Women in the Boardroom: Focus on Solutions

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By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

In December, ION (the InterOrganization Network) released its 9th report on women on boards in the United States. ION is made up of 16 regional women’s networks, and this report used numbers from 15 of them. According to the research, the numbers haven’t moved much since the last report… or the one before that… or the one before that.

For example, larger companies tend to have more women directors than smaller companies, and there are fewer all-male boards at larger companies than smaller ones. In the Fortune 500, 16.6 percent of board seats were held by women. In the S&P 1500, 14 percent were women. In the Russell 3000, 11.7 percent were women. These numbers have shifted very little over time.

Obviously, this is frustrating – the slow pace of change here is the subject of lots of research and commentary. But instead of dwelling on the challenging numbers, ION’s leaders decided to instead focus on solutions. What are the companies that are getting it right doing? How can we convince other companies to do the same?

Sarah Meyerrose, ION’s President, explained, “I like the approach we took this year. We are focusing on the positives and saying ‘here are the companies doing a good job.’ We are well past the time when we are just talking about the numbers.”

In fact, she continued, “When we were putting the case studies together, I was pleased to see the number of companies we had to choose from that are moving the needle.”

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Career Inspiration from Trailblazing Women in Politics

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Last week, the Financial Women’s Association of New York hosted an event featuring three prominent women in New York’s politics. Moderated by award winning journalist Marcia Kramer, the panel consisted of New York State Senator Liz Krueger, New York City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin, and New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn.

The women discussed their views on leadership and power, as well as their advice for working in a male dominated environment. Throughout the evening, the panelists also shared stories of how they had been supported or inspired by one another throughout their careers, and they frequently discussed the importance of another panelist’s work.

This was one of the key takeaways from the event: we can’t do it alone. The power of women is multiplied when we work together and support one another.

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Voice of Experience: Jamie Zimmerman, Founder and CEO, Litespeed Partners

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I think people starting their careers often make a common mistake – they have an idealized notion of what a career might be, but they fail to investigate the day-to-day,” began Jamie Zimmerman, Founder and CEO of Litespeed Partners, an event-driven fund specializing in distressed debt.

Zimmerman learned this the hard way – she had planned on a prestigious career in law, aspiring to be the first woman on the Supreme Court. But when it came to actually being a lawyer, she discovered she wanted a different career path.

Today, she runs her own fund, doing work she finds fascinating and engaging. “Your life is the day-to-day, and I think it’s very important that you love it, that on Monday morning you get up and you want to go to work.” She continued, “At Litespeed, we are investigative reporters with an investment overlay. Every day, we try to predict and profit from the future. It is always challenging, always interesting, and a lot of fun.”

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Life After Corporate: Leila Kanani, CEO & Founder, Intermix Legal Group

By Robin Madell (San Francisco)

Do you have an entrepreneurial idea that you just can’t shake? Leila Kanani recommends pursuing it. “Lawyers are all, as a group, very risk averse,” says Kanani. “I’m not in that group. My advice is to quit your job and go after any idea you may have. Take the risk. Your fallback is that you can always go back to your corporate job.”

Kanani speaks from experience. After spending a decade as an associate in BigLaw firms in DC and Atlanta, she now runs her own company in Chicago, Intermix Legal Group, that helps professionals achieve better balance between work and family. She left her position last March as an intellectual property attorney at Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox to launch Intermix.

Her goal in starting the company was to help attorney parents keep their skills sharp and their resumes current if they’ve opted to leave their firm to focus on family life. Kanani’s company helps match these parents with project-based work with law firms and corporate legal departments. Participants in the program work from home, choosing their own projects and hours.

“Intermix is really an answer for all those women that leave these firms and then think, ‘Now what?’” says Kanani. “Why let their hard earned skills and education go to waste just because they choose to stay at home?”

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How Parenthood and Gender Roles Increase the Wage Gap

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Last month the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released a new study examining the causes of the wage gap in its member countries.

According to the study, working mothers make less, and having a child can cost a family significantly. The average gender pay gap between men and women without children is seven percent. But for couples with one or more child, that gap widens to 22 percent.

At its very core, the issue is still the sinister and usually unconscious notion that the primary “job” of women should be childrearing. Women in the workforce make less, in large part, because our society encourages us to see female workers as non-breadwinners, as secondary income earners doing a secondary job. And because all women are viewed as potential mothers whether they have children or not, all women are subject to the penalty in some way.

It’s easy to write this viewpoint off as a relic of times past or a trait of so-called unenlightened geographies. But to do so would be wrong. After all, the research was done in 2012 and OECD countries tend to have relatively high incomes globally – in other words, they are mainly “developed” economies like Australia, Italy, Japan, Norway, Turkey, and the United States.

Nor is the wage gap an idiosyncrasy of the lower end of the income range. In fact, the gap between men and women’s income levels is widest for the rich. According to the study, female top-earners make 21 percent less than male top-earners.

All this aside, the wage gap is nothing new. But what is new is the OECD’s suggestion that continuing to ignore the gap could deplete the global talent pool at a time when retirement rates are rapidly rising in these countries. It’s also wasting the vast amounts of money spent to increase the educational attainment of girls in recent decades. The report states:

“Gender inequality means not only foregoing the important contributions that women make to the economy, but also wasting years of investment in educating girls and young women. Making the most of the talent pool ensures that men and women have an equal chance to contribute both at home and in the workplace, thereby enhancing their well-being and that of society.”

Ultimately, the OECD study indicates, the wage gap could slow down economic growth at a time when businesses – from the smallest entrepreneurial venture to the largest multinational – cannot afford it.

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Does Being Happy Make You a Better Manager?

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to a new study released by the UK’s Institute for Leadership and Management, positivity may be the key to unlocking superior performance.

In other words, being happy may make you a better manager.

The ILM asked 1,000 managers in the UK to rate their level of positivity, performance, their team’s happiness and performance, and other topics like stress and advancement. For anyone who’s attempted to wade into the vast pool of research on employee engagement, the results shouldn’t come as a surprise.

The study revealed that the top performers in the group were also the happiest. Not only that, but happier managers tend to have happier, better performing teams. Of course, it’s difficult to pinpoint the cause and effect here – maybe top-performing managers are happy because they are doing so well rather than vice-versa.

Nevertheless, the implication is clear: there is a link between happiness and performance. How are you going to increase your positivity and your productivity this year?

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5 Ways to Bring Entrepreneurial Energy to Your Corporate Career

Contributed by Ekaterina Walter, author of Think Like Zuck

I was attending a big event for entrepreneurs. I was in the world of young founders and Facebook wannabes. At some point a guy who I was having a conversation with leaned over and asked what I did. He seemed disappointed when I told him I worked for a big brand. “Oh,” he said, “that would drive me nuts.” What he meant was that the lack of agile decision-making, high levels of bureaucracy, and the lack of opportunities for fast advancement.

Now wait just a minute! That’s just a lazy excuse, I thought to myself. I have worked in a number of large companies in my career and, even though I did see some of the shortcomings this gentleman was so afraid of, I have also seen amazing innovation happen. I don’t believe for a second that one has to be an entrepreneur to leave a mark on the world or pursue a dream.

But no matter where we are, we do need some guidance, a roadmap, to living a full life or building a successful career.

In writing my book, Think Like Zuck, I looked at what makes organizations, small and large, successful. I looked at companies like Facebook, Threadless, Dyson, 3M, Zappos, TOMS Shoes and others. And what I realized is that they have a lot of things in common. From there I created a framework and combined those things into 5 categories, 5 Ps. Today, however, I want to use this framework not to talk about the business and organizational success, but rather to talk about professional success on a personal level. And I’d like to do it from a female perspective.

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Movers and Shakers: Laurie Nordquist, Director of Institutional Retirement & Trust, Wells Fargo

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to Laurie Nordquist, Director of Institutional Retirement and Trust at Wells Fargo, one of the most important pieces of advice she has ever received was on the value of staying true to herself.

“Be yourself – it’s important for all of us. The more you can be authentic at work, the more you can use that energy to make a difference,” she explained. And after thirty years in the business, she has the experience to know it’s true.

She explained, “I had a wonderful boss who gave me that advice and it’s really helped me over the years. It’s okay to be unique or a little quirky – don’t think there’s a particular style you have to follow. Just come in and be yourself.”

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In the Boardroom, Diversity Begets Diversity

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By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to a new study by Ernst & Young, companies are more likely to hire female board members if they already have at least one woman on the board. That is – once they recognize the benefits that board diversity can bring, they tend to want more.

The study, which examined the board composition of S&P 1500 companies from 2006 to 2012, also showed that companies that had never hired a female board director weren’t likely to start anytime soon.

According to Ernst & Young, 30 percent of companies have added at least one woman director since 2006. About 60 percent of them already had at least one female director.

Karyn Twaronite, Partner and Americas Inclusiveness Officer at Ernst & Young said, “We were surprised that boards that didn’t have any women didn’t add many women, especially despite evidence that the benefits of having multiple women directors reach beyond the boardroom. For instance, a Catalyst study showed a direct cause and effect to having at least three women on boards — it resulted in more women in these companies’ executive levels.”

The study also showed that larger companies tend to have more board diversity than smaller ones. Today, about 14 percent of board directors on the S&P 1500 are female, an increase of three percentage points since 2006.

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Voice of Experience: Carol Sawdye, Chief Financial Officer, PwC

carol sawdyeAccording to Carol Sawdye, Chief Financial Officer at PwC, it’s important to maintain a “sense of urgency” about your career. It took Sawdye 17 years to figure this out, she said with a laugh.

After climbing through the ranks to partnership at PwC, she set out for a new chapter as CFO and COO at the M&A firm Skadden Arps, which led her to a more recent, challenging role as CFO at the NBA. Now, she is back at PwC, working as part of the US Leadership Team to transform the nature of how the firm does business in a rapidly changing, 24/7, global marketplace.

Sawdye explained, “You don’t necessarily need to move to new employers. There are typically a lot of opportunities in the place where you are currently employed to get new experiences and advance your skills. The way to get from point A to point B is not necessarily a straight line.”

“After moving up the ranks at PwC for 17 years, I made the move to Skadden – it was a big leap. But I had the desire to become part of a management team so I just decided to do it. You really need to be willing to see opportunities and take calculated risks.”

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