What's the Big Deal?

Women do big deals in multiple arenas. In business, the Big Deal may be a sale, or a strategic alliance, or an acquisition. But in our community roles, women do Big and Bigger Deals in philanthropy and human services.

Are you raising money for the local symphony? Supporting a children's hospital? Sheltering the homeless? Feeding the hungry?

Then you need to do Big Deals. The nonprofit sector often lives in what I call a "culture of scarcity." You are focused on the need and overwhelmed by your incapacity to meet it. For a change in perspective, try living in a "culture of abundance." I have always found that the bigger the problem, the more resources are available to address it. More people care, more money is invested, more solutions are invented. Your job is to go whale hunting for those resources--the people, the money, the solutions.

Let me know what Big Deal you are doing. Whale Hunting Women can help you build a team and launch a boat to hunt that whale!

Women's Talents

OK. I said women have "special" talents for whale hunting--doing big deals. I say that because often we don't think of our special talents as being relevant to "the big deal." What are those talents? Here are a few:

• a gift for listening and learning
• a preference for collaboration and alignment
• an instinct for mentoring and guiding

Are we born with these talents or socialized to them? Who cares! Do some men have these gifts as well? (Yes) Do all women display them? (No). But you and I both know that a lot of highly successful women have become successful and stayed there because of their special talents.

I look forward to exploring with you how we as women can leverage our most precious assets and how this 21st century economy cries out for us to do that!

Introduction from a Whale Hunter

This blog is for and about women who want to accomplish big ideas and big plans--that is, hunt whales! It's for women who are entrepreneurs, executives, community leaders, thought leaders--and for all of the women who want to become whale hunters!

I'm saying that a whale is a goal that is 10 times or 20 times bigger than your average goal. Your goal might be a big business sale, or a phenomenal new alliance or community action, or a run for office. It might be acquiring significant funds to support your favorite charity, or it might be a new life decision that you want to accomplish--a new job, a new direction, a really major change in who you are and what you do. Your whale is whatever you want to do or need to do that is much bigger than you, much bigger than the ordinary things you do, complex and scary. You know you can't do it alone, and you know that you need a process.

I'm a founder of The Whale Hunters. We're a sales process development and training company, headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, USA. In January 2008 we published Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company.

It's a book that applies lessons learned from the Inuit whale hunters to modern business, and our business includes consulting with companies that want to implement the process that we've designed. What I've learned is that women business owners, sales managers, and key executives are exceptionally good at whale hunting! In this blog I hope to talk with you about why this is so and how we can leverage our special talents and preferences in doing big deals.

So how about it -- what kind of big deals are you doing or hoping to do? What kind of help will you need?