"Information helps you see that you are not alone."
-- Maya Angelou
"Today knowledge has power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement."
-- Peter Drucker
In previous years, the business landscape was often a petri dish for promoting innovation and leadership. We have now approached a new frontier where the lines are blurring between intrapraneur and entrepreneur, between the pursuit of the bottom dollar vs. corporate social responsibility, and between one's actual community and digital one; thanks to social technology and the "Flynn Effect".
The spirit of disruption is in the air, and change is being heralded as a good thing, although perhaps not re: higher education and net neutrality.
In the aftermath of the recent sixth Global Drucker Forum that provided many practical takeaways, one has to wonder about the ongoing role of entrepreneurs as thought leaders, virtual mentors, power brokers, and yes, innovators.
The nature of entrepreneurship is changing. It's time for us, especially women, to take note and partake. The fact is that today's entrepreneur needs to be somewhat well versed in technology, and knowledgeable about a variety of topics while maintaining one if not several areas of expertise. Today's entrepreneur also needs to be mindful of the future of work, of new career paths and opportunities, and how digital transformation is less about advances in technology and more about empathy and beliefs about humanity.
• Today's evolving entrepreneurship arena is about promoting leadership that solves real world problems with empathy; something women excel at!
• Today's entrepreneurial DNA is about addressing pain points on a larger scale; something women are intrinsically motivated to pursue, and quite well too!
So how can leadership and subsequently entrepreneurship be disrupted?
Three Implications for Female Entrepreneurship:
1. Startup success is becoming more linked with self-education of soft skills, not just core competencies.
2. Entrepreneurial competence is becoming more about global leadership and communication skills used to create an ecosystem, not just a product.
3. Founders are learning that global collaboration is a foregone conclusion and there is an increasing need to design and implement core missions around this reality.
We live in rapidly changing times; economically, socially, and technologically. We all have to pivot more regularly, whether we are part of today's startup culture or not. Women entrepreneurs are biologically hardwired to harness time, and tend to care about the communal impact they have on others. That's why we choose our tools wisely, such as the use of social media, which has already changed the world.
We are all leaders in the making. It's time to come forward. We need you.