Is woman’s intuition a factor in business success?

The dialogue continues. The issue of women in business is still very much on the agenda as worthy of study and analysis. In western societies, despite all the efforts at promoting equality between the sexes, the fact that women continue to own businesses at an increasing rate is still seen as something out of the ordinary.Like the spider there are those of us who refuse to stop spinning… our rope though perhaps frail, can still be spun with optimism, curiosity, wonder, love and the sincere desire to share a trip to the stars….

The stereotypical role of women as homemakers which has been held as the norm over centuries is one that is hard to break and yet it begs the question: Is this really so? Have women only been homemakers all these years or have they been important contributors to the economies in which they raise families and fulfill their homemaking role?

I am of the view that women are intuitively business oriented and that their very make-up puts them at a distinct advantage as business owners. I am also of the view that women, throughout history, have been exercising their business acumen, sometimes overtly, and at other times in cunning ways in order to build an economic base for themselves and their families.

Let us take Jamaica as an example. For over 400 years women have played a significant role in economic development, not only as enslaved persons, common labourers and low level employees, but also as entrepreneurs operating in the informal economy. During the period of slavery, they worked their own plots and sold produce at Saturday markets thereby creating their own capital.

Rural women in particular have been the mainstay of peasant farming. They survived on the ‘thread bag economy’. Although in most cases they were illiterate, they were able to do sensible costing, make change and keep accounts. The thread bag and the deep apron pocket are symbols of the commercial activity that kept the rural economies alive and paid for schooling of successive generations of children in order to remove them from the clutches of poverty.

These women not only managed the means of production, including the animals, providing labour and capital, but they did the storage, marketing and packaging as well as selling.

All this was done while raising their families and providing leadership in churches and the community.

By the 20th century, ‘higglers’, as these women were known, rode in the backs of trucks and slept on the floor of Coronation Market for nights on end in order to send their children to school. Many of these children have held key positions in Jamaica.

Yes, the ‘market woman’ is the icon of female entrepreneurship in Jamaica and it is fitting that although she has been immortalised in art and sculpture, there should be some formal tribute to her through a physical monument that is well placed as a reminder of the strength of the Jamaican woman.

It is interesting to trace the evolution of the rural higgler to her urban descendants in the informal commercial importers (ICIs), their bold culture and their aggressive entrepreneurship. They have set the pace for men, some of whom have followed them into this field, and many also work with them as their ‘loader boys’. The ICIs have contributed to the vibrancy of the real estate market; they kept airlines flying until the Chinese invaded our markets. It will be interesting to see their next reincarnation as they seek to construct a response to this new trading dynamic.

Female owned micro enterprises have made their mark in the craft industries and the traditional bakeries and eateries such as with gizzadas, coconut drops, asham and blue drawers. Women plaited straw to make baskets, bags and place mats; they organised themselves into cottage industries; they employed young women and girls and taught them the indigenous crafts that are the signature pieces of the Jamaican craft industry.

Women’s contribution to economic growth covers a range of sectors — the development of indigenous beauty products, agricultural marketing, the insurance industry, distribution, technology, health services, finance and the professions.

Women come to business with certain intuitive skills. They have a natural tenacity, the will to protect and nurture even the smallest business idea. Women will build their businesses patiently, brick by brick, with no overwhelming need to be overly competitive or to feed their egos with ostentatious business success. Just as with the family, a woman’s intuition allows her to build her core team and to build loyalty among employees. She will lead by example and work side by side with employees at all levels if necessary.

 Taking responsibility is a core indicator of women’s intuition. Without this willingness to take responsibility, the human race would have difficulty surviving. She brings to the field of business the same instincts that make her strive for the survival of her young. Women do not shy away from facing up to their responsibilities, they will accept blame; perhaps too much so.

Women intuitively seek justice; they do not like unfairness and will commit to a cause even to their own detriment. They will stick to the task and see a process through if it means that truth will be discovered and justice will be done.

The current approach to training and coaching of women in business fails to effectively take into account their history and these intuitive skills. The focus is more on women becoming like men, something that they are not.

There is no one-size-fits-all in business training. Using the standard indicators for business success to train women is perhaps doing them a great disservice. Objective indicators of business success are, to a large extent, sterile and devoid of the human factor. We need to think carefully about what we want women to become as we make demands of them to be ‘successful’ businesswomen. We need to consider that, with this approach, we may lose more than we gain. There is urgent need for a commitment to a more explorative and enquiring approach to determine the impact of women’s intuition on their business decisions and practices.

An understanding of the psychological processes involved in women fulfilling their multiple roles in the family, in the society, and in business is of key importance. Some value must be placed on the softer factors like tenacity, perseverance, collaboration, cooperation and innovation.

We need much more research and anecdotal evidence to understand, for example, what goes into a woman’s decision making process. How does she negotiate? What are her mental processes here and what are the real dynamics involved in a woman’s innate power to achieve her goals? What gives a woman satisfaction as an entrepreneur? How does she cope with failure? How does she cope with success?

It may go against conventional thinking, but I believe that there is more to be gained in maximising the differences between the psyche and skills of men and women than in minimising them. The aim must be to maximise women’s natural intuitive skills not only to create better businesses but to enable them to create a better world.

The typical approach of women to their business and indeed to life is aptly expressed in the following quotation by Leo Buscaglia: