Lessons from Female Veterans: Command with Confidence

Guest Contribution by Col. Jill Morgenthaler

iStock_000004638435XSmall[1]If you wish to lead, you need to demonstrate confidence. If you don’t have the conviction that you can lead, why would anyone follow?

In 1996, as a lieutenant colonel, I was a peacekeeper in Bosnia. War had turned neighbor against neighbor, and many villages bore the evidence of ethnic cleansing: houses were blown up, men and boys murdered, and women and girls dragged to sex camps. Many villages had stockpiled weapons to protect themselves from outsiders.

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The Importance of Becoming a Lifelong Learner

Guest Contribution by Ashley Bryant

iStock_000000616696XSmallIn a recent interview with Campbell Soup’s CEO, Denise Morrison, she’s quoted as saying, “I knew from an early age that I wanted to lead a company. I developed a strategic process for my career path that set the final destination, developed the career track, identified skills to build, took positions to gain experience and sought leadership and management training on the job.” Denise Morrison understands that in order to reach the top, you must become a lifelong learner. Taking risks, learning how to effectively network and developing leadership and management skills are just a few items she calls out in recounting how she rose through the ranks and eventually became one of the most respected female CEOs of our time.

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Three Lessons about Organizational Politics I wish I knew Earlier

Guest Contribution by Michelle Brailsford (London, England)

iStock_000017642294XSmallOn the topic of organizational politics, what I know now after 30 years in the Fortune 500 world and what I knew starting out is vastly different. I have learned many important lessons about ‘managing politics’ and how important it is to ‘play the game’ in order to be both successful and happy at work. I learned those lessons the hard way and today I coach many women about the importance of managing power, perceptions and personalities (stakeholders). If I could go back in time and tell my young self what I know now, here is what I would impart:

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Men Avoid Giving Feedback to Women — What You Can Do About It

Guest Contribution by Anna Carroll, MSSW

iStock_000014470764XSmallAre you sometimes confused about whether your boss thinks you are doing a good job?

Does your male boss treat you politely, but you notice he doesn’t communicate with you often?

Are you puzzled about what it takes to be promoted in your organization?

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Success, Perfection and Losing Our Happiness

Guest Contribution by Yesi Morillo-Gual

A Happy business woman with other colleagues in the backgroundHappiness is sought and deserved by everyone, yet many don’t know how define it or if they truly deserve it. Considered “an elusive and evanescent thing”, according to a New York Times article published in December 2013, happiness is something we work against by behaving in ways that deplete us. Our belief of happiness is also dictated by society’s definition and expectations of what we should be, and have. Often associated with titles, money and material possessions, happiness easily becomes a checklist – a series of “to do’s” that should be result in total bliss.

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Are You Making Rookie Mistakes in Job Interviews?

Guest Contribution by Devika Arora

jobsearchToday’s woman is ambitious and hungry for individuality. She is eager to live her dreams, for which she wishes to become financially independent by earning her own bread and butter. This is why an increasing number of women are finding themselves back on the job hunt. But what happens when the same women sit for an interview and are questioned about their capabilities? Why is it hard for them to nail a job interview that should have been a walk in the park? The following article will highlight the 10 of the most common mistakes that women tend to make during job interviews.

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Women as Leaders: What Is Different about Leading Other Women?

Guest Contribution by Anne Litwin, PhD

Two female friends talking.“I worked for a woman who was more task focused, which made it real uncomfortable for me. When a guy does that [is task focused], it doesn’t bother me as much.” (Financial Services Manager)

I heard this kind of statement often from the women in my research on women’s relationships in the workplace. This research, involving women from many professions and countries, shows that many women have different expectations of how female leaders should behave. Women also often report preferring to work for men, which could be a significant problem for our careers if almost half of the workforce does not want to be led by us.

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The Future is Now: Seven Recommendations for Leadership Success

rsz_2goldnerGuest Contribution by Dr. Jane Goldner

In 2002, a colleague, Chris Gilliam, and I wrote a white paper about what big and small companies can learn from each other. During the research phase, we surfaced the book, Rethinking the Future by Rowan Gibson, published in 1998. Gibson predicted that there would be a world where:

• Competition will be fierce and markets will be merciless
• Small companies will outsmart giant corporations on a global scale
• Customers will have infinite access to products, services & information.

In our white paper, based on research and interviews of C-Suite and senior-level leaders, we made the following recommendations for business success in the world that Gibson predicted and has become reality. They are still good advice for leaders today.

1. CEOs must have a purpose/mission and a vision for her company; why does it exist and where is it going? Along with values, these two “must-haves” are the Core that provides unity across silos that gets everyone focused on corporate goals. Here is why you need a well-defined company Core:

• It’s the foundation for all your decision-making, your true north against which everything is assessed.
• It provides a clear, common focus and direction for everyone in your company as long as it is clearly communicated.

2. The CEO needs to know her own strengths and weaknesses in order to surround herself with people on the leadership team who bring different competencies to the table. Too often, leaders hire in their own image which magnifies both the hiring leader’s strengths as well as the weaknesses, which leads to less effective decisions. Different is good to avoid group think by getting varying points of view. Considering the talent pool today and wanting to win the talent war, you will need to hire with diversity in mind.

As you hire leaders, they should have the competencies that are dictated by the company Core. What skills, abilities, and characteristics does a leader need to work the mission, help the company move toward its vision, and act on the values?

3. Together, the leadership team must create a strategic framework, a plan for the future that provides a ‘picture frame’ for others in the company who can paint the picture of how the company will get there. The picture frame provides the limiting outer edges but also the freedom and creativity in the inner space for employees to do their best work. The Strategic Framework should be developed as a reflection of the company Core and remain a fluid document that is reviewed on an ongoing basis. What strategies, goals and actions do you need to take so that you are working the mission, moving toward the vision and acting on the values? It ought to be cascaded throughout the company so that:

• Everyone knows how they contribute and
• Can ask and answer the strategic thinking question: “How is what I am doing in my job today going to affect the company tomorrow?”

4. Based on the plan, core competencies need to be defined. What skills and abilities does the company need to get it successfully into the future? Global Leadership, cross-culture appreciation, technology savvy, and the ability to share or step-up to leadership are but a few examples. Gary Hamel, the most influential business consultant according to the Wall Street Journal & Fortune, said that

• In the future, “…every employee will have a Leadership score.”
• “…your company will be challenged to change in a way for which there is no precedent.”

In this fast-paced, lean organization environment, everyone needs to be a leader, even if it is a leader in their own job.

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Change Your Impact, Accelerate Your Career

SaraCanadayBy Sara Canaday

In July, I had the privilege of delivering a keynote speech to 500 incredibly talented professionals at Working Mother Media’s annual Multicultural Women’s National Conference in New York City. As I took the stage on the first morning and began to share my story, I was struck by the remarkable vibe in the room. These women weren’t just present; they were fully engaged. I was surrounded by current and emerging leaders representing a wide range of industries, ages and cultures, and they were all totally plugged in. The message was genuinely resonating with them.

The theme of the conference was “Vision & Impact: Charting What’s Next.” My work in the area of leadership and development has always focused on the importance of our impact in the workplace. Credentials and years of experience aside, our real career success is driven by how we work with and through other people – how we lead them, collaborate with them, interact with them, and react to them. When we manage that impact and ensure that others experience us in the way we intend, we can accelerate the pace of our professional trajectories.

Here’s the problem… Many times, there’s a hidden gap between what we see and what those around us see. When there’s an impact disconnect (even a very subtle one), our careers can be inadvertently derailed while we are left wondering what went wrong. I call those disconnects professional blind spots. Despite our best intentions, these blind spots may be holding us back or preventing us from reaching our full potential.

Think about your co-workers. Do you know someone who is generally smart, hard working and well intentioned, but still manages to rub people the wrong way? There’s a fine line between decisive and abrupt. Between passionate and overzealous. Between meticulous and annoyingly nit-picky. Between innovative and rebellious. These people might have great resumes, but blind spots are likely the reason they are getting overlooked for promotions or high-visibility assignments. Their intended impact on others doesn’t match up with the actual impact they deliver. Subtle behaviors and unconscious habits are sabotaging their success, and they simply can’t see it.

Quite a few women approached me after my presentation to recount fascinating stories about people in their organizations who were clearly struggling with professional blind spots. Surprisingly, quite a few of these people were bold enough to describe their own “a-ha! moments,” identifying blind spots they never before acknowledged but now see as the culprit behind some of their past career missteps. These women all seemed to understand that everyone suffers from blind spots, but those who end up in the boardroom or the corner office have just learned how to manage them better.

I challenged the conference attendees that day to move beyond their resumes as they thought about achieving their professional goals. I asked them to focus on the impact they have on others, ensuring their intentions were translating into reality. I gave them three ways to do that, and I’d like to share those with you as well.

First, increase your self-awareness. Be honest about your natural tendencies and habits when you interact with others. How do your colleagues feel about working with you? Ideally, how would you like them to feel? Eliminating blind spots certainly isn’t about changing who you are, but about understanding yourself and making conscious adjustments to improve your impact on others.

Second, get specific feedback from your co-workers to find out how you are really perceived. This process might be a bit uncomfortable, but it’s absolutely critical to help uncover any blind spots that could be slowing down your career progress. Besides that, getting feedback will also point out your strengths and the distinguishing qualities that set you apart. If you’ve had trouble defining your value proposition, this exercise can give you amazing clarity. You can gather feedback using a wide range of methods, from formal reviews with your manager to casual conversations with peers. Online surveys are another excellent option. For corporate clients and students in my virtual Career Acceleration Academy, I provide access to my Brand 360 Survey. This easy, online tool allows them to gather rich, anonymous feedback from a select group of colleagues.

Third, compare your ideal impact with the actual impact you discovered by gathering feedback. Look closely at the areas where you are right on target for strengths you can further leverage. Any areas with gaps represent your own professional blind spots. Armed with that knowledge, you can work to close those gaps and actively improve the impact you have on others. Simply being aware of your blind spots and unique differentiators will help you make the small changes that can make a big difference in your career success.

As women, many of us have an innate gift for intuition and emotional intelligence. Research proves that we are “wired” over several thousand years for greater empathy and stronger communication skills. I firmly believe these qualities give us a huge advantage in the workplace when it comes to uncovering and eliminating our professional blind spots. We can use that capacity to improve the way we impact others, to fuel our career progress, and to create greater business success. This nugget of insight truly resonated with the women attending the recent conference, and I sincerely hope it does the same for you.

Sara Canaday (www.SaraCanaday.com) is a nationally recognized leadership expert, corporate speaker and owner of Sara Canaday & Associates, a consulting firm based in Austin, Texas. Sara is also a resource partner of www.theglasshammer.com and to help conference attendees use a systematic, quantifiable approach to improving their business impact, Sara offered an exclusive discount on her popular online course, the Career Acceleration Academy, including her Brand 360 Survey. For a limited time, Sara wants to extend that same offer to Glass Hammer readers. To register and get more details, please visit CareerAccelerationAcademy.com. Use Code GH001.

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The Imaginary Precipice

iStock_000013882253XSmallGuest Contribution By Deborrah Himsel

Are women leaders being pushed and pulled toward an organizational glass cliff, toward jobs that no man in his right mind would take but women grab out of naiveté or desperation?

Former University Of Exeter researchers, Michele Ryan and Alex Haslam, coined this term to explain their findings that organizations facing a dire crisis or turn around situation were more likely to select a potentially expendable woman than a man to try and fix things. They also suggested that in many cases, this sacrificial female would be pushed aside for a male if things went south or when things stabilized.

In the wake of General Motors’ problems with their faulty ignition switches and CEO Mary Barra’s well-publicized attempts to deal with these problems (including testifying at Congressional hearings), this glass cliff term has caught on once again. It has raised the question of whether women leaders such as Barra are being set-up as scapegoats or placed in no win situations by male leaders.

Let’s examine two hypotheses currently circulating that attempt to verify the existence of a glass cliff.

First, some researchers such as Susan Brockmuller and Nyla Branscobe in a 2010 article have theorized that women are more likely than men to say yes to taking on a crisis leadership position because they lack the powerful network that can inform them about the underlying problems with the position or within the organization. For instance, no one told Mary Barra that the faulty ignition switch crisis would erupt on the next CEO’s watch.

I find this hypothesis unlikely. Even though women may have different networking skills than men, their networks are no less strong than those of men and my experience has been that they pay more attention to the buzz that builds on them, especially if they want to get underneath what may be getting in the way of their advancement. Perhaps more to the point, women leaders often relish the challenge of crisis or turnaround situations—they don’t naively venture out onto the glass cliff but go willingly. When Andrea Jung took over Avon in 1999, she did so with her eyes open, accepting the CEO role from a man amid a tumbling stock price, take over rumors and low employee morale. Ms. Jung, at 40 years of age, certainly did not say to herself, “I don’t have any CEO experience, and I lack the network necessary to clue me in to what’s really going on here.” Instead, she grabbed the opportunity and ran with it, recognizing it was a great opportunity to prove herself.

The second glass cliff hypothesis that Ryan, Haslam, Mulcahy, Linehan and others have postulated is: Boards or decision makers want a candidate to clean up a mess who has more stereotypically female skills such as inclusion, empathy or engagement. I don’t buy this hypothesis either, though certainly on occasion women CEOs are hired because the previous male leader was arrogant and exclusionary and the company seeks a more empathetic and inspirational replacement for morale purposes.

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