Op-Ed: The female millennial: A new era of talent

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Op-Ed-The-female-MillennialSunday 8 March 2015 marks this year’s International Women’s Day. As we celebrate the achievements of women in the workforce and beyond, my advice for leaders of both sexes is to think broader than the top – you have a new era of female talent on your hands.

We believe that CEOs must be committed to driving parallel efforts that tackle enhanced leadership diversity in conjunction with systemic change efforts, targeting their workforce from day one here at PWC with the sponsorship of our Global Chairman, Dennis Nally, we are working hard to get this right.

We are focusing on developing talented junior women now, for future leadership roles, because when talent rises to the top, everyone wins

We are very passionate about this and so to mark International Women’s Day this year we are excited to launch our The female millennial: A new era of talent publication. This is a research-based report that shares the insights and desires of more than 10,000 millennials from 75 countries.

A new era of female talent

Our research tells us that when it comes to the female millennial (women born 1980–1995) we really are talking about a new era of female talent. Female millennials matter because they are more highly educated and are entering the workforce in larger numbers than any of their previous generations. They also enter the workforce with a different career mindset, they are more career-confident and ambitious than their previous generations.

Almost half of women kick-starting their careers feel they can rise to the very top levels with their current employer.

Forty-nine percent of female millennial career starters (0–3 years’ work experience) feel they can rise to the very top levels with their current employers, making them more career-confident than the generations that have gone before them. Despite this, there is still a confidence gap; 71% of their male peers feel the same way. This gap is something that must be recognised, but it is important we also look beyond just the gap.

Almost half of women kick-starting their careers feel they can rise to the very top levels with their current employer. Given only 4.8% of current Fortune 500 CEOs are female – an underwhelming historic high by the way – we must acknowledge and celebrate that the needle is moving when it comes to the career-confidence of female millennials.

Our research also tells us the female millennial ranks opportunities for career progression as the most attractive employer trait. It is also the most highly ranked reason female millennials have left a former employer.

But the millennial woman is not only more career-confident and ambitious than her previous generations. She is also more financially empowered. When it comes to earning power and patterns, millennial women are trailblazers. Our research tells us 86% of female millennials in a relationship are part of a dual-career couple. Furthermore, 42% earn equal salaries to their partner/spouse and 24% are the primary earner. This means 66% of female millennials earn equal to, or more than, their spouse. The more experienced the female millennial, the higher the likelihood she will be the primary earner. Our study tells us that 31% of female millennials with nine or more years’ experience are the primary earner in their relationship, compared to 18% of millennial career starters and 24% of career developers.

The female millennial sounds pretty amazing – right? But how can organisations capitalise on these stellar traits? To achieve a sustainable talent pipeline, employers can get things right by committing to inclusive cultures and talent strategies that lean into the confidence and ambition of the female millennial.

Themes that matter

The female millennial: A new era of talent report shares five key themes that matter to the female millennial and positions the difficult questions that employers need to be cognisant of when it comes to this growing and significant portion of the global talent pool. Diversity is front of mind for the female millennial. An employer’s reputation matters, global careers are high on the agenda and the female millennial desires work–life balance and flexibility combined with a strong feedback culture.

The female millennial career stage differential

Particularly interesting in this report is that we don’t just take a holistic view of the female millennial. I was very excited as a millennial woman to lead this project, but also recognised being a 34-year-old millennial woman with 14 years’ work experience that my experience will be very different from the experience of a 22-year-old millennial woman just starting out on her career. So we have created a female millennial career stage differential to help employers learn more about the female millennial.

a new era of female talent

As millennial women progress through this career stage differential, they are more likely to be in senior positions, more likely to have completed an international assignment, more likely to be the primary earner if part of a dual-career couple and more likely to value critical feedback discussions taking place face to face. On the flip side, they are also more likely to believe employers are too male-biased in terms of attraction, promotion, development and retention, and believe that taking advantage of work–life balance and flexibility programmes has negative career consequences at their workplace. They are also less likely to believe they can reach the very top levels with their current employer.

Female millennial role models in the plenty

While our research tells us that one-quarter of female millennials said they do not feel there are senior female role models that resonate with them at their current employer, one thing is clear – there are plenty of female millennial role models out there. From Australia to Brazil, Ghana to France, Ireland to Nigeria, Malaysia to Singapore, Spain to the UK and of course the US, you’ll find fantastic voice of the female millennial profiles to motivate and inspire you in our report.

Visit www.pwc.com/femalemillennial to download the report and access further resources for, or about, the female millennial.

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Career Tip of the Week

Nicki-Gilmour-bio

This Week’s Tip Is…

Negotiating isn’t just that once a year pay discussion and it is not just about money.

Read “Everyday Negotiations” by Deborah Kolb and Judith Williams to understand the power dynamics of everyday at the office.

Welcome to Career Tip of the Week. In this column we aim to provide you with a useful snippet of advice to carry with you all week as you navigate the day to day path in your career

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

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Whitney Johnson, Managing Director, Springboard Ventures, LP, Intrepid Woman

By Nicki Gilmour

Whitney Johnson believes in disruptive innovation. As co-founder of Professor Christensen’s Boston-based investment firm Rose Park Advisors, Whitney Johnson applied the frameworks of disruptive innovation to identify and invest in disruptive companies.

“I connected with Clayton Christensen in 2003-2004, and I was privileged to have him ask me to co-found an investment firm with him in 2007. I realized in parallel that these theories of disruption not only applied to picking stocks but also to individuals. Disrupting your own status quo before you change anything else is the place to start.”

Whitney is in now in the process of launching Springboard Ventures, LP, a fund investing in women in high growth businesses that can scale in tech and life sciences from the initial pool of candidates that are the alumni of Springboard Enterprises, a non-profit accelerator.

She is inspired to help others and claims that her job is many jobs as with so many people these days. “I have a portfolio professional life of coaching, speaking, writing and investing. When I talk to women and they ask me for a single piece of advice – I say get a coach. Regardless of your talent and hard work, it is hard to navigate and a coach can help you understand the landmarks when you are in the ocean of your career.”

Walking the Talk
Whitney moved to NYC in 1989 with her husband who was getting his PhD at Columbia University. She recounts how it was a scary time in New York at that point and she realized that as a couple they had no money and she needed to get a job. She decided that Wall Street was for her, and truth be told, was motivated by Liar’s Poker, Bonfire of the Vanities, Wall Street – and, of course, Working Girl.

At Smith Barney, I looked at the bullpen of up-and-coming stockbrokers, and I thought to myself, ‘I am just as smart as they are’ and I wanted it badly so I took classes at night, accounting and finance.” She comments that having a sponsor was critical to her moving up the Wall Street food chain. “I had a boss who let me jump from being secretary to an analyst in investment banking.

Whitney talks of her career climb from music major to one of the top ranked equity research analysts, being ranked 8 consecutive years (1996- 2005) according to Institutional Investor, with her last 4 years being double ranked, her area being Emerging Markets – Latin America – Telecom and Media.

In 2005, “I disrupted myself – I didn’t even wait for another bonus – left in June that year. I was at the top of my game — number one in Media / #2 in Telecom.

In our conversation, Whitney explained why she wrote the book Dare, Dream, Do. She believe her mission is to help individuals (women, in particular) believe that we need to learn to be harbors and ships, to develop our feminine, the capacity for relatedness and love, and masculine (ability to wield power and control situations) to truly succeed.

“I feel that women have to work through the tensions of how do I tend to my dreams as well as the dreams of others who we love?

Why ‘Disruptive Innovation’ is about moving forward.
When I suggested that we do this interview for the Intrepid Women column she candidly admitted that being fearless is definitely a learned trait.

“I feel scared a lot of the time, but I think about innovation going from stuck to unstuck, about finding the problem (or a problem finding you) and solving it.”

When asked about factors that can hold women back in their careers, she states that confidence to disrupt is definitely top of the list. There are many career ‘derailers’ that can stop people from getting ahead.

Whitney talked at length about the dangers of entitlement and how we can overcome this to succeed.

“Entitlement comes in many forms, not just at the beginning of our career. Entitlement can surface as we rise through the ranks, and are literally en-titled. Regardless of rank, you battle entitlement by being willing to do the work to socialize our ideas, to not just expect that people will buy in.”

She advises people to figure out who are their stakeholders are at work stating that they can range from your boss, your peers, your coworkers to your boss’s assistant. Figure out what language your stakeholders speak, she advises and adds,

“If you are in marketing and your boss or sponsor is in finance then you have to communicate in a way with that person that will help you move up the curve to succeed.”

Not being heard? She suggests that it is possible that you need to socialize ideas more, but recognizes that it is also possible you are just not being heard. Research suggests that women needs to be two and a half times more effective than men. Whitney gives insight to what this means in real terms stating,

This shows that it may take longer for women to be successful. Be aware of this so you don’t internalize this. There is nothing wrong with you! But know that you have to have 100% domain expertise, especially because your soft skills are taken for granted as a woman.”

Finally, on the topic of being heard and gaining credibility she shares some sage wisdom,

“People can discover how smart you are by the quality of the questions you ask.”

Check out Whitney at HBR or on her website.

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“Show Me how to Lead, Like a Woman”: Why Positive Gender Identity Matters in Leadership

Managing ChangeBy Aimee Hansen

“Show me how to run, like a girl.” On Sunday February 1st, millions of Superbowl viewers watched a 60-second ad from Procter & Gamble’s Always campaign, which powerfully demonstrated that doing something “like a girl” implies weak and wimpy performance is an association girls learn. From puberty, girls become divorced from their self-confidence and evidently self-perceived ability.

Calling the ad “groundbreaking” for its placement in the Superbowl, the Huffington Post stated it won kudos “for changing the conversation about what it means to run, throw, and do pretty much any activity ‘like a girl’.” A Washington Post blog referred to it as a “PSA for all womankind” – summing up what was revealed by how young girls behaved in response before they internalized the negative gender stereotype of weakness:

“…throwing ‘like a girl’ is the same as throwing like a person, right?”

If negative gender identification contributes to dropping a female’s self-confidence by the time she hits puberty, it’s no wonder that marrying the roles of “woman” and “leader” too often creates an identity conflict for professional women.

Leadership Stereotypes & Gender

Researchers Alice Eagly and Anne Koenig stated in a Footnote article last year that while it’s slowly changing, “the characteristics people typically associate with leadership are often stereotypically masculine” – especially when it’s men making the association. A prevalent gender stereotype, which it has been argued in the Financial Times, business schools perpetuate.

Drawing from their own and other studies, they wrote “The alignment of the stereotypical characteristics of men and the stereotypical characteristics of good leaders makes it easier for men to be perceived as successful leaders, a phenomenon known as role congruity. In contrast, women are perceived as less fit for leadership because traditionally feminine characteristics are less consistent with our perceptions of successful leaders.”

Add “perceive themselves” to that dynamic, and the case for internal conflict becomes clear – leaving women in a bind when they attempt to be a leader in a male-dominated environment where their gender is a perceived liability.

Identity Conflict

A recently published report, “Me, a woman, and a leader: Positive social identity and identity conflict” by INSEAD’s Natalia Karelia and ESMT’s Laura Guillén, explored the consequences of positive social identity for women in leadership roles, across over 600 leaders.

From the INSEAD working paper behind the report, identity conflict is when women perceive an incongruity between their gender and professional identity. The study proposed that when women leaders see the identity roles of “woman” and “leader” as holding conflicting norms, meanings, and demands, they feel at odds inside while trying to live up to the standards of each of them, and this creates the feeling of inauthenticity and internal problems.

The research found that especially in male-dominated organizations, women leaders experience significant identity conflict, which increases stress, decreases a sense of well-being, and turns leadership into a duty they have to persist with rather than a joyful and motivating role. These women felt under pressure to conform to male-associated leadership qualities and expected behaviors, at a sense of violating their female identity.

The researchers propose that women in male-dominated workplaces may struggle to integrate leader into their identity because female leadership is not being legitimized, “For women, the road of developing a self-concept as a leader may be especially bumpy in the environments where women are numerically underrepresented.”

The researchers write, “Our results indicate that in male-dominated organizations, women leaders may be more often ‘reminded’ of the incongruity between their professional and gender roles.”

Positive Gender Identity

The research found that what powerfully reduced identity conflict for women leaders is this: feeling positively about belonging to the social group of woman.

The research found, “Compared with women in more male-dominated organizations, women in organizations with proportionally more women held a more positive gender identity and experienced less identity conflict.” Working in organizations where being a woman, and evidently the associated strengths, is seen as explicitly positive left women more motivated to lead.

The researchers asserted that “holding a more positive gender identity reduces women leaders’ perceived conflict between their self-views as women and leaders. Thus, cultivating and maintaining a positive gender identity helps women leaders to improve their well-being not only directly, but also indirectly — by reducing identity conflict.”

In simplest terms, what the study found was that women that feel more positive about being a woman feel better being a leader, closing the gap between them within. A significant contributor to that is seeing females reflected in numbers around them.

Self-Affirmation

Embracing our social identity as woman can also help to free us from the confines of stereotypes and perceived incompatibilities.

Drawing from past studies, Karelia and Guillén pointed out that a positive social identity links to a stronger self-worth which can spill across roles and indirectly build self-affirmation. “Therefore, the more positive social identities woman leaders hold, the more freedom they will feel about the way they can lead, and the more likely they will be to develop their own way of leading that makes them feel comfortable and authentic.”

“Leader” and “woman” need not imply an inherent divisiveness, when women embolden themselves to find their own way.

Who defines what it means to lead “like a woman”?

Well, ultimately, you do. Lead.

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How Women, an Untapped Workforce, Can Gain a Competitive Edge in Business

Career AssetsIn light of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s recent remarks about women needing to have “faith” in the HR system and rely on “karma” in the workplace rather than directly ask for raises, it’s especially crucial for women to value their own strengths and not be afraid to use them to gain a competitive edge in the workforce.

Although controversial, Nadella’s comments highlight the perpetuated stereotypes of gender roles in business: men are typically accepted as more aggressive, while women are expected to be more yielding and less assertive. Despite accounting for half of the U.S. workforce and surpassing the male population in not only educational attainment, but also professional degrees and work experience, women earn 78% of the compensation received by their male counterparts.

Even though such statistics may be disconcerting, awareness can lead to empowerment, and there are certainly steps women can take in order to stand firm in their own value to the companies they advance.

Take Credit for Your Work
Too often, women let others receive the accolades that they deserve for their own work. Whether it’s a supervisor or coworker, valuable efforts and innovation by individual women are often unacknowledged due to office politics and inadequate communication to upper level management. Despite popular belief, however, it’s entirely possible to make sure that your voice is getting heard without burning the bridges of professional decorum.

After completing a great project, for example, it could be prudent to make sure that your company’s leadership recognizes your role in the undertaking. You could ask for feedback regarding the particular part of the project on which you worked and if there’s anything you can do to help further. It’s essential to make your contribution to the project clear, but deliver the message in a way that simply comes across as being professionally thorough and helpful.

Understand Your Colleagues
A lot of knowing when to take which step comes down to understanding the psychology of the people with whom you work — from the company’s CEO to your assistant. Use your intuition to read the underlying drivers behind attitudes, approaches, and situations. Observe how people like to be treated and what type of interactions they respond to best. This simple insight can give you all the clarity you need in order to say the right thing at the right time, allowing you to form rapport with both coworkers and gatekeepers — and draw attention to your value within the company.

Maximize Your Efforts
Be strategic about where to invest your energy and focus. Even though it’s important to take pride in everything you do, it’s plain that some initiatives are more important than others. It’s helpful to take an objective view of the company and its leadership in order to evaluate which goals and enterprises matter most. Fuel the projects that are important to your workplace’s gatekeepers and the ultimate success of the company; leave the rest alone, unless you have significant passion for them and are committed to seeing them through.

Women Are Still an Untapped Resource
Amazingly, half of workers are now women, but women still represent a largely untapped workforce. In fact, 56 percent of the 20 lowest-paid jobs are performed by women as opposed to just 29 percent of the highest-paid jobs. Yet, according to a report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, “Recent research has shown that women can help drive innovation and better target female customers and employees.”

Some argue that having children and raising a family is a pivotal factor that interferes with women’s careers, which is why women represent such an untapped workforce; however, we’ve found that a high percentage of moms want to be a part of the workforce and are certainly qualified to do so.

I have not found this to be the case. Zirtual, my own company, is made up of 90% female Zirtual Assistants (ZAs). It’s turned out that the majority of candidates who apply are women (about 50% are stay at home moms) and they have proven to be extremely skilled and well-suited for the position

Besides being qualified and having the right skill sets to excel as ZAs, we’ve also discovered that our female-dominated workforce demonstrates exceptional levels of engagement with work, fellow co-workers, and clients. They tend to be excited about doing their jobs well and ultimately helping other people.

Perhaps it is the flexibility that remote work affords to women that is key in allowing them to truly perform at their best and also handle their other familial responsibilities. Even within full-time corporate positions, providing the flexibility to work from home and integrating policies such as paid family leave can help to reduce barriers to women participating and thriving as much as men do in the workplace. With shared breadwinning and caregiving responsibilities increasingly crossing over gender lines, it only makes sense to grant the same program offerings, such as paternity leave, to men as to women, especially considering that more and more women are entering the workforce.

At the end of the day, there’s strength in numbers. But it’s now perhaps even more important than ever for each individual woman to value the strengths within herself in order to tap into her own competitive edge.

Guest Contribution by Maren Kate Donovan, CEO of Zirtual

Guest advice and opinions not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com

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International Women’s Day Coverage: Professional Women in Nigeria

International Women’s Day is an opportunity for theglasshammer.com to look at the status of professional women in other parts of the world. Africa is a huge continent with varying business environments. South Africa gets the most attention followed by somewhat negative attention for Nigeria due to reported high levels of corruption.

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and largest economy is in the midst of an workplace equality revolution. How easy is it for Nigerian woman to climb the corporate ladder in modern day Nigeria?

Today, the participation of women in corporate managerial roles is being discussed at all levels of Nigerian society. Traditionally a Nigerian woman’s place was by her husband’s side but todays Nigeria is becoming a much different society. In the last decade women have held positions of leadership in the Nigerian Medical Association, Nigerian Bar Association and the Institute of Chartered Accountants. In government, the two important cabinet positions of finance and petroleum are also held by Nigerian women. These advances have stirred Nigerian public sentiment over the viability of women in positions of power. The minister of Nigerian finance, Diezani Alison-Madueke recently felt the need to state, “We are there not because we are women. We are there because of our competence as managers.”

The present reality and the future progress

Despite being well educated with the appropriate training and experience Nigeria is still facing a problem when it comes to getting women into top level positons in the corporate world. But the ambitions of young, professional Nigerian women seem to be rising to meet this challenge. In a 2008 survey conducted by Nigeria’s University of Ilorin, 52.5% of female Nigerian managers were 21 to 30 years of age while only 25% were between 31 to 40 and 15% were between 41 to 50 years old. This represents a massive boom in the early hiring of young female professionals into Nigeria’s managerial roles. The Chairperson and Chief Executive of Britannia U Group, an oil and gas conglomerate, Catherine Uju Ifejika said, “We are able to hold your homes together, and we are beginning to translate that into boardroom jobs, and then owning companies. In six years I have formed seven companies.”

Today’s recent rise in public discussion and government interest in the participation of women in the corporate world comes from newly published studies on the economic benefits of female participation. A big push to include women comes from the economic success of neighboring South Africa and its relative achievements in this area. Winihin Ayuli-Jemide, a Lagos-based entrepreneur and former lawyer said of South Africa’s women, “They dominate the low capital businesses, the ‘informal sector’ such as manufacturing knitwear, tie and dye and homemade food for sale in municipal markets.” She sees this as the key to South Africa’s success but wants Nigeria’s women to aim higher. She cites investment, particularly in oil and gas as Nigerian women’s most efficient way to gain economic and power equality.

International studies also seem to have had a large impact on Nigeria’s view of professional women. McKinsey and Company, a multinational management consulting firm, has since 2007 published a series of surveys and studies entitled Women Matter. The overall conclusion of these studies is that companies with a higher female representation at the executive level maintain a higher economic output than those with lower representation. Winihin Ayuli-Jemide welcomes the influence of these studies and cites the need for more African based research. She says, “In Africa we really don’t have information about gender issues, nothing on how we are doing in the economy.”

A lack of mentorship for rising women in the corporate world has also been blamed for Nigeria’s lack of women in senior positions. And women who attempt to learn are sometimes seen as more of a secretary and/or mistress then colleague. A respondent to a survey conducted by Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiesti who has over 12 years in the corporate banking, oil and gas sectors had this to say. “There was a stage in my career where I was discriminated against as a family woman, when I was given a mentor, he was too bossy and spoke to me sometimes as if I were his girlfriend. He wanted me to stay late evening at work and wanted me to also meet up with him in restaurants, canteens… I could not keep up with these demands and our relationship became tense…. I prefer to have female mentor…it is easier to compare notes and learn from one another’s effort.”

Many Nigerian Women also feel that they must sacrifice their familial lives for the careers in an effort to appear more “macho”. In a 2011 survey by the Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiesti, a respondent was quoted, “The corporate environment here in Nigeria is difficult and very Macho. As a woman you have to strive harder and do twice as well as the guys in order to be noticed or succeed. Women are always considered not fully committed, especially if married with children”.

But despite deeply entrenched gender roles, Nigerian society’s view of women as professionals seems to be changing. The same survey mentioned in this article by University of Ilorin in 2008 showed that 90% of respondents believed Nigerian women were capable as managers and can possess leadership traits which are similar to their male co-workers. This indicates an encouraging trend that will possibly change gender dynamics further and will take time to play out in real working environments over the next ten years.

By Ben Rozon

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Voice of Experience: Jessica K. Delbaum, Antitrust Partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP

By Cathie Ericson

delbaumjessicawebAccording to Jessica K. Delbaum, a leading antitrust partner at global law firm Shearman & Sterling LLP, plotting a successful career path involves looking beyond the expectations of an entry-level position and determining if you’ll be excited by future prospects in the practice you pursue. “Look ahead at what senior practitioners are doing, because you won’t be at your current level for long,” she advises. “Make sure it’s fascinating and rewarding.”

Delbaum took her own advice to heart when she pursued her career path in the antitrust field. As an undergrad, she majored in economics and philosophy, but decided to start her career as a legal assistant, joining Shearman & Sterling right after graduating from Columbia College. She quickly realized she had found her calling and went back to school at Harvard Law. She spent her first summer in the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York, but an antitrust class she took in her second year of law school provided much-needed career direction. “I was almost immediately won over by antitrust’s complex and stimulating mix of corporate law, litigation, criminal work and business – all in one body of law,” Delbaum recalls. Soon after, a stint as a summer associate, with an emphasis on antitrust, confirmed her interest in both its theoretical and practical applications.

After law school graduation, Delbaum began her career as an Attorney General’s Honors Program Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division in Washington, DC. She says, “It was a phenomenal experience, working with an incredible group of attorneys and economists, including many women in leadership positions.” Delbaum also recalls having the unique opportunity to depose a Fortune 50 CEO in her first year of work.

After a few years of rewarding work at the DOJ, she missed New York and decided it was time to try private practice. She joined Shearman & Sterling in November 2004 — first as an associate and then becoming counsel and ultimately a partner.

Today, the most rewarding part of her job is helping clients achieve their strategic goals as they navigate the complexity of the antitrust realm. “We use different tactics depending on their goals,” she explains, “so my job is to listen carefully to the client and then apply my knowledge and expertise to help them make practical choices and achieve their objectives as painlessly as possible.”

Currently she is wrapping up a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical transaction and juggling several other client assignments. She says, “I love substantive, complicated issues, and I find the more I delve into any industry – whether it’s industrial gases or medical devices – the more interesting it gets.”

The legal industry itself continues to fascinate her as companies realize that antitrust issues extend far beyond U.S. borders to incorporate international factors. Today, for example, completing a significant merger transaction will likely involve discussions with antitrust agencies from all over the world – a specialty for her and for Shearman & Sterling.

Changing Expectations
Stepping back from her client work, Delbaum sees a changing face of Big Law and an ever-evolving way of servicing today’s clients. She has seen shifts that extend from client expectations to the expectations of incoming lawyers. Successful practitioners, she says, will learn to navigate these different stakeholders.

This has a significant impact, in particular, in the way that young lawyers work, especially in their emphasis on work-life balance. “Incoming associates are typically very tech savvy and adapt well to our fast-paced work environment, but work isn’t everything to them,” Delbaum says. “They crave a more well-rounded life and experience, and the challenge is to see how that dovetails with private practice and the needs of our international clientele and the pace of our transactions.”

She cites the issue of clients with pressing problems – often in multiple time zones – and the lawyers who also want some balance in their life. That equilibrium is both helped and harmed by technology – on the one hand, you can take care of what you need to wherever you are; conversely, no one is completely unplugged and it’s more difficult to carve out that sacred personal time.

“It used to be we’d have a week to sift through new documents and offer recommendations; now we get something at 4 p.m. and clients often want feedback the next morning – in whatever time zone they’re in,” she says. “As a partner in the firm, my role is to service our clients and also to help newer associates learn how to find a balance.”

Helping Associates be WISER
Shearman & Sterling offers a wide variety of career development opportunities, many of which Delbaum helps oversee. She is one of the co-partner advisers for the firm’s Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention (WISER) – a group that was initially internally focused but has become increasingly focused on business development and other external factors. She is also co-chair of the firm’s global Associate Development Partners Committee, responsible for development, training and mentoring of the firm’s roughly 600 associates worldwide.

In addition, Delbaum is active in the firm’s efforts around Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In movement. “We were one of the first firms to join the movement, and we learned very quickly that the challenge was how to make it actionable,” she says. The firm developed a program offering “Lean in Resource Partners,” of which Delbaum is one. We have regular sessions with both male and female associates.; the meetings typically feature a video and discussion, followed by a break-out session, and concluding with a group session to report valuable take-aways. “This has been a hugely successful endeavor that has helped facilitate better camaraderie and enhance careers and daily interaction,” she adds.

Internal and External Networks Key to Success
Over the years, Delbaum has learned the importance of developing both her internal and external networks. While she spent the early part of her career focusing on internal network building as a natural extension of her role, she wishes she had also focused on expanding her external associations. She advocates that newer practitioners network not only within their narrow area of expertise, but also within the larger legal and business community.

And she feels that the challenges apply equally to women who are her peers and those starting their journey. “We are great resources for each other,” she says, “and we need to take advantage of any opportunities to mingle our professional groups to help nurture potential business contacts.”

All Work, No Play…
Delbaum readily admits that one of the perks of her globe-trotting career is the opportunity to visit places she otherwise wouldn’t. She takes advantage of her robust travel schedule to blend in personal travel as well — a recent client trip to South Africa ended with a memorable two-day safari.

“Since I have to travel so extensively for work, why not combine it with some fun when I can?” she says, noting that travel experiences are also beneficial for building connections. As an example, she cites a Japanese client who had sent her a holiday card featuring a print from renowned Japanese artist Hokusai. She happened to mention to the client that she had just seen an exhibit of his work in Paris over her holiday vacation, and that spurred an extended conversation and a closer client relationship. “I Iove to travel, and it really can open other doors,” she says.

In addition, Delbaum makes time for yoga, both for the physical aspects and her burgeoning interest in the mental benefits of the meditation period at the end. “It’s good for body and soul,” she says.

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Bringing Men on Board in Gender Diversity

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

image3 (1)Every year The Glass Hammer hosts a career development event called Navigating, Negotiating, and Building Your Strategic Network. This year’s event, sponsored by BNY Mellon, Shearman & Sterling and Goldman Sachs, focused on how leaders and aspiring leaders — both male and female — can engage more men in efforts toward improving gender diversity.

For too long, noted Nicki Gilmour, Founder and CEO of The Glass Hammer, men have been excluded from discussions on gender diversity, and that’s keeping well-meaning diversity allies from speaking up and taking action on workplace equality. She asked attendees to reconsider who they “authorize as an expert, pick as a team member, and generally promote.”

Moderated by Chuck Shelton, Chief Executive Officer at Greatheart Consulting, the panel explored how men can be better gender diversity allies, and how women can benefit more from male mentors and sponsors. Panelists included Justin Gmelich, Global head of Credit Trading and Management Committee Member, Goldman Sachs; Larry Hughes, CEO, BNY Mellon Wealth Management; Kathryn Kaminsky, Partner, Assurance, PwC; and Donna Parisi, Partner and Co-Practice Group Leader of the Asset Management Group, Shearman & Sterling.

The panelists weighed in on why gender diversity is such an critical area of focus.

“In my mind, diversity is an important driver of business results,” said Parisi. “Diversity of thought, approach, and methods in getting things done all help to create better business outcomes.”

Unfortunately, too many people still think of gender diversity efforts as a zero sum game, a pie with a set number of slices. According to the traditional thinking, if men help women succeed, that’s one fewer pie slice for them.

Parisi took issue with this reasoning. “We’re working together to grow the pie – it’s about collaboration,” she explained. “Gender diversity creates more opportunities for success for all involved.”

Hughes agreed. “If anything the challenge is in finding quality leaders, not that there aren’t enough leadership spots to go around,” he said.

Hughes said one way he’s worked to increase gender diversity at BNY Mellon Wealth Management is to require diverse candidate slates for top jobs. He recalled a time that a search firm turned around a slate of candidates for an executive position with all male, white, 50-something candidates. There were some fine choices, he said, but the recruiter could have done better.

He told the search firm to try again, and to make sure there were diverse candidates on the slate. The next time around, he received a more diverse slate of excellent candidates and eventually, he hired a fantastically qualified woman for the job.

“We’re trying to make the pie bigger,” he explained.

Kaminsky said she also tries to reframe discussions around gender diversity as a matter of talent management.

“If you’re looking for the best person to fill the spot. I think the misconception is that sometimes when you talk about looking for diversity, people think it’s a ‘he versus she’ issue, when it is truly about the best talent” she said.

“Advocacy should be omnipresent,” Gmelich says. He stated that his colleagues know he is “all in” based on his personal and professional advocacy of the advancement of women.

Gmelich explained that he’s always been passionate about fairness, and perhaps part of his interest in gender diversity is due to the sponsorship of the woman who initially hired him at Goldman, Jackie Zehner.

However, Gmelich emphasized that younger professionals should remember that they are responsible for driving their own success.

“If you think someone is responsible for your career, you’re dead wrong. You are your biggest advocate,” he said. “Other folks are also working diligently, – it is not enough to work in a silo.”

Parisi reminded the audience that sponsorship is a two-way street.

“Sponsoring or advocating for someone takes a little bit of a leap of faith,” she said. “You’re putting yourself out there on their behalf. Because of the risk involved, you’re not going to do it for everyone.”

As such, protégés (people receiving sponsorship) should return that trust, and make sure to meet the expectations that have been set by the sponsor, Kaminsky said.

“You have to be willing to show vulnerability,” she said, and to ask for help when it is needed. She also advised the panelists to distinguish between people who are providing advice (mentors) versus those advocating on their behalf (sponsors).

Men can distinguish themselves as leaders by championing gender diversity, Hughes said. Hughes chaired his group’s diversity committee for five years. “I think symbolism does matter,” he said. BNY’s Mellon male CEO chaired his company’s women’s network for years as well. “It showed this very senior guy cared enough to personally participate and chair the women’s affinity network, and made sure roadblocks were taken down.”

He added, “And as a result, a lot more men attended.”

Finally, Gmelich talked about how diversity to him isn’t just a workplace matter, like flipping a light switch. He said he wants to live his commitment to gender diversity, and as a father to four girls, he explained, “I think about the environment I want them to have at work and that drives me.”

Gmelich said he helped found an all-girls STEM high school as well.

“I’m not just tilting at windmills,” he said. “This is a big thing for me.”

The panel recognized that much work has to be done by both men and women to ensure that on a daily basis any unconscious bias is overridden and that real talent gets to thrive.

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Reckoning with Institutional Double Standards on International Women’s Day

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IWDBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

What is it that keeps women from ascending to executive levels in business in numbers comparable to men? It’s not for lack of commitment or ambition. It’s not a matter of skill level or about being “tough enough.” It’s not even about negative perceptions on women’s ability to turn a profit.

What it is, is bias. It’s a culture created by men and women that offers men greater opportunities to succeed, while holding women to higher standards. And now, finally, the American public is actually coming to terms with the double-standards keeping women out of leadership roles. In fact, in a recent Pew survey, the majority of respondents acknowledged that women do, in fact, face a tougher road to the top, even today.

“Americans widely believe that men have a better shot at leadership positions in business and politics, even as majorities say that men and women make equally good leaders,” the Pew report states.

In the survey, majorities (including both women and men) agreed that there aren’t many women in executive leadership because companies simply aren’t ready to hire women leaders. It was also recognized that it is because women are held to higher standards than men. Yet, respondents also said women would do just as good a job as men.

The Pew study illuminates a point of view The Glass Hammer has supported for many years. That is: women are not the ones who need changing. The reason women are not advancing into senior leadership roles in greater numbers is because they are locked out by institutional, systemic biases that favor men over women implicitly.

Yet, this runs contrary to so much of the professional advice offered to women – to do more of this or less of that, to behave more in one way or another. Lean in, lean out, be nice, be tough, always wear heels, never let them see you cry. These pieces of advice may work for some women or they may not. Many women may find power or inspiration there, while others may find them empty promises. But they will not fix the problem that persists to this day, that the corporate world is set up to give the benefit of the doubt to men over women every time when it comes to promotion and advancement.

As of January, there were only 26 female Fortune 500 CEOs, according to Pew. And it’s taken 20 years to reach that puny five percent threshold. This year’s International Women’s Day theme is “Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!” At this rate, what will the picture of women in leadership be in another twenty years? Is ten percent good enough?

We, as a culture, can do vastly more for women and we should. It will take work by all of us, though, and real acknowledgment from powerful business leaders – both male and female – that double standards are keeping talented, driven women from succeeding. Change starts at the top but is lived by everyone.

Double Standards by the Numbers

Looking at Pew’s numbers, it’s clear that the majority of respondents – a sample of almost 3,000 US adults – agree that women face double standards in the workplace.

Two-thirds of respondents (67 percent) said the reason there aren’t many women running major corporations is that many businesses just “aren’t ready” for to hire women for top jobs. Two in five (43 percent) said this was a “major” reason there weren’t more women in executive positions while 24 percent cited it as a “minor” reason.

Almost the same share (65 percent) of respondents said that women have to “do more to prove themselves,” and the “major” and “minor breakdowns were almost identical.
In comparison, 58 percent of respondents said they believe women’s responsibilities to their families don’t leave much time for executive leadership, with a quarter (23 percent) designating this is a “major” factor that there aren’t more women running companies, while 35 percent cited it as a “minor” factor.

Respondents were also asked to compare whether men or women are more suited toward certain characteristics. A third (34 percent) said women were better at “working out compromises,” while only 9 percent said men were better at that task. Over half (55 percent) said there was no difference between the genders here. Similarly, 31 percent said women were better at being “honest and ethical,” while three percent said men were, and 64 percent said there was no difference between the genders. Three quarters of respondents said there was no difference between the genders when it came to “negotiating deals,” while 18 percent said men were better suited to this task then women, and seven percent said women were better suited to it.

Finally, a third (34%) said men were better at being willing to take risks than women, while five percent said women were better than men at taking risks, and 58 percent said there was no difference between men and women here.

Indeed, men’s propensity for risky behavior has been studied, lauded, condemned, and questioned in equal measure.
Perhaps its time for men, who make up the vast majority of senior business leaders, to take a risk and openly support the advancement of women, by using their influence to challenge unfair workplace institutions and gender biases.

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Career Tip of the Week!

Nicki-Gilmour-bioThis Week’s Tip Is…

Know your individual needs and values.

Everyone is different. Understand what makes you tick ( and by working with a coach who can work with you/ run psychometric instruments to help you know more about yourself) you can see which types of organizational cultures will best support your needs. Is it about that free coffee in the morning for you or are you wanting to get in and out and need flexibility to do so? These things matter, despite seeming small.

Welcome to Career Tip of the Week. In this column we aim to provide you with a useful snippet of advice to carry with you all week as you navigate the day to day path in your career.

By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist

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