Lynne Franks - The feminine way to create business

"There's a revolution going on in the world and it's coming from the grass roots. It's the revolution of the sustainable entrepreneurs, mainly women, and it's about personal growth as well as an economic tool. It's political with a small p and it's organic, not structured. It's about creating value, developing relationships and being financially empowered.

By bringing traditional business tools alongside the more feminine ways of communication and management, a whole new way of doing business is evolving.

It's the feminine way to create business."  (Lynne Franks - The SEED Handbook, the feminine way to create business, 2000.)

Since I first wrote these words in 1999, I have seen a clear shift in the understanding of what starting a business is all about.  Yes, it has to be about making a profit but there is more than one way of  judging the bottom line.  How your business can give back to society and to the environment are now considered equally important.

The feminine qualities of relationship-building, nurturing, using intuition as a business tool and following the multi-tasking, creative right brain way of thinking are now taken far more seriously as positive attributes for doing good business.

While the more traditional, masculine language of successful business has been about achieving goals, competitiveness and the  linear, left-brain way of thinking in columns and spreadsheets, there has been an understanding that by bringing traditional business tools alongside the more feminine ways of communication and management, a whole new way of doing business is evolving.

And, thank goodness, things are changing. Words like transparency, authenticity and connection are being spoken aloud at major business conferences and young women and men are becoming social purpose entrepreneurs where their businesses add value to their customers and community, rather than just exploiting and moving on.

Whether it's because of the recession, the awareness of valuing the environment or just the huge growth in small and medium-sized entrepreneurs who 'care', there is a more feminine sensibility based on personal values developing in the business world.

Women have been the first to understand that if you don't integrate your personal values, your vision and your sense of purpose within your business plan, your passion will go and you will eventually burn-out.

The reason why so many women have left the corporate world over the past five years or so - long before redundancies became the norm - is that the large companies didn't reflect their values and needs.  In fact, after losing so many potential women leaders, many of the leading private sector companies are now trying to create a working environment that does allow women to flourish and grow.

It is a time to share, network and give-back.  For the first time since the start of the internet,  more women than men are on-line and social networking. Women are hungry to network, share their stories and although often working on their own, want to become part of a larger community.

On my own site for women entrepreneurs, Seednetworkingforwomen, we have members promoting their events and businesses, but also sharing their stories and asking for and receiving help from other members.

During this time of  a challenging economy, it is the opportunity for a new style of entrepreneur to evolve, both women and men, who can see the opportunities to create a business that is successful in part because its owners do care about the world, society and their community

Names like Innocent Drinks; Green and Black Chocolate; Lush Cosmetics and of course the original queen of them all, Anita Roddick's Body Shop, proves that being good is good for business - and never more so than now!

• One of PR's most enduring names, Lynne Franks provided the inspiration for Joanna Lumley's character in TV comedy series Absolutely Fabulous. She now runs female entrepreneur site Seednetworkingforwomen.