Tuesday, November 30, 2004
RE: Can Someone Please Tell The SBA That Government Contracts Are Good For Girls Women?
The National Women's Business Center will be holding 3 courses about government contract proposal development at the Center's D.C. offices on December 8-10. Federal officials estimate that 9 of 10 small firms do not do their homework and therefore cannot be referred to government contracting opportunities. Ahh yes - the dog ate my homework.
That completely explains why women-led firms only receive 2.98% of federal contracts (in spite of the Equity in Contracting for Women Act of 2000).
Tendering their own response to the lack of women awarded federal contracts, The U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce will hold a press conference at the National Press Club (529 14th Street) in Washington, D.C. on Thursday December 2, 2004 at 1:30 p.m. to address their claims against the SBA's implementation of the Women's Procurement Program. I encourage you to attend if you can. While you are there, can someone please tell the SBA that government contracts are good for Girls Women?
If you aren't in D.C. you might want to visit the EVENTS PAGE on the Federal OSDBU Directors Interagency Council site. Their mission is "to exchange information on methods, initiatives, and processes that will permit our respective agencies to more effectively utilize small businesses in our prime contracts and subcontracts to the maximum extent practicable." Or Arnet (The Acquisition Reform Network), a resource for learning about all the markets that exist within the federal procurement system with links to government agencies. The SBA also offers this rather nifty although slightly facetious Guide to Federal Contracts for Women.
In other news about the SBA, they've just opened nominations for the 2005 National Small Business Awards in celebration of National Small Business Week. Read award nomination guidelines HERE. Please nominate liberally, not judiciously!
Contrary to this week's announcement of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, WHERE NOT A SINGLE WOMAN WON IN ANY CATEGORY, the SBA Small Business Awards might just honor a winsome woman with an award.
In sisterhood....
Monday, November 29, 2004
RE: A Secret Society To Combat "Effortless Perfection" - Duke College Women To Connect With Women Leaders.
Last year Duke University (my alma mater) announced a new program for women called The Baldwin Scholars Program. The program was inspired by Duke's "Women's Initiative Report," a year-long study that characterized Duke's campus culture as "an oppressive social atmosphere often dominated by men."
Some female students admitted they played dumb in class...and felt pressured to be not only smart and talented, but beautiful, thin and popular - a phenomenon they described as "effortless perfection."
18 Baldwin Scholars will be designated for the women's leadership program annually - and it will function as a "mini-college within the university." No tuition grants, but the women will live together in a campus dorm, do community work together, be granted internships with Duke women alumni, and be invited to join the Duke Women's Mentoring Network (invite-only women professors, students, alumni, & staff sponsoring book clubs, speakers, events). Fertile ground for future women entrepreneurs. The Baldwin Scholars Program intends to be more than mere door opener - their mission is to develop, demonstrate and herald the leadership capabilities of its women invite-only program participants.
If at first blush this sounds "silo-ed and exclusive," you are right. Skull and Bones Society, The Ivy, The Round-Table Group, The American Council on Foreign Relations, The Trilateral Commission, Knights Templar, Leadership Atlanta, Committee of 200, The Chicago Economics Club, The Chicago Executives Club...all secret or invite-only societies and hidden paths of power.
To quote Jean Otte, founder and CEO of WOMEN Unlimited, "It's not about who you know. It's about who knows what you know."
Friday, November 26, 2004
RE: Why Large Companies Need Women Entrepreneurs On Their Board of Directors...
Ever heard of transformational leadership? It occurs "when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality...transforming leadership." According to the theory originator and Pulitzer Prize winner, James McGregor Burns, transformational leadership results in improved performance. Burns' theory also postulates that transformational leadership is exactly the type of leadership a company needs from its Board of Directors.
In 1990, Dr. Judy Rosener, a professor at U of C Irvine, proposed that women were more transformational in their leadership style then men.
This week, researchers have taken the theory one step further. In an ARTICLE from the UK, new findings suggest that women entrepreneurs are significantly more likely to be transformational leaders than corporate women. The article offers this call to action: company chairpeople need transformational leadership more than ever today...they need to be more courageous when choosing their Board of Directors...and since women entrepreneurs are the most likely to be transformational leaders, "mission critical" is to add a woman business owner to their Boards.
Sounds smart to me. Statistics have already shown that companies with a woman on the Board tend to be more profitable. Now, we can refine the preferred profile of potential women Board Directors: women entrepreneurs. What do you think?
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
RE: Build a Brand By Not Being A Brand, Says The NYT. I Say, Balderdash! Just Be.
"Build a brand by not being a brand!" shouts today's NYT, in their article heralding American Apparel stores. Invincible brands can vanish, quips today's Seattle Post. Balderdash! These brand consultants are wearing me out. Seth Godin is being goaded into blogging about branding. Evelyn (one of my favorite bloggers) has chimed in with a thoughtful response.
The entire realm of branding makes zero sense to me. You can't NOT be a brand. You can't artificially create or recreate a brand. You can simply BE. And although reinventing yourself or your company is possible - it is only when your motivation and inspiration is authentic not sham-sheltered, deliberate or pre-meditated that you can evolve into something entirely new and relevant.
Forgive me here for stating the obvious. A wolf cannot don sheep's clothing and become a sheep. A wolf can never become a sheep. A wolf CAN accomplish the near impossible by becoming a better, more evolved, righteous and enlightened wolf. A new breed of wolf who only munches on bad guys - pretty darn valuable in my book. But Sir Wolf can't just haunt his old hangouts with a sign around his neck declaring his "reinvented self;" i.e. the branding consultant model. He has to demonstrate it in deeds.
While branding consultants are busy waging war about what a brand IS: a name, a promise, a mental box, a set of assets, an ecosystem, a collection of perceptions in the mind of a consumer...While they are busy suggesting we need to "rebrand branding." While they are busy being busy...the best of us are just doing what we do best; being our brand. We don't need them to define it for us.
As a marketing strategy consultant, I believe you can boil all "branding" down to to 3 little thoughts and two little letters: BE.
1. BE yourself. - know your foibles, your strengths, your affections and your affectations and know those attributes as they apply to your company. Revel in them. Believe in yourself and your company. Believe you and your company have something to say. And say it - tell the world about it honestly. Do it with stories. Do with it mystique, with reality, or salt of the earth unpretentiousness. Do it with analogies. Do it with logos and design. Do it with the power of many; do it with the power of one. Do it with conviction. Whisper it. Shout it. However you choose to do it, be yourself. Don't lie (it will bite you in the a**). Share it with your employees, but recognize that if you and your company are being your authentic selves, your employees will already have a clear vision about your company and what you stand for based on how they feel about the company and their day-after-day experiences. Know thyself. Be thyself.
2. BE Good. But Don't Say You Are Good. You've Gotta Give It To 'Em Good.- Good Gosh. In the end it is simply about results. Anyone who suggests you should quit focusing on the customer, the product, or the sales channel is pulling the wool over your eyes. It's all gotta be good. Give good quality products and services, give good customer, give good imagery and design, give good service, give good news, give good adventures, give good experiences, and give liberally. But don't say you are good. Saying it doesn't mean squat. This is why advertising is dead. You don't create customer evangelists. You give good. You give large. You give often (as often as you can). If you give good, if you build good, if you believe it is good...customers will come.
3. BE a pitcher not a belly itcher or loosely translated, look over your shoulder, look ahead, and look behind you. Whatever you do, do something. Don't hang your head idly gazing with glory at your feet (even if your shoes are fine!) or fiddle frivolously with belly lint lest you get hit from above by an unexpected swinging crane or bird poop, chomped by a reinvented Wolf in relapse, or sideswiped when angry former fans rush the field. - Now I admit #3 could stand a shorter headline (but cutting the headline violates the integrity of the statement). I also concede I am mixing metaphors - but advice, like life doesn't always come 1 metaphor at a time. The point is: look with wonder outside your company's 4-walls and adapt. Keep abreast of trends and the competition. Wonder what your mom or dad, your spouse, your son or daughter, your neighbor, the raggedy man who asks for change in a cup as you pass him on the street, and the person whose car you covet worry about, wish for, and want. And then here's the kicker: deliver it to them when, where, and however you can. Instill this spirit in your employee team. As a team you will be wiser, better, more generous, more benevolent, kinder. Your company values will resonate.
And that's about all I have to say about that. Brand be dammed. Just BE.
Friday, November 19, 2004
RE: PR Rule #1 - CONSIDER CONSISTENCY
Unless you've just crawled out from under a rock, you've probably already heard about the Nicolette Sheridan Monday Night Football trisk with Philadelphia wide receiver Terrell Owens in the Eagles' dressing room. Media is having a field day. It set back women's issues. It was ignorant. It was racially insensitive.
Eagles officials issued a statement: "We appreciate that ABC has taken responsibility and has apologized. ... After seeing the final piece, we wish it hadn't aired." Have you visited the Eagles site lately? There is free "near porn" just waiting for you - click on the calendar features!
From Mercury News:
"You cannot issue a statement distancing yourself from a promo that showed Nicolette Sheridan dropping a towel, intimating as the league did that it's bad for young eyes, and on your Web site market a site just for kids while simultaneously providing those same kids and those same sensitive eyes a chance to bulge out of their heads."
PR and crisis management all boils down to one thing: CONSISTENCY. The best way to establish your company's identity and preserve its reputation is through repetition and consistency of key messages. Be consistent.
Next time you have a PR crisis - hopefully less weighty than the Eagles or
Snow Biz -- consider consistency. Consistency breaks through complexity and confusion - every time.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
RE: Mapping Women and The Wage Gap By State OR: Why I am moving to Washington D.C.
Last week over at Small Business Trends, editor Anita Campbell mapped out Republican and Democrat county victories and drew parallels between entrepreneurs in residence (incidence of small business ownership by county). A new map overlay? According to Scripps Howard News Service, it appears that women who lived in red states helped deliver the 2004 election, but their blue-state sisters are besting them on the map when measuring economic, political and health equity with men. See the map for yourself HERE.
States with the smallest wage gap between men and women? Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Washington. Women in Washington, D.C. earned the most, with 92.4 cents for every $1 earned by men for full-time, year-round work. States with the widest wage gaps between men and women? Mississippi, followed by South Carolina, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
100% of all states still show a wage gap between women and men. Even teeny tiny states - like Rhode Island. Nationally, women were paid 68 cents for every dollar men were paid. White women made 70 cents on the dollar, African American women made 63 cents on the dollar, and Hispanic women made 53 cents on the dollar.
Scripps' source is a report from liberal think-tank Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) located in - why whaddaya know - Washington, D.C.. IWPR - headed by Dr. Heidi Hartmann, also Co-Chair of the Economists' Policy Group on Women's Issues - based their report on 2000 Census data and 2002-2003 data from the Bureau of Labor's monthly Current Population Survey.
Don't miss IWPR's policy recommendations, which accompany the report. Notably a call for greater government contract accessibility and more private sector loan progams.
Hmm. Perhaps it is time to consider moving to Washington D.C...
Monday, November 15, 2004
RE: Appears the Franchise World Is Still A Man's World. Why? It's The Money, Honey.
Great new article in WSJ Startup Journal about Women in Franchising. Of the more than 320,000 franchise units in the U.S., only 10% are owned solely by women, while another 20% are owned by male-female partners, according to a 1997 study by Women in Franchising Inc. (WIF), the latest data available.
Why isn't there more recent research available? Probably for the same reason that PWC MoneyTree never analyzed the disparity of venture funding allocated to women-led versus male-led firms. It took little re:invention and Growthink Research to conduct that groundbreaking timely study this year.
WSJ Reporter Perri Capell suggests the lack of women-led franchises is also due to a lack of access to capital. Perri's research indicates that when women do buy franchises, they often choose inexpensive concepts that can be operated out of the home. Perri references a 1999 U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) study that shows that female franchise ownership decreases as the cost of a franchise increases. Nearly 50% of women-owned franchises cost less than $75,000. Only 21% of male-led franchises cost less than $75,000. Most women-led franchises involved children's products and services.
Of the nation's more than 1,500 franchise companies, only 23 were founded or are operated by women.
READ MORE.
I see an opportunity for a mid-range price point franchise model explicitly designed for women. A good resource if you are a woman interested in a franchise: Women In Franchising. We've added them to our women's organization's resource list on the left navigation bar of this site.
Friday, November 12, 2004
RE: "There's No Business Like Home Business!" Reports the SBA Office of Advocacy This Week.
According to a new report released this week from the SBA Office of Advocacy (shout out to Dr. Ying Lowry!), home-based businesses now make up 53% of the small biz population. According to the report, home-based businesses face a challenging regulatory environment that can restrain their expansion and growth - complex home office deduction rules, a complicated test for determining independent contractor status, and local zoning law discrimination. The growing trend of home-based businesses was reported last month by Small Business Trends - but this SBA OOA report offers sound facts to back up Small Business Trends' prediction.
Does a woman-owned home-based business = 1 employee? ABSOLUTELY NO. SBA figures also indicate that 63% of women-owned home-based businesses employ people in addition to the owner. Women-owned home-based businesses do tend to be newer, smaller firms or in the field of business services. I also see an intriguing trend of women-owned home-based businesses in the "home party business" - although these businesses tend to bloom and eventually outgrow their home-base. As Michelle Miller reports this week on Wonderbranding: women love to make themselves at home.
Some women-owned home party businesses that started as home-based businesses?
The Pampered Chef
Mary Kay
Tupperware
The Homemakers Idea Company (An '04 Stevie Award For Women Entrepreneurs Winner)
Entertain With Ease
Ahh! There's no business like home business like no business I know! OK I HAVE TO STOP with the Ethel Merman act. I'm making myself cringe....
Thursday, November 11, 2004
RE: Seven Hardfast PR Crisis Management Rules for Future Firefighters and Disposable Assasins.
When media comes knocking on your door during a PR nightmare (not unlike Minnesota-based Snow Biz and fellow franchise owner "Sir Spank-a-lot" this past week), crisis management is absolutely critical. Please don't shoot the media! It generally doesn't help to hose them down at full blast either, although (wink-wink, nod-nod) some of us rainmakers, media mavens and media moguls are just begging for "a little spanky."
You can't prevent every crisis before it occurs, but you can take preventative measures (for instance - a company rulebook declaring "spare the rod - it won't spoil your employees"). And you can follow a few simple rules to make your company look much better if it ever hits the spotlight:
1. Plan in advance - so you are prepared if the day ever comes. Even small companies should have Key Messaging Guides that they disseminate to employees so they are aware of company positioning in advance of events like these. re:invention works with our clients to help develop Key Messaging Guides. You should take care to craft statements on potential critical issues, declaring the company line on topics like employer-employee relations. While Snow Biz may not have been able to predict a spanking crisis, they should have a consistent corporate perspective on employer-employee relationships. To kickoff your crisis planning, HERE is a template crisis management plan or contact re:invention for help crafting a sound plan.
2. Gather your facts - pull together as much information as quickly as possible so you can deliberate about the details, address them appropriately, and thoughtfully comment during company conversations with media.
3. Express sincere concern, care and emotion - and show some sympathy to those who were affected by the issue. Snow Biz should have expressed apologies and concern for the "spanked employees" rather than focusing on the character of the franchise owner who did wrong. Furthermore, I believe companies should follow up and make amends to those who have incurred damages. It demonstrates company goodwill.
4. Report your own bad news - try not to let someone else break it. Chicago Tribune did this during the "You C_nt Say That" fiasco. And while I still think it was a silly press retraction, they were smart to issue a statement and a release themselves.
5. Tell the truth - the factual truth. Don't lie, deny, or hide your involvement and don't speculate.
6. Designate a company spokesperson - let him or her be the face of your company. Don't offer up your entire team to the hungry media.
7. It goes without saying, use your common sense. Or at least try not to say something inappropriately stupid. "(But he's a Christian person!)" is typically an inappropriate and ineffective response when it comes to PR crisis management, especially when the question is: "One of your franchise owners did WHAAAAAT?????"
Read more PR crisis management tips HERE from the Public Relations Society of America. I kinda also like PRInfluences.com.
Warmly welcome your ideas and kind comment additions below!
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
RE: T.F. Entrepreneur Spanks T.A. Women Employees. True Story From Tennessee Heartland.
Just when you begin to think life is getting better for women, a 57-year old male entrepreneur heralding from Tennessee was arrested yesterday for spanking 2 women employees for mistakes on the job. Turns out Tasty Flavors Sno Biz independent franchise owner regularly paddled these 2 women. As the local (male) police sergeant clearly and slowly explained to the press, the women employees accepted the spankings instead of quitting "because they were brought up to respect anybody who is an authority figure." Minnesota-based Snow Biz Treats HQ President sales managers added, "he is a very Christian man person." There's no biz like snow biz (TM). Pinch me? Is this 2004?
The entrepreneur even considered potential litigation. He made the 2 women employees sign a statement that read: "I give my boss Gene permission to bust my behind any way he sees fit." Who are these women?
Wonder if he used the old line, "This hurts me more than it hurts you."
Lest you think this type of treatment for women is uncommon - try on this site, Fondly and Firmly, for size. Warning - not for the faint of heart. The site was created by a fella named Robin. The discloser on the site: "this is is not a site for men who hate women! However, as many women attest, sometimes, there can be aspects of a woman's thinking and behavior which might be called "womanly devils" or "imps."
Whatever you say, dear....
EDITOR'S POST-SCRIPT: Strike out changes above were made as this breaking news story changed over the past 2 days. Read kind thoughts below to catch yourself up! I wrote this post 1 hour after the incident first hit local news in Tennessee - and USA Today and NY Post articles have refined the story since Tuesday/Wednesday night. Seems people are getting a little testy about that crazy Christian comment coming out of Snow Biz Treats Franchise HQ. My point was: "(But he's a Christian!)" is typically an inappropriate and ineffective response when it comes to PR crisis management, especially when the question is: "One of your franchise owners did WHAT?????"
Monday, November 08, 2004
RE: "Women Are Tired of Waiting," Says U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce.
Four years after Congress passed the Equity in Contracting for Women Act of 2000 women-led firms still only receive 2.98% of federal contracts. But today, the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce has filed a complaint against the Small Business Administration to try to force the agency to enact a law that would reserve contracts for women-owned firms.
Bravo Terry Williams, Women's Chamber of Commerce President. Women are tired of waiting.
Read the complaint HERE.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
RE: Men "Mentor," Women "Sister."
Over the past week I've had reason to reach out to my most influential mentors - both men and women - and while they were all equally generous and helpful there was a distinct difference in the way the women and men responded to my request for advice. And it has me thinking about the idea of mentors and how women and men approach mentorship differently. Has it really been over a year since I was quoted in the article written by Barbara Buchholz titled, "Someone to Watch Over You: Selecting an Effective Mentor?" Last night I re-rented the movie Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood. And this morning I've decided to post about it...
According to a poll by CareerWomen.com, 62% of all women have mentors and a full 64% of those women reported that their most important mentors have been male. Careerwomen.com reports that male mentors help women mentees by providing negotiating skills, general business training, critical feedback, leadership opportunities, coaching feedback and advice as well as networking and advancement opportunities. Women mentors helped mentees with informal fellowship, nurturing, motivation and encouragement.
Isn't it funny that MEN put the "men" in mentoring? Women do not mentor, we sister. According to Webster Dictionary, a SISTER is someone who is closely allied to, or associated with, another person, as in the same faith, society, order, or community. She is "one of the same kind, or of the same condition."
MENtoring - by literal definition - is what men do. Women subscribe to sistering. And sistering is nice - it feels good - although sometimes I think it would be more helpful if we women would also provide contacts, critical feedback, a leg up, and tangible business referrals.....
What if we women consciously tried to expand our definition of sistering (the emotional intimacy) - adding determination and specific, measurable support - and claim it for our own as women? No competing with one another, no fear of losing our power or advantage when we share our expertise and contacts liberally without reservation with other women. Sistering could very well become "mentoring done better."
What do you think? A call for a new age of sistering for sisters.
To that end, any woman is welcome to call me for a contact. If I can't connect the dots for her with the specific business lead or media contact she needs to connect with, I will do my best to connect her with someone who can.
In sisterhood,
Kirsten
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
RE: Today SHE will Vote.
And so she proclaimed, today she would vote.
She felt she owed it to her mother.
She knew she had to show her brother.
She longed to teach her daughter.
For 10 reasons, for 100 reasons.
Today she will vote.
Monday, November 01, 2004
RE: Crain's Chicago 40 Under 40 - No Women Entrepreneurs Honored.
Crain's Chicago Business - a publication that professes to support both big and small business - announced their 40 Under 40 List today. 40 upstanding women and men. In this "year of the woman entrepreneur," not 1 women entrepreneur on the list. One woman who is a brand manager at Jim Beam. Brand manager for El Tesoro tequila. Obviously changing the world.
Read the LIST here. Sigh.
Crain's doesn't give readers a list of standards for the award. We don't know what percentage of applications came from small business entrepreneurs. All I know - I was nominated and didn't win (big deal). :)
You would think that Crain's is so well respected that there would have to be a significant number of women entrepreneurs who applied. If I weren't so busy with clients myself I would go sleuthing for fine upstanding under 40 women entrepreneur candidates for Crain's Chicago. Not likely to happen today.
If you know any women entrepreneurs who should have been honored in Crain's Chicago 40 Under 40 - kindly add them to comments.
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