About 88 percent of Fortune 500 companies that existed in the 1950s are no longer around today. Many of those companies either merged or were acquired, but you can’t ignore the fact that many of these companies simply made bad business decisions. And if you take an even closer look, you’ll discover a common denominator among the big companies that have failed throughout history: a lack of women in leadership positions.
Many of these big companies also failed to adapt to an ever-changing environment. Blockbuster Video, Borders Books, Kodak, Sears, Blackberry — what do they all have in common? They failed to realize that the world was becoming more innovative and technological — and when they finally did, it was already too late.
The Kodak failure has become the poster child of what not to do. Not only did they underestimate the rise of innovation, but they also missed an opportunity with digital photography — a technology that they developed! Their leadership team was convinced that the world would stick to film photography rather than transition to digital. Now, rather than being the global leader in digital photography, they’re a punch line and a case study.
In 2016, Babson College released the National Entrepreneurial Assessment for the U.S., and during their assessment they discovered that ”among entrepreneurs, women are more likely than men to introduce products and services that are new to customers and not generally offered by competitors.” And in an evolving marketplace, the ability to be innovative will be the key to long term growth and sustainability.
Today, female entrepreneurship is also on the rise. And while historically, venture capital and startup funding has gone to men, a new wave of female-owned venture capital firms are now popping up across the country to support entrepreneurship and, more specifically, women-owned businesses.
In Chicago, technology incubator 1871 just hired its first female CEO, Betsy Ziegler. And just last month, 1871 was named the world’s leading university-affiliated incubator — a huge honor for Chicago, which has carved its niche within the tech community as the Silicon Valley of the Midwest. In 2015, 1871 created WiSTEM, a 12-week program specifically designed for women entrepreneurs. And today, the program has helped nearly 70 women-founded companies, which have created more than 200 jobs and generated more than $1.5 million in gross revenues.
And entrepreneur Jennifer Willey, founder of Wet Cement is addressing “gender equity” through a program that she’s created called Advance Women at Work, which is designed to help companies diversify their workplace and better understand that change involves more than just “fixing women;” it involves helping leadership and men within corporate America understand how they can improve company cultures in this #MeToo world. It’s not a zero-sum game — it’s about recognizing internal and external barriers so together we are all more effective and successful.
The conversation about gender equity is more than important. It’s critical. The original de facto motto of the United States of America was E Pluribus Unum, which in Latin means “Out of many, one.” And if we plan on re-establishing our status as the global leader in business and innovation, then we must all realize that we are stronger together. And that applies to corporate America too.
Mark Vargas (@MarkAVargas) is a tech entrepreneur, healthcare adviser and contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. From 2007-2010 he served within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
