effective. In fact the female approach to business can give a woman an advantage simply because she is allowing herself to express her natural feminine gifts and strengths.”
And this is where I, as a woman in business, stop agreeing with her wholeheartedly. Just look at the title of her website – “creative path to growth”… like some touchy-feely recipe from Martha Stewart? Yes, it is true that us girls have intuition and better communicative skills than men but it is also true that more often than not we don’t know or understand the rules of business – and unlike Miss Colier’s assertion that we can in fact, approach business with our feminine whiles, it won’t get you very far, girlfriend.
We need to talk money, not “abundance”. We need to talk strategy and deliverables, not “paint your own Diva life”. The time for euphemisms and girly, emotional talk is over. The Oprah Winfreys, Carly Fiorinas and Maria Ramos’s of the world did not get there by hugging and crying and telling their employees or business partners their inner-most secret boyfriend or diet problems every day. We need to learn to play chess and play golf – and to play poker. We need to understand leverage and not give the game away all in one go. And no, we don’t have to trade in our feminine side – just use it better to understand how business is done – REALLY done…
With our upcoming features on Women in Business in SA Guide to Business Opportunities, we are going to give you the skills, means and advice to make your dreams come true as a woman in business. We are going to show you how you can succeed despite the obstacles you face and how you can achieve every single goal you have set for yourself. So stay tuned because from now on, sisters are doing it for themselves!
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