Taking a holistic view

Keystone, crafted with the vision and passion of women, exists to empower women. It’s about reshaping the landscape of work to benefit everyone. As fellow entrepreneurs, we intimately grasp the challenges that come with launching and managing a business. Through this initiative, we are committed to guiding you on a transformative path, one that redefines your purpose, connects you with your like-minded community, and unlocks your fullest potential.

Our comprehensive strategy takes a holistic view, harmonising your personal life with your professional aspirations, giving you the tools not just to survive, but to flourish. Our mission is to ensure that every woman, whether she’s aspiring to launch or expand her business or simply contemplating a shift in her career, has ready access to the support she needs.

The ultimate aim isn’t endless expansion

The ultimate aim isn’t an endless expansion.; it’s fostering self-reliance within the intricate ecosystem of your enterprise. And even further, how we all contribute to the ecosystem of entrepreneurship locally and globally.

But that is hard to sell in an environment only pushing more sales and more growth. In the business realm, there is an urgent need for better role models. I envision a world where upcoming generations of entrepreneurs draw inspiration from business leaders who are not only driven by growth and profits but are also dedicated to making a positive impact on the world, without sacrificing their wellbeing. Our ambition is to entirely reshape our career paths, with a focus on enhancing both our personal well-being and the well-being of the world.

We need to stop idolising people who use power for personal gain

Often, those most attracted to power are the ones least suited to wield it responsibly.  If we aspire to have leaders of unwavering integrity, we must refrain from elevating individuals characterised by narcissism and Machiavellianism.

According to the Harvard Business Review’s Why We Follow Narcissistic Leaders by Dritjon Gruda and Paul J. Hanges;

Uncertainty in the business world provides a ripe opportunity for narcissists — people who have a grandiose conception of themselves, are self-obsessed, and crave authority and control — to emerge as leaders. Narcissists are great at accumulating power and influence and their confidence and charisma create the illusion of them being the best person for the job when predictability is low.

Given this, it’s not surprising that narcissistic leaders can be found in multiple positions of authority throughout organizations. Not only does this fulfill their desire for power but also gives them the opportunity they seek to show off, and validate that they are at the centre of the universe. While narcissistic leaders can be productive and accomplished, over time, their need for continual admiration, acting in their own interest and putting the needs and interests of others at risk can destroy productivity, group morale, and organizational culture.

We recently conducted a study to understand narcissistic leaders and who is most likely to follow them. We addressed this question by applying modern computing techniques to create an algorithm that helped us infer narcissism and personality traits of leaders and followers based on their Twitter posts (436 leaders with a combined 49,644 followers). Each of us reveals hints about our personality from the textual data we leave behind when we post or engage in conversations with others online.

We defined leaders as individuals who are followed online by others. Consistent with our definition, the majority of the people we called leaders actually held leadership positions in corporate America. Followers were defined as anyone who engaged with a leader’s posts on a regular basis over time. We included leaders and followers who had interacted a minimum of four times from January 1, 2018 to November 15, 2019.

We then used linguistic analytics to infer people’s personality traits. Linguistic analytics describes the use of software to analyze and study language, oftentimes in social media posts. In this study, we examined leaders’ and followers’ word choice, word order, sentence structure, as well as expressed emotions and tone in posted tweets. These characteristics were used to create a profile of the person’s personality.

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority.” John Dalberg-Acton

Why programmes like Keystone matter

Create a nurturing community around you, one that can provide encouragement and affirmation during moments of self-doubt. When you connect with kindred spirits, reach out to like minded people, find clarity about yourself and what you want to do, your confidence grows. Through the programme, you will develop the skills and contacts you need to move towards what you want to do, how you want to spend your time and make your living.

Remember that being human entails occasional negative self-reflection, but by enhancing your self-awareness, building a supportive community, and consciously focusing on the positives daily, you’ll notice a profound transformation in how you perceive your own worth and value. Sustaining self-belief, especially when forging a new path, is a significant achievement in itself. Even the most seasoned entrepreneur requires support. Building a business is a collaborative journey, and no one does it entirely alone or with unwavering confidence at every turn. We are greater than we can ever dream and more powerful than we know.

Maintaining an open mind to possibility is a keystone of personal and professional growth. We can be the leaders we are looking to see. 

In the world of entrepreneurship, patience and perseverance are the secret sauce that seasoned visionaries swear by. As you venture into uncharted territory, doubt may cast its shadow upon your aspirations, making you question your abilities and decisions. But let me assure you, doubt is not your enemy; it’s an essential part of the entrepreneurial process.  With the right community, those doubts are far less scary and debilitating, they can even bring us closer.

If you want support, we want to hear from you. Only 1 in 5 businesses are female-led and we want to get it right. We aim to make our programme accessible to all that want to take part and be part of the Keystone community. Please get in touch at more@realkeystone.org or through our social channels.