Category: Blog

Every woman has the potential to think outside the box. While it’s true that many Dartmouth graduates follow traditional career paths such as investment banking and consulting, always some in the graduating class will choose to become entrepreneurs. WIB strives to introduce its members to the broad and lucrative field that is business because Dartmouth is one of the best times in one’s life to be a risk taker and step outside one’s comfort zone. Besides numerous classes like ECON 77: Social Entrepreneurship and TUCK 3: Business Management and Strategy, Dartmouth also offers a unique physical haven for entrepreneurs: the Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship. 

On Tuesday, November 2nd, Program Manager for Experiential Learning Sarah Morgan addressed WIB members as a guest speaker about the Center’s numerous opportunities for undergraduate students at Dartmouth. Some of the topics she mentioned include TuckLAB, the Tuck Business Bridge Program, running a student company, the Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community (LLC), the Pitch, and the human-centered design minor, to name a few. Sarah encouraged all students present at her talk to cross off items on their Dartmouth bucket lists, from taking the famous ENGS 12: Design Thinking class to trying something new with the Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship. Sarah also played an exciting video previewing the soon-to-be-complete construction on the West end of campus, home to the newly relocated and redesigned Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship, which will be adjacent to the Center for Engineering and Computer Science, the Tuck School of Business, and the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society. I myself have been inside the current center down by the Lodge and it already looks phenomenal—complete with futuristic-looking tables and swiveling chairs, many white boards, fun light fixtures, jukebox, fridges loaded with drinks, tall white stools, and collaborative conference rooms. I’m so excited to see the new state-of-the-art center, which will open after students return from Christmas break this winter term. The future is bright for women in business and entrepreneurship; as we look towards an increasingly interconnected world, technology, engineering, human-centered design, energy, and above all new thinking and entrepreneurship will pave the way.

by Sydney Wuu (Co-Media & Branding Chair 21S & 21F)

Works Cited

https://magnuson.dartmouth.edu/

https://magnuson.dartmouth.edu/blog/2021/10/06/west-end-furthers-spirit-of-collaboration-innovation/

https://calltolead.dartmouth.edu/stories/west-end-construction-underway

All business-related careers require a mix of strong networking, communication, and analytical skills, but here I will break down various careers within the rather broad field of business so you can see where your strengths match up.

Investment Banking: Are you a disciplined quantitative thinker who loves crunching numbers? Do you not mind spending lots of time invested in the job and enjoy staying in the same city, not leaving the office too often? Investment bankers are committed workers who help companies and governments obtain capital financing. They are in charge of creating financial models that depict the costs and benefits or mergers and acquisitions, as well as managing the various stages throughout a complex financial transaction. This career path’s alluring high salaries and ability to break into right after undergrad appeals to many number-oriented thinkers interested in finance.

Management Consulting: Do you enjoy traveling, writing, talking to others, problem-solving, and advising on operational and strategic issues? Management consultants operate usually on a case-to-case basis to help companies become more efficient. They must possess a good ability to work with people and be able to think critically and flexibly. Being a strong persuasive writer is a definite plus to this career path. Consultants tend to excel in a diverse range of skills unlike investment bankers, who become experts in a set of functionally specialized skills.

Marketing: Would you consider yourself a creative individual interested in the intersection of human psychology and digital art? Are you curious how our decisions can drive, persuade, and influence consumer behavior? Marketers are effective, adaptable communicators who often interpret large sets of data to make informed decisions on marketing strategies. They are very much sales-minded and focused on the end goal of increasing a client’s likelihood of purchasing a product.

Private Equity: Many investment bankers dream of eventually progressing and breaking into private equity, known as the “buy side,” where analysts are highly detail oriented, polished, and ambitious. Not to be confused with venture capital, private equity is making a large investment into developed companies during their later stages. Private equity involves less risk than venture capital and spans across all industries, from most established to most new. 

Venture Capital: Like the sharks on Shark Tank, are you good at spotting fresh concepts and new trends before they take off and let’s say… “capitalizing” upon them? Do you possess a solid economics background and a desire to work in an evolving, high-growth industry like tech or healthcare? Well then, venture capital is making a small investment, usually during the initial stages of a company’s development, in return for a long-term equity (ie: part-ownership) respective to however much the startup grows. Keep in mind that not everyone can immediately fund new entrepreneurs; it takes years of breaking into the industry, perhaps through transferring from investment banking and business schools.

Entrepreneurship: Are you starstruck by the work of great entrepreneurs like Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, and Charles Schwab? Do you like to brainstorm new ideas or practice design thinking in any way? Entrepreneurs are decisive, motivated risk-takers with boundless energy and versatility. They are creative self-starters with the drive to get up early in the morning to try out a new idea. If what I’m talking about sounds like something that piques your interest, I’d recommend taking some human-centered design courses or perhaps even complete the full minor to explore further.

by Sydney Wuu (Co-Media & Branding Chair 21S & 21F)

Over the past 50 years, daring females have challenged social norms to trailblaze new paths for women in the evolving realms of business and entrepreneurship. Today, I wanted to highlight three past and present female industry pioneers whose remarkable achievements and bold leadership have inspired millions.

In 1972, Katharine Graham made history by becoming the first female chief executive officer (CEO) of a Fortune 500 company, which is a list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. Stepping into this leadership position in The Washington Post marked a monumental milestone for women in the 20th century. Women at the time held less than 20% of total newspaper jobs and were rather excluded from voicing their opinions openly in the press. Despite not having many female mentors in the business arena she could turn to at the time, Graham became one to many and today is recognized as “the most powerful woman in journalism” by The Washington Post. During her tenure as their CEO, she bravely held out against the U.S. government to release stories on the Pentagon Papers and Watergate, providing an example of courage and integrity for young women today.

Ursula Burns, former CEO of Xerox, is the first African-American woman to lead a S&P 500 company. Burns grew up in a low-income housing project on Manhattan’s Lower East Side raised by a single mother who ran a home day-care center and took ironing and cleaning jobs to pay for her daughter’s high school education. Burns later achieved a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University and worked her way at Xerox up the ranks from a full-time entry level employee to CEO and chairman of the board. She stepped down after Xerox split into two public companies to found Change the Equation, a CEO-led and Obama administration-launched non profit organization that aims to boost STEM education, and join Uber’s board of directors. 

Women like Karen Lynch have made significant waves in the pharmaceutical and healthcare world during an extremely relevant time period. Lynch is the CEO of CVS Health, the largest health provider in the world that impacts the lives of more than 100 million people each year. CVS Health plays a critical role in the nationwide response to COVID-19 via its efficient testing and vaccination; in fact, the company is in charge of the most independently run COVID-19 testing sites in the nation. In 2020, Forbes recognized Lynch as one of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. 

As for the future, we still have some work to do to close this gender leadership gap. Although us women comprise approximately the majority — approximately 51% — of the United States population, we currently only fill about 7% of Fortune 500 CEOs. Dartmouth Women in Business calls for more gender representation in the business world, which starts from learning about the industry’s most inspiring female pioneers.

by Sydney Wuu (Co-Media & Branding Chair 21S/21F)

Works Cited

https://www.investopedia.com/news/top-women-ceos/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/brand-studio/fox/katharine-graham/

https://www.forbes.com/profile/ursula-burns/?sh=1c9a523b40a0

https://www.thewonderwomenproject.org/pages/biography-of-ursula-burns

https://cvshealth.com/about-cvs-health/leadership/karen-lynch

Hi WIB members

Happy Week 3! Please see the attached newsletter for upcoming opportunities. More information on these opportunities and where to sign up can be found in newsletter links and the attached flyers.

We want to remind you that many big opportunities including Nomura‘s Cross-Divisional Overview, and Perella Weinberg Partner‘s Diversity Virtual Coffee Chats, Advisory Diversity Prep Program, and Women’s Advisory Prep Program have fast-approaching deadlines this week.

Hope you are staying safe wherever you are!!

Best,

Women in Business