Women owned companies continue to grow and contribute more than $1.2 trillion in annual revenue and scientific studies seem to promote the idea that a number of female attributes can give women the edge to succeed in this new world of internet businesses and fast-paced information overload.
Look out; here comes the female entrepreneur, business owner, manager and executive. Women in business are making their way in this world in a big way.
Women business owners are surging!
It used to be a guys world. Business used to play naturally into a male mindset. But not so much any more. If you are a woman thinking about starting a business, it is important to know that you have a lot of advantages in doing so. If you are a guy, well, it’s time to get back in touch with your feminine side.
And here are 7 reasons why…
1. Women Are Great Multi-Taskers
It’s a day and age of multitasking – reading the news while watching it, listening to your kids while Facebooking, or reading emails whilst pretending to pay attention to your husband. Recent study showed that, men listen mostly with the left side of their brains (the logical side) while women listen with the whole brain enchilada. This ability may allow women to better handle the fast-paced-sip-out-of-a-fire-house information age.
Women are known for juggling many tasks at the same time and still being able to produce excellent results. Conversely, the guys are masters at focusing on one thing. Still, the advantage in today’s distracting environment goes to women.
2. Women Are Very Social (networking seems to come natural)
Let’s face it—women are natural networkers. They love to talk, mingle, and rub elbows. This is the very reason why husbands rarely ever manage the social calendar. In today’s business environment, mastering social media is mandatory, and the ladies absolutely have a leg up!
Researchers at the Maryland School of Medicine recently found that on average, women have more Foxp2 proteins in their brains than men. These little proteins, also known as ‘language proteins’ cause women to talk more than men (13,000 words per day to be more precise). With social media being, well, social, that extra edge has to help with Facebook, Google+ and Twitter content.
3. Women Have Strong Immune Systems and amazing pain tolerance
Women actually have a secret weapon against getting sick: estragon. Estragon helps women fight infections and that means women will have less sick days and more work days to be productive.
The pain tolerance thing. Okay, initially I would have said this is irrelevant. But after watching my children being born, there is no question that my wife can handle a lot more pain than I can. And I am not just talking physical pain, I mean emotional, too (have you seen how tough children can be on their mothers?). In business, there are a lot of painful moments. A lot.
4. Women Are Great Managers
A recent article in the Huffington Post by Janean Chun states that studies show women make great managers.
The article states that
Offices with a high percentage of women managers tend to have more individualized employee feedback, more democratic decision-making and more channels for interpersonal communication, according to a recent study by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M).
Additionally, management expert, Jay Forte said in his Daily News article, “It’s a very service-oriented economy (right now) so you need employees to be motivated. Women are better connectors than men and more astute about knowing how to activate passion in their employees.”
5. Patience.
Women inherently seem to have more patience. And in today’s business environment, patience is the key! Aggressive business strategies are not paying off like they once did. Slow and steady wins the race.
6. Listening.
A familiar story…
A couple went to buy a new bed at a small bedding store owned by a husband and wife team. The female owner approaches the couple and asked all kinds of questions about why they needed a new bed, if they could fix their old bed, what else they were considering, etc. She asked questions and listened closely. She clearly showed that she cared about helping to meet their needs. The couple were moments away from buying any bed that she recommended. But just then, the frustrated husband on the sales team ran up and said “let me handle this.” Then he just tried to hard close the sale. He was pushy, telling them what he recommended and what they had to have. Guess what? The sale was lost the second he began speaking! They walked out. I am sure he blamed her, but it was him.
The key is to ask questions and really listen. Quite frankly, any great sales person knows this, man or woman, it just seems that the ladies are naturally better at doing it.
7. Relationship building
Women instinctively care about building relationships which is why they tend to gravitate toward jobs where building relationships is a major component such as Marketing or HR.
For more information and inspiring stories about women in business visit http://www.abn.org.au/