Top Women CEOs Share Advice at NAFE’s 40th Anniversary

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Last week the National Association for Female Executives held its annual luncheon in celebration of its 40th anniversary. In addition to honoring its 50 top companies and ten to non-profit organizations for executive women, the organization hosted a fascinating discussion between Kraft CEO and Chair Irene Rosenfeld and DuPont CEO and Chair Ellen Kullman.

The two women spoke candidly about family, success, and power – and they acknowledged, the world still has a long way to go in supporting female leaders.

Rosenfeld, accepting NAFE’s award for women of the year, discussed a 1943 Transportation Magazine article on tips for employing women during the war. One piece of advice read:

“Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties so that they’ll keep busy without bothering management for instructions every few minutes. …women make excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that they lack initiative in finding work themselves.”

“Truthfully, as they say, we’ve come a long way baby,” Rosenfeld said with a laugh.

“But despite progress, there is still a persistent gender gap,” she continued, pointing out that today’s college educated women will still earn $1.2 million less than their male counterparts. “As a female CEO, these issues concern me deeply.”

Changing the Game

Rosenfeld explained how Kraft has made a strategic effort to improve its standing when it comes to attracting, retaining, and promoting women to the senior levels. “We know accountability is key,” she said. The company has linked corporate diversity and female representation with bonus compensation.

That strategy has paid off, too, with Kraft showing steady improvement in its promotion and retention of senior women.

She continued that the company still has much to do, particularly overseas where female talent is harder to come by. “But the bottom line is, we can not afford to ignore half of the world’s population and the majority of college graduates.”

NAFE has long worked to advocate for women, and over the years, that effort has paid off – particularly at the top, said NAFE President Dr. Betty Spence. For example, today two thirds of NAFE companies have three or more women on their boards. At DuPont, while 26% of employees are women, 34% of managers are women. But the organization is still concerned about the pipeline of women to the top – despite years of work in this area, studies show many women are still often leaving the workforce at the mid-career level.

CEO Advice

The skills required to be a leader in today’s organization are shifting, noted Kullman. “We need a combo of hard skills and soft skills to be successful,” she said. “You’ve got to execute and perform, but we’ve got to bring people with us.”

She also noted the importance of EQ when dealing with increasing complexity as the corporate world grows more global and more mobile. Finally, she mentioned the importance of learning. “The only bad mistake is the one you don’t learn from,” she explained.

Rosenfeld agreed, and added that it’s important to stick with your plan, once you’ve made it. “When the organization looks to you to understand if we’re going in the right direction, it is essential that if you make a decision you stick with it.”

Finally, the CEOs discussed the importance of sticking to your own style. “Be yourself. You’re performance is so much better when you’re you,” Kullman said.

Rosenfeld added, “And no matter what level of your organization you’re occupying, make sure it is better” [when you’re there than it was before]. “That’s how you will move along,” she said.