Keeping One Step Ahead: Proactive Career Management

Future success in my sightsBy Robin Madell (San Francisco)

You can’t always anticipate the specific work-related challenges you will face. But you can anticipate that you will likely experience challenges. By accepting this fact, you can better navigate those career challenges that many women experience. “The best way to rebound from a career setback is to have prepared for it ahead of time,” says Mary Lee Gannon, president of StartingOverNow.com.

Preparing yourself for potential challenges can help you avoid getting stuck or derailed. While the nature of work life is that it’s unpredictable, your approach to managing it should be more strategic than haphazard. Here are a few strategies for proactive career management that can help you keep one step ahead of the game.

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Voice of Experience: Paula L. Rogers, President, Institutional Capital

PaulaRogersBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“Right now what I love about the industry is how dynamic it is,” said Paula Rogers, President of the Chicago-based investment firm Institutional Capital.

She explained, “Things are constantly changing, constantly improving, constantly evolving. I love this industry and it has provided me with a rewarding career.”

Rogers provided some key insight into how she’s built a rewarding career in investments and how women can rise to the top of the industry.

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Strategies for Using Social Media to Build Your Personal Brand

JJDiGeronimoContributed by JJ DiGeronimo

Have you often wondered why so many are updating, posting, reading and retweeting?  It could be a full time job if you think about all the information created daily.  For some it is – and for some of us it is a way to stay aware of the trends, reports, and news worthy details while highlighting our area of expertise.

Is there a way to leverage what you read to enhance your professional brand?

Many women, already over committed, initially see social media as a waste of time, and let’s face it, do we really need to be posting our whereabouts and food consumption habits? I agree – I am sure many are not really interested in my every move but there are many interested in a slice of my thoughts and it just so happens it is the same slice that provides me many of my career opportunities.

I stumbled across this easy, yet effective, way to keep my knowledge and expertise front and center.  Here’s how I did it.

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Study: Women in Alternative Investments See Brighter Days Ahead

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iStock_000003883449XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“Even during this time of economic turmoil, women are generally positive about the ability to find investments in the industry,” said Kelly Easterling, Principal in the Financial Services Practice at Rothstein Kass and Principal-in-Charge of the Firm’s Walnut Creek office.

Rothstein Kass, the alternative investments professional services firm, recently released the results of its study, “Women in Alternative Investments – Industry Outlook and Trends.” The firm has been performing surveys on industry views since 2007, Easterling explained, but “the vast majority of the respondents had been male. We wanted to find out if perceptions are different for females, who are underrepresented in the industry.”

She pointed out that the alternative investments workforce is roughly 90% male and 10% female. The survey, completed in partnership with 85 Broads, polled 189 female executives in hedge funds, private equity, and venture capital. The majority (67.2%) agreed or strongly agreed that the next 18 months would be difficult for the industry.

But 61.9% said there will be more fund launches in the next 18 months than there were in the prior 18 months. Most of the women felt the fund environment would improve.

The researchers had expected a more tempered response, given the state of uncertainty in the economic environment and challenges within the financial services industry. “Women really see this as a viable business opportunity, particularly as more women continue to join the industry,” she said.

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Must Women Pry the Boardroom Door Open?

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Business reviewBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

In a ForbesWoman article earlier this month, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, founding president of the Center for Talent Innovation (formerly Center for Work-Life Policy), wrote that while there are 144 boards with no women in the Fortune 1000 and women make up only 15 percent of all Fortune 1000 directors, there is also some good news when it comes to the effort to achieve board parity.

The good news, Hewlett says, is that over 1,100 directors on Fortune 1000 boards are over 70 years old.

If we only wait just a bit longer, she suggests, soon qualified women can rush into the seats vacated by retiring males. She concludes:

“The time may finally be arriving for women to fulfill B.C. Forbes’ predication. As more women pry open the boardroom door and assume a seat at the table, they can not only serve as a powerful voice for change within each company but can proactively broaden the pipeline of female candidates to ensure that even more women advance.”

Hewlett’s message about being rigorously prepared to assume board service when elected is valuable. But her suggestion that women simply wait their turn to be chosen for board service when the old guys are out of the way is disappointing. Women have been waiting for decades to get to the top, and – as Catalyst data on the percentage of women making it into the boardroom shows – playing the waiting game isn’t getting women anywhere fast.

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Transition Coaching: Is It Time for a New Approach to Working Mothers?

GeraldineGallacherContributed by Geraldine Gallacher, founder of the Executive Coaching Consultancy, London

The United States and United Kingdom share many common bonds and approaches to business. However, in the area of maternity leave and support for working mothers we have widely differing views.

I recently spent time in New York to assess how US enterprises approach the business of executive coaching – specifically in the support of women preparing for maternity leave, during their leave and through the process of returning to work. I was expecting to find more similarities than differences, but what I found was interestingly the reverse. I should make it clear that I’m not criticising either approach. But I do feel that we can learn from each other. A quick look at the small number of women on the boards of major companies on both sides of the Atlantic (approximately 15% in the US and 13% in the UK) is enough to prove that both systems have a long way to go yet to achieve their goals. My other caveat is that whilst I’ll talk here in generalities, women are of course all different, with differing circumstances, approaches and ambitions, and so solutions in each case have to be tailored.

The most obvious difference is that in the US, there is no federal law regarding paid maternity leave. In the UK, legislation enables women to take up to a year off and still have the right to come back to a similar or equivalent job. Those wishing to return sooner can come back to the same job after six months. Women in the UK are eligible for statutory maternity pay up to nine months. In the US, if you want to stay out longer than three months, application can be made under the Disability Leave policy.

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Three Convenient Non-Excuses Keeping Women Off Boards

Three serious business people talking in boardroomBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

The Financial Times recently reported that the number of female executive directors on FTSE 350 boards has slipped in the past year – even after significant work to raise awareness of the benefits of board diversity in the UK following the release of the Lord Davies Report.

In fact, wrote Elizabeth Rigsby, the FT’s Chief Political Correspondent, “89 per cent of FTSE 350 companies have no female executives on their boards.”

Prospective female directors in the US are faring better – but not by much. According to Catalyst research released late last year, women occupy only 16.1 percent of Fortune 500 board directorships. That means over four out of five board seats belong to men. And, the report said, about one in ten Fortune 500 companies had no women on their boards.

Why is it that, despite all the research pointing to the business value of boardroom diversity, companies still stubbornly refuse to open the boardroom door to diverse candidates? Here are three convenient non-excuses that boards make for their lack of business-building diversity – and how to counter them.

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Five Ways to Talk to Your Manager into Supporting Your Flex Schedule

iStock_000015308104XSmall-1By Jacey Fortin (New York City)

If workplace flexibility is so good for employees and their managers, why is it such a hard sell?

A recent survey conducted by WorldatWork in 2011 found that workplace flexibility is positively correlated with employee engagement, worker satisfaction and low turnover. But the same survey found that most organizations do not offer adequate training for middle managers to effectively handle non-traditional schedules. As a result, these managers often turn down employee requests for increased flexibility.

Rose Stanley is a work-life practice leader for WorldatWork, a nonprofit organization that provides research and education on human resources issues. When it comes to flexibility, she says, “It is true that middle managers can be a deal breaker. But the more they understand the business side of flexibility…the more accepting they are.”

Diane Burrus is a senior consultant and workplace flexibility practice leader at WFD Consulting, which works with leading global companies to enable greater work-life integration. “We have found flexibility to be an area that organizations need to focus on in order to really attract, motivate and engage talented people,” she said.

How can employees convince a stubborn manager that a flex schedule is the right answer for them? “It’s all in the presentation,” said Stanley. “The way they are requesting it can really make all the difference.” Here are five effective ways to approach the conversation.

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Voice of Experience: Ivka Kalus-Bystricky, Portfolio Manager, Pax World

IvkakalusBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to Ivka Kalus-Bystricky, Portfolio Manager at Pax World Funds, one of the most critical lessons she’s realized over the years is the importance of learning to cope – with both lows and highs.

“This business can be a somewhat bipolar world, particularly in volatile markets such as we have seen of late,” she said. “Although you may not fully realize that before you get in, you really do have to develop coping strategies. Investing is ultimately about putting all your bets on the table against the market and against your peers. And, like the song goes, ‘you gotta know when to hold ’em and you gotta know when to fold ’em.’”

She continued, “Your hand can be either a winner or a loser, and it really depends on what everybody else is holding. It comes down to having a strong, consistent investment discipline, and to timing, and perhaps a little bit to luck on occasion, but there’s always a good deal of uncertainty. You go through long periods of time when what you’re holding – your strategy – is just not working, and it can get quite frustrating. But then sometimes, to use a surfing metaphor, you’re right in the tube. You feel like the biggest genius in the world.”

“You have to learn to attenuate both the highs and the lows. You have to develop a really structured framework to prevent your emotions from getting in the way,” she explained. “It means taking a disciplined approach to the market.”

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Rethinking Career Choices at Midlife

iStock_000016955791XSmallBy Robin Madell (San Francisco)

As we get older, the way we think about work and contribution changes. Many women of a certain age are reconsidering earlier paths. After years of paying dues to become a senior executive, partner, or board member in their respective industries, an increasing number are deciding that it’s not what they really want after all. Some are opting to take extended time off for soul-searching, or leaving prestigious jobs to seek something more closely aligned with their current interests and passions.

What’s behind this shift, and why are so many women doing it? As we progress in our careers and encounter political situations, difficult people, and issues we can’t control, our perspectives change. But there’s more to it than that. Clearly part of the issue is that we made our career decisions when we were much younger, before we had solidified our true preferences. Once decades of our career are behind us, we know much better who we are and what we want. Armed with that self-knowledge, many women are asking, now what?

Research has shown that women tend to find an increased sense of personal identity and more clearly define their values in midlife. In doing so, a common value that often emerges is the desire to give back or contribute to a greater good, which is often behind the internal drive to make a midlife career change, says Keith Weber, author of Rethinking Retirement. “This need to give back tends to stay with the individual until it is satisfied, meaning that those who fail to act on it often experience regrets, whereas those who do act on it tend to show fewer regrets and subsequently greater well-being later in life,” explains Weber.

But making such sweeping alterations in your life is not easy. Career coach Dorothy Tannahill Moran explains that with career change, you can’t expect to just grit your teeth and push through your fears. “Most careers you work 40 hours a week or more and if you make a mistake, you’re living the mistake almost daily,” says Moran. “Your career is not a tidy compartment that has no effect on the rest of your life. It’s a huge part of your life and has implications with almost every other part, including financial impact.”

Change also breeds anxiety because we face so many unknowns. We can’t always imagine that a new situation will be better than the one we’re in, says Patti DeNucci, author of  The Intentional Networker. “No matter what the circumstances of change, the same basic fears surface,” says DeNucci. “What will my days be like? Will I enjoy it? Will I be able to attract business and clients I enjoy? Will I be able to make a good living? Will people respect me and will I make a difference? What if no one is interested in what I have to say? The possibility of having to ‘go back’ to something you’ve left behind because you outgrew it or no longer love it is scary.”

To address these questions and more, The Glass Hammer profiled a number of women whose careers began in finance, law, technology, and other industries, but who made a midlife career gear-shift. These women share what they’ve learned firsthand about deciding if you’re ready to switch, overcoming fear of change, and transitioning to a work-life that fits better with age.

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