“When one woman wins we all win” Pink
Pink admitted she had been jealous of her chart rivals in the past until she came to accept that you can’t make everyone happy and instead of jealousy she had the option to be truly happy for other women and that is what she is.
Adding to the wonderful media attached to the #International Day of the Girl it would be great to show our girls they are capable of anything and whatever they choose to do is ok.
And we need more girls to think that starting a business is an option for them. I cannot believe the only options presented by careers counsellors remain the same as when I went to school.
“Hey Lucy you are really good at Maths – you should go and work for a big engineering company”
I’d rather hear
“Hey Lucy, you are really good at Maths maybe you can start a tutoring business or an engineering firm when you finish University.”
We need job makers not job takers and the only way to do that is to encourage entrepreneurship.
So how to help young women contemplate entrepreneurialism?
If they want extra money talk to them about the skills they have and how they could turn those skills into products or services.
Provide alternative futures
When talking about the future, don’t limit the discussion to industry specific ideas or organisations.
If it makes you mad, it has made someone else mad too
Turn frustrations into ‘what if’ conversations. e.g. if you are annoyed with your brother for playing his music too loud – what could you invent to solve it (without using physical means!)
Support their crazy ideas
When they start with if only I could… encourage the conversation into a brainstorm – no rules, everything is possible. Don’t say – that wouldn’t work. This is how the world gets disruptors.
Let them embrace technology
In the fast paced world we need to learn how to find information. Tech hacks can help us get to information fast
Encourage them to have technology free time. We all know the best ideas can happen in nature, the shower.
Build their social skills
The long lost art of storytelling. Hook them up with the oldies to hear stories. Ask how this would translate to today’s environment? Get them to create their own stories. These are the qualities that can’t be duplicated by a robot.
Support a woman in business
Buy from them, help them grow, promote them, be their cheer squad.
“You can’t be what you can’t see”
Marie Wilson, Founder and President of the White House Project
Entrepreneurial thinking can be learned. It’s about having an open mind to all possibilities. Young people naturally have that, let’s not take it away from them.
