Women naturally tend to be more empathetic, and the business world has long led us to believe that empathy is a weakness. This International Women’s Day, I’m urging female-identifying entrepreneurs and businesspeople to lean in to their empathy. In this economy, caring about your people, ensuring they’re okay, and encouraging them to be their true selves at work is crucially important to create a culture that team members want to be a part of. Empathy also means running businesses that have a purpose beyond making money – for us at Willful, that includes committing 1% of our equity to SickKids via The Upside Foundation, and encouraging legacy gifts in wills. Empathy is our secret weapon against the typical “hustle and grind” culture in startups, and we should lean into it more in 2023 in order to drive our businesses forward.
Erin Bury
Co-founder & CEO at Willful
Co-founder & CEO at estate planning startup Willful.co, and co-founder of The County Wine Tours, a bicycle wine tour company in Prince Edward County. I’m a professional speaker with Speakers’ Spotlight, and an advisor to startups including Quill. I’m on the board at Save the Children Canada, and I’m the co-chair at #Tech4SickKids.
