What does business "success" MEAN to women and men?

Again, on the web page about this study of women entrepreneurs, http://www.scu.edu/entrepreneur/Text/WOMEN_final_report.html , I read that

Women entrepreneurs take more *personal* risks than male entrepreneurs do, while

Male entrepreneurs take more *financial* risks than female entrepreneurs do....

This might be related to how you define "success".... For example, there was the following quote (from the web page above)....

Men seem to keep score by how much -- the dollars that are involved in the situation, whether it is the size of a deal or the size of the stock option or whatever might be the context of the situation. It is almost an irrelevant standard for many women that I know, which is not to say you are oblivious to money, certainly. But once the dollars are taken care of, once the basics are under control, what emerges as the most important thing out of the situation is the relationship context. Either creating or preserving or strengthening the relationship-- that’s what makes it a successful deal.

Polly Moore

This also seems to be a key difference in the way men and women approach business....

There are many ways to "measure" the success of a business, and I think it relates to your goals. Is your goal money? Is it lifestyle? Is it freedom from a boss? Is it to do something you enjoy? All these different goals give very different definitions of "success"....

Does anyone have any comments on this? I find it very interesting, but this is really the first time I've ever tried to look into this issue as it relates to gender....

In the past, I just assumed that men and women in business had more-or-less the same approaches and the same goals.... But gosh, looks like I wasn't quite correct....

What do you think of this?

Dien

Men seem to keep score by how much -- the dollars that are involved in the situation, whether it is the size of a deal or the size of the stock option or whatever might be the context of the situation. It is almost an irrelevant standard for many women that I know, which is not to say you are oblivious to money, certainly. But once the dollars are taken care of, once the basics are under control, what emerges as the most important thing out of the situation is the relationship context. Either creating or preserving or strengthening the relationship-- that’s what makes it a successful deal.

Polly Moore


In the stoneage, men hunted. To attract a mate (female) they had to have proof of their ability to provide - food, shelter, etc.

In modern times this has turned into money. Money is the proof of a male's ability to provide for a mate.

In the stoneage, women wanted to be sure their mate could provide for them and the resultant offspring. Hence the quote "once the money is taken care of and the basics are under control" (meaning, once I, the female, am secure).

Both of these elements worked together in harmony to make sure only skilled hunters (strong, intelligent, etc.) would have offspring and pass their skills on and keep the species going strong.

Michael Ross.

Hi Michael,

> In the stoneage, men hunted. To attract a
> mate (female) they had to have proof of
> their ability to provide - food, shelter,
> etc.

> In modern times this has turned into money.
> Money is the proof of a male's ability to
> provide for a mate.

I think I agree with you... As you say, men and women generally look for different things in a potential mate (husband or wife).... And I think what you say is also probably reflected in that too.... Whether we like it or not, I think it's probably built into our biology....

From other reading I've done, it seems that in general, men have (on average) better ability to visualize things spatially, while on the other hand women (on average) have a better language skills.... (Though there are always exceptions....)

I find these things very interesting....

This reminds me of a Seinfeld routine! If you've watched Seinfeld, you probably remember this.... :)

Men flip around the television more than women, I think. Men get that remote control in their hands, they don't even know what the hell they're watching. You know, we just keep going, "Rerun, don't wanna watch it.. "

"What are you watching?"

"I don't care, I gotta keep going."

"Who was that?"

"I don't know what it was - doesn't matter, it's not your fault. It doesn't matter, I gotta keep going."

Women don't do this. See now, women will stop and go, "Well, let me see what the show is before I change the channel."

You see? Men just fly. Because women, you see, women nest and men hunt. That's why we watch TV differently.

(From here....)

Cheers :)

Dien

Men look, assess and move on.

The Remote is the spear or rock or club (the weapon).

The channel is the animal.

Men don't channel surf... they kill the channels with their weapon.

This reminds me of a very funny scene in, I believe, Toy Story Two. The Pig has his hoof on the remote and is going at a million miles an hour through the channels. You've got to see it to appreciate the hillarity (is that a word?) of it.

Michael Ross.

P.S. ZZ TOP sang about women loving Sharp Dressed Men. Sharp Dressed Men imply success and that means an ability to provide.

Generally speaking, men are physically attracted to women with figures and NOT sticks. A woman with a figure implies hips to bear offspring and breasts to feed that offspring. (Think Monroe!!!)

We aren't as advanced beyond animals as we like to think we are.

the male preoccupation with size.... ahem! ;-)

Yep!

Paul (why do I do this to myself?) Short ;-)

Hi Michael

> We aren't as advanced beyond animals as we
> like to think we are.

I agree with you!

In fact, just the other day while I was clubbing that animal for dinner, a thought crossed my mind... ;-)

Ok, all kidding aside, as soon as men realize that "equality" doesn't really mean "submission" or "weakness", powerful aliances will be created in all aspects of their life.

The problem we have been having in society in general all seem to have one common thread: one group of people begins to think they are better or more powerful than the other. Hostile takeovers, war, abuse, etc. are the results.

Everything is a power trip. It always has been. Meanwhile, statistical analysis is now telling us that we have been ignoring 51% of the population far too long. Let's open our eyes shall we?

Hmm, I think I'll find a woman and drag her back to my cave...

Paul (I'm REALLY in deep now) Short

About 3 months ago I was riding my stead hunting for satisfaction, which sounds very adult in content but I’m actually referring to being a couch potato and channel surfing, when I noticed that the remote control I had in my hand was basically a very uncomfortable, badly designed shape for anything that you’d want to hold for any length of time.

I don’t know about you, but if the TV remote is MIA, then it’s usually in my hand or very close by.

Having more than a passing interest in weapons, especially firearms, I got to thinking that the perfect shape for a remote control would be something similar to a handgun.

So I drew up plans for…..The Remote 3000….the personal weapon of choice for any man hunting for satisfaction, albeit on the couch. The original plans for my new invention had it looking too much like a handgun, which I knew might attract attention for sales, but ultimately may be it’s undoing, so the final design had the R3000 looking more like a hand control for a slot car racing set.

Where the trigger was there were two buttons, one for volume, the other for channels. The on/off was where the hammer on a handgun lives and of course the batteries went in the butt just like a magazine for a handgun.

I made four dummies made up and decided to do a little market testing. So I through a party. Lots of couples, singles and guys in general and guess what…..every man at my little gathering absolutely loved my Remote 3000.

It was a hit, comfortable to hold, easy to use, no annoying video functions, we even had mock gun fights as the night wore on and the drink flowed freely and the next day three of the four had disappeared.

In fact the entire evening’s conversation revolved around men’s love of the remotes in their lives and the women’s dread of their husbands love of the remotes in their lives.

Every man I invited said he’d buy one or would love one as a gift. As for the women, many said they were pleased to see it didn’t resemble a real gun, but thought it was very comfortable to hold. No more small rectangles to give you RSI.

I bet if it went into production it could sell literary millions, before clones arrived on the scene.

Of course there's no guarantees, but when you have something people want........

A few infomercials, a little world of mouth, a few give-aways and hey presto, a successful product.

Believe it or not, this little story has much to do with men and how we’ll never change. Change the packaging, call us something else, but we’ll always be huMAN.

Sure we can't ride around, hunting for food, but siting on the couch with a Remote3000 plugging away at the box is as close as most of us will ever get to conquest.

As the Terminator once said, when asked if mankind would continue on……."It’s in our nature to destroy ourselves"

If my Remote 3000 is such a great idea, why don’t I do it?…well like most marketers, I have a project book full of great ideas (or so they all seem) but there’s only so much time.

But don’t be surprised if you see a version of what I just shared with you, somewhere in the future…..just remember, you heard it hear first.

Richard Vaughan

the last remote control we had became a missile against the wall. Can't stand remote controls. I now live in a household of women....well, most of them are less than four feet tall....and I insist upon changing the channels the old fashioned way.

Carefully adjusting my Million Mom March button and hat,

JULIE

Hi Julie, :)

> This is probably why......
> the last remote control we had became a
> missile against the wall. Can't stand remote
> controls. I now live in a household of
> women....well, most of them are less than
> four feet tall....and I insist upon changing
> the channels the old fashioned way.

Heheh... I didn't know the remote could become a metaphor for men and women.... So accurately!

I admit.... I'm one of those who likes to "kill the channel with my weapon" (as Michael Ross put it!)....

I'm starting to wonder though if it might be nice to sometimes watch a program all the way through.... I think I remember what that used to be like!

Heheh :) Just kidding.... I'm not that bad.... :)

Here's some more interesting observations on men and women.... Rita Rudner is one of my favorite comedians -- she's hilarious! She seems to specialize in observations on men and women....

Here's a Rita Rudner observation.... :)

Little girls love to play with toys. Then when they reach the age of 11 or 12, they lose interest.

Men never grow out of their obsession with toys. As they get older, their toys simply become more expensive and silly and impractical.

Examples of men's toys: little miniature TV's. Car phones. Complicated juicers and blenders. Graphic equalizers. Small robots that serve c0cktails on command. Video games. Anything that blinks, beeps, and requires at least 6 "D" batteries to operate.

Ahhh... how true! Though this observation may be out of date.... now they include cell-phones (mobile phones), the more functions the better! And don't forget camcorders, digital cameras, and for some even VR goggles. :)

And this echoes what Elizabeth was saying.... :)

Women will sometimes admit making a mistake. The last man who admitted he was wrong was General George Custer.

There's more of Rita Rudner's great observations here at and her official web site is at www.ritarudner.com .....

Women and men are different, but I think that helps to keep life interesting! :)

I love this topic... I'm definitely going to be doing more research on men and women's different approaches to business....

Cheers,

Dien

> Freud would probably attribute it to..
> the male preoccupation with size.... ahem!
> ;-)

Heheh... :)

Somehow, I really think Freud's theories tell us more about his *own* preoccupations than about anybody else's! :)

Dien