I saw this on Tuesday and thought it was a great article! For those of you who read my blog regularly will also identify with Kate's sentiments!
Please see a copy of her article below...
Why Mums make
great business people
It’s 09:00 and
you’ve already been to the gym before the family stirs, breakfasted with the
children whilst helping them get ready for school, remembering to take the
chicken out of the freezer for the evening meal, putting a load of washing on
and taking an early morning call from a client. So starts the typical day of a
Mumpreneur.
Taking daily hectic home routines, mashing it up with
a busy work schedule and, often, mixing that up with an essential social life
is par for the course for most women in business. And through this ability to
combine an enormous workload yet still manage to keep everything functioning
smoothly is exactly the abilities that make a Mum the ideal business person.
Think of the attributes you need to succeed in
business. To succeed you need to be able to multi task yet still focus on the
end goal. From overseeing the operations, to making sure the daily function of
an office is running seamlessly, to high level financial negotiation to dealing
with inter staff disputes a Mumpreneur is likely to consider and be able to
deal with all these issues whilst keeping an eye on the big picture goal.
The ability to negotiate with even the most
unreasonable people is also a valuable asset. Whether they are right or wrong,
staff often have an opinion or desire which needs to be acknowledged but isn’t
necessarily the best for the company, the client or themselves. And Mum, who
has stood up to a 3 year old having a tantrum in an assertive and productive
manner, already has this experience. A creative company director I spoke to
recently quoted her clients as being as ‘petulant as her teenager’. I suggested
she applied the same tactics as she applied at home – consideration,
negotiation, rules and rewards. Her ‘tough love’ principle secured a great
contract and set the boundaries for a productive working relationship.
The ability to be adaptive, learn new skills, and be
reactive to changing demand and desires is also paramount. Every Mum I know has
had that, ‘I need to go to school tomorrow in historical fancy dress’
conversation at 9pm at night, then to find themselves creating ‘Boadicea’ out
of bits of sticky back plastic and an old bed sheet. That creativity and
adaptability and that ‘what the heck’ gusto is a great asset. Even scarier is
the maths problem of a kid sitting GCSE – I know many a parent who has turned
to BBC Bite Size whilst a child sleeps to explain the problem the morning
after. Now that’s willing and able.
A Mumpreneur is undaunted – whether its illness,
school holidays or family crisis or equally a brought forward deadline, a 24
hour pitch or a crisis management situation. They always have a plan, a support
system and have considered these issues if only subconsciously in the wee hours
of the morning.
And a Mumpreneur knows how to get the best out of her
team – whether at home or at the office. By encouragement, praise, reward and
consistency you can guarantee a busy Mumpreneur evokes loyalty and commitment
and the willingness of either her family or staff to go that little bit extra
for the benefit of the team as a whole.
Finally there is reliability – if it needs doing it
will be done – and often by her own fair hand. There is no over inflated
opinion of herself, or ‘jobs worth’ mentality – if it needs doing the
Mumpreneur will gladly get her hands as dirty as her teams.
Its often said that Mum’s suffer a dip in confidence
after taking a break to have a family, worrying their skill set is reduced by
their absence from the work force, or fear that other colleagues may judge her
torn between family and work. On the contrary, the Mum experience improves and
enhances a business person’s ability, like an in-house management training
course of unprecedented ferocity.
And as the saying goes, if you want something done,
ask a busy person. Who better than a Mumpreneur?
By Kate Lester
Managing Director of Diamond Logistics and RS
Couriers.
7th October, 2008
The Telegraph Business Club
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