Why the “E” in ESG Matters: Environmental Responsibility for Companies and Leaders

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Why the E in ESG Matters Environmental ResponsibilityWhile Earth Day serves as an annual reminder to appreciate our planet, the escalating effects of climate change highlight the importance of prioritizing environmental stewardship year-round. Corporations and businesses are increasingly focusing on integrating more innovative Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria in their decision-making and investment strategies. While each component plays a vital role in sustainable business practices, the “E” in ESG is significant in driving a positive environmental impact while also creating long-term value for businesses.

Recent News in Business and Environmental Responsibility

According to the Morningstar report for the last quarter of 2023, “global sustainable funds experienced net outflows of USD 2.5 billion, marking the first time they entered negative territory. Despite the overall decline, European sustainable funds remained resilient and attracted USD 3.3 billion of net new money in Q4, primarily driven by passive funds. On the other hand, U.S. sustainable funds saw net outflows of USD 5 billion, contributing to a total of USD 13 billion outflows for the year.”

Interestingly, 2024 has already been a hotbed of progress and reversals with four leading banks announcing that they are leaving the Equator Principle formally due to Risk and Antitrust issues, but will continue to follow the tenets of the principle as a guide. Political backlash and special interests have cost BlackRock a self-disclosed revenue loss of $4 billion dollars with the recent example this past month whereby the Texas School Fund pulled away from Blackrock in support of Big Oil, stating Blackrock’s fund to be against state law which forbids boycotting fossil fuel.

While the volatility of the political landscape continues, there is no doubt that there are career opportunities forming from investment jobs to deeper compliance nuances for risk, legal, and compliance roles. The broader participation for ESG inside firms goes beyond the CTIO seat to every C-suite member with the consulting firms benchmarking and pitching to get companies ready for current and future legislation such as the ISSB standard IFRS S2. And the Global Stocktake is underway as countries plan for COP28 where they will assess the progress made toward mitigating global warming since the Paris Agreement in 2015. The results from the first-ever global stocktake will be discussed at COP28.

Navigating Environmental Challenges: Innovation, Trust, and Market Trends

Apple recently released a carbon neutral Apple Watch, the first in their lineup in working towards the ambitious goal of making every product carbon neutral by 2030. Technology and AI and startups in the space are driving innovation and fostering competitiveness. And it is innovation that can prevent or warn us of risks of climate change, including increased severe weather events, rising sea levels, and changes in temperature that can disrupt supply chains, cause infrastructure and property damage, and increase insurance costs, posing a significant threat to business operations and financial performance. The impact on the supply chain is long and deep with an example being that a 2022 drought in southwest China led to reduced hydropower production, cutting power to factories that supplied electronics and auto parts, and ultimately curtailed production for companies like Toyota, Volkswagen, and Foxconn.

As consumers and investors become more environmentally conscious, the value of brand reputation and stakeholder trust is particularly relevant. By showing a track record of environmentally responsible goals and outcomes, companies can gain the trust and buying power of consumers and investors. On the other hand, “greenwashing”, or making misleading claims about a company’s environmental impact, negatively impacts brand reputation and customer satisfaction. Showing a commitment to environmentally responsible practices is not only important for gaining consumer trust, but also in hiring and retaining employees. Like consumers, employees are interested in more than just paying lip service to “going green”, they also want to see tangible outcomes and be engaged in the process. Leaders can do more to address sustainability concerns transparently, building trust and credibility with stakeholders like consumers, employees, and investors.

The market is clued in to the mounting tide of support for environmentally responsible business practices, with investors and shareholders increasingly looking at companies’ environmental performance in considering their investment decisions. According to Morgan Stanley, more than half of individual investors say they plan to increase their allocations to sustainable investments in the next year, while more than 70% believe strong ESG practices can lead to higher returns. This shows that aligning with market expectations of environmental responsibility enhances companies’ attractiveness to investors and shareholders.

Wise Words from Top Women in ESG

Sustainability magazine named the Top 10 Women in ESG for 2023 who are worth checking out. The list of course is not exhaustive with so many great women having a role in the “E” in ESG, as it continues to play an important part in shaping corporate strategy, decision-making, and performance.

Ultimately change takes great negotiation skills and understanding. We recently profiled Susan Nickey, Executive Vice President and Chief Client Officer at HASI who astutely captures the nuance of the industry.

“When you’re trying to come up with a solution or break down a wall, it isn’t simply saying, ‘it needs to happen.’ You have to spend a lot of time thinking about creative solutions to make it work for an incumbent who might say ‘no, I don’t want that’, or ‘I’m not going to do that.’ It’s how you listen to both sides of an argument and come up with a creative solution. Thoughtfully parsed risk allocation, for example, can enable both parties to move forward in a way that they both deem is balanced and fair for them.”

The “E” in ESG is a fundamental aspect of corporate sustainability, responsible leadership, and long-term value creation. In the words of another of our recent profiles, Geneviève Piché, Head of Sustainable Finance and Advisory, Corporate Investment & Banking at Wells Fargo:

“Sustainability and climate efforts are about value creation. They are not check-the-box exercises. It’s about developing strategies that can drive value for companies while making the world a better place.”

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Op-Ed: NextUp for Women Board Members – What’s your Plus One?

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NextUp Women BoardI recently attended a breakfast for 150+ women board directors hosted by Julie Daum, leader of Spencer Stuart’s North American board practice, to listen to the findings from their 2023 S&P 500 New Director and Diversity Snapshot. The findings and discussion that followed were energizing and sobering. Some specific findings that struck me were the progress of women directors in the S&P 500 over the past decade. Almost half–45% percent–of the class of 2023 were women, a 92% increase over the past decade. Women now account for 33% of S&P 500 directors, an 83% increase from a decade ago. An astounding 67% of the 2023 class identified as diverse candidates. Once the audience stopped high fiving one another, Spencer Stuart went on to outline some more sobering trends.

Among the top ten priorities for board selection, gender diversity dropped from top to #8. Hiring candidates with proven enterprise operating experience now topped the list. And there are significantly more males than female with proven enterprise operating experience. If boards are prioritizing traditional skills and capabilities – the pool of women candidates is now smaller. Will all the progress advancing women into board positions now decline?

Maybe not. First, remember that there are exponentially more opportunities for directors beyond the S&P 500. Hundreds more. And if we add private equity boards and startup companies, these opportunities are in the thousands. While competing for board positions will always be competitive, if you broaden your pool and extend your network beyond a traditional set then you might find some interesting opportunities.

I have had the privilege of serving as an independent director on two private equity boards owned by companies, Altamont Capital Partners, and The Riverside Company. I currently serve on a public company board, Cantaloupe, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTLP), and I am a non-voting board member of NextUp where I serve as chief executive officer. NextUp is the premier nonprofit member association firmly focused on developing the pipeline of future women leaders. Women reach out to me to find out how I was able to land these directorships. And as a woman whose day job is helping women advance in business, I am more than happy to offer a few words of advice.

First, think about how your specific skills might give you an enormous competitive advantage. Define your advantage as your “Plus One.” I landed my first board position on a private equity (PE) board looking for a woman + Olympic licensing experience (that is a pretty short list!). But this company was the leader in design and manufacture of gymnastic apparel. What is your Plus One? If it is Artificial Intelligence, your phone will be ringing off the hook! How about experience in direct marketing or membership? I am going to bet that pharmaceutical companies engaged in serving millions of consumers purchasing weight loss drugs are going to be looking for women with a Plus One in CRM.

Which brings me to my second most important piece of advice.

As a board member, your job is to “govern” not to “do.” The quickest way to derail a healthy board discussion is from the rookie who thinks they are on the board to do the job of the management team. They are not. The exception is your role on the board committee. Your finance or accounting degree is going to look attractive to a board looking for someone to serve on Audit. Your HR background will make you a stellar match for Compensation. But, as an independent director, you are there to advise, support and evaluate. Conversely, if rolling up your sleeves and diving in is your gig, then a private equity opportunity may be the right match for you. PE boards prioritize subject matter expertise and are willing to take a risk on those with broad experience, but with a more junior title. They value seasoned pros who lean in on projects. Or have an unbelievable rolodex to help the company. Making a personal investment might be a way to further underline your commitment to the board.

Finally, board positions—private and public—are rare. There are a number of other opportunities where you can gain experience, satisfaction, financial reward and valuable experiences. Right now, as CEO of NextUp, I am fulfilling one of the most satisfying career goals by developing thousands of the next generation of women business leaders. For two-plus decades, NextUp has been partnering with corporations to provide opportunities that build capabilities for the next generation of leaders. And I am certain that more than a few of these will end up in the boardroom.

By: Lisa Baird is the CEO and board member of NextUp, the nonprofit that advances all women in business, and serves on the Board of Directors for Cantaloupe, Inc., a digital payments and software services company that provides end-to-end technology solutions for self-service commerce, and which is recognized as a “Champion of Board Diversity” by the Forum of Executive Women for three years in a row. Cantaloupe is proud to have 44 percent of its Board women. Lisa previously served on the boards of Elite Sportswear and Fox Racing, now a subsidiary of Revelyst.

(Guest Contribution: The opinions and views of guest contributions are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com).

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The Impact of Emotional Labor on Women Managers

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emotional laborEmotional labor, although not intended to be a gendered term, has significant implications for female managers. In the workplace, women often find themselves disproportionately burdened with unrecognized tasks, like planning office events, or ensuring Bob from marketing isn’t upset with procedural changes.

It might be even more jarring to feel expected to mask your real personality traits to fit in with the men by being the right kind of female manager, according to the false generalized stereotype of all women being compassionate, as this also is emotional labor to mask.

These efforts are expected from women in the workplace because they are stereotypically seen as more nurturing and empathetic. However, the same expectations aren’t placed on their male counterparts. Let’s find out why — and how you, as a manager who happens to be a woman, can use emotional labor to your benefit.

What Is Emotional Labor in the Workplace?

Emotional labor consists of the intangible, mental hoops people go through to ensure smooth operations and relationship maintenance, and often requires managing your emotions. This can happen in the workplace or, most recently recognized, in the home.

To cater to the needs of others, women often have to mask their own emotions. This can be cumbersome when working in leadership. If a home environment that requires much of the same is added to the mix, it can be even more taxing. Emotional labor in the workplace should be distinguished from simply exhibiting emotional intelligence. Of course, you need a certain level of emotional intelligence, or knowledge of how to manage and interpret emotions, to be successful in the workplace. The labor aspect is where you can find yourself masking your true emotions or experiencing burnout from too much emotional involvement at work.

Emotional labor is often devalued in and outside of the workplace. Productive work, like creating goods and services, is rewarded for its tangible results. However, ideal work environments are also ripe with mental and emotional care.

Surface Acting and Deep Acting

Emotional labor can consist of surface acting and deep acting. Surface acting involves the emotional laborer putting on a fake show of emotions to keep things running smoothly at work and fit in with norms. This is often exhibited by female leaders who are expected to not act “bossy,” “overbearing,” or “too emotional.” Deep acting exists when the laborer tries to, and often successfully does, change their true emotions to match what is expected of them. This way, emotional displays are more characteristic of what they are really feeling and, therefore, less emotionally and mentally draining.

While managing emotional displays is a crucial part of success in the workplace and interpersonal relationships, it can be problematic if taken to the extreme. Women in leadership also find themselves having to manage the emotions of others at work, such as mediating a dispute between colleagues or talking down angry customers. Traditionally, leadership roles don’t include this type of work, as it is delegated to those in lower positions. This sequestering of emotional labor can be traced back to patriarchal structuring.

This still seeps into how women are treated in the workplace, today. However, female leaders can take control of the narrative.

Reclaiming Control Over Emotional Labor

The inherent ability of women to not only enact emotional labor but do it exceedingly well is a desirable trait. Although this need is typically unspoken, many organizations could benefit from an open and honest conversation about how emotional labor is required to make their company tick.

Even if you are reluctant to lead, you may be more suited for a leadership role than you think. It’s within the realm of possibility to teach your team why emotional labor needs to be valued and recognized. You can point out flaws in gendered assumptions, and help higher-ups and colleagues focus on your strengths and achievements. It’s important to also set boundaries around emotional labor so that you aren’t expected to take on every burden. Learn to prioritize yourself and delegate emotion-laden tasks, and your leadership skills will flourish.

There are strategies women can employ to assert themselves effectively without shouldering unnecessary emotional burdens.

  • Establish Boundaries: One of the most crucial steps in asserting oneself at work is setting clear boundaries. This means delineating what is and isn’t acceptable in terms of workload, communication, and emotional involvement. Communicate these boundaries assertively but respectfully, ensuring that colleagues understand your limits without feeling personally attacked.
  • Communicate Directly: Direct communication is key to assertiveness. Instead of resorting to passive-aggressive behavior or expecting others to infer your needs, express yourself clearly and directly. Whether it’s negotiating for a raise, delegating tasks, or addressing conflict, approach conversations with confidence and clarity.
  • Use “I” Statements: When expressing needs or concerns, frame them using “I” statements to assert ownership of your thoughts and feelings. For example, instead of saying, “You always overload me with tasks,” say, “I feel overwhelmed when I’m assigned too many tasks simultaneously.” This approach fosters open communication while avoiding blame and defensiveness.
  • Practice Self-Advocacy: Advocating for oneself is an essential aspect of assertiveness. Take credit for your achievements, express your career goals, and actively seek out opportunities for advancement. Don’t wait for recognition to come to you; assertively showcase your skills and contributions.
  • Cultivate Assertive Body Language: Nonverbal cues play a significant role in communication. Maintain good posture, make eye contact, and use confident gestures to convey assertiveness. By adopting a poised and assertive demeanor, you can command respect and influence in professional settings.
  • Seek Support: Building a support network of allies, mentors, or professional groups can provide invaluable encouragement and guidance. Surround yourself with individuals who value your assertiveness and can offer constructive feedback and perspective when needed.
Resonating With Your Team

Along with your qualifications, your ability to be a present, concerned, clear, and genuine leader is a clear advantage. Educate your team when possible about what it means to be a woman in leadership and how they can support the emotional labor you are doing behind the scenes. Empathetic leadership can foster a more balanced workforce, allowing you to focus on your strengths and advocate for change.

Effective leaders are well-versed in emotion management, which can help you get team buy-in when it matters most. You can use your emotions to share your vision and emphasize the importance of teamwork on the project. A supportive environment will be worth the work once your team starts managing their emotions effectively and working toward a common goal.

Moving Forward

Recognize and advocate for the emotional labor you do as a woman in leadership. Some of your colleagues or higher-ups may be reluctant to accept that this is a large part of how businesses treat female leaders. However, pushing for a more inclusive environment can help women in the workplace everywhere. Plus, you’ll feel better knowing that you don’t have to suffer in silence any longer. You can use your emotional labor skills for good, paving the way for a more equitable and supportive work environment.

By: Indiana Lee is a passionate writer from the Pacific Northwest, specializing in business operations, leadership, and marketing. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

(Guest Contribution: The opinions and views of guest contributions are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com).

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International Women’s Day – Inclusive Leadership Matters

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International Women's DayChristine Fritz, Portfolio Manager, PGIM, Germany, highlights how inclusive leadership helps women overcome hurdles in their careers.

Though she’s lived in Europe for more than 25 years—15 of those in Munich, Germany—and speaks three languages, Christine Fritz credits her upbringing in the New York City suburbs with shaping the attitude she’s brought to her 20-year career in real estate.

“American education puts a lot of emphasis on creativity and taking a broad view of things,” she says. “Being outspoken and authentically you is encouraged. I bring that approach to my team by encouraging everyone’s diverse strengths.”

Fritz is co-portfolio manager of PGIM Real Estate’s European core equity strategy, responsible for a key part of the asset manager’s nearly $15 billion in assets under management and administration in Europe. The strategy invests in high-quality, income-producing properties across the logistics, prime office, residential, senior and student housing sectors throughout Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

For International Women’s Day, Fritz spoke about her role at PGIM, her career, and why it’s important to create and support an environment of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and beyond.

Success requires diverse thinking

Throughout a tough real estate cycle, her team’s focus has been on growing the European core strategy’s income by increasing rental income, working with on-the-ground property managers and keeping tenants happy. That approach has seen success—the strategy has an over 96% occupancy rate and was responsible for 15% of all logistics leases signed in the German capital, Berlin, last year.

An important part of that is understanding what makes real estate assets more attractive.

“Real estate is about living and working, but also about the places in between,” Fritz says. “Designing places and looking at investments with the safety and comfort of the whole population in mind allows us to make a positive impact and make better investments.”

She quotes Danish architect Jan Gehl, “If you design places for 2-year-olds and for 82-year-olds, you will achieve the best possible result for all ages.”

Fritz says that in real estate, diversity of perspectives is vital to selecting successful investments across different countries and asset classes.

“Trends will often start in one location and then move to other countries,” she says. “If you talk to different people, you can get a broad perspective of how things are moving and use that information to predict how things might move in the future.”

Surviving the balancing act

Diverse, however, didn’t describe the work environment Fritz encountered early on in her career at a different firm.

“All my colleagues at the time were male,” Fritz says. “They were all going to meet up with the brokers to play soccer together. It didn’t occur to anyone to invite me, even though I played soccer in school.”

Many times, the slights were much more subtle—and Fritz doesn’t doubt that many of her colleagues were simply unaware of them. But returning from maternity leave after the birth of her first child, she saw just how insidious such behaviors could be.

The office was mostly empty by 6:30 p.m., but Fritz received pushback for leaving at 6 p.m. to be home with her child. The culture at the firm didn’t encourage speaking up about it.

“People treated me like I was working part time. They even made jokes about it,” she says. “It didn’t matter how many women had the same issue. It didn’t exist.”

Change begins with speaking up and leadership that listens.

Fritz says the environment at her current employer is far different.

When Fritz joined PGIM three years ago, the real estate industry was entering a crisis. The pandemic and remote work were decimating the office space market, and after Russia invaded Ukraine, central banks throughout the world began fighting inflation with increasing interest rates, causing values to fall.

Yet Fritz noted PGIM Real Estate remains committed to its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. One of them was PGIM Real Estate’s Inclusion Leadership Network, a global grassroots organization focused on driving culture change and inclusion by building awareness and removing hurdles in the careers of under-represented groups, whether based on race, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, or disability. Focused on moving the needle on a local level, the ILN also has quarterly virtual meetups including colleagues from all over the world, to discuss challenges faced in the workplace, improve networking and career opportunities, and help the business change for the better.

Fritz was encouraged by leadership to join the network and become one of its co-leads in Europe.

“The senior management here really sees the business case behind this,” Fritz says.

Listening to colleagues from different backgrounds across different functions gave Fritz a broader perspective on what it meant to create a truly inclusive culture.

“I’ve learned about the challenges faced by people with different backgrounds and life experiences, about my own privilege and blind spots,” Fritz says. “I’ve learned about all the hurdles I haven’t had to jump over.”

Since Fritz joined, the Inclusion Leadership Network in Germany has hosted breakfast networking sessions, at a time the group finds most convenient for working parents who may need time to drop their kids off at school.

“Being able to talk openly about where the gaps are, and have people listen, is a massive improvement over what I’d seen before in the industry,” Fritz says.

Now a mom of two—a six- and a 10-year-old—when she speaks with other women in the field, Fritz emphasizes that keeping one’s authenticity amidst the challenges is key to a successful career.

“I don’t want anyone to think that it’s always easy or that you have to be a superhero to manage it,” she says. “What really matters to you? Finding a way to balance your priorities means talking openly about the trade-offs that you want or have to make.”

Contributed by PGIM Real Estate

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Forget the Glass Ceiling, Women Stumble on the “Broken Rung”

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Women Broken RungA study was just released by McKinsey & Co, in collaboration with Lean In, the nonprofit founded by former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg, and it turns the idea that women only need to shatter the glass ceiling in order to find equity at the top on its head. It found that women face their most formidable challenge not at the top, but when attempting to transition into managerial roles. For every hundred men who are promoted from entry-level to managerial positions, only ninety-one white women make the first step. This powerful disparity is even more pronounced for women of color, with only eighty-nine Asian women, and fifty-four Black women being promoted for every hundred men. The study names this barrier in women’s careers “The Broken Rung”, and it is a major hurdle for women trying to climb the corporate ladder.

The study is not breaking new ground but is a reminder that women are not responsible for the broken rung. They are not failing to seek promotions or leaving their careers more often than men. Instead, systemic biases and workplace dynamics are the root cause. The second key point underscores that women who have similar track records and work experiences relative to their male peers are judged by a different standard. Women often receive promotions based on their past achievements, while men are promoted based on their perceived future potential. The impact of this inequitable orientation has a huge effect on women early in their careers. As the study states without equivocation, until the broken rung is fixed, gender parity will remain out of reach.

While the study does an excellent job of identifying what the broken rung is and why it happens, it falls short when making suggestions for remedies. What do we do to solve this problem? It suggests companies must track inputs and outcomes, de-bias performance reviews and promotions and establish clear evaluation criteria. While these are important, they are the absolute bare minimum.

Below are three things women can do right now to build an unbreakable first rung.

  1. Ask questions
    If you are passed over for a promotion, take steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. The first thing to do would be to ask the following question, “I thought Chad and I were similarly situated in terms of our accomplishments. What can I do differently that he is currently doing to make sure that next time I’m able to take the next step in my career?” Often people do not know that their implicit bias is getting in the way of their decision-making process. By having a lengthy conversation about it, this will help the other person not only give you tips on what to do differently but also, in the best-case scenario, self-reflect on what happened. Going in guns blazing can cause people to be defensive, but asking a question is one of the more effective ways of getting people to look more deeply and can be very powerful.
  2. Brag Tactically
    Women are taught not to brag. Men don’t seem to have as hard of a time bragging. To back up this point, visualize Thanksgiving dinners. Often women will do most of the cooking, and then when everyone sits down to eat Uncle Bob proudly announces that he cooked the beans! Men don’t have it wrong. In fact, women should not be afraid to take a page from their book. If you’re uncomfortable bragging, use The Brag Sandwich by bookending your brag with thanks and gratitude. For example, don’t say, “I closed that deal and the company made $2 million. It’s really great!” Instead use the Brag Sandwich and say, “I’m so thankful I was able to work on this project. I closed the deal and the company made $2 million. It’s really great! It was a lot of hard work, but I’m so happy I had the opportunity.” The brag sandwich is easier to say for many, but still gets the point across about your accomplishments.
  3. Turn around
    If you were able to somehow jump over the broken rung, make sure you reach down and pull other women up with you. Given how difficult it is for women, it’s easy to get exhausted. How can you focus on other women when you’re fighting a daily batter yourself? Unfortunately, this is exactly why many women don’t advocate for the women coming up behind them. The flipside of this, however, is that there is safety and numbers. The more women who rise the more we can support each other as we create spaces that are welcoming for all.

The broken rung is not new, but the attention it’s getting is. This is the moment for women to capitalize on this new awareness and push for systematic change. The more women who get past the first rung, the more women can occupy all rungs – and that is how we shatter the glass ceiling.

By: Eliza VanCort, Transformation Teacher and #1 bestselling author of A Woman’s Guide to Claiming Space: Stand Tall. Raise Your Voice. Be Heard (named Maria Shriver’s book of the week), who has dedicated her life to empowering women to live bravely and claim the space they deserve.

(Guest Contribution: The opinions and views of guest contributions are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com)

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Empowering Black Female Professionals: Navigating Career Advancement and Corporate Support

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Empowering black female professionals. Nicki GilmourIn today’s corporate landscape, diversity and inclusion initiatives have gained significant momentum, yet the journey for Black female professionals remains a unique and often challenging one. Everyone is an individual coming to work from different places and backgrounds and it is true that personality traits and opportunities from a young age makes a difference. I speak as someone who lives in a town with many successful Black professionals, and I have a daughter of color myself so I would only want a fair opportunity for her by equipping her for the world and the workplace. Writing this, however, feels somehow repetitive as founder of theglasshammer.com because things only change if we make them change.

People of color are still facing systemic barriers and yet Black female professionals continue to show up to bring invaluable perspectives, skills, and talents to the table. However, to fully harness their potential, it’s crucial to address the obstacles they encounter and recognize the pivotal role that both managers and companies play in their career advancement. It is worth checking out our extensive past coverage on Black women’s advancement and how the Black feminist movement was completely different to the names that we might associate with the topic – bell hooks is less of a household name for example.

Black women in corporate settings often encounter a multitude of challenges that can impede their career progression. These challenges include systemic racism, gender biases, and intersectional discrimination. Tsedale M. Melaku’s book You Don’t Look Like a Lawyer: Black Women and Systemic Gendered Racisim highlights how race and gender create barriers to recruitment, professional development, and advancement to partnership for Black women in elite corporate law firms.

Stereotypes and unconscious biases may lead to being overlooked for promotions or opportunities for growth. Additionally, navigating corporate culture that may not fully embrace diversity and inclusion can be isolating and exhausting with a researched psychological toll of being one of the only senior women of color.

Despite these challenges, there are several strategies Black female professionals can employ to advance in their careers:

Building a strong network is crucial. Cultivating a supportive network of mentors, sponsors, and peers can provide valuable guidance, opportunities, and advocacy. Seeking out individuals who can offer mentorship and sponsorship can help navigate challenges and open doors to new opportunities. Goldman Sachs has a Black Analyst and Associate program that enables connection and learning and has proven to retain and help develop Black and African American talent. Investing in continuous learning and skill development is essential for staying competitive in today’s rapidly evolving workplace. Pursuing professional development opportunities, acquiring new skills, and seeking feedback can enhance capabilities and increase visibility within the organization.

Developing strong communication skills, including assertiveness, can be instrumental in advocating for oneself and expressing career goals and aspirations. Assertive communication involves confidently articulating one’s achievements, skills, and ambitions, as well as setting boundaries when necessary. However there has been research that suggests that women of color fall foul of a negative stereotype of the “Angry Black Woman” so there is a difficult and unfair line to tow as that is not applied to others. #SoftBlackGirl offers solid advice regarding celebrating and communicating wins regularly.

Actively seeking visibility within the organization by volunteering for high-impact projects, participating in cross-functional teams, and contributing thought leadership can increase recognition and demonstrate leadership potential. Advocating for oneself is crucial in ensuring that achievements and contributions are recognized and rewarded. Black female professionals should feel empowered to speak up about their accomplishments, express career aspirations, and negotiate for advancement opportunities.

Corporate organizations play a pivotal role in creating an inclusive environment where Black female professionals can thrive.  To support their success, companies should implement the following initiatives:

Diversity and Inclusion Programs: Establishing robust diversity and inclusion programs that prioritize representation, equity, and belonging can foster an environment where Black female professionals feel valued and supported. These programs should include initiatives such as mentorship programs and leadership development opportunities. These programs have to be useful by design and will not be unless they are supported from the top with an integral place in the talent strategy. These programs need to be structural not superficial. Unconscious bias training has become in mode – and the research is mixed on it- some say that awareness of bias reduces bias but studies show perspective taking is more effective and lasting.

Accessibility and Transparency: Companies should ensure that advancement opportunities are accessible to all employees based on merit and potential, regardless of race or gender. Implementing transparent promotion processes and addressing biases in decision-making can help mitigate disparities in career advancement.

Mentorship and Sponsorship Programs: Creating formal mentorship and sponsorship programs that pair Black female professionals with senior leaders who can provide guidance, advocacy, and career support is essential. These programs should focus on fostering meaningful relationships and providing opportunities for skill development and visibility.

Leadership Accountability: Holding leaders and managers accountable for promoting diversity and inclusion within their teams and advocating for the advancement of Black female professionals is crucial. Leadership accountability can be demonstrated through setting diversity goals, measuring progress, and fostering a culture of inclusivity. You would think it would go without saying that companies must actively address bias and discrimination in the workplace by implementing policies and practices that promote fairness and equity. This includes addressing microaggressions, providing diversity training, and creating channels for reporting and addressing discriminatory behavior.

The journey for Black female professionals to advance in their careers is multifaceted and requires both individual resilience and organizational support. By employing strategic career advancement strategies and advocating for systemic change within companies, Black female professionals can overcome barriers and achieve success. It is imperative for corporate organizations to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives to create a more inclusive and equitable workplace where all employees, including Black women, can thrive and reach their full potential.

Diversity work requires organizational development, leadership, and commitment from everyone. Gatherings in employee resource groups, big ticket speakers and requested assimilation to the model of work, which was built postwar for white men, just isn’t the answer.

Evolved Employer, the organizational development consulting arm of theglasshammer works with companies to ensure companies understand systemically the work that creates a more level playing ground for all to thrive- true talent meritocracy.

By Nicki Gilmour, founder and CEO of TheGlasshammer.com

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Op-Ed: Reshaping the Work Landscape – Women’s Work and the Longevity Revolution

women leaders and longevity revolutionLeadership succession is key to project a company forward. Identifying and training new leaders is essential to diversify and spur healthy and creative growth. At the same time, it is critical to ground succession solidly on the acquired experience of older leaders: their knowledge, practices, criteria, ideas, values, and vision.

As leaders, we focus on the company’s interests, and we are committed to the transition process. But it is not easy. Transitioning out of a strong leadership job can be difficult. We love what we do; we know how to do it; we do it well; we have energy. So, we train, we mentor, we transfer, we give power away – and then, we unconsciously may take it back, here and there. It is a struggle, because – as in any transition – emotions arise: the fear of losing relevance, power, purpose. We are excited about what succession opens for others, but we also need to get excited for what the transition brings for us.

Introspecting is necessary to envision a new purpose. Purpose ignites; but it takes time to mature. Consider:

  • Ways to Transfer Value: How to transmit the technical, managerial, creative, or leadership capital we have? Can “transfer methods” – coaching, writing, speaking, training, teaching – become a path to new leadership?
  • New Opportunities Within: What is possible now that was not possible before, within our organization? Can we cross-discipline, create new paths, develop unused skills to open new opportunities?
  • Explore New Enterprise: Is it time to depart in order to focus on long-held ideas that never had their time before? Enterprising anew around services, products, ideas, people.
  • Time to Re-Frame: A gap-time to follow curiosity may help re-frame and re-wire in new directions that may not be visible in the heat of transition.

As we explore, life may feel fragmented; gaining clarity is a process. A third party can be helpful in facilitating introspection and help us redirect our energy and strengths from what we are leaving to what is ahead.

Typically, a company’s succession plan focuses on grooming the upcoming leaders through mentoring, coaching, training – but rarely puts focus on the above re-invention strategies or coaching for leaders who are transitioning out of their roles. There is an underlying assumption that they should figure it out on their own (aren’t they leaders?) or that they will simply disappear, retire. This is old thinking, a 20th century mentality of an 85-year life cycle of Learn-Work-Retire.

We need new thinking about the work cycle: a longevity revolution is taking place.

The global population over age 60 is growing at an unprecedented pace: from 1 billion in 2019, it is estimated to grow to 1.4 billion in 2030 and to 2.1 billion in 2050. High income countries lead this trend: people over 65 are now 30% in Japan, 24% in Italy, 23% in Finland, and 17% in the US. The fastest growing age-group is people over 75, and the second fastest, centenarians. People in their 60’s today, have over a third of their life ahead! My own father, aged 102, is an amazing centenarian, independent, public speaker, learner, friend, traveler, partner. And this phenomenon is even more relevant for us women: we tend to live longer than men; in 2024, a whooping 78% of all centenarians are women.

Not only do women live longer; many women still earn less, comparatively; women may have slowed down work during childrearing years or may be responsible for parents who live longer too, resulting in less overall accumulated resources and wealth. We, women live longer, but we also need to work much longer.

Many older women are still shown or insinuated the door, but the landscape is changing. Women over fifty-five has been the fastest-growing age segment in the workforce. In contrast, the number of men over fifty-five working is projected to decline by 3 percent.

In 2021, Forbes launched its first yearly “50 over 50”, a selection of female leaders in their 50’s, 60’s and beyond, who are making it happen – creators, entrepreneurs, scientists, leaders, CEOs. Natalie de Vries, selected as a leader in my own field of work (architecture) said: “Visibility for women in architecture is crucial to improving equality in our profession.”

How can we support women rising to executive level and then beyond? Below are some key strategies, further developed by Carson College of Business and Harvard Business Review:

  1. Mentor & Sponsor: Support talented females; share, guide, meet.
  2. Hire with Focus on skills, whoever has them.
  3. Deepen Networks: Interact, connect, enrich mutual networks. Connections are crucial for growth.
  4. Intentional Training: Provide talented women with the management tools they need to rise and succeed; even more so to women in fields that traditionally do not educate on management.
  5. Creative Collaborations: Intergenerational, cultural, and thinking-style diversity provokes new thinking and creative solutions. It also breaks stereotypes we may carry about age groups.
  6. Visibility: Public speaking, writings, awards, and public expressions of Thought Leadership
  7. Add Women to Corporate Boards: Executive diversity has shown to correlate with financial health. Role models will inspire other women to reach and achieve.
  8. Cultivate Identity: With growth and age, cultivate a broad identity to include talents, skills, experience, interests, and passions. A broad identity (personal brand) can be instrumental to open future paths.

Women in their 50’s and beyond may have their best working years ahead: with family mission completed, they are highly experienced and driven. They tend to be more team and company focused than self-focused. A study by McKinsey reveals a correlation between gender diversity at executive level and financial performance.

The future of women’s work is also influenced by the tightening labor markets in developed nations, given their declining populations. Companies will be driven to retain their older talent and leaders, who were traditionally transitioned out. This is an emerging imperative for business and illuminates a new angle to diversity.

Myself, l love to work, and I am proud to be a role model for women in the workplace. We are the first generation of women working past our 60’s, changing old age narratives in society, in companies, and within ourselves. We are open to reboot, redirect, recreate, but we have no role models ahead of us. Here we are again, a generation leading how women work. We trailblazed before; we can trailblaze again.

Age offers enormous potential – accumulated knowledge, techniques, wisdom, insights, stories, relationships, ability to ideate, manage, mentor, and speak up. We can continue contributing to companies or to the world as leaders, strategists, problem-solvers, creatives, coaches, speakers, or storytellers. It is up to us to continue to make ourselves visible and relevant, for us, and for the women coming up after us. Soon, they’ll be sixty too.

We summon the courage to reinvent ourselves again and again. We tap into our next superpower – our age.

By Liora Haymann, Managing Director, OBMI International

(Guest Contribution: The opinions and views of guest contributions are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com).

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Can Personal Setbacks Enhance Your Leadership? Turning Challenges Into Growth

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personal setbacks and leadersWhen you’re going through a hard time in your personal life, you’re probably not thinking about how it might impact your career. It’s often hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you’re dealing with a personal setback. But, going through such things can uniquely position you to excel in leadership roles – especially as a woman.

There’s no question that women in leadership roles often have to deal with unique, specific challenges. Being able to overcome those hurdles can help you foster enhanced leadership skills and empathy.

With that in mind, knowing how to connect personal setbacks to career growth can make a big difference in how you carry yourself in a professional setting, and how you move forward in a leadership position.

The Overlap Between Personal and Professional

Striking a healthy work-life balance is important for everyone. But, it can feel like walking a tightrope when you’re a woman in leadership. Unfortunately, gender bias still exists in many industries, and it can cause many women to feel guilty about spending too much time at home. You might rush to complete milestones at work, or feel a sense of competition. You might even feel guilt for taking the time to practice self-care.

It’s important to let go of that guilt. There’s a greater overlap between the things you learn at home and what you can use at work than you might think. For example, if your family has struggled with financial difficulties in the past, you can use the skills you learned from overcoming those issues to help your business manage its finances, too. Managing personal finance challenges can help with:

  • Fostering resilience
  • Being financially savvy
  • Strategic thinking
  • Decision-making abilities

When you have experience with financial setbacks, you’ll feel more comfortable and knowledgeable talking about them. That can help to break the taboo around money in an office setting, and allow for more transparency when it comes to your business’s financial situation. It can also help remind us that when we face challenges on a personal level, we gain spiritual wisdom that we can bring with us into the workplace too.

Mental Health Awareness

Over 40 million adults in the U.S. deal with anxiety. Millions more struggle with depression, and a variety of other mental health conditions. While the stigma surrounding mental health has lessened over the years, it can often still be found in the workplace. Some people are afraid to talk about their mental health issues, so they struggle in silence. Too many business settings don’t do enough to promote mental health and create a safe working environment that allows people to open up about their struggles.

When we normalize conversations concerning topics like anxiety, depression, and burnout in the workplace, we begin to see just how many people are affected — and we may even begin to see how these issues might be stemming from cultural and systemic factors, rather than personal ones. When you realize that some of these struggles are less about personal factors than you originally first perceived, you’ll naturally want to create mentally healthier work environments. All of this helps support professional workplaces that support personal health and wellbeing.

If you’ve dealt with mental health issues in the past – or you’re still dealing with them – you can use those issues to be a better leader and create a healthier workplace environment. It should come as no surprise that your job can actually have an impact on your mental well-being. Fostering a workplace that promotes mental health awareness can help with things like:

  • Employee productivity
  • Boosted morale
  • A sense of trust and safety for employees

When you’re in a leadership role, people will look to you for the “green light” when it comes to certain issues. If you’re willing to open up about your own mental health struggles, it will be easier for others to come forward and do the same. When word gets out that your work environment has completely slashed the taboo nature of mental health issues, it’s likely that you’ll increase employee retention while becoming a more desirable business for new hires.

The Importance of Empathy

Overcoming personal challenges can help to boost your emotional intelligence. Specifically, it can make you more empathetic. You might not think that’s an important skill to have, especially as a woman who wants to be taken seriously in the workforce. But, empathy goes a long way – especially in a leadership position. In fact, it’s one of the top leadership qualities, as vulnerable, empathetic leaders are better able to:

  • Be completely and entirely honest with themselves and others, even when it’s difficult.
  • Take creative risks and step outside of their comfort zones.
  • Embrace imperfection as an important part of learning and growing.

Leaders who have overcome mental health issues, themselves, are naturally more likely to be empathetic. Taking care of a family and dealing with the daily challenges and setbacks that arise from being a leader at home can also carry over into the workplace. Leaders who empathize aren’t showing weakness. Rather, they are able to identify the feelings of the people working for them. Not only does that help with self-awareness, but it makes them more thoughtful, conscientious, and confident in their decisions.

One example of empathy-as-a-strength can be shown in the form of cultural wealth — more specifically resistant capital. Resistant capital is “the inherited foundation and historical legacy of communities of color and marginalized groups in resisting inequality and pursuing equal rights.” This includes resisting stereotypes that you don’t identify with. If you’ve ever had to integrate from another culture, you understand how hard it can be to feel like an outsider — and you can bring that knowledge as a strength to your workforce.

Leaders who are empathetic understand the needs of those who work for them. They’re more likely to build healthy relationships with those people, fostering a more positive, communicative work environment.

Emotional intelligence is more than just a soft skill. Take the same empathy you might show to your family and friends and carry it over into the workplace.

Everyone faces challenges in their personal lives. Using those setbacks to enhance your leadership can be an effective way to “humanize” yourself in the business world while still gaining the respect you deserve. Learn from your setbacks instead of letting them bring you down. They can help you become the leader you were born to be.

By: Indiana Lee is a passionate writer from the Pacific Northwest, specializing in business operations, leadership, and marketing. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

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Human Design for Leaders: Understanding Your Inner Authority for Better Decision-Making

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human designNo one wakes up and hopes to make bad decisions. You try to make good choices daily for your team and company, but that requires drawing from numerous parts of your personality. Human design can help you understand your mind better and strengthen your connection to your inner authority. Making leadership decisions for yourself or others will become less stressful once you know and trust yourself more.

What Is Human Design?

Human design is a technique that combines traditional spiritual beliefs from numerous cultures. Each type factors in your place of birth, date, and time before matching you with your inner authority type.

When someone makes a decision, their metacognition draws from their self-confidence to choose the option that best prevents mistakes or loss of resources. Human design types explain where that self-confidence may come from based on your personal body graph. Understanding your intuitive nature may help optimize your choices based on how your natural energy flow utilizes opportunities.

How to Find Your Human Design Type

Inner authority in human design differs in each person because it comes from your unique personality and intuition. Take a quick human design quiz to get your results. Understanding how you’re one of these types could help you feel more confident when making business decisions.

Sacral

Someone with sacral authority might describe themselves as a person who listens to their gut. Their instinctive feelings are their motor because they’ve spent a lifetime weighing choices and learning from mistakes. Sacral-centered people ground themselves in their physiological responses by recognizing signs of stressors, like fatigue, or indicators of good choices, like an even heartbeat.

Making a decision with your sacral chakra could mean feeling a buzz in your body when something is clearly right or wrong. Imagine conducting a department meeting where you must assign someone to a leadership position on a budget revision project. Two of your best team members volunteer, but your gut says to pick the person who evaluates the math while considering the human impact of budget cuts.

A sacral authority type could also heed this skill when leveraging marketplace research during high-stakes negotiations or deciding how to manage a massive portfolio. Your internal comfort or discomfort is a sign your sacral intuition is pointing you in the best direction.

Self-Projected

People who talk through problems to find solutions use their self-projected authority. This could be you if you’re one of the 95% of Americans who reach for the phone first when they need to talk with someone. You could also journal your thoughts before deciding something, meeting with a therapist, or talking with an executive coaching professional.

Take a human design type test to see your results and consider if they match how you typically make decisions. Seeing it in writing may solidify your decision-making process and teach you how to approach challenging professional dilemmas with confidence.

Human design for leaders may lean more into this inner authority type as well because good bosses are in touch with their self-expression. Knowing who you are as a leader and how you operate best is key to a self-projected leadership style.

Self-projectors may start a conversation with another C-suite peer and realize they need to change their daily workflow to become more productive. This design type will best succeed by naming the challenge with their supervisor and verbally brainstorming new ways to increase their productivity.

Embracing this approach is good for numerous reasons. Self-projectors will reach solutions more quickly by working with their human design type instincts. They’ll also demonstrate effective problem-solving and leadership skills by authentically communicating with others around them. It strengthens the entire workplace — starting with a quick human design quiz.

Emotional Solar Plexus

The solar plexus authority centers around emotional waves. You might use this instinct for guidance by following your emotional truth when it points you in specific directions. It’s a crucial part of any workplace because it centralizes everyone’s humanity in business worlds driven by growth charts and revenue.

The most vital part of emotional solar plexus authority is learning your emotional scale. When you feel something, are your emotions reacting at their peak or out of a grounded place in your heart?

Time is the best way to identify this balance. Imagine a team member asking you to plan your workplace’s next holiday party. Waves of excitement and joy overwhelm, instantly bringing to mind ideas for party planning and hosting skills. You recognize how your feelings are a bit strong for the topic, so you let your co-worker know you’ll get back to them tomorrow.

Sitting with the idea overnight allows your emotions to settle back down. You know you’d love to take charge of the party, but emotional clarity reminds you how your upcoming board member meeting require your full attention. The next day, you thank your co-worker for the consideration but pass on hosting duties this year.

Splenic

Spontaneous people often draw their choices from their splenic inner authority. It generates an impulsive energy that is powerful in highly self-aware people. This human design type thrives in roles like entrepreneurship, marketing, and creative director positions. Your splenic authority inspires others through your quick ideas, making this personality type invaluable in the workplace.

Scholars argue that emotions are inherently spontaneous, so people should accept when they happen. Splenic individuals use those same emotions and follow them without overthinking where each path might lead. It’s a skill that makes choices easier if you can identify your automatic emotional responses.

You might listen to your impulses when you get a rush of happiness after solving an efficiency issue with your financial operations team. Listening to your intuition about problem-solving enables you to guide others toward optimized solutions that benefit shareholders and consumers.

Listening to your splenic energy will help you make bigger decisions if you balance it with enough time to consider the pros and cons of your next choice. If a C-suite member asks you whether letting a team member go would be best for their department, the gravity of that decision calls for more time than an instinctive reaction. The intense adrenaline rush is a warning sign that your stress could keep you from seeing the entire situation clearly.

Your initial feelings may be what you go with anyway, but harnessing your splenic mindset and expressing it when you feel is best will ensure you’re a helpful leader in the workplace.

Ego

People with more ego authority tend to consider or prioritize their needs before others. This isn’t always a bad thing, especially if your needs directly tie to your employer’s or company’s.

An executive handling enormous responsibilities every day knows their professional reputation intricately ties to the company they lead. They may push harder for specific changes in brand marketing or business practices so the company works better for consumers, uplifting their reputation simultaneously.

Additionally, this skill can stop massive mistakes from happening. If you’re well-versed in your executive vision, you’ll know which steps could take your teams away from your mission statement in the long term. The personal perspective may save your company from something that costs revenue or even its viability.

Ego-driven choices can also come from a strong desire in your heart. When that overcomes your logical mind, it can leave you emotionally exhausted. It could be easier to make decisions when you note if your ego energy is equally from your head and your heart.

Environmental

Environmental inner authority is another human-design approach to decision-making. Instead of encountering a problem and making a decision based on your instinct, you would wait until you’ve had the chance to consider your response in a more optimum environment.

Emotionally-driven workplace leaders can be engaging and form the heart of their company. It’s also not a skill that’s optimum in every situation. If your human design test result comes back as an environmental authority, you’ll feel more confident in your decisions after spending time in a peaceful place where you can contemplate by yourself.

Picture yourself meeting with the chief financial officer of your company. They mention how it would help quarterly revenue to cut the marketing budget. Reducing your brand exposure instantly feels like a bad idea, but you spend time with the dilemma. Maybe you spend lunch alone in the office kitchen or sit under the stars that night to think it through.

Giving yourself permission to pause is a vital skill in any field. It demonstrates thoughtful leadership and teaches others how to establish boundaries as leaders within their teams.

Lunar

Some people believe they operate best from a place of lunar authority. It means they wait a full moon cycle — 28 days — before making big decisions. Your human design quiz results may reveal this aspect of you, which is a fascinating skill to bring to work every day.

Lunar authority is a lesson in taking time. You won’t be able to wait 28 days for every decision, but it could make the more significant ones more successful. You might use that time to negotiate with others in a series of meetings or plan a detailed campaign approach to expanding your company before committing to anything.

Whether you decide to wait a full month or not, sometimes distance makes it easier to conquer challenges. Don’t be afraid to claim more than a few hours to weigh your options and chart a path forward.

Start Understanding Yourself Better

Inner authority in human design is personal. It depends on your body’s genetic makeup and how energy translates through your chakras. Generating your human design chart will help you connect with your inner authority type and make better decisions in your role as an executive. You’ll know your strengths and potential weaknesses, which is essential for dynamic leaders adapting to industry challenges.

By: Beth Rush is the career and finance editor at Body+Mind. She has 5+ years of experience writing about the power of human design to reveal entrepreneurial potential and time management strategies. She also writes about using the emotion of awe to activate our leadership prowess. You can find her on Twitter @bodymindmag. Subscribe to Body+Mind for more posts by Beth Rush.

(Guest Contribution: The opinions and views of guest contributions are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com).

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