It is commonly believed that a businesswoman is a woman actively operating in the business world. Has this concept gained any new content in recent years?
I have no doubt that this concept has undergone a huge transformation. Once upon a time, a businesswoman functioned in an almost symbolic sense. This concept referred only to women who achieved spectacular, even inaccessible to the general public, financial successes. We thought about women holding top management positions in large international corporations. It was an extremely elite, even hermetic group.
This concept has significantly expanded and refers to very different professional roles, leadership models, and business styles. This happened because the structure of our economy changed. Today, there are many women around me who are not CEOs of large listed companies, but are full-fledged businesswomen. I’m talking about owners of small and medium-sized companies, leaders of start-ups, and girls who successfully build personal brands. This is especially visible on Instagram and in general in the digital space, where women develop online businesses.
Is this a positive change? If today almost every second woman on the Internet calls herself a businesswoman, does this term still mean anything?
To be honest, for a long time I didn’t like being talked about like that, because – in my opinion – a real businesswoman was the figure of Dr. Irena Eris – a woman building an international brand, operating with huge capital. At the beginning of my journey, I didn’t earn much money, so I felt dissonance. Today I have the impression that there has been a certain devaluation. For years, I organized competitions such as “Lionesses of Business” and I honestly admit that I felt great discomfort when women entered them who really wanted to be seen as a symbol of success, as a “Lioness”, and at the same time they offered me to pay for sponsorship packages in three installments because they simply had no money. This shows a certain superficiality of today’s times.
What does a situation where anyone can give themselves such a title regardless of actual achievements lead to?
There is one consequence and it is quite painful: we will stop appreciating those women who actually achieved the impossible. Everything will merge into one mass. The feeling of uniqueness will disappear. So the question arises: how to select truly outstanding people from this crowd? Today, we put women building powerful organizations in one row with those who are just starting their adventure with their own business. On the one hand, you can say that this is a measure of our times and maybe this is how it should be in modern society – that being a business woman is no longer something extraordinary, but one of the natural professional roles in the modern economy. But on the other hand, as a person who has been observing this market for years, I very much regret the prestige that once accompanied this word.
Since the concept itself has evolved, has the set of features that a modern businesswoman should have also changed?
I believe that the set of these features has been significantly modified. Until recently, we identified success solely with financial results. Today, a real businesswoman has, above all, a real impact – not only on her wallet, but on the business and social environment. I wouldn’t like to call such women influencers, because this word sometimes has negative connotations, but they are leaders who inspire, motivate and teach others. Currently, the focus is on the so-called empathetic leadership, also often called servant leadership. Another issue is consciously building a personal brand.
Ten or twenty years ago, the concept of personal branding practically did not exist…
Yes, the business was created in silence. There was a belief that money and career like peace, that it was better not to stick out, not to praise, not to step out of line. Today it’s impossible. We have to be in the media, we have to show ourselves, because the competition is huge. The winners are those women who can build their brand of experts and communicate it effectively. I always say like Woody Allen that 80 percent. success is the ability to show yourself. We used to be expected to be modest, but today we are expected to communicate our success so that the world knows what we are doing.
What other features are necessary to survive and win in today’s reality?
For me, the most important thing is that a modern businesswoman treats business as a space for realizing values, not only as a source of profit. This is a huge generational change. I am an example of this myself – I gave up running a PR agency and a business club, even though they brought me satisfactory income, in favor of the foundation. I wanted to combine business with what is in my heart. Today’s leaders focus on education, thousands of training courses and webinars, they use networks of relationships, but above all, they act with a mission. They have a higher goal than just material status. Another feature is authenticity.
To be yourself, you must first know who you are – as Jacek Santorski used to say. Today’s business women no longer want to meet other people’s expectations. They are aware that being themselves exposes them to hate and criticism, that it requires the ability to say “no” even to close people, but it gives them freedom that is priceless. In addition, there is attention to balance, i.e. the famous work-life balance. Today’s businesswoman knows that taking care of yourself is not selfishness, but the foundation of effectiveness in a new business project.
Can we then talk about a new role for women in business?
Definitely yes. This new role is to show the human and extremely feminine face of business. Since more than one third of economic activities in Poland are owned by women, we can talk about a kind of democratization of entrepreneurship. Our mission is to show that business is not only about male competition, aggression and tenacity. We bring intuition, which men often make fun of, but which is a powerful competence.
Is there a lesson that we as women in business still need to learn to reach the next level?
The most important lesson is that of solidarity and sisterhood. This is the key to everything. Our research showed that only 30 percent women experienced real support from other women at work. This is drastically low. Almost half of the respondents believe that men are more loyal to each other. We could be much higher if we understood that instead of competing, we have to strengthen each other. I often say: how you treat another woman is a mirror of how you treat yourself. If you love and accept yourself, you will see another woman as an ally, not a rival. The second lesson is the freedom to define yourself and the right to change your path without feeling guilty. If something doesn’t work out for us, don’t treat it as a failure in life. Let’s just change direction. Today, a lot of women are retraining and that’s great. We must learn to build community.
What will the businesswoman of the future be like?
Above all, confident and authentic. I would like her to be a little crazy, in a positive sense – not to be stiff, to love life and accept her flaws. Perfectionism is not healthy, it is killing us. The businesswoman of the future is a woman who knows her strengths and weaknesses, is resistant to criticism and is not afraid to stand up for herself, while taking care of her mental health and immunity.
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