Sisterhood University: Women Leaders Give #sisUdc an “A” – 10.10.10 Results Released

By Kathy Korman Frey

Women from the Mid-Atlantic (and even the Mid-West) gathered yesterday at the George Washington University School of Business, Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence for the first-ever Sisterhood University ™. Sisterhood University™ is the testing ground for research gathered by the Hot Mommas® Project, which is the world’s largest collection of teachable role models and mentors (aka case studies) for women and girls.

Sis U Goal: Sisterhood University’s goal was to bring together, educate, and connect women leaders in the community. Why? Because of the compelling data about the economic contributions of women entrepreneurs, as well as the documented evidence on the power of formal and informal support networks.

The Punchline: We did it. Or rather, THEY did it.

Why only a half-day? My class at George Washington University School of Business’s Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence produces triple digit increases in entrepreneurial self-confidence for women aged 18 to 30. However, past surveying indicated a big “no” when working women were asked about dedicating this level of time. Thus, the question for us at Sis U was “What meaningful and measurable results can we produce with a group of working women in just three hours?”

“What meaningful and measurable results can we produce with a group of working women over the course of only three hours?”

Measurable increases: The results are below. Demographic and other data about the pilot group will be released in a later write-up by GW students Kaitlyn McAuliffe (stats major) and JuJu Lee (MBA).

• Attendee personal and professional self-efficacy increased 20%
• Attendee personal self-efficacy with respect to work life balance increased 36%

What this means: Attendees experienced measurable increases in their outlook around: Ability to handle professional challenges (professional self-efficacy),  ability to handle personal challenges in general (personal self-efficacy), and ability to handle specific personal challenges, namely work-life balance.

Increase in supportive connections for women: We also asked attendees about their starting number of supporters – both personally and professionally – as well as future outlook around number of supporters.  Attendees experienced the following increases:

• Number of close personal supporters increased 20%
• Number of close professional supporters increased 45%

Behind the scenes, our goal was to increase key measures between 10 and 20 percent during the three-hour workshop. The pilot attendee group exceeded our expectations.

Where would you like to see the next Sis U? Please  post a comment if you’d like to see Sis U come to your region.

THANK YOU

Thank you to the participants, the Hot Mommas® Project team and alums, our partner:  CFEE at GWSB. Ladies, through our 80% of household purchasing power, let’s support the people and companies who “get it” and empower women. Here they are:

Prizes for #sisUdc and goodies supplied by: Firehook Bakery, OnSalePromos.com, momAgenda, David and Goliath Tees, Beijo Bags, Tranquilsta Author Kimberly Wilson.  Downloadable flyer.

Hot Mommas® Project research sponsors and national partners include: Linda Rabbitt founder of Rand Contruction, the Charles Schwab Foundation, FMS Inc. Advanced Systems Group, Tenley Carp, Esq., Partner at Cohen and Mohr, SEPHORA, The Women and Philanthropy Forum, and GWSB Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence, Dr. Normal Scarborough –  Prentice Hall author.

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Some reactions and Tweets:

@WUSA News article by @NiceShuzNoDrama and @JillFoster

@ChiefHotMomma: Are you a solver? Powerful #sisUdc observations from @deziner http://ad.vu/5f9m

@ChiefHotMomma:  Women-feel like you’re “missing something?” @heidistaats found it http://ad.vu/5dwp #sisUdc

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Quick links:

Women’s Business Fact Sheet (rolling updates)

Nominate a dynamic woman you know (18 or over) to share her story as a role model and mentor with Hot Mommas Project.org. Winners are published in a leading Prentice Hall textbook.

Sis U alert list (add yourself to mail list by clicking appropriate “ticket” on EventBrite).

Stay tuned for Part II of this post with attendee reactions. Subscribe via email to this blog (on the right column) to keep updated on developments for Sis U, the Hot Mommas Project, and women’s leadership.