Thursday, May 28, 2009

Trust Me

I am sure you have heard those two powerful words before. But in this case, I authored, "How to Build Trust" for the OPEN Forum by American Express OPEN. It offers lots of good advice (trust me!) from my trusted colleagues. One of my favorite quotes:
Trust is not a one night stand. ~ Paul Dillon
See what you think and weigh in with your own comments on how to build trust.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Shut Out of Corporate America? Entrepreneurship Is the Answer

If you are struggling to land a job in Corporate America, starting your own business might be less risky than you think.

Read what others are doing to shake things up and make things happen, here.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Despite Tough Economy, Women Business Enterprises Continue To Reinvent


"Women's business enterprises continue to reinvent themselves and weather economic storms," says Sonya Dukes, SVP and director of corporate supplier diversity at Wells Fargo who will offer specific tips for success at the Women's Business Enterprise National Council's Women in Business 2009: The Bridge to Quality Conference and Business Fair, in San Francisco, June 9-11.

Wells Fargo's commitment to creating sustainability and development in diverse businesses includes providing capacity building and entrepreneurial training for Women and Minority Business Enterprises. The program provides key resources, tools and techniques to develop operational excellence and stage suppliers for growth.

"We saw a lot of potential suppliers – successful companies – were struggling to adjust to our culture. We started this mentoring program to support them through the on-boarding process of understanding how we do business," Dukes says.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Girl Power: Rachel Alexandra Wins the Preakness


Go baby, go and she did! Rachel Alexandra wins the Preakness 2009! It is the first time a female horse has become champion in 85 years!

Read about the picks here but you'll have to wait for more news! Congratulations to all who put their trust, support and love behind her!

Just added: 5/17/09 ... Filly Rachel Alexandra Wins Preakness, First Female Champion in 85 Years.

Photo top -- Jockey Calvin Borel, right, gestures after riding Rachel Alexandra to victory in the 134th running of the Preakness Stakes (credit AP).

Photo bottom -- Rachel doing what she likes to do best, run.

Read the article I wrote six years ago entitled, "8 Lessons for Businesswomen Racing to Build a New World," which covers how real business learning can come from horses.

Designing Young Women Are Big Shots These Days

Find out how animal spirits (instincts) can turn into a viable business by capturing Kay S. Hymowitz's elaborately written article, "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Businesswoman," for the City Journal, April 2009.

Here's an excerpt:
It’s no coincidence that these designers are all female. The design economy has been a boon for women. In the 1960s, says Eric Baker, graphic design was a closed fraternity; there were few women in art departments or design studios, just as there were few in law offices or on factory floors. Today, by contrast, women constitute 60 percent of design-school students, and design studios are full of them. (The technology-based areas of Big Design are still largely male, however.) It may be that the design sector suits women particularly well. As the management maven Tom Peters notes, “Women buy most stuff, hence women should design most stuff.” Plus, as Daniel Pink points out in A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the World, some recent neuroscience suggests that women may be stronger on a range of right-brain talents—empathy, emotion, and sensitivity to beauty—that serve them well in the design economy.

Because designers tend to be independent-minded, they gravitate toward entrepreneurship, as do women these days. According to the Labor Department Occupational Outlook Handbook for this year, 25 percent of graphic designers are self-employed, as are 30 percent of industrial or commercial designers. There’s no way to know what proportion are women, but it’s a good guess that it’s high. The Center for Women’s Business Research finds that nearly half of all U.S. businesses are female-owned; women start ventures at twice the rate of men. On the website Etsy, a kind of eBay for indie craftspeople to hawk their wares, 95 percent of the 185,000 artists are women, with an average age of 33. True, they’re primarily stay-at-home moms and college students looking to supplement their income rather than make a full-time living, but some of those 185,000 will become the next Sarah Cihats and Jill Maleks.

What are Big Design’s future prospects? ...
Note: Design pictured above is that of Sarah Cihat.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Give Her Reins To Portfolio and You Both End Up Wealthier; We Suspect Suze Orman Would Agree

I applaud Jason Zweig on writing "For Mother's Day, Give Her Reins to the Portfolio" for The Wall Street Journal. Here's his strong lead and he doesn't let up throughout the commentary:
Fess up, fellows: The masters of the universe have turned out to be masters of disaster. No matter which aspect of the financial crisis you consider, there is a man behind it.

So, it is worth pointing out, this Mother's Day weekend, how different things might be if the financial world were female.
Read the entire spread here. And many thanks to Jason for having the courage to tell it like it is!

Pictured: Suze Orman who always encourages women to take control of their finances :-)!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Accidental Feminist

Megan Basham, author of both "Beside Every Successful Man: Getting the Life You Want by Helping Your Husband Get Ahead," and "Beside Every Successful Man: A Woman's Guide to Having It All," writes a very intriguing opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal (5/8/09) entitled, "What a Mom Wants."

When I caught this part ...
Ms. Hemmert admits that she sees her own parental job as something separate and different from her husband's, and she not only resents him for usurping her role but has lost some respect for him. "I'm a woman, and I want to be a mother first," she states simply.
... I could not help but think to myself, "I'm a woman, and I want to be my own person first."

Let us know what you think of the commentary. Here is a listing of some of the resources mentioned in the article but not specifically identified that supports Ms. Basham's thinking:
Happy Mother's Day to Moms worldwide!

Thursday, May 07, 2009

U.S. $8 Billion and Growing: Wal-Mart's Spend Push For Women-Owned Businesses

Listen up all you women entrepreneurs and business owners! Did you know that Wal-Mart has increased its focus on making sure the company is working with diverse suppliers -- like you?

Through their work over the last year, they’ve seen a 25 percent increase in spending totals with minority and women-owned businesses!

See for yourself:

2008 Totals
  • 2008 Direct Spend: more than $6 billion
  • 2008 2nd Tier Spend: more than $2.1 billion
  • 2008 Total: more than $8.1 billion
2007 Totals
  • 2007 Direct Spend: $4.8 billion
  • 2007 2nd Tier Spend: more than $1.4 billion
  • 2007 Total: more than $6.2 billion
Impressed? You should be. Find out how you can be a part of this BIG spend, here.

Monday, May 04, 2009

What Matters In Raising Capital?

Venture catalyst Springboard Enterprises (dedicated to accelerating women's access to equity markets) joins forces with NASDAQ OMX and Capital One Bank to present Equity Matters: The Route to NASDAQ seminar series that will employ the expertise of successful entrepreneurs, lenders and investors, to give attendees inside information about what is involved in raising capital to grow their business, what lenders and investors look for in a business investment, and what resources are available in the community to assist businesses in preparing for, securing and utilizing appropriate sources of financing.

To register for the upcoming Wharton San Francisco event (5/21), go here.