Archive for Female Executives
Advancement of Women – the Barriers
Posted by: | CommentsLast weeks post introduced the barriers to the advancement of women. This week we concentrate on the lack of access to career development and advocacy. This issue is not very well understood in many organizations. It is however one of the most important if we care about diversity in our leadership ranks and advancement of all top talent. The issue of advocacy is often subtle and requires a close look at how individuals move through the organization. How do they advance? How are they visible? What is considered an increase in value delivered that puts one on “the map”. Many of the subtle but essential rules about how one advances in an organization are real but unwritten. As a result , it is critical that one have a guide in this journey of navigation.
Corporate Exec or Entrepreneur – Which is Better?
Posted by: | CommentsPost by Jane K. Stimmler, contributing Women on Business writer
If you are an entrepreneur, you’ve probably experienced the look of envy on the faces of people in the corporate workforce when they find out you run your own business. They are likely thinking things like “wow, if it’s a beautiful day, you can just take the afternoon off” or “you’re so lucky you don’t have to put up with that annoying Division head.” And yes, there are many benefits to “being your own boss.”
My career began in the corporate world. After a number of years of climbing (and slipping on) the corporate ladder, I followed my entrepreneurial husband into his year-old marketing consulting business. This family “merger” was due to a set of circumstances – not a plan. In fact, though I had been happily ensconced in my corporate job, fate intervened during an economic downturn (no, not the most recent one) and presented a great opportunity for the company I was with at the time to become my client. I quickly found another client and never looked back.
Women Leadership Lessons and Tackling Tension
Posted by: | CommentsLong plane rides often bring me fresh ideas, or at least give me time to think in fresh, new ways. Flying from Newark to San Francisco is perfect. Just about six hours with little distraction from my writing and musings. Sometimes!
On this particular plane were a brother and a sister, two or so years apart, I guessed. They were attractive, well behaved children whose parents were also attractive and well behaved; all on the row behind me near the very front, two behind me, two across.
I began to read, ready to finish my newest addition, a workbook for newly minted female supervisors. Lately, so many I had mentored had gotten promotions as the ghastly economic times of the past few years seem to be moving into greener territory. They have been requesting a small book, a reference they could turn to when the annoyances of being a leader made them loose their sure footing.
The young ones in back of me were busy with the electronic gear for just about half the ride. Then the bickering started. I remember the noise of my two when they were preteens. Initially the parents ignored the “Give me that” “No, it’s mine” that became “You are a jerk” and on and on.
Why is the Pipeline in Peril?
Posted by: | CommentsPost by Jane K. Stimmler, contributing Women on Business writer
We all know those dismal and annoying stats about women in business – we’re about half the workforce but only 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs, 15% of board of directors, and 13% of executive officers. It’s also true that women are making great strides and graduating with about half of the advance professional degrees, and that the “middle management” workforce is brimming with women. So, one would think that the future looks bright for more women at the top levels of business. That is, until they read the recent Catalyst report, “The Promise of Future Leadership: A Research Program on Highly Talented Employees in the Pipeline.”
Catalyst surveyed nearly 10,000 alumni who graduated from MBA programs internationally between 1996 and 2007 and found that “Among this highly talented group, women lag men in advancement and compensation from their very first professional jobs and are less satisfied with their careers overall.”
Surprised? I was, and wanted to give some thought to why this would be so. Here are some reasons I believe women aren’t making more progress:
Mother’s Day and Great Gifts
Posted by: | CommentsIn this column I talked about what a fiasco it was when I did not send flowers to my mother. It had become an iconic story in the family. On Saturday a gorgeous bouquet arrived in a fabulous vase. Of course it was from my daughters and their families. We are in the Pennsylvania, they in California so the gift and sentiment worked.
However, I also received an amazing gift from one of my daughter’s and I asked her permission to share. Here is the back story: On Amazon there is a place for people to write reviews about books. One daughter had written a review when the book first came out. My other daughter, Mikayla was in Maui working on a film and it never was done, soon a forgotten thought.
Until several weeks ago when I was sorting out old materials and found a note from her saying how proud she was of me and the book and that she wanted to write a review. So I emailed her saying “look what I found” and then forget about it, or so I thought.
Learned Anything Recently?
Posted by: | CommentsAre you one of those people who “knows” you should keep up with reading a certain periodical but has a tall pile of unread copies on your bedside table or office floor?
The benefit continuous learning brings is summed up in one old-fashioned phrase “You don’t know what you don’t know.” What we do know takes us only so far. New information opens up new methods, strategies, techniques, and opportunities that can bring many positives. Until we get that new knowledge we can’t know what these are.
For this reason, our learning orientation can significantly impact our success. Understanding how you feel about learning, and what your actions reveal about those feelings, can position you to make key changes essential to advancement.
Take a close look about how you feel about learning. Where does learning fit into your life? Do you aspire to learn something new every day or every week? If so are you usually successful? Do you learn on a need-to-know basis if at all? Are learning activities such as continuing education or special interest classes built into your regular schedule?
Complexity of Women Leaders
Posted by: | CommentsWomen in power in this century are, for the most part, dismissing the old notions of the vast dichotomy between their skills and those of their male counterparts. This has been an on-going debate for decades and essentially, leads nowhere.
We are all complex, multi-layered human beings and we need to embrace that concept, female and male. A graduate of the Total Leadership Connections program sent the following fun picture. Underneath he put “Ain’t that the truth…and the real truth is it applies to men as well as women!”
- And thus, dear students, we have arrived at the formula for understanding women
Well said, Barry Ginnetti, CEO of The GMR Group, a healthcare consulting group focused on managed care. Both men and women employ female as well as male characteristics. Sure, there are differences. Not like a past generation that attempted to make us all unisex, we all have distinct ways of thinking and showing our emotions.
3 Lessons for CEO’s from Reality TV Show Undercover Boss
Posted by: | CommentsThe top rated CBS reality show, Undercover Boss, offers some real and valuable lessons for the business world. If you’ve never watched, the reality show follows chief executives at companies, such as Waste Management, 7-Eleven and even Hooters, as they work “undercover” alongside their unknowing employees. And although I’m not a big fan of reality TV (to say the least), I am a big fan of Undercover Boss because of the business lessons it shares.
When was the last time you operated on the line, did the work of your assistant, or went back out to make sales? You may be amazed by what you could learn. Following are three business lessons I gathered from just a few episodes of the show.
1. When you walk in my shoes, you see the business as others do (and are able to make better business decisions). Making the best decisions may require walking in the shoes of others in your company. Now it may be surprising… but some CEO’s are fairly removed from what their firms are actually delivering. The boss can become so separated from the day-to-day operations of the company that he/she can’t possibly make the best decisions. One can become so focused on reaching company goals, increasing productivity, streamlining, etc. and loose sight of how these objectives are achieved. Is it at the expense of your employees?
Altruism at Work
Posted by: | CommentsDuring the 1940’s, Harvard sociologist Pitirim Sorokin argued that industrial societies needed to transform themselves by developing a more integrated, holistic, and systemic approach to the world – what he called creative altruism.
He discussed the idea that there is a part of the brain that is programmed for altruism. He discussed this way before we had any of the sophisticated technology to look at how our brains really work. Through recent studies in neuropsychology we are coming close to what Sorokin stated, even though he was judged as way too out there for the academic community of his time.
Perhaps we have needed this economic downturn to see the benefits of team collaboration, of doing for others, that rest in the realm of helping each other rather than staying so darned focused on the competitive edge. Dan Pink, in his book “A Whole New Mind” discusses the needs of leaders for this time, the conceptual age. He points out “The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind – creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers.
