Chapter 1 - The Future

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The Future	71

   In Megatrends Asia, he underlines the explosive impact of women in the world's fastest growth area. "In Japan, nearly all currency traders are women. The number of female managers in Singapore has nearly tripled in the last decade. One in five management jobs in Hong Kong is held by a woman."
  Instant access to global events through international satellite broadcasts gives Asian women a window on a world that earlier generations could not even fathom. "Education and financial independence," says Naisbitt, "will deliver what Asian women may value most - options."
  The Economist says girls in many countries now seem to be outperforming boys before starting school and right through to the end of high school.36 In many others they don't yet get the chance; there is undoubted, and often horrific, discrimination based on sex, but where the barriers are coming down, women are excelling.
  There is also no doubt that in many cases women provide a different perspective. Anita Roddick is an outstanding example. In 1976 she opened her first retail venture, The Body Shop, in Brighton, England. By 1991 her world-wide chain had 709 shops, sales of $238 million and profits of $26 million. By 1993, 893 shops and a new one opening every two and a half days - nearly all of them franchises.
  In her book Body and Soul, Roddick's perspective comes through on almost every page. "The great advantage I had when I started The Body Shop was that I had never been to business school . . . If I had to name a driving force in my life, I'd plump for passion every time . . . The twin ideas of love and care touch everything we do .
  "For me there are no modern-day heroes in the business world. I have met no captains of industry who made my blood surge. I have met no corporate executive who values labour and who exhibits a sense of joy, magic or theatre. In the 15 years I have been involved in the world of business it has taught me nothing. There is so much ignorance in top management and boards of directors: all the big companies seem to be led by accountants and lawyers and become moribund carbon-copy versions of each other. If there is excitement and adventure in their lives, it is contained in the figures on the profit-and-loss sheet. What an indictment!"
  Just as women are changing business, so will philosophies like this change education. But how will we teach "love," "care" and "compassion?"

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