a woman working in this market, I have built something of a reputation as an expert on gender opportunity. Still I find that many would rather dismiss such concerns as ‘women's problems' than take the time to understand that I am talking about ways the business might be more financially successful.
Culture/workplace gender issues, sexuality, the female economy (womenomics). When writing this book, I worked to keep the three subjects distinct in order to better understand them and appreciate what each brings to the discussion. But the fact is they are all part of the overall mix, so keep that page in your head and continue to visualise those dotted lines linking them. As you read this book, I hope you will start to see gender as a wonderfully powerful term associated with profits, product developments and market disruption, rather than as big blind spots.
The numbers and facts around womenomics are black and white, but there is still a big grey area to address – and that's what we'll be doing in the pages that follow.
Addressing our gender differences, when it comes to business, can lead to big bucks – so stick with me!
This book was written for forward-thinking trailblazers who are ready to take positive action in their businesses and organisations. It closes the gap between wanting to create change and knowing why we need it. It's for those decision makers who are having the conversation but are struggling with how to look at it all from a new perspective. And it's for the leaders at the top who will be influenced by the determined, enterprising folk who work with them.
Together, we'll bridge all levels of the organisational chart to explore how acknowledging our different perspectives can add up to more revenue.
We'll look at how tradition has created a false myopia and why learning to see the way the world has changed can illuminate some of the blind spots that persist in corporations around the globe today. To not see gender is to limit yourself to one perspective or lens and to miss the greater opportunity entirely. If you will suspend your disbelief and keep both your eyes and your mind wide open, this book will be transformational to your future business.
Let's begin.
Introduction
Women are the fastest growing global consumer economy.
An Ernst and Young study reports that by 2028 women will control close to 75 per cent of discretionary spend worldwide.2 That's a trillion-dollar opportunity for the business world – a world that has been shaped by men and an instinctive male perspective.
Is it any wonder that big blind spots exist in businesses and brands when it comes to forming relationships with women?
Put simply, you are failing to seize a trillion-dollar business opportunity because you have no idea how to address this paradox by looking at your business from a different perspective.
If you're like most CEOs, then you're looking to technology, innovation and ‘disruption' for competitive advantage, but I suggest you're getting it all wrong! The solution is devastatingly simple and right in front of you.
You are viewing the consumer world through only one lens. A traditional, male lens. Now it's time to include a female lens.
Many leading business execs say they already have a healthy bottom line. So why would they change their current formula if it's working well?
Why consider ways to better meet the unmet needs or wants of women and make more money by doing so?
The answer is really as simple as:
‘Why wouldn't you?'
There has never been a better time, nor a more financially important time, to find a new prescription that ensures full visibility of each gender.
We live in a time of exponential change and disruption. Being a business that thrives in today's landscape requires a new approach. Leaders must learn about, understand and harness the ever-changing competitive market.
Three unrelenting forces shaping the world today are the weather, the web and women. At the same time, education and entrepreneurial opportunities are increasingly ‘fast, flat and free'. The democratising internet has broken down barriers for women, encouraging them to make their own way onto the world stage.
Women use the web to start up their businesses, connect to one another, buy and sell, communicate their delight and dissatisfaction. Women also research businesses and spend money with them like never before, aligning with brands that share their values.
The web has given women a platform from which they can be heard 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are building community and recognition, relevance and legitimacy in a space that is no longer monopolised by the traditionally dominant traditional-lensed perspective. Women own one-third of all businesses, more than half of which are in developing countries.3
Lots of smart people out there nod knowingly, eyes widening as they lean in to hear more. You progressive forward thinkers recognise that you need to improve now to set yourself up for the future.
The naysayers who dismiss the opportunities risk finding themselves sidelined, classified with companies that have famously failed to recognise and embrace earlier critical transitions – from steam to electric trains, from celluloid film to digital, from print to online communication.
It's likely you employ women, probably in your marketing team, which means you already understand the female market, right?
Wrong.
Your female employees, staff, team, colleagues, clients and customers have spent a lifetime learning from a rulebook that was invented and passed down with that traditional male lens. But we live in a new era.
This is fact. It's not man bashing. It's not personal.
It's just better business.
Whether you're a woman or a man, it's not your fault that you've been applying or acceding to an unconscious bias.
For both women and men, this is an exciting opportunity – an invitation – to re-examine the business world from a female-lensed perspective.
We're at the beginning of a market renaissance – a woman's revolution. It's an economic boom that could make or break your business and brand.
To embrace this opportunity, to get it right, you must have a clear understanding of the role of gender in your market. Or, to put it bluntly, you've got to stop seeing everything through the traditional male lens and learn how to also include a female lens!
This is what this book will show you how to do.
We'll explore:
▪ how we arrived at this point in business and the lessons we need to learn to adapt to a future, forward-thinking market
▪ what brands have it right and what brands have it all wrong
▪ how the sexes really think, operate and therefore shop (hint: it has nothing to do with the colour pink)
▪ why having a female workforce
Major, N. (2013).
Pofeldt, E. (2015). ‘Women's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Surge Globally'. [online]
