Beating the Odds: Women Brokers Rise

Go, Girl... Last week's Dispatch, Do Women Shy Away from Brokerage? (Mar 14), really filled my inbox. Aside from two flame e-mails ("I'm disgusted...," "esoteric b**t..."), all other comments were quite positive.

Ka Cotter, Vice Chair at Staubach, writes, "...I believe women are just as competitive and usually more strategic. Men are more comfortable hiring men.....but this has gradually changed over the years. Remember there were only about 5 of us in Dallas 27 years ago....now Dallas has one of the biggest populations of women in the industry....at least from my undocumented survey!!"

Susan Branscome, EVP at Q10Triad Capital Advisors in Cincinnati, OH, writes, "You will be seeing a change as women rise in ranks. The attitude and acceptance toward women participating in sports in high school and college has grown tremendously in the last number of years. Athletics foster all the qualities needed in business and the competitive real estate market -- teamwork, fair play, etc."

I totally agree with Marissa Miller at Orion Partners in Marin County, California, who writes, "As a woman in a male-dominated industry, I feel I have a bit of an edge on my male competition. I’ve noticed that female business owners can be more comfortable working with another female... "

Ben Black of KrekowJenningsInc in Seattle offers the last word. "If we want equity in the workplace, we need to be more thoughtful about how we collectively build the culture of success. A contest to out-perform peers for a prize or to become a top producer is not a universal form of motivation or measure of success. We may all be better served by workplaces and communities that foster co-operation rather than competition."

-- Peter Pike