Found Your Own Networking Group – These Women Did

iStock_000014169834XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

On The Glass Hammer, we discuss the importance of networking almost on a daily basis. While your company may provide networking events or you may belong to a professional organization that offers networking opportunities, when it comes to networking, it can be difficult to find the group that meets your needs or aligns with your personal interests.

The United Women in Business Foundation is a non-profit designed to encourage networking between women of different generations. The organization was originally founded by a group of George Washington University alumnae in December of 2009. The women, who had been part of a networking group as undergraduates, wanted to continue developing their careers, but couldn’t find quite what they were looking for. So they decided to found their own.

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5 Ways to Build Confidence at Work

Business woman in conference with associatesBy Melanie H. Axman (Boston)

Out of all the potential hurdles women face in the workplace, surprisingly the biggest challenge can sometimes be a lack of self-confidence. According to a survey titled, “Ambition and Gender at Work” [PDF] published by the European Institute of Leadership and Management, “There is a strong link between managers’ confidence levels and ambition.” The study further cites that “individuals with high levels of personal confidence are more likely to have a very clear idea of their career path as well as greater expectations to ‘take on a management or leadership role,’ and have these expectations met.”

Given the direct correlation between confidence, ambition, and subsequent achievements for women in the workplace, how do we push through our uncertainty and begin to focus on our abilities and talents? Here are 5 tips to consider.

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Why Cross-Generational Networking Matters

iStock_000012630343XSmallBy Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

Currently many young women on Wall Street don’t have senior women to reach out to and if they do, these women are too busy to be a mentor. Another theory, as uncomfortable as it may seem, is that senior women don’t feel it’s their job to help younger women coming up the ranks. After all, they defied the odds with little help, so why can’t younger women?

Many believe that women’s networks are the cure all for these problems, but cross-generational networking presents an all new set of problems.

Elisabeth Kelan, a lecturer in Work and Organizations in the Department of Management at King’s College London recently conducted a study that revealed how difficult it is to get young women involved in a company’s long-standing women’s network. “Younger women find it difficult to connect to women’s networks in the workplace, because they view these networks as something that belonged to their mother’s generation,” Kelan said. The irony is that when new women’s networks are started at companies, they’re often run by younger women, who experience difficulties getting senior women to become active in the group.

So, how can cross-generational networking be improved and what is the business value in networking between Baby Boomer, Generation X, and Millennial women?

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Are You A Transformational Leader? Part 1

Contributed by CEO Coach Henna Inam

Are you achieving success in your career but still feel like you are not making the impact you have the potential to make? Are you successful but not deeply fulfilled by the work you do?

McKinsey research from the Centered Leadership Project shows that, for women in particular, a key component of success is the ability to make a contribution. There are a lot of women I meet in my Executive Coaching practice who have a deep desire to succeed but also leave a legacy that is bigger than their achievements.

If you are one of these women, you have the potential to be a transformational leader in your organization. And you are deeply needed right now. As a transformational leader you see opportunity for impact all around you. Your goal is to help create great change and build and nurture great leaders. You want to engage and inspire rather than just form transactional relationships with others. As a transformational leader you are able to tap into the discretionary energy, the full creativity and potential within you and within the people around you.

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Firms Must Employ Transparency to Eliminate Hidden Bias against Female Leaders

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iStock_000003583699XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

A new study by McKinsey has shattered the notion that women aren’t rising to the top in significant numbers because they don’t want to be leaders.

In fact, the report showed, women in middle management very much want to reach senior executive levels – even moreso than women in entry level corporate jobs. The study, “Unlocking the full potential of Women in the US Economy” showed that while 79% of women in entry level roles agreed or strongly agreed that they “desire[d] to move to the next level,” 83% of women in the middle management said the same.

While the report does discuss the fact that some women make lifestyle choices that keep them from attaining the highest ranks in their companies, it points out that this number of women is not sufficient to account for the significant lack of women in senior executive roles.

What the study does reveal, however, is that unconscious bias is hard at work – that managers (both male and female) have hidden beliefs about what a leader should look like. Thoughts about who should occupy a leadership position are keeping women down and pushing women out.

On the other hand, numbers don’t lie. Employing an earnest and transparent metrics-based method of culture change can reveal bias where it was hidden before. As Saadia Zahidi, Director, Head of Constituents, World Economic Forum, said at the Wall Street Journal’s recent Women in the Economy Conference, “You can look at it as naming and shaming, but it works.”

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Inside Executive Coaching: Why It Matters for Women

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iStock_000007040467XSmallBy Kelly Tanner (New York City)

Executive coaching can be an effective tool for women looking to advance their careers, one that businesses can leverage as an investment in developing leaders.

Dale Kurow, an executive coach based in New York City, says clients seek her services for a variety of reasons. Some are looking to develop stronger skills politically due to a recent promotion, or to quickly strategize for a new, “stretch” assignment. Others are looking for fresh ways to resolve a problem, such as behavior patterns that hinder promotion or recognition, managerial difficulties, or a communication “style” that needs development, which Kurow says is often code for “a need to increase sensitivity towards others, or improve emotional intelligence.”

Still others seek coaching with a longer view, to achieve goals within their career path and reach the next level in their journey. Employers may refer an employee to an executive coach for these same reasons, or clients may find a coach independently. In each case, the coach partners with the client to objectively identify strengths and challenges, and becomes a strategic resource towards achieving the set objectives.

Kurow states that women may especially benefit from this partnership:

“Many of my female clients hire me to help them get to the next level. They lack the skill sets and mind sets that men seem to have been born with. Some feel that working as hard as you can should set them up for promotion, without realizing that managing up, across and down effectively is crucial. Just as important is building political skills and developing champions/mentors across their organizations. In our coaching sessions, we work on what they can do, specifically, to build those relationships and raise their profile.”

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Voice of Experience: Deborah Kaye, Managing Director and Senior Managing Counsel, Bank of New York Mellon

DeborahKayeBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Deborah Kaye, Managing Director and Senior Managing Counsel at the Bank of New York Mellon has spent her career focused on her goals and aiming for very high level of success – without taking no for an answer.

Kaye, who was also the founder of the Financial Women’s Association‘s legal and accounting committee said, “To quote Chief Justice Judith Kaye, for whom I used to work previously, women need to be ‘self-propellers.’ This means that women need to proactively ask for the next assignment, promotion, or opportunity and just go for it.”

She continued, “Regardless of your level, don’t believe anyone who says you can’t do something, or you shouldn’t try. Believe instead, you’re going to go for that… whether it’s Chief Justice, or head of a division. Strive to reach whatever goals you set for yourself.”

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Leadership Personality Contest: How Do You Rate?

SylviaContributed by Dr. Sylvia Lafair, Award Winning Author and Workplace Relationship Expert

Performance reviews often send the same shudders through us that we remember from getting report cards in school. Old concerns and doubts cast big shadows. There is, for most super achievers a moment of nail biting, finger tapping, and stomach growling.

When you are ready to get the results of your 360 Feedback session, how do you respond? What are your internal criteria for judging your own self; that is in your own self-worth? Here is some interesting data.

Research done with male and female leaders who did self-report rating on specific competencies and leadership areas showed fascinating results. Can you guess who rated themselves higher, men or women? I’ll leave that for you to ponder for a moment.

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Voice of Experience: Patricia Hammes, Partner, Project Development & Finance Group and Co-Head, Sustainable Development Group, Shearman & Sterling LLP

triciahammesBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

A deep interest in economic development originally led Patricia Hammes to a career in project finance law at global law firm Shearman & Sterling. But as sustainable development has become increasingly important from a business standpoint, Hammes has become a passionate leader of the firm’s work in this sector, with a particular focus on renewable energy resource development.

While Hammes, a partner in the firm’s Project Development & Finance Group and co-head of the Sustainable Development Group, says she finds the work personally rewarding, she is quick to drive home the business case for renewable energy, clean technology, and other related areas covered by the firm’s Sustainable Development practice.

“It’s going to be a fundamental part of our economy going forward, without a doubt, and on an international level,” she said. “This is a great fit for a firm like Shearman & Sterling and for my practice, which is global in nature and involved in cutting-edge transactional work.”

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Smart Means Sustainable: Investing in the Bigger Picture

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iStock_000003734256XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

With Earth Day around the corner, The Glass Hammer has decided to take a look into why sustainability makes sense from a business standpoint. We’ve long pointed out that companies must take a broader look at the gender composition of their workforce and senior leadership if they are to maintain a sustainable and profitable future. Today, we’re examining why a fresh look at investment in sustainability can spur innovation and growth.

Erika Karp, Head of Global Sector Research at UBS, said that she feels strongly that sustainability investing needs to be “completely integrated into the investment process – the decision-making matrix which drives stock recommendations.”

Karp said, “We’re talking about a paradigm shift here.”

She continued, “Good long-term investing starts with great questions. What we can do through great questions is make sure we are covering the material areas of inquiry that haven’t been pursued as they should be from the standpoint of risk adjusted return.”

What a mouthful! But, Karp explained, considering sustainability issues around environmental, social, and governance matters can only improve the investment process. She said, “If we are doing our best in investment bank research, we must do our best to pursue all areas of inquiry.” Considering so-called non-financial (or extra-financial) information when making decisions about investments is just a smart way to do business.

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