While women have certainly made major strides with leadership in business, it's been largely limited to small businesses. According to data projections from The Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute, future job growth will be created primarily by women-owned small businesses. However, Fortune Magazine reports that only 15 of the Fortune 500 firms in 2010 are run by women.
Why are there too few women leaders of large firms? What keeps women from "thinking big", from scaling their creative ideas and setting their sights on bigger goals, broader business opportunities and bolder mission statements for their businesses?
For example, think about Mark Zuckerberg's mission for Facebook – to connect people on the Internet from all over the world; an audacious mission for a college undergraduate...
Why are there not more young women developing such bold, gutsy mission statements for their original business ideas?
Sharon Kan, Co-Founder and General Manager of Tikatok (a Barnes & Noble company) will speak with attendees about how women can start to think bigger and bolder, beginning with choosing your mission statement, offering examples from her own experience leading startups and now her experience at Barnes & Noble, the world's largest bookseller. She'll explore the importance of core values and culture of a company, how to size the market opportunity, understand your customer base, structure your business model, measure results, and most importantly know your own strengths and assets as a leader of your business.
Her view is that it often takes the same amount of work to build your business, set up your infrastructure and win new customers whether it's a small business or large, so why not be ambitious and "think big."