32 roundtable: women in business ... continued from previous page
(ambition, assertiveness, risk-taking etc) and other traits for people who are risk averse, want to be secure, and don’t want to fly high.
“Teachers teach in a particular way, to a curriculum, and can find it difficult to deal with entrepreneurial traits.” Ultimately, children with those traits might get excluded or become NEETs, he added.
Pasco agreed, highlighting the very different outlook to careers and work of today’s millennial digital generations. “I am a people person, but I was guided towards a factory engineering apprenticeship at the age of 16, and wasted two years of my life.”
Wilson noted that the majority of children are taught from a young age by women. “Why is it that we cannot engage with that hugely influential group? Surely our educationalists can do much more to help gender equality in business?”
Some changes and innovative schemes involving schools and businesses were being successfully achieved, said Pasco.
Peterkin took part in with her school’s Young Enterprise scheme, but revealed she was the only girl to join up. The national focus on GCSE and A Level exam success tended to pigeon-hole students into certain career routes, she mentioned. “We should have a broader curriculum so 14-year-olds don’t have to make subject choices that may affect the rest of their lives.”
Simon Pasco
Shimmin felt state education was too focused on “... ticking a set of very linear academic achievements. It is not focused on developing individuals. Children come out thinking the only measure of success in life is five grades A-E in GCSE, and have no aspirations whatsoever. How do we bring back the post-war British spirit of polar exploration – individuality? Somehow we have to get our education system to deliver young adults who are prepared to view success in many different ways.”
Hoeritzauer suggested the focus on exam success merely accentuates the feeling of non-conforming failure for those gaining poor results.
Napier-Munn: “So our school leavers come out risk averse?”
Shimmin: “Failure is such a huge deal in our society today, that some people would rather not try.”
Wanted: Good informed career advice
D’Abreo expressed the importance of good career advice and the home environment to student development. She highlighted the career open-mindedness, business role models, and family support that she gained at home. “If you have that background, you believe anything is possible, but if you have a narrow background and non-supportive parents ..."
Rai: “It’s no coincidence that a lot of business owners come from entrepreneurial families. Their mentality permeates through.”
Shimmin: “The schools career guidance problem is that the people giving advice have often never worked in the business world, and if they did, it is not the same world now that they experienced.”
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The loneliness of entrepreneurism
Peterkin mentioned the isolation of forming and running a new business. “If I went back seven years, I would look harder for other people like me so that I could gain more support, perhaps a mentor or role model. The isolation was the only thing that made me doubt myself.”
Wilson pointed out that most established CEOs and business owners inhabit a lonely world. “The challenge is to find those they can turn to outside their business for trusted advice. Experienced advisers like me are often a good place to start.”
D’Abreo had a partner to help develop the idea that has now filled the gap in the market that they spotted. Even so, for the first three years they lost money and life was scary. “You need some hand-holding and good advice, and the belief that you are doing the right thing, that it’s not the end of the world if you go down, and you’ll pick yourself up and survive.”
Shimmin: “But we don’t teach children to think like that. We teach them that the ultimate goal is a steady risk-free income with a home and family.”
Explaining the passion of entrepreneurs, D’Abreo said: “’The buck stops with me’ CEO position can be very lonely, but big wins that come in are the most exhilarating things, plus the people you work with and love so much, and the day-to-day buzz that feeds oxygen into your blood – that’s why you are doing it. We all want to be doing something that is challenging and outside our comfort zone.”
What can we do to solve things for women? Llorens: “Start fixing the problem from the
Tamsin Napier-Munn
Peterkin: “Curriculums in schools are not relevant any more, and aspiration is still frowned upon. That needs to change.” She may also act as a mentor for other women starting up businesses.
Rai: “This has been a fabulous debate, but for me the big thing has been about women’s confidence and business outlook. They may not be so bullish as men, but may be more realistic about their financial projections, for example, and we need to take note of those differences and use more gender intelligence in our decision-making.”
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – MARCH 2016
bottom in families and schools. It won’t be easy but we can’t just sit back and watch.”
Shimmin: “Keep throwing our weight around. Get out into the schools and universities and talk about business aspirations.”
Maria Llorens
Hoeritzauer: “Tell our true stories about failure and success, the good and bad times, and show that change is achievable.”
Wilson: “Get the topic into boardrooms and into businesses large and or small. Have a conversation at board level like we’ve had today and come up with positive actions to influence change.”
D’Abreo: “Should we be taking our thoughts today, about women’s differentiating approach within business, up to a government minister? Also, I agree about going in and talking to local schools, and even The Prince’s Trust. Plus, how do we help women returning from maternity stay as part of a business?”
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