Why Women in Business are Positioned to Lead the Way

By Craig Levitt – Executive Success Coach,
Craig Levitt Coaching

Late last year, it was reported that in Australia, women now hold 13.7% of chair positions and 24.9% of directorships, and represent 16.5% of CEOs and 29.7% of key management personnel. In the ASX 200 the number is slightly higher with 28.2% of directors being women and it’s likely to grow with women comprising 50% of new appointments to ASX 200 boards in 2018.*

In the entrepreneurial world, as business owners, women still make up a minority of entrepreneurs, currently around 34 %, but they are gaining ground quickly.

At the time of writing, news agencies are also reporting that at least three women, maybe a fourth, will be running for the Democratic Presidential Nomination at the next U.S. Elections.

And isn’t it all about time!

There is absolutely NO REASON why women should not continue to grow in these roles and achieve closer to 50% proportional representation. It’s only a matter of time. Nothing else.

I have done my own research on what entrepreneurs believe are the secrets to success in their business. People like Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey and Richard Branson. And I’ve distilled it down to 5.  When you go through them, I think you’ll identify that these are actually personal traits about them. It’s really who they are, which enabled them to create what their business is.

These five traits are also ones in which I believe women excel due to their ability to be more intuitive in understanding themselves and others and to be more ‘in touch’ with their emotions in decision making. It leads often to less ‘ego’ driven decision making than we sometimes see with men.

So, what are the 5 traits I believe are most critical to entrepreneurial and managerial success. Oprah says that in order to find your “something more”, you need “a level of self -awareness that only comes from connecting with your inner voice.”  She calls it your “emotional GPS system”.

So why not use your own “emotional GPS” now and when you read each one, think of what Steve Jobs, Oprah and Richard Branson created on the way to their success and then what you can create:

1. Find your passion and love what you do.
2. Do something big.
3. Believe in yourself.
4. Never give up.
5. Create great experiences for people.

I work with a lot of businesses and many of my clients are female entrepreneurs. It’s often the passion and drive that sets them apart. It’s like they can see, feel and touch their goals with a passion many men do not possess.

My own wife Lynn says it like this “Nothing can stop a man with a dream, or a woman with determination.” It’s that determination and drive that now positions women perfectly to lead the way in business.