What Skills Differentiate Women Who Make It To The Top?

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Guest contributed by Steven Stein

What does it really take for women leaders to make it to the top in the business world? Over the past 20 years, we’ve compiled the world’s largest database of testing results on emotional intelligence—approximately 2 million people worldwide. The Emotional Quotients Inventory (EQ-i 2.0) is the first and most widely used emotional intelligence test in the world. One of the areas we look at is the relationship between emotional intelligence and success at work. In addition, we’ve looked at the role gender plays in how these emotional skills are expressed.

We were the first to document the differences between men and women’s emotional intelligence profiles. Interestingly, the results were consistent around the world. And while there’s no significant difference in overall emotional intelligence scores, there were differences in the types of emotional intelligence. Men scored higher in independence, stress tolerance and problem solving. Women, however, scored higher in emotional self-awareness, emotional expression and empathy.

Building on women’s strengths

In the early days of reporting on my organization’s emotional intelligence and organizational success research, I was challenged by a number of businesswomen. They told me that to be successful in the male corporate environment, such as in financial institutions and the tech industry, it was important to be tough. They thought that they had to be tougher than the men in order to succeed. Being aggressive, they said, was rewarded and the way to get ahead.

I thought differently. I suggested that women were generally better in interpersonal skills, empathy and emotional expression, and they should leverage these skills. While the traditionally male-dominant traits of stress tolerance, independence and using appropriate emotions in solving problems were important qualities for leaders, women’s skills in these areas did not lag behind the men’s. And to get ahead of the curve in leadership, the skills women already excelled in were the ones to focus on improving even more.

Women are moving the needle on defining leadership traits

One of our current research samples includes 280 executives who are about to be or are currently on boards of directors. These high-level executives, most of whom have worked their way up the organizational ladder, have acquired the skills one needs to make it to the top. The sample shows that women have essentially closed the gap in the areas where men traditionally score higher—independence, stress tolerance and problem solving. They have had to deal with stress throughout their careers and, at this stage, are more balanced in dealing with difficult situations. Also, they’ve been at a decision-making level for a significant amount of time and can manage the decision-making process well.

But the data also shows that women who make it to the level of senior executives moving onto boards bring some extra skills with them to the boardroom. These women outscore their male counterparts in emotional self-awareness, emotional expression and empathy. These skills have now emerged as defining future leaders.

What difference does it make having females on the board of directors?  The New York Times reported on a study by Credit Suisse looking at gender differences of board members. They examined almost 2,400 global corporations from 2005 to 2011, including the years directly preceding and following the financial crisis, and found that large-cap companies with at least one woman on their boards outperformed comparable companies with all-male boards by 26 percent.

The report continued, “Some might assume that there was a cost to this as well, that boards with women must have been excessively cautious before the financial crisis of 2008… Not so. From 2005 to 2007, Credit Suisse also found, the stock performance of companies with women on their boards essentially matched performance of companies with all-male boards. Nothing lost, but much gained.” Unfortunately, the number of women getting to the boardroom is still much lower than men.

Increase your emotional intelligence

Whatever your emotional intelligence strengths, you can develop and enhance the three specific traits exhibited strongly by women in leadership roles.

  1. Cultivate self-awareness. Practice can help you become more emotionally self-aware. Through activities like meditation and mindfulness, you can learn to focus more on what you’re feeling and why you’re feeling that way. Knowing yourself better will help you become more balanced and centered when dealing with stressful situations and people.
  2. Find the balance for emotional expression. Being emotionally expressive comes naturally for many people. There’s nothing wrong with letting others know when something is bothering you or when you’re pleased with someone’s work. Be honest and authentic. Expressing your feelings can make you more real and likeable as a person, especially when you learn to manage it well. On the other hand, being overly expressive or under expressive can lead to trouble.
  3. Make empathy your secret strength. Great leaders are empathic. They are able to listen to others and understand where they’re coming from. But don’t mistake empathy for believing you must give in to everyone’s wants and needs. Understanding another person’s situation helps you make better decisions about what feels right for you.

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Steven Stein, Ph.D., is a leading expert on psychological assessment and emotional intelligence. He is the founder and CEO of Multi-Health Systems, a leading publisher of scientifically validated assessments. Dr. Steven Stein is the author and coauthor of several books on emotional intelligence, including his new book, The EQ Leader: Instilling Passion, Creating Shared Goals, and Building Meaningful Organizations through Emotional Intelligence

Disclaimer: The views and advice given by our Guest contributors are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com

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Women Leaders as Agenda Movers: Leveling the Playing Field

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female leaderGuest Contributed By Samuel B. Bacharach

Recently I was asked to give a talk to a forum attended by fifty women executives. The topic was based on my new book and was titled, “The Agenda Mover: When Your Good Idea Is Not Enough.” Two days before the talk, two invitees objected, or at least questioned, my legitimacy, and pointedly asked the organizers “What does a man know about women and leadership?”

My response was that, indeed, I had no expertise that was unique to the challenges of being or aspiring to be a woman leader. My expertise is in the micro-political skills that any leader—no matter what their personality, background, age, gender—needs in order to move their ideas, their agendas, and their change efforts forward.

I am the first to admit that every leader brings to their agenda mover challenges their unique voice, their unique skills, and their unique narrative. Leaders face different burdens. While, for some, due to societal expectations and pressures, the burdens are greater, the core skills of leadership are ubiquitous.

If you want to succeed in an organization, if you want to move your idea forward, if you want to drive your career—to lead any effort, you need to have mastered political competence. That is, you must acquire and develop the micro-skills overcome resistance, mobilize support, and go the distance. Leaders of all stripes need to understand that a good idea is simply not enough. As a leader, you need the skills of political competence.

Having trained leaders at all levels of numerous organizations, I have determined that there are four fundamental agenda-moving skills:

1. Anticipate. When innovating and creating change, your idea is inevitably going to impact others. You have to anticipate how others will react to your idea. You need to know whom you’re dealing with, interpret their intentions, gauge their resistance, and expect the arguments that they will make against your idea.

Successful leaders spend as much time formulating their plan as they do mapping the political terrain and working out how they will present and justify their ideas to others. They expect resistance, and have made plans to overcome the naysayers.

2. Mobilize. You can’t do it alone. To achieve results, you have to work with a coalition of supporters who share your goals. Coalitions not only lighten the workload, but they reinforce your credibility and protect you—and your team—against unexpected setbacks.

To mobilize others, you must be careful to focus your message, be smart about timing the release of your messaging, astute about language, and perceptive about your audience. Support can be weak or strong, or middling, and politically competent leaders know when lukewarm support is enough to get their agenda accomplished, and when they have to press harder for a greater degree backing.

3. Negotiate. You have to negotiate support. You have to show others that there is little risk in joining you in your effort. Give a sense that you are fine without them, but it would be nice to have them along on the effort. Show prospective coalition members what they can gain from aligning their interests with yours. Getting the buy-in is about shifting your focus from your passion to really seriously thinking about where others are coming from, and what would motivate them to join your effort.

4. Sustain. You have to keep working after your coalition is in place. It falls on your shoulders as the leader to maintain traction, create short-term wins, create short-term victories, supply resources, and reinforce an optimistic outlook.

Sometimes agenda movers make the mistake of front-loading their effort on the coalition creation stage, and slack off once the coalition is formed. You can’t let your enthusiasm flag as you head toward the finish line. Make sure your coalition becomes a focused, agile, coordinated, forward-moving team.

After my talk, one attendee came up to me and said that the agenda moving skills were something that she learned late in life. She also mentioned that young men are taught the ropes of the political games well before young women. Isn’t that the sad truth?

Considering the challenges that women face, mastering the skills of an agenda mover is just but one more step to leveling the playing field.

About the author

Samuel B. Bacharach is the author of THE AGENDA MOVER: When Your Good Idea Is Not Enough (Cornell University Press, 2016). He is also co-founder of the Bacharach Leadership Group, which focuses on training leaders in the skills of the Agenda Mover, and is the McKelvey-Grant Professor at Cornell University.

Disclaimer: Views and opinions of Guest contributors are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com

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Is It Possible to Be an Entrepreneur within a Corporate Structure?

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Business meeting with women and menGuest Contributed by Meg Schmitz

At some point in everyone’s career we begin to take inventory of what want in a job, what we seek for our professional growth and what brings us joy. In an ideal world, we’d all have jobs that don’t feel like work, pull a huge paycheck and allow us to achieve our goals. However, the reality is that many people, for reasons often beyond their control, leave work every day feeling unfulfilled – often, this is due to underutilizing a key skill set or feeling that potential is being left untapped.

For individuals who are drawn to entrepreneurship but don’t yet own a business, there’s a middle ground – the less-talked-about intrapreneurship. In a nutshell, intrapreneurs bring the entrepreneurial spirit to their corporate structure. This translates to freedom of thought, out-of-the-box problem solving, flexible brainstorming and long-range thinking that can be lost in the day-to-day grind. Intrapreneurs have the advantage of paycheck security and other benefits, all while being able to explore new avenues to sell a product or service in a role they already have familiarity with.

Another important component of intrapreneurship is the level of focus that intrapreneurs possess. An entrepreneur should view his or her company as a vision from starting point to end, but an intrapreneur works within the company to focus directly on a specific problem. Intrapreneurs, therefore, should have more directly applicable skills for a specific task. An intrapreneur takes risks, but those risks fall within the context of his or her job in the existing company. So, rather than focusing on the whole company, intrapreneurs hone in on the processes within it.

In this same vein, intrapreneurs are the primary forces of innovation within their companies. Like entrepreneurs, they look to provide solutions to unique, often market-driven problems. They focus on policies, technologies and applications that solve a specific problem, often resulting in productivity issues. In the same way that an entrepreneur starts a company to provide a service or product, an intrapreneur takes on a task within the company to strengthen it as a whole.

This sounds great, right? Somehow being able to balance your entrepreneurial ambitions with job security? Well, it’s not that easy – the first step is finding a company that’s open to intrapreneurs and their big ideas. When you’re looking for a job, make a point to find a corporate culture that supports your innovation, and actively interview for a culture that matches your values, goals and personality. Flexibility should be encouraged instead of suppressed, and the company should be comfortable with out-of-the-box thinking. It’s also worth considering exploring if the company has the budget – and internal capacity – to make the changes you might bring. Flexibility is key, but the space for implementation of your new ideas is what will actually allow intrapreneurs to fully realize their ideas.

What do intrapreneurs look like? They’re often independent, willingly autonomous individuals who like to thoroughly investigate every facet of a problem they’re presented with. They don’t respond well to micromanagement as they feel it stifles the experimental and creative processes. They’re free thinkers, but appreciate the overarching structure of a company that they feel aligns well with their values, goals and career direction. They’re the building blocks of their company’s executive teams and are a driving force behind innovation and forward motion.

If you see yourself in the description of an intrapreneur, you’re not alone – women make great intrapreneurs. We’re better equipped to challenge the status quo – we’ve been doing it as long as we’ve been alive! Fighting is in our blood, and we have great ideas that are well thought out and adaptable. Young women, in particular, have shown increasingly entrepreneurial ambitions, but many lack the experience or resources to pursue their own business at this time – however, entrepreneurially minded women may find that bringing a spirit of intrapreneurship to their corporate jobs gets them quite far. In fact, most businesses celebrate having women in higher-level positions, so why not harness this positive energy and look at ways to challenge the status quo further with big ideas, long-range thinking and out-of-the-box problem solving?

Meg Schmitz is an independent consultant of FranChoice based in Morton Grove, Ill. Her free services aid individuals along their path to professional independence, while developing a plan to achieve personal lifestyle goals through franchise investments. Contact Meg at MegSchmitz@FranChoice.com.

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Why Are Women Underrepresented in These Key Job Markets?

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By Tiffany Rowe

Our technological world is expanding at an astounding rate and jobs in the STEM industry remain in high demand. Those holding degrees in math, technology, engineering, and the sciences have, in many cases, their pick of lucrative and rewarding jobs. When you add an advanced degree in one of those subjects or in business then the opportunities are seemingly endless.

However, while the world as a whole is contributing to advancements in these areas, the people who secure these jobs are overwhelmingly men. Women are represented equally in some of these fields but engineering and computer science degrees are given to only about 29 percent of female undergraduates. University classrooms where STEM classes are taught are generally filled with male students. Some women are the sole representatives of their gender in these classes.

Many of us have long been told that this gender gap in these fields is related to the notion that girls receive less encouragement than their male counterparts to tackle these subjects during their lower educational years. While this can’t be proven, the simple fact that men far outnumber women in the STEM industries can’t be ignored.

While you may hear many different reasons why this occurs, we’re going to look at some solutions that can help women boost their power in the STEM job market and bring their unique talents to the industry.

Erase the Stigma

Many people erroneously believe that girls are not supported nor encouraged to take on advanced classes in mathematics and sciences during their younger years or that they’re not as capable as boys are. Factually this is untrue as both boys and girls show equal results on aptitude tests for these subjects.

Women and girls are more than capable of learning the fundamentals of higher mathematics and sciences when they’re given the opportunity. However, the stigma still exists that girls are less capable of excelling at these subjects than boys are. Younger children are experiencing less of this today than they were even just a few years ago, but young women in high school and college may still feel that these fields are not right for them or that they won’t succeed.

What Parents and Educators Can Do

While educational trends and how they focus on female students are changing, there are still many things that parents and educators can do to encourage interest in these subjects. Childhood curiosity knows no gender so if your daughter shows an interest in computers, math, or science do all you can to encourage that.

Learning how to write code comes very easily for younger children just as foreign languages do. If you’re an educator, encourage your school district’s administrators to implement these classes for children in lower grades. There has been a push to encourage more coding education, backed by the likes of Amazon, Google, Code.org, and more. As of just a few years ago, only 0.4 percent of college-bound women intended to major in computer science.

What Women Can Do for Themselves

Many women who have already attended university and achieved a degree in an unrelated field may think they’re now unqualified for any type of job in the STEM industry. Fortunately that’s not always the case. Many women who have undergraduate degrees in arts or humanities can take additional classes to better familiarize themselves with the fundamentals.

Earning online MBAs is a great way to get an edge in the industry. Advanced business degrees almost always include the option to narrow the focus of the program and these focuses do include some science and technology. Plus, innovations made in science and technology are useless unless the right person has the business and marketing skills to introduce them successfully to the public or direct them to the proper channels for further research and development.

It’s very easy to realize that, given the complex nature of our changing society and environment, that people with the technological skills and education to continue to make advancements for the benefit of society are invaluable. In fact, our lives and the lives of generations to come may depend on the technology we perfect and discover today. All of us can only benefit from having as many people tasked with solving complex problems as we can and that needs to include women. And with the right education, encouragement, and tools there’s no reason that can’t happen.

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Are You Dying to Get to the Top?

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Guest contributed by Laleh Hancock

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Yes, the pun is intended! It’s well documented that executives who ignore the warning signs from their body put themselves at risk of serious illness and injury, if not death.
I am not about to give you a list of do’s and don’ts. You’re smart. You’re talented. You’ve read it all and you know what’s required. You’re a leader and an executive, and yet you are reading this for some reason.
 
Maybe you have started to notice some of those warning signs, such as being tired all the time? Maybe you’re being distracted by your busyness and you just need some assistance with implementation? Maybe, even though you have it all – the job and the life that everyone wants – you are not as happy as you thought you would be, and you feel like there has to be more to life?
 
You can have, be, and do it all. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.
 
Best of all, you don’t have to give anything up. In fact, you need to include more! You need to include YOU and your body!
 
It is not about ‘balance.’ It’s about mindfulness; remaining aware of everything, no matter what is going on, and taking effective action, which includes making YOU and your wellness a priority.
 
It’s easy to ignore all those whispers from the body when you are busy – “Sure, I need to go to the bathroom, but I’ve only got one hour to get this done. I can wait.” But can you really afford to? The more whispers you ignore, the more likely your ‘glass hammer’ is going to turn into a ‘sledge hammer’ to the back of the head! It starts with whispers, but if you don’t pay attention, it ends up shouting at you with debilitating illnesses or injuries that force you to take a break.
 
Three things can turn it around for you:
 
1. Breathe – Focusing on your breath reconnects you with your body. Try taking a breath up from under your feet, to the top of your head, then release it back down to your feet; reconnecting you to the contributing energies of the Earth. This has a calming effect, adds oxygen to your body, allows you to refocus your attention and energies on the thoughts and actions that will create your desired outcome with greater ease.
 
2. Ask questions. The point of a question is to gain additional information and awareness, not rely on answers we’ve already concluded. Questions are expansive, and they put what you desire out into the ether, so the universe can contribute back to you and your body. 
 
Start with, “What would it take?” questions. Ask them often, and expand your sense of the possibilities available to you that you may have not considered.
 
For example: You’re on a tight deadline, but your body wants to move. Ask, “What would it take to move my body and meet the deadline?” Really wonder about it. Then continue with your activities and see what ideas shows up. Asking the question without a conclusion in mind makes you more receptive to possibilities that you may not have considered before. Ideas might come to you that enable you to do both, such as taking your phone to record ideas while you walk around the block. You can have a planning and creativity session with yourself on more effective solutions, and still give your body the contribution it was asking for.
 
3. Expand Your Zone of Awareness. It’s so easy to become myopic when you are busy, yet this is so contractive and counter-productive to the creativity required for success.
 
Throughout the day, stop and ask, “Where is my focus?” and expand it. All you have to do is ask, and it will automatically expand.
 
Also ask, “Is anything required of me?” and follow any ideas you might have. You may find a particular project pulling on your attention, or you might hear a whisper from your body.
 
The more you include your body in your goals, the more your body will have your back. It’s a two-way street!
Like most of us with ambitious goals, Laleh Alemzadeh-Hancock tried to do it all. Climb the corporate ladder, be a great spouse, and the perfect mother. She would self-sacrifice, eat at her desk, stay late, and still manage the household. Both her family and her work were priorities. The only one who wasn’t was herself. Now, Laleh is a management consultant, Joy of Business facilitator and the CEO of Belapemo and Global Wellness For All. With nearly 30 years of experience in operational excellence, change management, and organizational wellness, Laleh has inspired and empowered hundreds of thousands of individuals, including Fortune 500 executives, to seek greater success, happiness and wellness.
 
 
Laleh Alemzadeh-Hancock is a management consultant, Joy of Business facilitator, and founder and CEO of Belapemo and Global Wellness for All. A passionate change-agent, Laleh has empowered thousands of individuals including Fortune 500 executives, government agencies, not-for–profit organizations, athletes and veterans to achieve optimal growth.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions of Guest contributors are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com
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Find Yourself Negotiating with Your Significant Other as well as at Work?

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Guest contributed by Simon Letchford

negotiating

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They say that opposites attract – but when it comes to negotiating, matching the other party’s style might be the key to a successful deal.

According to a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, negotiations go faster,  are more congenial and have better outcomes when both negotiators have matching personality traits.

Given that it could be said that most relationships work better when personalities do not clash, that shouldn’t be surprising. Sadly, in the real world you rarely get to choose the individuals you need to negotiate with. There are, however, things you can focus on to improve your chances of a successful deal. While we don’t guarantee you’ll find your next soulmate in love, you are more likely to get a better deal in less time in other parts of your life.

Buyers are from Venus, Sellers are from Mars

Have you ever had to negotiate a deal with someone and felt like they were from a different planet?

We teach the art of negotiation to thousands of professionals each year, and they often express frustration with the way the other side talks and behaves…

Salesperson’s inner voice – “Why does this buyer keep asking for more and more detail? Why can’t he just make a decision so we can get to the fun stuff?”

Procurement: “I don’t care about your golf game, where’s my cost breakdown? And stop asking me about my personal life!”

Extroverts (most salespeople) tend to be socially open, future-oriented, and relationship-based. They prefer to communicate top-down, and are easily bored with details. The people they negotiate with the most, procurement folks, tend to be the exact opposite – analytical, more socially closed, interested in the here-and-now, and detail-oriented – making communication and negotiation frustrating to both parties.

So, step one is to recognize that we’re not all programmed to communicate the same way. You might even say we’re not all from the same planet.

Visit their planet to do the deal

Good negotiators are aware of their own communication style, as well as their opposition’s style, and they adapt their own style to the other party’s rather than relying on the other side to adapt to theirs.

Identify what planet the other side is on. Look for the cues that will indicate how they are “programmed”.

People-driven negotiators tend to be comfortable talking about their personal lives. Their offices are more likely to have lots of photos of friends and family, certificates, and even photos of famous people they’ve met. Your proposals to these types should be packaged and presented to accentuate image, vision, uniqueness and personal recognition.

Data-driven analytical types can find these people-driven topics tedious, or even inappropriate. Their offices will tend to have one or two family photos. Your negotiation proposals to these types should highlight data, profit and loss, information and ways to address business risks – keeping the personal discussions to a polite minimum.

Dominant personality styles tend to make statements rather than ask questions. They are comfortable challenging you, and tend to be more decisive. Proposals to these negotiators should be concise, and focused on the bottom line and results.

Passive styles tend to be more thoughtful and hesitating. They will ask more questions, express their opinions less often, and focus on risk. Proposals should be based on addressing risks, be factual and be supported by data, not opinions. You’ll need more negotiating patience here, as pushing for a quick decision can come across as intimidating.

Dress for the role you want

It’s not easy to adapt your style to another person’s; it takes skill and practice. If you personally have trouble connecting with the other side’s lead negotiator, (and let’s face it, sometimes two people just do not get on), think about introducing a second person on your team who has a similar style to them. As long as your team-member is aligned to your goals and strategy, they can sometimes help translate between you and your intermediary and help move the process forward.

In other words, if you’re having trouble translating from Venetian to Martian, consider bringing a Martian with you to the table.

Final two caveats

Firstly, I’m not suggesting you try to change who you are or your values or objectives. No personality type is better than the other – we just process information differently, so think carefully about how you communicate your issues to the other side.

Secondly, don’t confuse the substance of the deal (the pricing, terms, contract length and risk) with the tone and communication style deployed during the negotiation. Tone and style are only one factor in the art of negotiation – the skills of knowing your goals and limits, listening, asking good questions, making credible proposals and knowing how to respond to a “no” are also critical, and a topic for another day.

Simon Letchford is Managing Director of Scotwork’s North American business. Scotwork is a global negotiation consultancy that advises clients on negotiation strategy, and trains over 12,000 managers and executives each year in negotiation skills.

Disclaimer: Views and opinions of Guest contributors are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com

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Creating Inclusive Cultures – The Risk of Doing Nothing

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 Guest contributed by Charlotte Sweeney

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Many industries are increasingly realising that building better workplaces for all has a positive impact on productivity, employee engagement and the bottom line.  In their recent research, Deloitte identified an 80% improvement in business performance when levels of diversity and inclusion were high within a company. Also the highest performing teams are the most diverse – not more women than men, just a good mix, as this graph showing stages of team development, in the long term, a diverse and well-managed team is the most productive.

However, companies are struggling to make ‘better workplaces for everyone’ a reality.  The great opportunity is that we all have an important part to play in creating a better workplace for everyone.  Ensuring our colleague’s voices are heard and valued not only helps to attract and retain the best people, but also helps us deliver better solutions for our clients and identify risks and opportunities that we might not otherwise see.

What part can each of us play?

In our recent book ‘Inclusive Leadership – the definitive guide to developing and executing an impactful diversity and inclusion strategy – locally and globally’ we look at how to engage everyone in creating the culture change many companies aspire to.

Take a moment to consider the following questions:

  • Who do I spend most time with?

If you think about an average workday or week – whom are you spending most of your time with?  Human nature is such that we feel most comfortable with people who are like us and have similar backgrounds.  Are you spending your time with people who make you feel comfortable or with people who challenge your thinking?

  • Who do I go to for advice?

Who are the three of four people you go to for advice and support on business issues?  Are they from similar backgrounds or do they have different perspectives to you?  What are the risks of gaining advice from similar sources time after time?

  • Who is in my wider decision making team?

Again, is there diverse experience and thinking across your team or do you all think in a similar way?  Are you missing opportunities both for yourself and clients through accessing potentially narrow thinking?  How could diverse views and inputs influence your final decisions?

By narrowing our view points and limiting the types of people around us whom we spend time with, ask for advice and make decisions with we are, by default, creating cultures that seem exclusive to others.

Creating more diverse and inclusive workplaces isn’t an end in itself, it’s a means to enabling companies to attract and retain the best talent, to benefit from increased productivity and to tap into new markets and client opportunities.

My challenge to you is this – how are you going to diversify the people you spend time with and what part are you going to play in building a better workplace for all?

How many times have you heard someone question ‘Why do we need to change? We have been pretty successful with what we have always done?’ All cases for change within businesses are different. However, by considering each of the following elements you are building the foundation for your case for change.

  • What has worked in the past? – Ask your colleagues what they think has been effective in the past. Source that case for change and identify what was important for the organization. How was it structured and what were the key drivers for change? Was it client service? Employee engagement? Legislative changes or something else?
  • The moral, the legal or the business case for change? – All three should be covered:

o The moral case – simply put, this is the right thing to do!

o The legal case – The current requirements from a legal perspective as well as case law and other regulations that will potentially have an impact in the future.

o The business case – What positive impact will this have on the business ultimately for the bottom line linking back to employee engagement, brand reputation, shareholder confidence and client/customer loyalty. How can it support and enable the delivery of the existing business strategy?

About the Author

Charlotte’s first book written with co-author Fleur Bothwick OBE, ‘Inclusive Leadership – The Definitive Guide to Developing and Executing an Impactful Diversity and Inclusion Strategy – Locally and Globally’, published by The Financial Times. www.charlottesweeney.comwww.creatinginclusivecultures.com

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Refusing to Provide Salary History Information During Job Interviews

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By Ken Levine, Esq., Bailey Duquette P.C., New York, New York

 

job interview

 
 Potential employers routinely ask for an applicant’s current salary before making an offer.  The practice arguably perpetuates gender pay disparity, since an unfairly low salary at one company will then have an “anchoring effect” and lead to a lower salary at the next job, continuing the systemic bias.  Many women who also take time off from work to care for children re-enter the workforce at a lower salary, and similarly run the risk of being stuck at a lower salary rung at subsequent jobs.
 
Employers are already prohibited by federal and state laws from compensating men and women at different rates for the same work, and women can sue if they experience wage disparity in violation of those laws.  But reliance on salary history may still perpetuate the gender disparity, even if not done for overtly sexist reasons.   
 
In an effort to ensure pay equity for women, Massachusetts, Philadelphia and New York City have all recently passed laws to restrict salary history questions, and other states, including Illinois, New Jersey, Maine, California, and Vermont, are considering similar measures. The New York City law prohibits employers or their agents from inquiring about the salary history of an applicant, whether male or female, and restricts an employer’s ability to rely upon salary history in determining compensation during the hiring process, even if the employer finds the information through lawful publicly-available sources.  The New York City law allows an employer to discuss with an applicant his or her expected salary, salary range and benefits.  A prospective employer is also allowed to consider salary history if the applicant “voluntarily and without prompting” discloses the information.  The law does not apply to internal promotions. 
 
No state or city laws are currently in effect. Philadelphia‘s ordinance was scheduled to take effect on May 23, 2017, but a federal court stayed its effectiveness pending a legal challenge on first amendment grounds. The New York City legislation will take effect on October 31, 2017, and the Massachusetts law, passed last summer, will take effect on July 1, 2018, unless either of them faces similar legal challenges.  Several government agencies also prohibit inquiry into salary history for the same reasons.
 
The new laws can serve to embolden women to withhold their current salary information during contract negotiations.   Women (and men) can credibly argue that not relying on salary history requires employers to make clear, market-based decisions about pay.  Some head hunters in fact actively advise all clients not to reveal current salary for this very reason, even when pressured to do so.  The issue is especially relevant for women who have taken time off from work to care for children.  Citing to these new laws and policies, even if not currently legally binding on prospective employers, can serve as sound justification for withholding salary history information during employment negotiations. 
 
 
Ken Levine is a commercial litigator and general corporate adviser.

 

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One Simple Step to Bust Out of Your Career Rut

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Sad businesswomanGuest contributed by Elizabeth Crook

There’s an epidemic in our country that’s impacting 40% of our population.

It’s lowering our immune systems, disturbing our sleep, breaking up our relationships, and creating depression and unwanted weight gain.

The epidemic seems very benign – it’s so common we often ignore it.

It’s called job dissatisfaction.

Historically there been more heart attacks on Monday morning than any other time of the week because so many of us are dragging ourselves to jobs that have depleted us. And even though the research was probably done on men, the implications for women are profound. Having the “wrong” job is not good for you.

Why do we stay?

Three simple reasons:

  • We are good at these jobs,
  • We may be too busy or too conscientious to recognize how stuck we are
  • We don’t know how to leave them.

We’ve been given accolades and compliments all our lives for what we do. We may be keeping our families afloat with these jobs. Our work may serve our social life or give us a strong sense of identity. We feel responsible to our team, our boss, or the company

Along with all that, we tend to see other options as more limited than they really are. We may even believe the industry or functional area the only ones we can be in, so we stay. And stay. And stay. Until our health is bankrupt, our relationships are compromised, and our dream of what we wanted has been lost.

Sound familiar? Don’t despair.

As a CEO coach and corporate strategist, many people from diverse arenas come to me because they want more than anything to love their work, but they don’t know how to get there.

Enter the energize/deplete paradigm.

In your everyday work, you encounter tasks that energize you and work that depletes you. Most people have don’t spend time thinking about it. However, identifying them is the is a big step toward getting to work that feeds your soul (and your bank account).

The first question to ask is: What do I know how to do?

Make a list. Brainstorm. Don’t hold back. Write down all those things you know how to do – think processes, not contents. This can include things beyond your work like your family or social life or even volunteer assignments. This isn’t your job description. This is what you know how to do.

The start of your list might look something like this:

  • Engage people in solving problems
  • Analyze data
  • Create narratives that give meaning
  • Recruit and hire people
  • Develop budgets
  • Manage projects
  • Manage people
  • Teach and mentor
  • Persuade
  • Sell ideas
  • Develop systems and processes
Identify the energizing activities.

Make a star next to the activities on your list that energize you – those things that even if your are working hard at them, you feel good doing them. Time passes in a minute when you are doing things that energize you, even if they take all day.

Do you feel depleted by managing people but are in a managerial position? Do you feel energized by being with people, but your work is behind an admin desk where you never get to interact? Are you energized by being creative, but your work is about collecting data?

Your starred activities are signposts, leading you to work that will feed your soul and make you feel like you are living large.

Your work now is to begin to increase the activities that energize you.

Shift your focus.

This may mean delegating the work that depletes you (anything that is not energizing you may very well be depleting you) or talking to your boss about shifting your focus at work towards what energizes you.

What if this list shows that nothing you do at work energizes you? What if all of your energizing how-tos are ones that you do out of work?

That’s fantastic information. And it might mean an overhaul of what you do for work. Chances are you can stay in your industry, but you may have to change what you do in this industry.

The Amazing Result.

What’s amazing about this simple exercise is that it activates something called the reticular activating system in the brain. The reticular activating system is the part of our brain that begins to notice red cars right when we decide we want a red car. Once we become aware of what energizes us, our subconscious begins to move us toward it.

As soon as we identify what depletes us, our defense system will begin to find ways to move away from those activities.We find ourselves making decisions about work that lead us toward those activities that we love.

Can it really be this simple?

Try it. See what happens.

Elizabeth Crook has been the CEO of Orchard Advisors for over 20 years, helping CEO’s grow their bottom line and have more fun. She believes that if everyone had the work and life they love, we could change the world! Her book, Live Large – The Achiever’s Guide to What’s Next will be released May 2017.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views of our guest contributors are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com

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Should You Say No to Networking?

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Guest Contributed by Kelly Hoey

Networking

Image via Shutterstock

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates attributed their success to one factor. According to Buffett biographer Alice Schroeder, in 1991 when Bill Gates’ dad asked Buffett and Gates what the most important factor for their success was, they both gave the same answer, “FOCUS.”
 
Focus always comes before success.
 
Steve Jobs, no slouch in the success department himself, said that
“it’s only by saying No that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.” 
 
Success is not possible without a clear focus on what matters most and the ability to concentrate your energy, thought and capital. In other words, a key to success is learning to say NO. No to personal and professional invites, business networking events, conferences, industry get-togethers, meetups. All the things you instinctively want to say yes to. I know it’s hard to say no – you feel guilty, you don’t want to disrespect the host, you want to look like a team player, you feel like you’ll miss out on something interesting or you’re afraid that if you say NO you’ll never be invited again.
 
But here’s the key: Ask yourself if that event you’re thinking about attending today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow. By staying focused on where you’re headed, you’ll be able to figure out whether saying no will get you further ahead or is simply an excuse that’s holding you back.
 
2015 was my year of no. I said no to pretty much everything as I was singularly focused on getting a book deal. This project needed my undivided attention, so no it was. I needed to focus and didn’t want distractions. Did I miss opportunities? Maybe. But saying no at this juncture of my career was the right thing to do. That has not always been the case. Saying no at other points in my career would have been a career-killer.
 
When entrepreneur Rachel Hofstetter was growing her business, she knew the strength of her network was dependent on her selectively and strategically saying yes. Rachel founded Guesterly (acquired in 2015 by photo-book subscription service Chatbooks) an on-line service which extends the warm hand of the host by connecting guests before a big event.
 
She focused her networking efforts by keeping both long-term and shorter-term goals in mind. When she was getting ready to raise investment money, Rachel prioritised attending investor and start-up-focused events. When she moved to a new city, she found herself attending every type of event she could, in order to meet people. Expanding her network was why she accepted every invitation and checked out every event, rather than turning them down. When she launched Guesterly into the wedding market (an industry where she previously knew no one), she attended every wedding-industry-related event she could find, in order to figure out exactly where she needed to focus her networking efforts.
 
At this point in her career, she knew not to say no. She knew that her network mattered just as much as the quality of her work. If someone asked if she wanted to head to happy hour- yes. Grab a group lunch? Yes. Those people moved around jobs and industries and that network made introductions that led her somewhere amazing.
 
So, yes, there are networking opportunities you should never say no to, especially in the workplace. Universally saying you will never attend networking events at work is—not to be too dramatic here—career suicide. Never say no to opportunities to get to know your peers and colleagues.
 
Job pressures and competition keep too many of us in our cubicles from the moment we step off the elevator to the minute we run out the door. One Wall Street investment banker I knew regularly ordered in pizza for his group, as a way to bring the team together. This was no “free” lunch: pizza was ordered (and he happily paid for it each week) on the condition that no one could eat alone. It doesn’t take much to break down communication barriers and build team rapport. In twenty minutes you can accomplish more than consuming a slice or two of pizza— you can build relationships.
 
You need to be strategic and sometimes rather selective in which work-related networking events you choose to attend, but don’t apply a universal no to opportunities to share your knowledge with colleagues beyond the radius of your cubicle, or to being further informed of developments in your chosen profession.
 
There are many, many, many ways to limit your career opportunities; take “no to networking” off that list.
 
Disclaimer: The opinions and views of our Guest contributors are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com
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