Guest Post By Kathleen Lewis owner of eWomanWeb (learn more about Kathleen at the end of this post)
During my many years in the corporate world, I have – on occasion – had the pleasure of being part of the “boys club”. You know, that group of men who tend to run the business. A coveted club by some, but being the only female in such a club was not all it was cracked up to be. Sure, I was able to express the female point of view, which turned out to be very beneficial in certain scenarios. But there were specific tasks that were expected of me just because I am female.
Think Like A Man And Remove The Emotions
If only it was that easy. Men and women have different ways of thinking. Women are emotional thinkers who care about building relationships without bruising egos. We tend to develop business relationships after a personal relationship is sparked. Men shoot from the hip. Their main goal is creating a business relationship that gives them the upper hand. We women can actually learn from a man’s way of thinking when it comes to business decisions. After all, we are in business for a reason and we want to come out as a winner. Don’t obsess over every decision you make. Try to make a concrete decision based on the facts at hand.
Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should
As women, we want to please. We get coffee for our guests. We want to make sure everyone is comfortable. Don’t let these traits be expected of you in business. You are a business woman, not a hostess. Don’t let your feminine attributes cloud your business prowess. Your goal is to accomplish specific business responsibilities and goals, not to ensure everyone is well fed and cozy. Save that for home and family.
Be Assertive: Ask For What Your Want
Why does assertiveness have a double standard? A woman who is assertive is considered pushy and nasty, while an assertive man is considered to be aggressively obtaining his goals. I have been called a “witch” (but with a b) due to my self-assured aggressiveness. I have also achieved many goals expressing this attribute. Frankly, I don’t care what names I may be called. And neither should you. You can be assertive and still be a nice person, the difference being you have the skills to ask for what you want – and get it.
The face of business is ever evolving, as more women entrepreneurs are making a proud name for themselves. I’m not saying we women need to throw away our way of thinking. As women in business, we need to expand our way of thinking.
Guest Author: Kathleen Lewis is an entrepreneur and owner of a popular stay at home jobs website – eWomanWeb website. She is passionate about helping individuals find online jobs and their entrepreneur spirit.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should – think like a man that is. This begs the obvious corollary question, should men be thinking more like women. But ultimately each of these relies on stereotypes.
What is more important to running a successful business is to enable people to play to their strengths. Did you know for example that people who consider themselves more introverted thrive in quieter environments, while extroverts get a kick out of noise and perform better with it.
Here is Susan Cain’s Ted presentation http://www.thepowerofintroverts.com/about-the-book/
Chris (I’m a guy btw in case you can’t tell by my name) Markham
Yes, because you can. consider as being a male that is certainly. This kind of begs the well known items corollary problem, should men possibly be thinking more like ladies. Nevertheless eventually all these will depend on stereotypes.