Sunday 4 July 2010

Sunday Times Today!

Another great story in the press about women sharing and networking in today's Sunday Times Style Magazine.

Journalist Kate Spicer did her homework and entitled her very positive piece "It's Good to Share: A New Breed of Female-only Networks, build on shared experiences and stories, is taking a refreshingly supportive and empowering approach."

Kate quoted several on-line and real-time women's networks, including, I'm delighted to say www.seednetworkingforwomen.com and for those of you who didn't see it, here's what I had to say on the subject:

"There is nothing better than women sharing their stories, good and bad," says the former

PR supremo Lynne Franks, who has been pushing this kind of soft networking in

business for a decade, but is seeing it flourish now. "We have reached a tipping point of

women feeling strong enough to stand up and say they want to do it differently.

Traditionally, women have had to make it in a man's world by being assertive -- the

Thatcher syndrome.

But, given a safe space, the masks come off. Women will be vulnerable in a way they

won't with men. And we bloom when we connect with other women and share our

stories. The instinctive businesswoman makes personal connections in meetings." She

laughs at us doing our interview by Skype, "in our nighties. New technology lends itself

to women and the way we connect."

Franks has worked with blue-chip companies, including McDonald's and HSBC,

encouraging them to nurture their female talent by "letting female employees share in

small, intimate groups". In the autumn, she is launching a female-only workspace in

London, with plans to roll out the concept across the UK. For an annual fee of Pounds

180-Pounds 300, women can use a well-equipped professional environment and have

access to mentoring, in a space that is as far from the sterile office norm as you can

possibly imagine.


See you in The Garden,
Happy Sunday,
Love Lynne

3 comments:

  1. genius. I think the tipping point is totally right. Am just starting up a group for creative thinkers and creative business builders with the aim of creating artistic retreats along the vein of Art & Soul, Art Fest and Squam. Having just finished an e-course by Kelly Rae Roberts. Very much this sort of thing. Would love to come on your retreat sometime, Lynne. And I like the sound of your networking group too. Will keep reading your blog! ps am finding the 'blogosphere' very much about this sort of networking too. Love it.

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  2. spot on! I think women only networking groups have a totally different feel to traditional / male biased ones. I use both, but feel that the female support has helped me gain the confidence to network effectively in mixed company. I love your comment about dropping the mask, and have blogged about that very topic myself! http://wp.me/pTSeV-3

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  3. doing our interview by Skype, "in our nighties.

    I love it! Thanks, Lynne for allowing us to 'be' in our nighties.

    Inspirity

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