Top lessons from women entrepreneurs

Never make a key decision in the heat of emotion. The ability to wait, think and consider options before responding allows you to consider what it is you want to happen and whether what you're about to do is the best way to arrive at that goal. In that light, chewing somebody out or reacting in anger will almost never make a situation better and will generally make the outcome much worse.

I thank each of these women for sharing their lessons. Our business world includes many more like them, and it needs many more. Who are the women entrepreneurs you admire and what are the traits they exemplify? I welcome your thoughts.

This article originally appeared in Alan's Forbes column.

Alan E. Hall is a cofounding managing director of Mercato Partners, a regionally focused growth capital investment firm. He founded Grow Utah Ventures, is the founder of MarketStar Corp. and is chairman of the Utah Technology Council.