Over the past year I have been able, thanks to my title of Businesswoman of the Year 2009, to give many lectures and interviews and to attend symposia. In the beginning they quite often asked me during interviews about “how I had managed things at home, with a family and so on”. This question is, I am afraid, still a model for the level of discussion in the Netherlands about women at the top.
I prefer to avoid the ‘woman issue’
But actually I don’t really want to talk about this ‘woman issue’. I prefer to avoid the whole discussion. It’s not about being a woman, but about the skills that a person has. The ‘packaging’ of that person does not even count for me. For a while I even wondered whether the title Businesswoman of the Year would suit me. But the appreciation for your business that the title brings with it is very significant. I therefore decided to go for it, but only for the content. I chose four themes: sustainability, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, and I’ve been able to publicize these themes a lot over the past year thanks to the title. Not just for myself and my company, but also for the sectors in which Priva operates.
Our company Priva is active in the horticultural sector and in utilities (offices etc.). Quite a technical man’s world, where it is important as a woman that you should remain yourself. I am convinced that there are no glass ceilings, but that they appear when you think they are there. Believe in yourself and stick to what you want to achieve!
Passion instead of position
Even our company does not find it easy to recruit women. And the challenge then is to keep them and to give them opportunities to grow. HR policy should be more focused on outputs: what we agree on with each other, and what these agreements lead to. Evaluate performance rather than time sheets. This process is obviously based on trust. If you can handle that as an organization, you’ll create a very different kind of dynamic within your organization. Then you can give space to people with passion instead of people going for a position. And that’s one way in which women can distinguish themselves!
Entrepreneurs with passion are people who dare to dream. If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, whether you’re male or female, you have to dare to follow your dreams. By persevering in your dream you, along with the people around you, can achieve your goal. Therefore, the best advice I can give is: dream, stick with it, make a plan and just do it!
