Technology executive and intellectual property leader Mallun Yen co-founded ChIPsNetwork.org to connect women in business, and explains how women can integrate healthy business relationships into their friendships with other women.
Yen explains that often times when women are given an ask by another female friend in a business setting, both sides can feel put off. Organizational psychologist Ronald Riggio says, "Men’s friendships are often based on shared activities, and are more ‘transactional’ ... [whereas] women share feelings.” Yen argues that women can take the power of emotional bonds and, "channel them into the transactionality that drives business success," listing four ways to get started for Fortune.
Women have a long way to go to achieve equality in corporate America. Every effort we make to help each other, small or large, moves us forward. Start by reaching out to three women today and saying, “Tell me two concrete things I can do to help you.” And if you are attempting to scaffold from a personal relationship to a business one, consider addressing the elephant in the room head-on and acknowledge the awkwardness that can arise when you begin to do so.
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