Ok, I admit it, I am one of the women who made up the 49% of the $314M weekend receipts that Fast & Furious 6 did at the box office this past weekend. But, maybe I was there doing research? 
Where else could I learn firsthand about women's blind faith loyalty to her business family even though she has lost her memory? You just can't make this stuff up! Of course, the business in question was robbing banks and has now turned into saving the world with the goal of a total pardon - so what is a woman in business going to do even if she is in doubt as to which family she belongs to?
The fact is I am very serious about the importance of loyalty in a women's life - business and personal. Ask any salesperson and they will tell you that if you are lucky enough to earn a woman's business she will remain loyal as long as you treat her seriously and with respect. The idea that women are fickle, particularly when it comes to business, is a misnomer. Fickle in love, well maybe, but women in business, and particularly women entrepreneurs, tend to build long lasting relationships with employees, customers, and vendors.
As a business coach, one of the most difficult conversations I have with a client is one that's purpose is to disengage an employee, customer or vendor. Too often women are willing to loosen the ropes in hopes that the individual will hang him or herself therefore not causing the need for conflict. Yes, unfortunately, women's loyalty is often more a case of avoiding conflict than it is about steadfast allegiance. So, the question for women in business is when is loyalty your a strength and when is it a weakness?
Being loyal to a customer who has been with you for a long time but wants to cut your price is not loyalty it is allowing yourself to be taken advantage of. I witness this every day with clients. "ABC Company has been with me for four years, but this year they have asked me to cut my price in half. I feel I should accommodate them because they are such good customers." "Really?", I say. Good customers do not ask you to cut your price in half. Good customers understand that you have mouths to feed also. Good customers respect you for the work you do and are always willing to pay you full price for your work.
Or, women entrepreneurs often fear the risk of laying off that one employee who just can't get to work on time. "She has kids. She has a husband. She has a long commute. She has problems at home." This type of loyalty will hurt your business. Choosing to enable people who are employees as you might a family member will guarantee destruction of your business. If they truly cared about you and your business, as if it were part of their family, they would get their act together and start getting to work on time.
It's critical that women entrepreneurs and women in business learn that business relationships can be built successfully without allowing yourself to be taken advantage of.
In Fast & Furious 6 Vin Diesel, as Dominic Toretto, leaps off a bridge into mid-air grabbing Letty Ortiz just as she is falling to her demise in one of the greatest movie stunts of all time. The audience gasps as they fall fast and furiously to their death, but land on the top of a moving car on the road below. Letty says to Toretto, "how did you know the car would be there?" Toretto says, "I didn't." She realizes he risked his life to save her because to him she was family. Spoiler alert! By the end of the movie, she has a chance to pay him back even though she still doesn't remember him. You guessed it.....she is loyal to the end.
The moral of the story for women in business is loyalty is good as long as those you are loyal to will risk their life for you...or at least respect you for the businesswomen you are.
