An extensive survey of business leaders has revealed what female founders and business leaders are focused on for the year ahead. Notably, 1 in 3 (36 percent) have indicated that increasing profit was the main focus while 23 percent are looking to grow their businesses. The survey data comes from Global expenses app, ExpenseOnDemand and the main findings have been shared with Digital Journal.
These types of studies tend to draw upon social interaction theories, such as constructing a typology of attributes for female leaders to capture the important characteristics for success and to enable and elements of these attributes to be assessed.
There are some notable differences between female leaders compared to male leaders in terms of business goals across 2023. Female founders are more focused on increasing profits and growth; whereas the male leaders are far more focused on cost control.
Notably, male founders and business leaders are less optimistic with 40 percent focused on managing costs and nearly 1 in 4 (23 percent) saying they are concerned about clients paying them.
Furthermore, 19 percent of male founders admitted they are concerned about the future and surviving the next 12 months. In contrast, only 16 percent of females are admitting this is a concern. Female leaders are therefore taking a more optimistic approach to managing their business compared to their male counterparts.
Female leaders also appear to be more open to implementing technology solutions with 1 in 6 (16 percent) saying automating as many processes as possible was critical to helping with growth. As an example, automation assists with the monitoring of employee claims and highlighting any dubious and duplicate expenses. Another area of technology advancement is with apps to support hybrid working.
Sunil Nigam, Founder at ExpenseOnDemand, tells Digital Journal: “We commissioned our report to help us understand what businesses want from their tech provider and what business leaders and founders are concerned about over the next 12 months. Managing and monitoring employee expenses is challenging especially with a remote workforce and that is why we offer a flexible and tailored solution and work with our clients to match their needs.”
These findings tally with other studies into successful female leaders. There are variations, however, between female business heads, such as based on inter-generational or ethnic differences. For example, data has indicated that financially successful women owners delegate certain key tasks to employees, are more highly educated, and have more prior work experience than less successful females.
