What should be different about education to encourage women to start their own businesses?  There are at least two separate questions embedded in the overall concern.  First, we need young women to be interested in business and second we need them to be interested in starting businesses of their own.  The question of why young women aren't interested in business careers is a recurring theme.  One of the reasons we've suggested before is that they don't see business as interesting, attractive or inviting.  There is no TV business version of an Allie McBeal as in a law career or any one of a number of shows featuring women in a medical career (my current favorite is definitely House).  Whenever there is a mention of a woman owning a business in TV or a movie, it tends to be a coffee shop, restaurant, or small but oh so inviting inn (not that there is anything wrong with that).  But the idea of a woman designing and developing an entrepreneurial career based upon identifying opportunities that appeal to her and building the resource base to pursue those opportunities - you just don't see that.  This career might begin working for others and learning the paces and develop either into a long term career within large organizations, or starting her own business, large or small.  It is also a recurring theme that our business world is based upon a cultural foundation that either doesn't exist any more, or at least, exists in a more limited manner.  William Whyte wrote about the White Collar Man and specifically talked about the society's role in producing individuals (male - and the idea of “individuals” as loosely based”) but everyone was being developed and educated to work in a large, read that very large, organization.  But it is increasingly clear that very large organizations do not necessarily provide either the pathway to the manner in which people want to live their lives, or the outcomes on what organizations should produce as their contribution to the world

I recently joked that I can't believe I now occasionally use the term existentialist in a conversation, But I am increasingly concerned that we don't think about why we are here and how that question relates to our lives.   I have spent many years of my life in the service of women's entrepreneurship and it is a phenomenon to which I am deeply committed because I think this pursuit can make a difference.  And so my continuing question to those of you who are starting a business - why are you doing this?  We know from many years of research that it is not just about making the money.  That is a nice  - and important - pursuit, but it is usually 3^rd or 4^th on the list.  Doing something independently or making a difference usually beats it.  My hope is that the difference you are trying to make is not only about what you are producing, but also, how you are producing it.  Schumpeter's classic definition of innovation includes the idea that innovation is not only the better mouse trap, but also the better means of production.  I interpret that means of production to include how you design and operate your business.  How do you select your team?  How does that team work together? How do you share information?  What are your measures of success?  What are you ultimately trying to overcome?  The ways things are currently done is based upon history - not necessarily upon what is the best way to do things.  Let's think further about this.  But my opening question remains as an invitation to hear more from you.  If you believe that business can be done in a different manner and that manner may be better for society - what needs to be different about business education?