Why is that more young girls and women don't seem to see themselves in the business world?  Babson is a member of The Forte Foundation, an organization devoted to inspiring women to pursue business leadership through greater access to business education.  Through its work, Forte provides exposure to business education and business career paths for young women and encourages them to make the business world their professional choice.  They're doing a great job!  Yet, the solution to fostering greater involvement in business leadership by women may lie not only in providing access, role models, and encouragement, but in changing the frame for how women view business. 

The traditional view of business by many women, young and old, is that business is a somewhat seamy enterprise, in which profits rule at any cost, organizational politics (considered a dirty word) abound, and little of true value is created.  Many often say, “I want to do something meaningful” and so they reject business as a choice. 

Well, here's a different way to frame that world!  What if you could be a leader of an organization that provided employment to hundreds or thousands?  What if those individuals had decent food, housing, and medical care because of their employment by your company?  What if the community your company was in received support not only through the employment it provided and the taxes it paid, but also through the volunteer activity of its employees and the philanthropic support it gave to local causes?  What if the product your company created made a difference for your customers?  What if the cash flow of your company was reinvested into the economy - through vendor contracts, employee salaries and their spending, capital project investments, among others?  What kind of multiplier effect might that have? 

Yes, it's true that businesses care about profits and that any group has interpersonal dynamics and power plays (just watch kids on a playground, grown-ups in business didn't invent this!), but well-run businesses are primarily focused on value creation.  We need to start teaching young girls and women that business is a place where they can create real value for the world.  They can be the captains of organizations that provide jobs, create important products and services, and deliver true benefits to communities.  Businesses are the engines of wealth creation and social benefit.  If that's not meaningful, I don't know what else is.  All aboard!