Monday, June 29, 2009

John Teeling Chairman Cooley distillery guest speaker

Nobody disagrees with John Teeling's 4 core themes for entrepreneurship -vision, ability to gather resources, handle risk and uncertainty, energy and determination.


When it comes to discussing risk however John’s traditional view perpetuates the old myth - women, he believes are less likely to take risks and this is one reason we have fewer female entrepreneurs, than male ones he insists.


“ They have an appetite for risk alright, but need to ensure that the level of uncertainty is as low as it can be. Perhaps it’s women’s instinct to protect the nest that influences this! “ Says Oonagh Monahan, facilitator of SWIBN.


Fortunately members took a robust attitude to John Teeling’s pragmatism and commented positively on the key elements they got from his talk. ‘Run with your vision’ said one member and ‘maintain it’. ‘Failure isn’t that big a deal’ said another and finally ‘embrace uncertainty’. A practical note, gender neutral and one we could all do with remembering.


by Amanda Scott - SWIBN facilitator