The Female as an Entrepreneur

The Female as an Entrepreneur

For the final project, I am interested in evaluating and discussing the leadership and characteristics of Martha Stewart, a famous and successful American entrepreneur, businesswoman, former model, and television personality. Martha is the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, a platform that provides assistance to people on various daily living issues such as home renovating, gardening, cooking, entertainment, holidays, crafting, and healthy living (Gren, 2015). She has achieved great success through various business ventures, including publishing, merchandising, broadcasting, and e-commerce. Martha has also written many bestselling books and publications, including the Martha Stewart Living Magazine. She also hosted the Martha (2005-2012) and Martha Stewart Living (1993-2004) syndicated TV programs.

Martha Stewart has been an inspiration for many women across the world, participating in many television talks and providing home and daily living assistance to women. Martha Stewart’s company offers products that are mostly used by women, including ready-made home furnishings, interior decoration, cook and craft books, and home decoration books and products (Fombrun, 2005). Her daytime television shows also provide insights on how women can start businesses and carry out activities such as gardening. Her leadership style is largely autocratic, and she is very demanding on her employees (Maccoby & Conrad, 2003). She pays close attention to the various aspects of her business ventures and possesses traits that enable her to become a transformational leader. Martha’s personal characteristics are a blend of feminine and masculine traits, which equip her well to manage her businesses and relate well with her employees and customers.

Martha Stewart is rational, self-motivated, ambitious, and competitive – traits that are generally attributed to male leaders (Gren, 2015). She is also generous, gracious, stylish, sensitive, and nurturing – traits commonly attributed to female leaders. I selected Martha Stewart for her exceptional and transformational leadership. Many people perceive an autocratic leader as an individual who is dictatorial and who does not relate well with their followers, which is not the case with Stewart. Analyzing Martha Stewart’s personal characteristics and leadership will provide insights into how women can achieve business success and disapprove the common stereotype that male leaders perform better than female leaders.

References

Fombrun, C. J. (2005). The leadership challenge: Building resilient corporate reputations. Handbook on responsible leadership and governance in global business, 54, 68.

Gren, C. (2015, December 09). Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, a shining business empire. Retrieved February 23, 2019, from https://www.industryleadersmagazine.com/martha-stewart-living-omnimedia-a-shining-business-empire/

Maccoby, M., & Conrad, C. (2003). The productive narcissist: The promise and peril of visionary leadership. New York: Broadway Books.