I’ve just come home from a great event, organised by Karen Birch of ‘Fair Comment‘, in which two young companies presented their business plans to a small panel of experienced business women. The companies, Kohl Publishing and My Health Cards, were both finalists in the Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE) business plan competition for students studying at Scottish Universities.
The concept of the event is that, by sharing a business problem openly, the collective experience of the women in the room will help to solve the problem. The panel give their time freely, and clearly have a lot to contribute.
In the case of these fledgling businesses, the experience allowed them to test out a range of possible directions that their business could take. It was clear that the panel relished the opportunity to put their knowledge to the test, and to come up with a wide range of new ideas for the young entrepreneurs to consider. What was particularly enjoyable about the evening was the spirit of openness and the collaborative support of the group.
The pace of discussion never flagged, and ideas took shape as people contributed their experience to build on each other’s comments. I left the room feeling refreshed and energised, and I am sure that the presenters will have gained some valuable ideas and insights for their businesses. Once they have had time to reflect on and evaluate the new ideas, I am sure that they will be able to use them to make their great business concepts even better.
Thank you to Karen for organising the event and for Hays Recruitment for hosting it.
Fiona Godsman 
Sadly, the only way to get men to work together like this is first to hand out uniforms and weapons. Then tell them about some incoming threat to their “way of life” that must be united against and which involves self-sacrifice -oh and promise them medals.
I tend to think the most productive groups are comprised of as many different genders (though not agendas) as possible.
Just as well it was a man making these comments; I would not dare! As you say, however, it’s not about gender, it’s about attitude. In real life, I try to avoid stereotyping people.