Overdue Change? How Women Impact On Boardroom Dynamics and Why Boards Need It

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focused-diverse-women-working-trading-strategyCurrently, Boards Are Underperforming and a recent article in HBR went further to declare that “boards aren’t working.” Boards are failing at “their core mission: providing strong oversight and strategic support for management’s efforts to create long-term value.”

Bartman & Wiseman reported that boards are at the top of the blame list for pressuring companies to focus on short-term financial results, with board members being the first to admit so. A previous McKinsey study among board directors revealed serious gaps in understanding company strategies, how firms create value, and in-depth knowledge of industry dynamics.

As a core part in how to address this issue, the authors stated, “Part of the lack is in deep, strategic understanding of the business… If the aim is fostering the proper long-term view, what matters most is the quality and depth of the strategic conversations that take place.”

So, boardrooms are broken? How can gender diversity help?

Increasing the number of women directors changes boardroom dynamics, says a recent article in the Harvard Business Review penned by Laura Liswood, Secretary General, Council of Women World Leaders – who reflects upon ongoing progress.

Real Gender-Diversity Creates Results

The impact of gender diversity on results has been repeatedly demonstrated. Recently a French study found that women in boardrooms has a “significant and positive impact on economic performance” and that “gender diversity even reduces corporate inefficiencies and enables firms to come closer to their optimal performance.” Studies show that corporations with more women in the boardroom experienced greater financial performance.

Beth Brooke-Marciniak, Global Vice Chair of Policy at Ernst & Young, stated, “The evidence abounds: In 2012, Ernst & Young reviewed 22,000 audits that our member firms were performing in four countries on three continents. We found that gender-balanced teams were much more successful than other teams. They don’t just outperform other teams in quality – they also bring back better returns…Research shows that companies with at least one woman on the board have a higher return on equity, higher earnings and a stronger growth in stock price than companies with all-male boards. Bringing diverse voices to the table improves the solutions we see.”

Critical Mass Matters

Many studies demonstrate that a critical mass of women on the board, not just tokenistic representation, leads to better financial results and a greater impact on boardroom dynamics. As an article in Forbes put it, “Forget ‘one and done’ or ‘two and through’ – put three or more women on the board and the financial results are even better.”

A study by Thomson Reuters across 4,255 public companies found that while 64% had women on the board, only 20% had boards with over 20% women – while indices made up of mixed boards performed better. Debra Walton, Chief Content Officer, writes, “One idea in particular resonates for me. It’s called the ‘Power of Three’: One woman is a token, two are a presence, and three are a voice. Some would argue that company boards — which, after all, exist to offer insight on important strategic decisions — need that power because of the potential it offers.”

Some studies assert that women in insignificant numbers impact insignificantly on board performance, whereas the inclusion of at least three women on the board has a positive impact on firm value. Organizations like law firm Herbert Smith Freehills aim for 30% representation. Global Head of Mergers and Acquisitions Stephen Wilkinson said, “Just about every respectable study that has come out in the last ten years shows organisations which have a greater gender balance at management level are financially more successful.”

Impacts of Critical Mass on Boardroom Dynamics

Featured in the HBR and in his book Challenging Boardroom Homogeneity: Corporate Law, Governance and Diversity, Dr. Aaron A. Dhir’s work provides an insider look into Norwegian boardrooms and illustrates the impact of having at least 3 women in the boardroom. Dhir identified seven effects of gender-based boardroom heterogeneity for work, governance, and group dynamics:

  • Enhanced dialogue
  • Better decision making, including the value of dissent
  • More effective risk mitigation and crisis management, and a better balance between risk-welcoming and risk aversion behavior
  • Higher quality monitoring of and guidance to management
  • Positive changes to the boardroom environment and culture
  • More orderly and systematic board work
  • Positive changes in the behavior of men

He also noted outsider status and independence were powerful influences, opening up closed social groups and network dynamics and restructuring social bonds between directors, the CEO, and high-level management.

Enhanced Dialogue & More Thorough Decision Making

Dhir found that many women brought “a different set of perspectives, experiences, angles and viewpoints” than their male counterparts. Lisswood noted, “Board members also observed that female directors are ‘more likely than their male counterparts to probe deeply into the issues at hand’ by asking more questions, leading to more robust intra-board deliberations. Most women appeared to be uninterested in presenting a façade of knowledge and were loath to make decisions they did not fully understand.”

Female directors tended to foster a different approach to engagement – seeking the opinions of others and working to ensure everyone had a say in the matter.

The importance of diversity in decision-making is paramount. Research has found that homogenous groups don’t reach better decisions, but they’ll think they have. Heterogenous groups arrive at better decisions, but won’t think so. Experience and outcome are two different things.

INSEAD research postulates that in-group and out-group dynamics in a diverse group lead to more contentious and comprehensive discussions, and results in “more thorough, more comprehensive decisions” when women are on boards.

The importance of diversity in decision-making is paramount.

Diversity Disrupts Groupthink

Groupthink is defined as a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics – a serious liability of homogenous boards. Disrupting it is a big asset of women in the boardroom, even if and especially if they disrupt the existing dynamic.

“Groupthink seriously imperils the board’s decision-making process as it introduces decision biases and blind spots into the process. This is mainly attributed to directors’ endeavor to maintain cohesiveness and solidarity within the board at all costs. Such group pressure compels many directors to ‘go with the flow’ instead of challenging the dominant view in the boardroom,” states Fause Antelo Ersheid, Economist and Senior Corporate Governance Analyst & Researcher at the Abu Dhabi Center for Corporate Governance.

Ersheid recommends, “To overcome this decision-making impediment, companies need to implement a comprehensive diversification program in the boardroom; the board should be as diverse as the company’s client base and perhaps more.” He recommends gender, age, racial, and professional diversity and individually-appointed directors, underlining chairs must champion diversification.

As Thomson Reuter’s Walton states, “Diversity of gender brings a diversity of thought. Getting more women involved reduces groupthink, unlocks fresh perspectives, and fosters innovation and organizational creativity – ultimately emulating a diverse customer base. Only with a broad range of viewpoints can a board make governance and advisory functions meaningful and offer a balanced approach to risk management.”

Not a pipe dream?

According to Liswood, “The Norwegian experience has provided a window into what might happen if and when board leaders and companies elsewhere decide to seriously commit to making sure their boards are truly diverse, moving consciously from homogeneity to heterogeneity.”

By Aimee Hansen

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Changemakers: The Athena Leadership Column

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Women workingVenture capitalist Jeanne Sullivan’s bio is one that defies history. Hers is the resume that appeared – under a woman’s name – thirty years ahead of the pack. She was a partner in Olivetti, and hammered out 40 tech deals in seven years, which “emboldened me,” she says, as Sullivan was “sitting at the table with the great VCs.”

This led her to co-found StarVest Partners – now a hugely successful VC firm – in 1998, when women angels and VCs in the tech world were mythically rare characters. She is revered today as one of those women who is not only vastly successful, but also down-to-earth, funny, and focused on mentoring younger women in technology.

What is the secret to success?

In this series of Athena Changemakers articles, I want to ask the question: what makes the outliers in women’s leadership, different? What lessons did they teach themselves? What skill sets do they themselves highlight? This set of questions, put to this small, unusual population of female “superachievers”, is critical at our point in US and global history. It is now well documented what institutional hurdles women are facing in the workplace; but far less well documented – since it is much less socially acceptable to talk about. Is the bottom-line learning about what the very successful cadre of female changemakers actually did differently from their equally talented peers? Tracking that ‘difference’ in these unusual women’s approach and perhaps even philosophy is the goal of this series.

In a recent interview, Sullivan identified six guidelines for success for women starting out in the tech field – or in any field.

Rule #1

First, “identify your passion,” she insisted. She knew early on that she herself was “an inner geek”and she comments that “I was the one who wanted to take the watch apart.” She also stresses how important it is to trust one’s own unique sensibilities: “with all the windows out there, I knew one was lit for me.”

Rule #2

Then: “Put role models in front of girls.” “We only were teachers, mommies, nurses and secretaries,” she explains of her generation – but she knew that “I wanted to carry a briefcase. I wanted to be in the business world.”

Rule #3

Her third rule – “Build your networks.” Sullivan’s supportive Italian family of eight kids was a resource for her in boosting her sense that she could do anything. But she explains that with what she calls “intelligent teams”, citing the work of MIT professor Thomas Malone, anyone can create that supportive emotional/ professional environment around herself. In 1980, she joined a law firm that attracted ‘computer geeks” and built her first “kitchen cabinet”. She stresses the value of always cultivating an “intelligent team” of vibrant, supportive men and women to nurture one’s goals. Sullivan makes the case that it is up to the woman to hand-pick this group around her. This guidance is quite different from the usual advice women are given about success in the workplace – advice to adapt and fit in, strategize and suppress. It is startling to consider, as it presumes a truly healthy female consciousness and a revamped social Darwinianism: a woman is actually choosing her own environment to enhance her own chances of success, rather than being at the mercy of her environment.

Rule #4

Her fourth rule for success is surprising in its simplicity: “Go to conferences.” Sullivan did not grow up in privilege – she worked hard to enrich her own environment. She explains that any young woman can take her curiosity and passion – whether it is for fashion, tech, or any sector – and find a conference. It is cheap, she says, or free, to go inside. And if you ask questions, people will tell you anything, she notes. She claims that she learned about the tech world from “covering the floor” at conferences: “Are you hiring?” and “Who are your competitors?” are some of the questions she asked. This easy, practical step “into” a world is actually quite important: the obstacle many young women face in imagining what to do next to realize their professional dreams is a sense of mystification – that the world they want to enter is behind high locked walls with secret passcodes.

Rule #5

Her fifth rule? “Don’t look for ‘Safe”’. Sullivan cautions that women are often risk-averse – a finding that is confirmed by the research compiled at Barnard College’s Athena Center for Leadership Studies. Indeed, the latest peer-reviewed studies show that women in the workplace tend to identify for themselves an aversion to taking bold, strategic risks – along with a reluctance to advocate for themselves, and a hesitation to engage in longterm visioning — as areas in which they themselves would like to grow. Sullivan argues that in today’s world, you should not stay in a safe environment that lacks challenges, but should “punch your ticket and move along” as the landscape for opportunity is so vibrant.

Her most provocative conclusions are grouped under a riff she calls, I think hilariously, “Stupid Things Women Do.” I recognize these from years of watching women pitch, and from presentations to me by young women seeking mentoring. “Be prepared,” she says. “Read the board package! Many women show up to the pitch meeting not fully prepared. Ask them pointed, informed questions. Pitch better! Spit it out of your mouth!” she laughs. “Tell me what you are building!” Indeed, there is often so much anticipatory language – what we in journalism call “throat-clearing” – in women’s pitches, that her advice to get right to the gist of the matter is invaluable.

“How do you get there?” she asks, of that perfect pitch? By testing it with your “personal board of advisors.” She adds that you have to “know how to execute and scale”; that women often “leave off the marketing plan.” Finally, she reminds us, “have domain knowledge” – whatever it is, in the sector in which you want to “play big,” you have to know your field and show that you do.

Finally – back to your “intelligent teams” — call the people around you to open up those doors. “That is what guys do,” she remarks. “They call their buddies. ‘You saw that guy last month – can you get me a meeting?’ Do you know women who do that?” she asks rhetorically, as we all know the answer. Sullivan, in fact, cites a study that shows that if a woman knew her best friend’s husband could fund her venture – she still would not ask him for investment. That hesitation to be “pushy” with one’s peers, alone, is a real disadvantage for women.

The beauty of a role model such as Jeanne Sullivan is that she makes geeky, tech-savvy, knowledgeable, ambitious, even pushy advocacy for one’s own idea – seem really charming, inspiring, amusing, delightful, and eminently do-able. Sullivan sees a different future for the young women of today with their own ventures and dreams: “I see a kinder, gentler user interface of women VCs and Angels” she says. “Not gentler in the sense of softer but – they want you, young women, to succeed.”

With Sullivan’s advice and example, many more of them surely will.

By Naomi Wolf

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Career Tip of the Week

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women shaking handsThis Week’s Tip Is…

Do you have a sponsor? What do you reciprocate with as part that arrangement?

How useful is this relationship in practical terms? How could this relationship become more useful?

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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Voice of Experience: Esther Jansen, Finance Partner, Frankfurt, Shearman & Sterling LLP

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jansen_e_hiresDon’t opt out before you ever get a chance to start your career.

That’s the advice from Esther Jansen, a Shearman & Sterling partner in Frankfurt who took opportunities as they were presented to grow her career.

Today a well-known and highly-regarded lawyer who advises on German and cross-border finance transactions, Jansen began her legal career the way most professionals begin theirs: with a general direction but lacking any real focus. In fact, thinking back to her time as a law student at University of Heidelberg, Jansen admits she had no specific career path in mind; there were no lawyers in her family but she had always been interested in the field and knew that a general plan of study could open doors to various avenues.

Her career path started rather randomly with her oral examination at the conclusion of her studies. That is when a corporate law professor, from whom she had never even taken a class, complimented her performance and offered her a job.

“I was able to travel and make a lot of connections, and I realized that this area of law was something I wanted to pursue,”

Thus she embarked on a career in corporate law. Jansen recalls finding the field “inspiring” due to a wide variety of projects that encompassed different areas of law, including international projects with professors from other universities. “I was able to travel and make a lot of connections, and I realized that this area of law was something I wanted to pursue,” Jansen says.

For three years she supported the professor on research projects and student training. She was then offered a position at a law firm through another professor with whom she had interfaced while working at the university.

For three years, Jansen concentrated on venture capital, corporate and M&A, and then new doors opened as her German firm merged with one in New York. She was offered the chance to work in New York to get a different perspective and meet people with whom she had worked from Germany.

“I was astounded at how different the environment was,” she says. “German law firms had hierarchy but nowhere near that of a US firm in New York. One day I went to a partner’s office, only to run into a mid-level associate who asked me what I was doing. I quickly found out that there you don’t just go to the partner.”

Soon after returning to Germany she left – along with the partner with whom she had been working — and began her career with Shearman & Sterling in 2001.

“Becoming partner was a defining moment for me because I’m so proud to be part of this inspiring environment,”

A Rewarding, Fascinating Change

Jansen found Shearman & Sterling to be a great fit right from the start, with a team spirit, lots of young partners and a supportive environment. Jansen became a partner in 2005 and had the opportunity to work with many different partners during her time as an associate, which she credits for her rapid development. “The more personalities you work with, the more you can choose the patterns that work best for you to develop your own professional personality,” she says.

“Becoming partner was a defining moment for me because I’m so proud to be part of this inspiring environment,” she adds. “The ability to transition from one area of law to another, and work with so many smart people and become part of the market and a community on a bigger scale, has really been an achievement for me.”

Jansen finds her work challenging and fascinating because of its ever-changing structure. Over the past year she has not only found a rewarding opportunity to retain new relationships with private equity houses in the higher and midmarket segments, but also worked with banks and corporates on financing transactions, insolvency issues and high yield bonds.

Making a Career Choice for the Right Stage of Your Life

Jansen believes that it is also a woman’s responsibility to take charge of her own career. “I have never encountered a barrier from clients or the firm, nor experienced any pushback from anyone in or outside of the firm,” she says.

It’s still an issue she understands well: the year before her partnership process began she became pregnant and endured the ensuing questions from women about whether she could balance her work and family. But there was no issue with the firm; being a mother did not impair her partnership opportunity. She stayed home for five months and there was no delay to her partnership track when she returned.

However, this perceived barrier presents a problem for hiring and retaining women. Jansen says that when she started at Shearman & Sterling, about 50 percent of her fellow associates were women but, as is the case throughout the legal industry, there was a drop-off by the time associates become ready for the partnership.

Jansen encourages young woman to start networking early, both internally and externally

Over and over she hears from young women that their main obstacle is whether this is the right career for the next 20 years.

“Maybe it is, maybe it’s not, but you don’t have to overthink it. Take a small step and see if it’s right for you,” she says, adding that women often don’t take the big leap and therefore get stuck in a less ambitious job before they even start. “Gaining experience at a firm like Shearman & Sterling means that all the doors are open. Even when women leave, they have a strong foundation to launch the next phase of their career that they wouldn’t have had if they hadn’t pushed themselves.”

Women Helping Women

Although Shearman & Sterling is known for its comprehensive women’s networking groups, German culture as a whole isn’t as developed in gender diversity initiatives. Jansen says the German market is starting to adapt, and the firm has introduced its Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention (WISER) inclusion network locally. The firm has also expanded its annual global partner meeting an extra day for anyone, male or female, who wants to participate in Women’s Initiative programming. That programming typically includes female speakers and networking with other female partners to mine connections that could help each other.

In addition, the women partners have taken the initiative to become part of smaller personal circles of four to five women who report to each other once or twice a month, offering encouragement and a high degree of accountability. “Since it’s a more intimate group, you’ll be missed if you’re not part of it,” she says.

Jansen encourages young woman to start networking early, both internally and externally, to get to know the peers they’ll grow their careers with. In fact, she says that one of the foundations of Shearman & Sterling’s Women’s Initiative is that, within the business and legal communities, women are increasingly making the legal buy decisions, in their role as general counsel or assistant general counsel, so it’s important to understand their contacts’ business and what they are looking for and to foster relationships with senior women in those organizations.

Through it all, and with a very challenging career, Jansen is aware that she has been fortunate to have the support from her husband and her extended family. With two kids, ages 11 and 8, Jansen says, “On the weekends, family is my hobby.”

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Men Who Get It: Dave Meisel, Senior Director of Transportation and Aviation, PG&E

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Dave MeiselIt’s all about giving good people chances—not about whether they’re a man or a woman.

That’s the philosophy of Dave Meisel, who manages the full lifecycle of transportation needs at PG&E, from vehicle specification to maintenance to disposal. Starting his career as a mechanic, Meisel has worked in corporate America with a series of national utility fleets including Roadway Express, Frito-Lay and Consumers Energy before joining PG&E.

Breaking His Own Notions

He admits his career has been honed in a male-dominated industry, where for many years, he primarily worked with men—aside from a woman or two in administration roles. And yet, even with that background, diversity has always been important to Meisel from a personal and professional standpoint.

“I grew up in a house full of boys in the 1960s, and you learn a certain set of rules that are different than today,” Meisel says, adding he now has a house full of girls. “I quickly realized I didn’t know much about girls.”

He believes even more passionately that just because they’re girls, they shouldn’t have to work harder or be denied the same opportunities as boys, even though he grew up in a time when gender roles were more defined.

In fact, he says he has been surprised to find his girls had different interests than he had expected.

“My girls are good at lots of things that aren’t traditional,” he says, citing his youngest daughter who loves to hunt. “After seeing their interests, I figured out there wasn’t as big of a difference between boys and girls as I thought or had been taught, and that changed my view.”

He was able to take what he learned with his own girls, and apply it to interacting with the women with whom he works. “And along the way, I’m sure I learned more from them than they learned from me,” Meisel says.

He has increasingly seen smart women coming out of college and conquering the workplace in what has typically been a male-dominated industry.

“Even though they weren’t familiar with our industry, they exhibited a legitimate desire to learn it,” Meisel says. “With that, they brought a different perspective on what “good” looks like—they raise the bar.”

Sponsoring Talent

Over the years, Meisel has mentored lots of men and women, helping them learn about other parts of the company and acting as a sounding board.

But he knows the difference between being a mentor and sponsor, where you invest yourself more completely in their success. Meisel says he has helped many women over the years rise from clerical positions into technical or management roles when others hadn’t bothered to see their potential.

“I really believe most people just need a chance. I’ve tried to be vigilant about not stereotyping,” Meisel says. “When I know this person is smart and they can do well in a certain role, I develop a plan to help them reach that goal. And along the way, I make sure to give them support. I would never leave them to sink or swim.”

He says the women he works with perform as well or better than the men, describing them as smart, bright, articulate, and thirsty to learn. “They don’t take anything for granted, whereas some men might believe that since they’re in a men’s business they deserve the growth opportunity.”

PG&E attracts lots of diverse candidates—men and women, different ages and different cultures. And since there are so many different types of jobs at the company, they can start in one area and be moved around. “We’re fortunate in the quality of people we attract and how hard they work when they’re put in those roles,” he says.

Choosing Teams

Meisel knows the prevailing viewpoint in the company is to be collaborative. “We try to actively engage people other than those we traditionally work with. When we put a diverse group on a project, we get so many views that are different than we would otherwise get and ultimately, a better result. The bottom line is if you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got.”

Meisel says it’s easy to tell if a team is suitably diverse: Look at the people you’re working with to solve problems. If they all look like you, then that’s the problem.

“As a leader, you have to stand up and say, ’I want more opinions. I want more diversity.’ We’re more successful when we have a broader based view than when we don’t. The ultimate goal is to run the business well, and a diverse view of the world helps us run the business better. You can’t keep perpetuating the same old team if you want different opinions.”

Taking Chances

Meisel thinks many companies worry too much about “taking a chance” when they promote someone. “Smart people are smart people, and they don’t have any boundaries. Good people get to where they are because they’re hard workers, so moving them one level higher isn’t really taking a chance. They are where they are because they performed and there’s no reason to expect they won’t continue to perform.”

Meisel has also found it’s in everyone’s interest to mix up roles. If there’s something they traditionally thought men could or would do better, leaders might be surprised when they find women are every bit as willing and successful in the tasks. “If no one gives them a chance,” he says, “how do you expect them to grow?”

And Meisel finds diversity extends to age, and how impressive he finds the electronic savvy of young people. “I don’t consider myself technically illiterate and yet their skill set is so far beyond mine,” he says. “You have to look at that skill set and say it doesn’t matter how old they are. If they can do the task, give them the chance.”

Ultimately, Meisel says there’s truth in the adage that you can’t judge a book by its cover, even though many people still do. “Often the book is so much better than the cover.”

By Cathie Ericson

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Update 2015: Is the FTSE 100’s Boardroom Progress real?

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BoardRoomThe news is out…at 23.5% the representation of women in the UK FTSE 100 boardroom has doubled over the past four years (12.5% in 2011), with the voluntary 2015 target of 25% within close reach. But is that number standing on stilts?

The race by businesses and government to hit the UK number has been a voluntary effort to avoid the threat of EU-imposed gender quotas. But the resounding press response to the latest annual report is a round of hands flying up to question how a weak executive pipeline is going to deliver sustainable change in the British boardroom. Not to mention the implications of a serious gender imbalance when it comes to executive directors.

Overall FTSE Numbers Reveals Progress & Room to Grow

Released in the Women on Boards report and crunched by Cranfield School of Management, the FTSE 100 numbers show progress at the top. There are now 263 female directors, with only 17 more to appoint this year to meet the target. There are no longer any all-male FTSE 100 boards, and 41 companies have over 25% female boards (vs 12 in 2011).

FTSE 250 numbers reveal significant rates of change, but ultimately still low numbers with only 18% women representation on boards (vs 8% in 2011) and 23 all-male boards remaining (vs 131 in 2011). The UK now ranks fifth among Europe in terms of the number of women on boards.

“We must celebrate this outstanding achievement and the change in culture that is taking hold at the heart of British business. The evidence is irrefutable: boards with a healthy female representation outperform their male-dominated rivals,” said Vince Cable, Britain’s business secretary. Cable expects to see 1/3 representation by 2020.

He commented, “We know that’s where the tipping point lies in influencing decision-making. We must also focus on ensuring women are rising fast enough through the pipeline and taking up executive positions.”

“The tide is turning as we see senior women in every sector and across all industries, breaking through the barriers to succeed at the highest levels,” said Education Secretary Nicky Morgan.

However, both Cable and Morgan are quick to point out the significant work yet to do, namely and glaringly on the female executive pipeline.

Behind the Numbers, A Glaring Gap In Female Executives

Looking closer at the FTSE numbers reveals a deeper story – a serious dearth of female executives, setting for a gender “executive” imbalance in the boardroom.

Woman make up less than 1 of 10 executive directors in the FTSE 100 – comprising 8.6% of executive directors, but 28.5% of non-executive directors. Since 2011, there’s been a 204% increase in female non-executive appointments (122 seats), but only a 33% increase in female executive appointments (6 seats).

Less than 10% of FTSE 100 female directors are executives whereas 30% of male directors are.

Even more worrying, women make up less than 1 of 20 executive directors in the FTSE 250 -comprising 4.6% of executive directors, but 23.6% of non-executive directors. All new additions since 2011 have come at the non-executive level.

Only 7% of FTSE 250 female directors are executives (vs. 17% in 2011) whereas over 30% of male directors are executives.

You can count FTSE 100 Women CEO’s on just one hand – because there’s five, and that number hasn’t changed since 2015. You’ll need two for the FTSE 250 Women CEO’s – there’s nine.

So British boardrooms are predominantly non-executive, but that’s nearly entirely true for women. This raises at least two big questions.

One is around stability of change. The other is around real influence.

Where are All the Executive Women?

The numbers certainly reflect a UK turnaround on research findings that women are less likely to be promoted to the boardroom if they haven’t held an executive position. But that doesn’t make for a stable model for continued growth.

According to Cranfield’s Dr. Elena Doldor, without more meaningful pipeline targets, progress will stagnate or slip.

“Our predictions suggest that as we approach 2020, women’s representation on FTSE 100 boards is likely to stagnate around 28%,” she shared. “There are still not enough women on executive committees or in the executive pipeline. Introducing aspirational and measurable targets for women at all levels is the only way to achieve real progress.”

Lord Davies also called for urgency in addressing “the loss of talented senior women from the executive pipeline.” Research shows female managers over 40 in the UK earn 35% less than their male counterparts. In more than one way, the pipeline isn’t supporting retaining women.

A recent survey showed a fifth of UK women believe it is “simply impossible” for them to reach a senior management role, and half reported that men make most of the decisions in their company. Yet a third dream of reaching CEO or board level.

Ann Pickering, HR Director of O2, who partnered with the CIPD on the research, writes, “A much wider cultural shift is required – and a hell of a lot more effort.” She continues, “It’s becoming a bit of a buzzword, but it really is all about the pipeline – ensuring that women at every level of the organisation are getting the support and encouragement they need to progress, so that a senior role is the logical culmination of that progression.”

One suggestion for comprehensive action put forth by Jude Browne, a Director of the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies, is identifying “thwarted critical mass – situations in which a disproportionate number of women occupy positions at a certain level and yet the natural progression one might expect to see does not materialize.” In other words, addressing advancement for the masses of women that get stuck in the pipeline, in the place they’re actually stuck – not just at the top.

Browne asserts, “The Critical Mass Marker approach would ensure that people who are equipped with the relevant skills and experience are able to move up and across institutional structures irrespective of characteristics such as race or sex.”

Achieving Influence or Presence?

So, less than 1 in 10 women directors are executives. 1 in 3 male directors are. Those female non-executive board members are unlikely to be renumerated the same, even as their male non-executive counterparts. And will they pull equal per capita weight in critical decision making?

The jury is out. But according to an FT article, “Stella Creasy, shadow business minister, conducted her own research on FTSE 100 boards, and concluded that the drive to appoint women as non-executive directors meant they were ‘making up the numbers and not getting a chance to make the decisions’.”

The UK has everyone’s attention and is touting the business impact of women in the boardroom, but the surge has been motivated by a hope to evade gender quotas. That’s not the same as positive motivation towards gender diversity across the board (meaning, not only the board). Maybe the real opportunity, the one that’s held within the pipeline challenge, is to prove a multi-level commitment to real change.

By Aimee Hansen

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Women in Technology: Ambition and Advancement | Whitepaper

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At a time when some of the world’s largest economies are faltering, and when traditional industries are losing steam, many are turning their eyes to technology as a potential saving grace, in the hope that it will provide the jobs, revenue, and innovation that are so sorely needed.

But technology has its own challenges: namely around attracting and retaining top talent within the industry. And, like other male dominated fields, it faces a particular challenge in the retention of women. Not only are fewer women starting out in this field, but as pointed out by the National Center for Women & Information Technology in the report “Women in IT: The Facts,” of the few who enter, many will leave.

Download here

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Being Out at Work: Exploring LGBT women’s workplace experience in the UK | Whitepaper

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It is my pleasure to publish this piece of research focusing on the experience of LGBT women who work within the UK’s financial and professional services industries. We aim to explore the perceptions, realities, and trends around how women interpret their environment whilst at work.

Our respondents to this UK survey are mainly readers of TheGlassHammer.com, some of whom attended our 2012 event “Managing Multiple Identities: Being Out at Work,” which was held in London. Our methodology was both qualitative and quantitative for this research and we formed questions around the following hypothesis:

“Competence assumed and compensation being equal, LGBT employees feel more engaged at work if they are shown increased organisational and managerial support.”

This approach to our research is very much at the core of the work we do at Evolved Employer. We engage with clients to examine and improve organisational culture and work with leadership to increase competency around diversity and inclusion issues so that talent and business strategies can be successful. After all, if culture can be defined as “the way we do things around here” then it is critical for leaders to understand how to engage and include different types of people. This has been shown to increase performance and engagement and this is the business case for diversity work.

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Being Out at Work: Cultural Implications for the “L” in LGBT | Whitepaper

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I am delighted to welcome you to our first in the series of reports on Managing Identities at Work. This report focuses on “Being out at Work” and we look at the LGBT experience through a gender lens. By conducting research and hosting career panels exploring career challenges for certain talent groups, such as LGBT employees, we aim to shed light on what companies can do better for diverse high performers.

After all, if culture can be defined by “the way we do things around here” then it is critical for leaders to understand how to engage and include different types of people so that every individual in the firm can bring their best selves to work. This research report is the first of its kind to explore specifically the workplace perceptions and experiences of professional lesbians in financial and professional services.

The Glass Hammer is perfectly placed to examine deeper issues around gender and identity at work and our goal is to empower women of all types to advance in their careers. Our research arm, Evolved Employer, is working hard to benchmark diversity so that the industry as a whole can better understand how to remove and reduce systemic biases. In my opinion, it is only when we work in this manner that we can truly further the dialogue around diversity – to start leveraging diversity as a business driver. Achieving inclusion is a cultural change project; changing culture is only possible when led with a vision and backed by compliance, not the other way around.

The most striking finding from this report is that many women, despite being out to everyone, are still uncomfortable in their immediate environment and would like their company to do more education around LGBT issues. Reassuringly, several companies were recognized as going above and beyond in their efforts to ensure organizational and managerial support, reinforced with strong networks and programmatic solutions.

I hope that you enjoy this whitepaper and share it with leaders, managers, employee networks, straight allies, and LGBT employees alike.

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Unleash Your Leonardo Da Vinci

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da vinciJust the other day, I was speaking to a colleague, lamenting that we had to be professionally pigeonholed into categories.

Just choose one specialty, even when we have expertise in several others. It’s a sensible marketing strategy, but it feels so one-dimensional and we are multidimensional after all. The truth is that the average person will have as many as five or six different occupations and as many as 10+ jobs by the time he or she retires. We are to select, focus and also diversify to keep up with the emerging global and economic changes, especially in the fields of technology.

I’ve always admired Leonardo Da Vinci for his diverse talents and skill in many different areas in addition to the one he was most famous for-his painting. He was an adept and talented sculptor, musician, architect, mathematician, artist, inventor, engineer, writer, botanist, geologist and the list goes on.

Yes, he was special; yet we have the capacity of flexing our brains like muscles and expanding our talents and versatility like him. Our brains are capable of so much more than we imagine; we have unlimited potential. The key is to unlock it and make use of it! And we can. Leonardo gave us wonderful clues throughout his work, his writing and beliefs to stretch ourselves beyond what we think possible.

Da Vinci speaks of learning how to see and the importance of engaging our senses more fully, truly paying attention in new ways. He encourages us not to take anything for face value; instead, engage in inquiry and research. Test knowledge experientially to uncover truth, and just as importantly live true ourselves and to our life purpose. Rather than give up, be persistent, get comfortable with ambiguity, and be open to learn from mistakes we’ve made. So often, the answers come after much trial and error, not by walking away from a challenge, but by finding novel solutions through perseverance.

Leonardo used many different techniques to stimulate his own creativity, such as looking into various shapes and finding different patterns and associations. To innovate, whether in life or business, we have to look outside of ourselves, outside of the familiar and outside our industry to make new connection and associations. This is out-of- the-box thinking that can help us view challenges and experiences differently and produce unique results.

Da Vinci also spoke a lot about self-mastery which I believe is critical to making inroads in our growth. Not only do we have to show up for ourselves and others, but we need to gain control over our impulses and ourselves for success. Imagine an athlete or musician not being mentally or physically prepared for a concert or a competition; the outcome is likely to be unfavorable. The same principle applies to us. To learn something new and be successful, commitment, action and application are required. When passion is introduced, it’s more potent.

Da Vinci also spoke a lot about self-mastery which I believe is critical to making inroads in our growth.

He urged us to take time out from work in leisure, refresh ourselves and clear our minds which can stimulate new ideas and sprout new perspectives. So often the answers we are looking for appear almost magically when we’re in a relaxed mode. Da Vinci was a strong champion of lifelong learning. Find ways to continuously expand your own knowledge and awareness in many areas including yourself, love and the natural environment. His beliefs about valuing and respecting all of nature and the environment still apply today with the focus on sustainability. An astute observer of nature, man and all things, he believed in the strong interconnectedness of everything.

You can ignite your own creativity by making connections between dissimilar things. At first you won’t know how they can connect, but that’s what gets your brain actively blending up new combinations to amaze you. We each have multiple intelligences that call to be awakened in us Like Da Vinci, awaken them.

Dr Jo Anne White is an International Author and Speaker

Certified Professional Coach who gets to the heart of what matters most to businesses and people. With 25 years in Education, Business, Leadership and Energy Medicine, she’s helped millions of individuals & organizations shape their own dreams, master their own success and triumph in business and life. Dr White’s been featured online and in publications such as Good Housekeeping, More, and WebMD. She’s also appeared on Radio and Television Networks such as NBC, CBS, and FOX. Dr Jo Anne White is the Executive Producer and Host of the POWER YOUR LIFE TV & Radio Shows.

Guest Contribution by Dr. Jo Anne White

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