Hey Cyberloafer, Get Back to Work

Lady on computer smilesBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

We’ve all been there before. It’s Friday. The day is dragging on. You’ve got a massive amount of work staring at you between now and dinner. The weather outside is gorgeous. But… you’re inside, and the buzz of the fluorescent lights above is giving you a headache.

You look around – everyone’s got their head down, minding their own business. You know you shouldn’t, but you open up your web browser. You click over to your local newspaper’s web site, your favorite celebrity gossip forum, or (gasp) Facebook, and spend 10 minutes joyfully killing time. You quickly minimize the window when a coworker walks by, and get back to work – refreshed and ready to tackle the task at hand.

Don’t feel guilty though. According to a new study, surfing the web at work (or “cyberloafing”) is actually good for your productivity. And the reason may surprise you.

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UK and Norway Show Why Quotas are Necessary for Achieving Gender Parity on Boards

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iStock_000007749988XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Depending on whom you ask, the UK’s recent foray into the issue of gender equality on boards has produced big results – or results that are not big enough.

According to the Guardian, in the past six months since the Lord Davies Report was released, FTSE 100 boards have appointed 18 women (or 31% of the total appointments since February 24). Eighteen women might not seem like a lot, but this is more than double the number of women appointed in years past. But is it enough?

Meanwhile, it seems that Norway isn’t satisfied with the results of its current gender quota law, which mandates that 40 percent of board seats at every publicly traded company be held by women. Boards have upheld the law since 2008, when it went into full effect.

Now the progressive Nordic country is eying private companies’ boards as well. It seems that without compulsory quotas, firms by and large don’t elect to promote large numbers of women on their own.

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Ask-a-Career-Coach: How to Survive an MBA

AnnDalyHighRes-2Contributed by executive coach Ann Daly PhD

Back to school!

It’s a rallying cry we usually associate with kids’ backpacks and notebooks, but don’t forget about mom. More and more, working women are heading back to school to upgrade their skillsets and resumes with an advanced degree.

In fact, this fall a record number of women will be entering two of the country’s top MBA programs–the Harvard Business School and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Women will make up 39% of Harvard’s class of 2013, and at Wharton, women will represent 45% of the incoming class.

Those happy numbers are the result of national efforts by groups such as the Forté Foundation, a consortium that advocates the MBA as a career-advancement and leadership-development strategy for women.

That said, a concurrent MBA – attending classes while keeping your job – isn’t for everyone. “If you’re looking for career advancement within your current company or within the same industry, the part-time/executive route is a good option,” advises Elissa Sangster, Forté’s executive director. “But if you are looking to change your career or industry, I highly recommend taking the full-time route.”

The pay-off for a concurrent MBA is big. “You get your education while continuing your career progression and drawing a salary.”

But there’s also a downside, Sangster adds: “Your life will be very complicated.”

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Catch 22: Challenging Masculine Leader Stereotypes

iStock_000016414572XSmallBy Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

According to a recent Northwestern University report entitled Are Leader Stereotypes Masculine?, the characteristics that people commonly ascribe to women, men, and leaders contribute to the challenges that women face in obtaining leadership roles and performing well in them.

The study also found that women are viewed as less qualified in most leadership roles and when women adopt culturally masculine behaviors often required by these roles, such as being assertive or aggressive, they are viewed as inappropriate or presumptuous. Alice Eagly, professor of psychology at Northwestern and co-author of the study calls this ‘the double bind.’

“Masculine qualities are seen as more crucial to leadership, so women are thought to be less qualified than men. We call this the double bind because when women have these ‘masculine’ characteristics and behave in ways that are competitive and ambitious, it’s not seen as a good thing,” Eagly said.

“This is because women are thought of as ‘nice’; they must be nice even when they become leaders, which leads people to question whether or not they’re cut out for the role. If they’re not nice; however, people wonder what’s wrong with them. Men don’t have this problem because they’re never expected to be nice.”

How do we get out of this Catch-22? Eagly provided some suggestions.

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Men Who Get It: Jorge Benitez, Managing Director, North America and Chief Executive, United States, Accenture

JorgeBenitezBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I remember Susan Butler, Accenture’s first female senior executive,” began Jorge Benitez, Managing Director, North America and Chief Executive, United States at Accenture. “To be the first at something – that’s huge.”

In fact, Benitez himself has been an advocate for and a role model of diversity at the company since he joined it thirty years ago. He explained, “There weren’t a lot of people who looked like me when you looked around. We’ve made huge strides since then. And it’s important as we become leaders to pass that onto the next generation.”

“It’s night and day versus 30 years ago – diversity is part of our fabric now. Of course, we can always find room for improvement,” he said.

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Phew! Saying Goodbye to a Busy Summer

wireless communicationBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Today The Glass Hammer is taking a day off to celebrate Labor Day and bid farewell to a very eventful summer. Over the past few months, we’ve managed to host two big events – A Brave New Regulatory Environment and The Newest Innovation in Technology – and we’re busy putting the finishing touches on our inaugural London event as well (not to mention surviving some pretty unusual weather here in New York!).

Beginning this month, we have some other very exciting surprises in store for our readers – and we can’t wait to share them with you. Of course, as always, we’ve got some fantastic interviews with industry leaders, articles on effective career advice, and the latest news on women in leadership lined up for this fall.

Finally, last Friday, we asked you to tell us what you’d like to see more of on The Glass Hammer – after all, this is your community. And the results are in! The top three topics you voted for were:

  • Advice on career navigation and office politics
  • Articles on women in sustainability
  • Advice on mentoring and sponsoring the next generation

We’re already at work planning more stories around these topics. If you have any specific questions you’d like us (or one of our amazing career coaches) to address, please ask in the comments section below.

Here’s to a productive budget season, a seamless back-to-school, and a sigh of relief for some gorgeous fall weather!

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Follow Up: Three Ways to Reconnect This Fall

iStock_000016078580XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

It’s sad, but true. Summer is nearly over. The heat has broken, vacation is over, and the kids are going back to school. You’ll probably be seeing more of your colleagues around the office, and as folks get back into the swing of things, you’re starting to feel more of the buzzing energy that goes along with the beginning of fall – the last push for business before everyone begins to disappear again for the holidays.

That means these next few months are crucial times to reconnect with folks in your field, new potential clients, and those contacts you made last spring. It’s time to make your own autumn resolution: make fall the season to follow up. Here are three ways to reconnect – and a little follow-up homework – for you to do this month.

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Will Being “Nice” Really Cost You $2,000?

iStock_000002559773XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Earlier this month a new study revealed yet another dimension of the gender wage gap – how being nice can have a negative impact on your paycheck. According to the study, “Do Nice Guys—and Gals—Really Finish Last?” “agreeable” people earn less than “disagreeable” people. How does gender fit in?

The research revealed that “agreeable” men were penalized far more than “agreeable” women – the researchers, Beth A. Livingston, Cornell; Timothy A. Judge, University of Notre Dame; and Charlice Hurst, University of Western Ontario, posit that the reason is because men are expected to be aggressive, and when they behave in a manner contrary to societal expectations, they are paid less – much less, in fact. Disagreeable men made almost $10,000 more per year than their friendlier male counterparts.

On the other hand, the gap between agreeable and disagreeable women is much smaller. Disagreeable women only earn $1,828 more than agreeable women. According to the researchers, we can take this to mean that disagreeable women are punished for their counter-normative behavior.

They explain, “…because low agreeableness is at odds with norms for feminine behavior, disagreeableness will not likely be the same asset for women as it is for men.”

As Rachel Emma Silverman wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “It may not pay to be nice in the workplace.” Really?

The implications of the study are conflicting – should women aiming to earn a little more money dial up the attitude? Or is the small apparent benefit to disagreeableness negligible, considering the damage that playing to gender biases can do?

How can women use this study to be more effective at earning what they’re worth?

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