“…a sensitive and engaged classroom discussion revealed that what women face (in starting a business) is not just risk, but also the fear of risk….”
The 2007 cycle for the MBA Entrepreneurship Certificate began in late February and we are off to a rousing start! Twenty-five women are enrolled in the MBA Feasibility Analysis course to work with me to assess, define, judge, and even launch new ventures. In May these students may continue in the Business Plans and Proposals course, and in the Fall, post-MBA graduation, advance into Managing the High Growth Firm and Entrepreneurship Practicum.
One of the first tasks of this first course is to complete and reflect on an assessment of entrepreneurial intentions. Each woman completes a survey to consider basic concepts that have been found, on average, to distinguish entrepreneurs, for example, a willingness to work hard and long, pride and determination around personal success, and a sense of confidence and integrity. (If you would like a copy of the survey and its interpretation, please email: entrepreneurship@simmons.edu.)
The class found that most members shared high levels of self-determination, energy, and drive. They’re ready to accept working 50 or more hours a week and take full responsibility for the successes and failures of their businesses. What also joined the group were a general fear of risk and a lack of entrepreneurial role models in their families.
One of the most likely predictors of a person choosing a career as an entrepreneur is to have parents who are entrepreneurs. This "can't fix it" condition is something the SOM actively addresses by creating opportunities for the women to interact with each other, successful entrepreneur alumnae, and other friends of the program who demonstrate that starting a business is a viable, creative career option. Learning how to access mentors and build and manage networks of business and professional contacts also receives a steady push.
On the risk side, the approaches and solutions are more complex. First of all, a sensitive and engaged classroom discussion revealed that what’s involved is not just risk, but also the fear of risk. One way we will address this topic in class is to dissect risk itself. What are the different kinds of risk around new venture creation? Which can be managed and which cannot? How likely is it that the identified risks will lead to failure? And which are just temporary setbacks or simply things that are unknown, but likely manageable? In my experience, this exercise often helps would-be entrepreneurs to identify that the risk of starting a business is not as great as they thought. In fact, I ended the last class with a discussion about the recent dramatic fall in U.S. stock markets: while all of us know this type of downturn is possible, how many of us fear the risk of loss of return on our year’s savings to the point where we fail to invest? The lesson here is that we have come to see this risk as a reasonable one that we wince at, but still expect better times ahead. We can think about the risk of founding a venture in this way, too.
But the other side of risk that was clearly identified by a number of our women students is a risk associated with the fear of letting other people down – including family, employees, investors, community. I’ve never had that strong of a reaction around this risk factor in ten years of teaching. We can address that, too, and we will. My first stop was some new books: Positive Risk: How Smart Women Use Passion to Break Through Their Fears (Barbara Stoker) and Smart Women Take Risks: Six Steps for Conquering Your Fears and Making the Leap to Success by Helene Lerner. Let me know if you’d like a review.
As many of you know, this is my first teaching cycle at Simmons having joined the faculty last year. So I’m watching for the gender card; how are my students different than those I found in a male/female classroom? I think I saw something important in this regard last week. Was it fuller disclosure? Or a difference in kind? I’ll need more experience to find out. For today I feel how very privileged I am to have the trust and respect of these women to have conversations like that.
Warm regards,
Teresa Nelson
Elizabeth J. McCandless Professor in Entrepreneurship
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Leading Women Entrepreneurship Series 2007
I hope you can join us for a dynamic presentation series on women's entrepreneurship on Saturdays this month. The "Leading Women Entrepreneurship Series 2007" is designed to deliver content, contacts, and food for thought to students, alums, friends, and guests of the School of Management.
All events to be held in the SOM Mockler Classroom building. Refreshments/Networking (1:00 pm - 2:00 pm) follow keynotes (11:30 am - 1:00 pm). There is no entrance charge for these events, but please reserve a seat through entrepreneurship@simmons.edu.
March 10, 2007: 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
Global Social Entrepreneurship: Bringing Clean Drinking Water Solutions to the Developing World
Keynote: Susan Murcott, Inventor and Senior Lecturer, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Susan Murcott is an inventor, civil engineer, MIT lecturer, and global advocate for clean drinking and household water supplies in the developing world. As part of the Clean Water for 1 Billion People campaign, she works primarily on behalf of women, who are largely responsible for water, and children who suffer disproportionately from its pollution. Susan’s team at MIT won the prestigious Wall Street Journal – Technology Innovation Award in the Environment category in 2005 and the World Bank Nepal Development Marketplace Prize in 2005 for invention of the Kanchan™ Arsenic Filter.
March 17, 2007: 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
The Entrepreneurs Life: Building a Great Brand on a Shoestring Budget
Keynote: Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder & CEO, Mavens & Moguls
Paige Arnof-Fenn is CEO and Founder of Mavens & Moguls, a global strategic marketing consulting practice. She has been a key player in multiple start-ups (Zipcar, Launch Media), rejuvenations (Inc.com), and intrapreneurship efforts (Proctor & Gamble, Coca-Cola). In this presentation she focuses on the critical entrepreneurial task of building a brand that works for the start-up with limited cash.
March 24, 2007: 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
A Twenty Year Perspective on Founding and Growing a Firm
Keynote: Gretchen Fox '87, Founder & CEO, Fox Relocation Management
Since founding Fox Relocation Management in 1987, Gretchen Fox has built her one-person firm into a 60-person practice with offices in Boston, Washington DC, Providence, and New York City. The company, offering a full range of relocation services from design and master-planning through construction and move management, was recently selected for a third year in a row as one of the top 100 woman-led businesses in Massachusetts. On March 24th, Gretchen will discuss her near twenty year entrepreneurial career including comments on the phases of firm development and the founder’s path from start-up through growth.
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To learn more about the Simmons Entrepreneurship Initiative please visit: http://www.simmons.edu/som/centers/entrepreneurship/index.shtml
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Stacy Blake-Beard comments on teaching at ISB. “Before the first class I wondered: How would the concepts and issues I was teaching translate in Indian culture? How would I be received…as a woman, as an American, as an African-American? As I looked out on the class that first day, I knew things were going to be okay. I saw a classroom of students who were inquisitive, interested and genuinely willing to jump in and explore the readings and to integrate their experiences to create a forum for learning…I experienced firsthand the power of exchange in diverse classrooms. My experiences on both sides of the world suggest that having classrooms with diverse perspectives and people from different lands and different experiences is priceless…More than anything, I am excited about going back to India, working again with the great students, staff and faculty at ISB, and striking out in adventuresome new ways to experience new aspects of this phenomenal country.”