Personal Skills – Page 12 – More from the Institute for Women's Entrepreneurship at Cornell

Link to Webinar: Speaking with Confidence and Authenticity

Casey Carpenter during her webinar discussion

Your communication skills have a direct impact on your ability to raise funds and motivate your team. In today’s socially distanced environment, it’s more important than ever that your message shines through, even when you’re not able to address your audience in person.

This skill-building webinar session led by professional speaker and coach Casey Carpenter will help you discover how to pitch with confidence and authenticity in a virtual setting. You’ll walk away with tools to craft a persuasive message and techniques to deliver that message in a way that engages your audience. Click here to access the recording of the 4/8/21 talk.

More information about Casey Carpenter’s company as well as links to resources mentioned in her talk can be found here.

Quantity Breeds Quality

asian woman working on shaping a bowl on a pottery wheel

This article from Inc. highlights the concept of the 70-20-10 rule. The meaning behind this rule is that with whatever you are working to produce – be it something artistic or a product or a service – 70 percent of your attempts will be mediocre, 20 percent will be poor, and 10 percent will be amazing. The key takeaway is that the only way to get better at something isn’t to sit and stare at the blank piece of paper waiting for the perfect idea or to try to research every last thing before starting, but rather to roll up your sleeves and do it! The more you try, the more results you will end up having in that 10% amazing bucket!

Women in eCommerce Supporting Each Other

Woman's thumb scrolling on an iphone while looking at a screen that mentions eCommerce.

Women represent 32% of the eCommerce sellers online. While that is a much higher percentage that the number of women that are found in C-suite jobs, it still places women in the minority. This article in Entrepreneur encourages women in eCommerce to seek each other out for mentoring and support. The article states, “By building your community around other women, you can unlock the hidden power of wealth through shared strategies, tools and hidden secrets.”

Navigating Three Major Challenges in Entrepreneurship

In this piece in Entrepreneur from December 2016, founder and CEO of WordSmithRapport, Karima J. Mariama-Arthur (who is also an eCornell program facilitator!) shared three challenges of entrepreneurship. While the article is a few years old, her words still ring true to entrepreneurs today. Mariama-Arthur states that fear, distractions and work ethic are the three biggest hurdles. If anything, those hurdles are even more present during the past year of navigating COVID!

Are “Returnships” A Solid Option For Women?

photo of woman standing inside a cave in a beam of light that is streaming in from opening

Many adults need to take an off-ramp from the professional workplace during their careers. Birthing/caring for children, looking after aging family members, following a partner due to dual-career challenges and military service are just a few of the reasons why people – especially women – may find themselves reducing hours or taking a complete leave of absence from full time work. The demands placed on women have become even more apparent during COVID when virtual schooling and the lack of available childcare have placed more pressure on parents as they try to keep all the balls in the air.

One opportunity that may help more women re-enter the worplace as we find our way out of the COVID tunnel is the concept of “returnships”. Returnship programs are similar to internships but are meant specifically for those who are looking to rejoin the workforce after taking time away. This link from August 2020 shares a list of 15 companies that have instituted returnship programs. In addition, this piece from Fortune shares thoughts on how this model may be particularly useful for women in a post-COVID workforce.

Women Entrepreneurs You Should Be Following

cartoon with word "follow" and an index finger about to press it.

This piece from the Motley Fool highlights ten female entrepreneurs to follow as we head into 2021. The piece has links to different podcasts hosted by these women as well as links to resources and their twitter feeds. These leaders include:

Arlan Hamilton – Backstage Capital
Barbara Weltman – lawyer and founder of Big Ideas for Small Business, Inc
Lizelle van Vuuren – Undock
Amanda Boleyn – She Did It Her Way
Sonia Thompson – Thompson Media Group
Sallie Krawcheck – Ellevest
Emily Thompson – Almanac Supply Co
Kathleen Shannon – Braid Creative and Consulting
Beth Buelow – author and podcaster
Ahyiana Angel – Mayzie Media

Advice From Walgreens’ New CEO

At the end of February, Rosalind Brewer, who is currently COO at Starbucks, will leave that position to become CEO of drugstore chain Walgreens. Once in this post, she will be the only Black woman currently serving as a Fortune 500 CEO, and just the third Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 firm in history. (There are currently only 37 women in CEO positions at Fortune 500 companies)

According to this CNBC article, during a recent speech, Brewer commented on the reality that many women experience bias and gender discrimination in the workplace. She said that her most critical message to women in business is to “stay steadfast” and know that “your voice matters.”

Radical Candor Explained in Six Minutes

“Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity” is a New York Times best-selling book published in 2017 by Kim Scott. The term “radical candor” is defined by Scott as the ability to challenge directly and show that you care personally at the same time. While that seems like it should be every leader’s goal, the reality is that being radically candid is challenging – often because it is counterintuitive to how we have been raised.

radical candor framework - x and y axis with four labeled quadrants.

Scott breaks down the concept of radical candor and outlines the other quadrants where we can find ourselves in this six-minute video. If you want to dig a little deeper, she has a podcast and a blog as well.

SBA Launches Largest Expansion of Women’s Business Centers in 30 Years

According to this recent post, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced grant funding along with the launch of 20 new Women’s Business Centers (WBC) that will be opened across America. These new centers will serve rural, urban, and underserved communities. The move to open 20 new WBCs is the largest single expansion of the program since it began 30 years ago. Check out the post to read more about where the centers will be located as well as to access other resources from the SBA.

Thinking Back and Looking Forward

Caroline Kim Oh

Caroline Kim Oh is an executive and leadership coach and has also been a course facilitator in the Women’s Entrepreneurship Certificate program. She just sent out a “year end review” newsletter that contained a link to a expert interview she had with WID (Women In Development). While the article is usually only available to members of WID, it was reprinted with permission here. While reflection is a common practice as we near the end of a calendar year, Caroline’s interview shares examples of important questions that we should all be asking ourselves at any time of the year to help reflect, reset, and refocus.