WOMEN Unlimited: Helping Women Rise in the Ranks of the Fortune 500
by Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)
“WOMEN Unlimited is based on my experience of doing everything wrong for the first half of my career. I often think back and agonize over it, wondering how I could have been so stupid. When I became an executive, I noticed many women around me who were smarter, but had not achieved the same level of success. That’s when it all started coming together. I realized that they weren’t doing what they were supposed to. Business is a game and they didn’t know the rules; they were taking things too personally.”
So said Jean Otte, the founder of the organization. Named one of the first female executives in her industry at the age of forty-seven, the achievement was bittersweet because, while she was happy to have had the success, she was unable to find other upper-level women with whom to communicate and network. And thus sparked the creation of WOMEN Unlimited, an organization which provides development opportunities for high potential women who have been selected by the organization’s corporate partners.
WOMEN Unlimited has three levels of programs that they offer their participants. TEAM was specifically designed for women who are new to or just entering management positions, LEAD is for mid-level managers with seven or more years management experience, and FEW (Forums for Executive Women) is for senior level executive women. Each program is limited to twenty participants and features 360° assessments, individual/peer coaching, and panel discussions. Dawn Farris, Manager of Customer/Inventory Services for Bridgestone North America, is so enthusiastic about what she’s learned in the LEAD program that she’s planning on creating a website detailing how it’s changed her career. “My idea stemmed from a statement I read in the program: If I had a mentor or had known to ask for one many years ago- where might I be today? I have no regrets about what could have been,” Farris said. “But I am certain that the information I share with others will help those interested in growing personally and professionally.”
WOMEN Unlimited is unique in that the manager goes through the program with the nominated female employee as well. “We partner with the woman’s manager because we believe this is vital. We help the manager understand the development experience as well as [his/her] role in the process; what s/he can do to support the learning/insights gained during the program and what s/he can do to create opportunities for the women to continue to grow,” said Rosina Racioppi, the organization’s president.
Otte’s second book, Women Are Changing the Corporate Landscape, extensively discusses the “rules of the game” that are taught to those who participate in WOMEN Unlimited’s programs. These rules teach women how to operate effectively in their company. “There are many components to understanding the rules of the game,” Racioppi said. “It begins with understanding that it is a game- like it or not- and learning the rules is essential to your success.” Some of these rules require women to assess the impact that their skills have on their company, to realize that they don’t have to do everything alone, and strive to for excellence, but not perfection.
WOMEN Unlimited touches on some uncomfortable stereotypes that women may play into when it comes to their career and their behavior at work. The most common is that women are too emotional and take things too personally, which Otte personally feels is one of the biggest challenges women have to overcome. “One night my husband and I were having dinner and I was talking endlessly about something that happened at work and how I’d made a mistake. My husband turned to me and he said, ‘Jean, you care so much about what people think of you- and they don’t.’ He was right. Your male colleagues aren’t ruining the dinner they’re having with their wife with talk of work. We need to stop worrying about what’s already happened. Stop thinking about it, learn from it, and don’t do it again,” Otte said. Racioppi refers to this as the EQ- or emotional intelligence- and she believes that it’s just as important as the IQ, if not more in the corporate world.
Before participating in the LEAD program last year, Linda Neuman, Regional Director of Medical Science Liaisons at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, feels she was guilty of committing a common mistake. “I learned that ‘what got you here will not get you there.’ That was big for me. In order to advance, we need to learn new skills and not merely refine the ones we already have. It is important to do a great job, but you also need people to know what you did. This is the classic female mistake, working in a vacuum. Management needs to know what you know and what you achieved,” Neuman said.
According to Otte, failure to succeed in the business world should no longer be blamed on men holding women back. “If men see that you’re a team player, they will let you in. The key is to understand that you can’t do everything yourself. You have to ask for help, you have to pass the ball, and let other people shine. The most savvy business person knows that you can only get things done through and with others- let someone else be the star; it will help them and reflect positively on you,” Otte said. These are just some of the examples of the basic, almost child-like advice passed on to participants. “All of this is very simple. It’s information we knew as kids: don’t be afraid to ask for help, share responsibilities with others, be a team player, don’t fret over things you can’t control,” Otte said. “These are things we knew as kids, but for some reason we forget all about it as adults in the corporate world.”
Otte has no global expansions or major high-tech shakeups planned for WOMEN Unlimited in the immediate future, even though these things have become fairly common for women’s organizations in the recent years. Aside from handing off more responsibilities to Racioppi, Otte simply wants to continue mentoring and teaching women how to find their niche. “We truly believe that no matter how global or high-tech things can get, personal interaction with others will always be vital,” Otte said. “For the past fifteen years I’ve had the privilege of watching wonderful, intelligent women laugh and learn and find themselves. I want to make sure that every woman that walks through our doors is planted in the right spot in the garden; if a flower needs sun and is planted in the shade, it will never reach its full potential.”
