Helping Female Leaders Succeed: Seven Best Practices

istock_000009110520xsmall1by Liz O’Donnell (Boston)

 

Women may be less likely to encounter blatant sexism on the job than in prior years, but a recent study suggests “modern sexism” is still keeping women from achieving the highest level of success in corporate America. Modern sexism is often defined as a more subtle form of discrimination that is deeply ingrained in a corporate culture and can be as, if not more, damaging than overt acts of gender bias. Authored by chief scientist Ann Howard and senior vice president Richard Wellins of Development Dimensions International, a consulting firm, the study is titled “Holding Women Back: Troubling Discoveries and Best Practices for Helping Female Leaders Succeed.”

 

Howard and Wellins’ work points out that despite the fact women represent more than half of all employees in the U.S. and the fact that women are graduating from high schools and colleges at a higher rate than men, they are not being promoted to high-level positions at the same rate as men. In fact, as women advance in their careers from early management to senior management, the number of women leaders drop off significantly.

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Voice of Experience: Janice Chaffin, President of the Consumer Business Unit, Symantec

janice_chaffin1By Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles) 

Janice Chaffin, Consumer Business Unit President at security giant Symantec, knows a little something about hard work.  She got her first job at the very young age of fourteen, working her way up over time from cleaning person to receptionist in a doctor’s office.

Once in college at the University of California, San Diego, Chaffin took any job that came her way, including dishwashing, bookkeeping, acting as a Spanish-speaking tour guide at Disney World, and working as a medical school admissions office staffer, just to name a few. “Whatever I wound up becoming, I always knew I would work hard to achieve what I wanted, no matter what,” Chaffin said.

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In Case You Missed It: Business News Round-up

martin1Contributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group

In case you were too busy to have kept up with all the news, contributor Martin Mitchell has gathered some important market events from last week to help you start this week well informed:

 Economic Backdrop

  • ECB data on lending behaviour in June showed banks doing what the ECB wanted – lending funds in the form of longer term assets. The seasonally adjusted increase in credit to the non-financial private sector was €132bn.
  • Chinese regulators ordered banks to ensure that their unprecedented volumes of new loans were channeled into the real economy, and not into equity or real estate markets. The first half the year saw Chinese banks lend Rmb7,370bn ($1,080bn), more than twice the same period last year, and regulators are concerned that asset bubbles might be forming in equities and real estate.
  • Both the US and UK house prices saw gains. US house prices showed their first monthly gain in three years in May, climbing 0.5%. UK house prices rose by 0.1% in June in the first monthly rise for almost 18 months.

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