“You have to have PASSION! Without passion your business will not succeed,” an animated Josephine addresses the crowd of 20 businesswomen.
“Do you have passion?” She asks.
“Yes” comes the chorused response.
“I said, do you have PASSION?”
“YES!” The women answer.
Passion, Josephine goes on to explain, is one of several tools that good business leaders must hone and utilize so that their businesses flourish. Another trainer adds, “Remember, most people think that leadership is something that you have or don’t have, but at WCI we believe that leadership is a skill that can be learned. You have to build and practice your leadership skills just like any other skill set.” The women nod in agreement, and several “that’s right”s comes from the back of the room.
On January 19th Women’s Campaign International (WCI) held a half day training session in conjunction with Goldman-Sachs’ 10,000 women campaign which seeks to improve the business acumen of 10,000 women around the world. WCI partners with the 10,000 women program and provides trainings, 1-on-1 public speaking coaching, mentoring, and an annual artisans fair at which women can display their products.
The Friday training commenced with musical icebreakers that left all participants laughing and on their feet. The session then settled down to discuss the difference between leadership and management.
“Leaders,” Josephine explained, “ask What and Why, and management plans How and When. A leader has a long term vision. A manager deals with the short term. A leader inspires and can get other people to do things because of their personal influence. A manager disciplines and uses the power of her position to get her workers to act.”
The women talked about the need to have both a leader and a manager in a business. Many of them described the difficulties of being both a manager and a leader at the same time in their own small business.
The training proceeded to outline the characteristics of leaders and managers and gave the women an opportunity to evaluate themselves on each characteristic. As a trainer called out a character each woman held up one of three sheets of paper laid out in front of her. Each sheet had a happy face, medium face or sad face. When the trainer called out ‘passion’ every woman in the room held up a happy face. However, on other traits such as strong work ethic or business savvy women acknowledged their need to improve with medium and sad faces.
In its final phase the workshop taught the woman about stereotypes and specifically gender-based stereotypes. The women generated a list of stereotypes they face as women in business. They include:
- Women can’t handle money
- Women are too emotional to run a business
- Business is a man’s work
“The men they say you need to be in the kitchen. They ask, what are you doing running a business? They don’t like that you the one with money.”
“Yes,” said a WCI trainer, “but remember that we don’t want to stereotype men and do the same thing. Many men might think this but not all do. Some men will support you in your business.”
Understanding and describing gender based stereotypes gives women the power to fight these stereotypes. In other words, in order to break the mold women must first be aware of what the gender mold is. This understanding is very important for businesswomen who are a minority in a male dominated world. As women starting businesses they are doing something that their society does not expect them to do and has not trained them for. WCI fills in the gaps by providing training in the topics of leadership and management, areas often ignored in women’s education. By explaining the basics of leadership skills, management, and gender-based stereotypes WCI helps women build their businesses and confidence at the same time.