Misc. -- psychology of men and women

Business School has been an enlightening and empowering experience. I can honestly say I've learned more than I imagined already, and I have every confidence that when I graduate, It will be worth every penny (and trust me, their are millions of pennies).

This semester I'm taking an Entrepreneurship course and I'm so excited. It's my dream to be a successful entrepreneur. On the first day, the teacher made all 51 of us say our name, explain our interest in the course, and describe any related experiences. As I listened, I noticed the trends. The men in the class spoke about working with various start-ups, in some cases starting their own businesses. The men who hadn't were very cool and collected about there reasons for taking the class, insinuating that they wanted the professor to prove the validity of entrepreneurship.

The women were different. Almost all began with "Well, I really don't have any entrepreneurial experience..." followed by either stories of odd jobs here and there at childhood or just being curious about how feasible life as a business owner would be.

The next tell-tale sign was a pitch assignment. About 23 people got up and gave a 75 second pitch for a business they were interested in starting. Again, the differences were stark. Women came to the front with traditional business ideas. The ones that required a lot of time, labor and money to get started. They ranged from Spa's to Bakery's to Services where the owner had to plan and execute repeatedly to get paid. One presentation, a pair of women, had an idea that could take off and go beyond their physical capabilities. I like to think my idea had legs as well. Only 6 women presented, including myself.

By and large the men shared idea's that required up front planning and capital, but could grow beyond their efforts. I won't get into sharing their brilliance but trust me when I say that their ideas were not restricted to the number of hours they could work.

Listening more, I heard stories of men in the class meeting with professors to discuss various ideas and initiatives, entering case competitions and pitching businesses. No such stories from the women.

I started thinking again...

We (men and women) are admitted to grad school with essentially equivalent GMAT scores, undergrad grades, work experiences... and yet, our approaches to grad school have been very different. I'm not one to talk in generalities, but it seems like men and women just think and work on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Women are focusing on the educational experience. The classwork. Men are making connections, building their networking and setting their eyes on long-term profits. Up until this winter, I've only thought about talking to a professor about my ideas. I didn't want to appear to be a kiss-up during the semester, and then I just wouldn't pursue it afterwards. I was a little green that my male classmates, who I don't think are any more capable or creative, had the gumption to do what it's taken me a lot longer to even try, semesters ago.

I got home from class today and turned on the news... Another bailed out company, Wells Fargo, was planning something extravagant. This time it would be junkets in Vegas at the Wynn and Encore luxury hotels for 12 days. This was to be a "reward" to their hard working "employees". Apparently the outrage was enough to make them cancel their plans.

My mother said, "A woman would never have done that in this economy after taking $25M from the government.." I smiled.

I guess it works both ways.