Empower Her Vision

There are many challenges that come with running a business, the greatest of which, in my experience, is the challenge of honesty - especially honesty with oneself about our abilities and limitations. In the experience of running a business we learn to welcome external ideas, thoughts and energies; we learn that it is necessary to welcome others into our operations in order to scale up. Sometimes the other person, energy, or perspective that we welcome into our operation is Other, and in my case, female.

Many modern startups and fast growing businesses are female-led, they hire female employees and encourage them into positions of leadership and authority. In a 2019 Forbes article, 10 Stats That Build The Case For Investing In Women-Led Startup, according to an American Express research advisor Geri Stengel: “Women-owned businesses are growing much faster than all businesses… What’s driving these numbers are women of colour.”1 Less than a year on, in Here and Now, a report published by The Entrepreneur Network, RT HON Elizabeth Truss MP states: “In 2011, 11% of startups that raised equity investment were female founded. Last year, that number had almost doubled to 21%. It’s an important step forward, but we can go further.”2

In a world of rapid changes, heightened racial awareness and more womxn taking up space in business, this is true, the numbers are growing, and we can always do better. HON Truss continues: “... there are millions of women across the nation with the energy and ideas to drive us all forward. We need to do more to pull down the barriers, whether cultural or financial, that are stopping them from starting businesses.” 

Whilst more and more womxn are having doors kept opened for them, this also stands true for dissolving the restraints that womxn may face in employed positions within male, female and non-binary led organisations. As Founders, growing as business leaders, learning the strength of delegation, patience and honesty, it is important that we continue to empower our female employees by giving them the space, support and full ownership over the direction of their ideas, creativity and execution. Leaders in business, the majority of which are men, are often experienced with voicing their opinions from a young age, and it is one’s matured experience that develops into vision; over time, this vision and leadership experience facilitates a one’s ability to openly receive, and ultimately approve or deny ideas and pitches, based on what is ‘possible and appropriate’.

Yet, it is our responsibility to recognise and tap into the potential of our female employees, as vision is greater unlocked when we empower them with the full authority to create and execute. Sometimes their gain of direct experience far outweighs the risk of a loss, and sometimes even the loss itself. As their confidence grows, so too does their execution.

We must now empower our female employees, not just to take part, but to take over. A great challenge of delegation is giving complete responsibility to another and having complete faith in our employees abilities to rightly impact the direction of our organisation. It is important to facilitate a space for our female employees to be assertive, and to fully and freely express their opinions and creativity, nurturing these so-called ‘masculine traits’ within our organisation. A great business leader is a well rounded leader, one who is in touch with the duality of masculine and feminine business traits; this is best observed in business situations when one conversation calls for a feminine spirit of flexibility, vulnerability or empathy, and another a more masculine experience of assertiveness, directness and audaciousness.

As business leaders, our aim is to get the best potential out of the people we work with; the womxn in our organisations and across all industries. Womxn carry the potential to move our organisations into a future of greener pastures, it is greatly important to communicate this understanding with them, by openly empowering them to be fully themselves at work. It’s employee appreciation day today - so, today, we empower her vision.