Purpose on its own is not a business model

Men are often taught to pitch around profitability while women go around purpose.

It is a simple distinction, but it reveals something much deeper about how we teach both gender to understand ambition. A man presenting a business idea is often encouraged to explain the opportunity: the size of the market, the revenue potential, the margins, the growth trajectory and return an investor can expect.

A woman with an equally ambitious idea is more likely to explain the problem she is solving, the people she will help, the communities she will transform and the social impact she hopes to create.

Both conversations have value. But they are not the same.

For too long, women have been taught to make their ambitions useful before they are allowed to monetise them. We are comfortable hearing women speak about purpose, impact, resilience and service. We are less accustomed to hearing them talk, without qualification, about wealth, profitability, valuation, compensation, ownership and return.

This is not an argument against purpose. Purpose matters. Businesses can solve important problems, create employment and transform communities. But purpose should not become the price women have to pay for being taken seriously when they express ambition.

A woman should be able to say that she wants to build a company worth millions because she sees an extraordinary commercial opportunity. She should be able to negotiate a higher salary because she knows the value of her work, seek equity because she wants ownership, or pursue a senior position because she is qualified and wants the authority that comes with it.

She should be able to say that she wants to become wealthy without first explaining what she intends to do with that wealth for everyone else.