New York City Launch of “Why Women Mean Business” at PwC

On April 7, 2008, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) hosted a New York City launch party for the book, “Why Women mean Business: Understanding the Emergence of Our Next Economic Revolution,” by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox and Alison Maitland. Highlights of the event included a lively panel discussion on the changing role of women as global business leaders, chaired by Chrystia Freeland of the Financial Times. The two authors shared the state with three insightful male business leaders: Bob Moritz, US Assurance Leader at PwC, Alan Siegel, Chairman and CEO of Siegel+Gale, and Thomas Cooley, Dean of the New York University Stern School of Business.

The authors emphasized the theme that the 20th century is over, and that women’s mass arrival into the workplace alongside men has major economic consequences. The idea is, by reframing the issue of gender, companies have the opportunity to tackle it. As the author’s put it, “let’s get serious about sex.”

The reality of course is that there is an unconscious and systematic bias in the system that was built in 20th century based on male norms. It was interesting to learn about the strides that PwC seems to be making in working towards flattening out that unconscious bias.

Bob Moritz discussed how middle management must carry out the intentions of top management, and touched on how women are not getting promoted to the highest levels because nominating committees are not willing to take perceived risks on women. He mentioned that men who were in a similar position were many times pushed through to the next level when women were not.

Alan Segal also made some great observations about the lure of the entrepreneurial lifestyle, as women are looking at an alternative lifestyle other than the grind of a job with a Fortune 500 company.The authors reminded us there are “3 P’s” to women’s advancement: Progressive people making the changes, Patient people waiting for change and the Plodders, who don’t get much done.

NYU Stern’s Tom Cooley explained that 40% of people enrolled in MBA programs today are women, so women leaders are being developed in the pipeline. According to “Why Women Mean Business,” explained that women don’t need to fit into the old mold anymore. We can be ourselves and be equal and different in the 21st century.

Ms. Wittenberg-Cox emphasized the message that, if everyone could learn to speak bilingually across gender, then there is hope for us all.Moderator Chrystia Freeland raised the question, “are we selling the younger generation of women a mythical dream when we talk about the ultimate work/life balance of having promotions and babies?”

This led to interesting discussions after the forum about everything from balancing children with a high powered job to the practicalities of pumping breast milk at the office. Women with children understood, but the men and the women without children could see how the whirling machinery in the background of a conference call could be disturbing at first.

The panel tackled various issues including an audience question from a Merrill Lynch employee asking if the looming recession on Wall Street would be a gender negative experience. This was a great question for an industry which is already suffering a serious lack of women in middle management and senior roles.

At the conclusion of the panel, Ms. Wittenberg-Cox wrapped up by saying, “Women will step up as leaders when men step up as parents.” Ms. Maitland concluded by saying that, “The US is one of the few countries in the world without mandated paid maternity leave. Companies in the US need to do more advocacy work with their government to get better public policies.”

After the panel, PwC held a networking and cocktail reception, where participants could mingle with the authors and each other, and have copies of their books signed.