Confident Women Built Here

I am thinking about how confident women are built just days before my little girl joins our family. How do I ensure she becomes a future leader?  I just read Marshall Goldsmith’s blog post interviewing Girl Scouts former CEO Kathy Cloninger.

Marshall asks Kathy about the results of a study on the leadership aspirations of girls.  Most were ambivalent about the current command and control leadership most prevalent in our society.  A fact that most enlightened leaders already understand. Interestingly, most of the female business executives and business owners in the US (80%) are former Girl Scouts; as are more than 65% of the female members of the US Congress and Senate.  Clearly Girl Scouts are developing valuable leadership skills in young women.

What else can we do to help our young girls become confident strong leaders?

“Indie” Capitalism or Back to Basics

Terrific Article by Bruce Nussbaum and exactly the trend I see. I want to capitalize on this for my kids.  Entrepreneurs or Makers are on the rise.  People don’t want to be employees.  While that is nothing new and the whole point of enlightened leadership is to empower teams to take ownership.  This is nonetheless a rewarding path that frees our kids from the tyranny of crony capitalism and mass consumerism.

Kids Want To Be Entrepreneurs

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Kid Entrepreneurs

A report by the Kauffman Foundation confirms 40% of 8-24 year old youth would like to be kid entrepreneurs or adult entrepreneurs instead of employees. The 2010 study shows a slight increase over the 2007 survey.

It could be that today’s wannabe entrepreneurs have more high-profile Internet kid entrepreneurs to encourage them.  Perhaps, they also recognize that the knowledge and tools to create wealth are more readily available than at any other time in human history.

Whatever the reason this is a great trend for the USA, as well as the globe.  Maybe one day we’ll all be working for our kids.

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