Women in Technology: What should you look for in your next job?

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By CEO and Founder of theglasshammer.com Nicki Gilmour

iStock_000014657648XSmallWhether you work as an engineer or a coder, a big data analyst, product manager, or a project manager in technology, you probably want to work for a great company who values both the technology itself and the women who make it happen.

For women who are looking to make a move to a new employer, you have choices that on a binary level break down into either working for a technology firm with technology as the product or working for a firm who has a different product or service but frankly has exhilarating technology making it all work behind the scenes.

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Making the Grade in Women Entrepreneurship: Gender-GEDI Shows Countries How

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Business meetingBy Michele Drayton

As the fall season begins, it’s a good time to check the progress of how countries are faring in removing the hurdles that hamper women entrepreneurs from reaching their full potential.

Look no further than the 2014 Gender-Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (Gender-GEDI) funded by Dell. This one-of-a kind global study identified and analyzed factors that influence whether a woman’s business stays small to middling or expands into a powerhouse. That is, it becomes an integral part of a region’s economic fabric, creating well-paying jobs, sought-after products and cross-border trade opportunities.

For this second annual release of the GEDI, researchers studied 30 countries, up from last year’s 17, with respect to factors such as business climate, access to education, capital financing, and cultural attitudes toward women in leadership.

The Gender-GEDI showed that even the highest scorers could do better and like any good progress report, identifies strengths and weaknesses that government officials, policy makers and the private sector can utilize to help women entrepreneurs reach substantial scale.

The Grades
At the top of the class, based on a rating scale of 0 to 100, were the U.S. with a score of 83; Australia (80); and Sweden (73). The next highest-scoring countries, France and Germany, were tied at 67. The United Kingdom, Chile and Poland scored above 50.

Seventy-three percent or 22 of the 30 countries surveyed ranked below 50, and the lowest scorers included Uganda and Bangladesh, where women’s access to education and basic legal protections remain elusive.

Importantly, the GEDI emphasizes that even the countries ranked at the top of the scale can learn from countries with lower scores, underlining the fact that no country has arrived at the appropriate formula that multiplies high-growth, women-led businesses.

The Impact
Marsha Firestone, Ph.D., founder and president of the Women Presidents’ Organization offers evidence of the impact of such high-growth, women-led businesses. WPO members run multi-million-dollar enterprises and those attaining the highest membership-tier levels run businesses generating at least $10 million in revenues or up to $50 million in revenues.

Firestone appreciates that the Gender-GEDI study offers a framework for this level of success. She recalls a time when the phrase “women’s business” connoted very small organizations. No more. The WPO issues its own annual list of global entrepreneurial stars, the “50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies,” and those winners generated $4.9 billion in combined 2013 revenues and altogether employed 22,000 people.

“This study is very important because it clearly indicates that there are women who are succeeding who are not a small business, a young business or a microbusiness,” Firestone said. “Women are starting and growing substantial companies. We are seeing very substantial businesses grow and develop — and they are making an impact on the economy.”

Overcoming Barriers
How much more of an economic impact they could make with fewer barriers concerns Geri Stengel, author of Forget the Glass Ceiling: Build Your Business Without One. Her book uses the Gender-GEDI as a foundation to study the experiences of 10 women helming thriving businesses.

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Closing the Leadership Gap for Women at PwC

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By Jarod Cerf

According to Jennifer Allyn, the Managing Director of PwC’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, “The problem is not just about women or about companies. It’s an interaction between the choices that women are making and the opportunities that companies are providing. And the question is ‘how can we work together to close that leadership gap?’”

Sometimes, as Allyn explained, the right solution involves a combination of feedback, responsiveness, and adaptability. The Full Circle program that PwC launched in 2008, for instance, was developed to address the on- and off-ramping needs of high potential professionals at the firm who wanted to take a few years off to focus on parenting or elder care.

“Concrete programs matter,” Allyn stated. “They signal to people that it’s okay to take a non-linear path. Because if we want to retain talented people who want to step out for a period of time, we should be able to stay connected to them, keep their technical skills current, and when they’re ready, bring them back to the firm.”

She added, “In fact, we just had our first Full Circle participant admitted to the partnership: she took two years off, returned, stayed on the partner track, and was admitted in June.”

Advancing Careers Through Sponsorship
There is often a divide, Allyn remarked, between what is ‘easy to accomplish’ and ‘what should be done’ about the leadership gap. At PwC, the core issue was one of how to develop and enable talent, women included. “Talent is the firm’s primary asset,” said Allyn. To that end, PwC reinforced the importance of sponsorship by creating a mandatory program through which partners can preserve their individual legacy as well as the organization’s culture.

“Our partners are owners of the firm, and their legacy is the next generation of leaders,” Allyn affirmed. She added, “In their partner plans, which they fill out annually, each of them has to select three diverse professionals—women, minorities, LGBT—that they are sponsoring and investing in, and they have to list those people by name.”

By the end of the year, partners report back on the specific actions they took on behalf of their candidates, as well as the results of those actions. From there, partners adjust their plans accordingly, with particular emphasis on career trajectories for the upcoming year.

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Be Yourself at Work: An International Women’s Day Event, Hosted by Capco

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iStock_000017306404XSmallJarod Cerf

Featuring a panel of senior partners, top clients, and thought leaders, Capco’s 2014 International Women’s Day Event, “What Would You Tell Your Younger Self?”, provided the 63 attendees with an opportunity to speak frankly about their career aspirations and hear from the panelists, first-hand, about how to create opportunities and reach for the top. As founder and CEO of Prosek Partners, Jen Prosek, stated, in quoting author Jim Collins: “we all have the same amount of and return on luck.”

Prosek, who at twenty-four and lacking the credentials she sought, joined a local financial communications firm in Greenwich, CT, noted how her circumstances at the time conflicted with her desire to run an internationally-acknowledged firm: “We were going to be in New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore. And we were going to work for the biggest companies.”

Regarding her first few years at the consultancy, Prosek remarked: “It still wasn’t the job I wanted. And I made a promise to myself, that if every year I could make it closer to what I wanted, I would make it work.” Currently, Prosek serves as the chief executive and managing partner of the company, which was named Corporate Agency of the Year by the Holmes Report in 2013.
“The people who are entrepreneurial,” she advised, “know how to recognize good luck. […] They also know how to turn the unfortunate moments around.”

Make the Most of Every Opportunity
For author Shari Harley, whose business management consultancy, Candid Culture, trains employees to be more up front about their needs and concerns, the opportunity to move her career forward stemmed from an unlikely moment.

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Why Hold International Women’s Day Events in Your Firm?

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She is leading the way in her fieldBy Jarod Cerf

As McKinsey’s 2012 report on gender and corporate culture can attest, firms and companies still have the power, means, and capacity to serve as primary advocates for the women they employ. Given the context and theme of “Inspiring Change” for this year’s International Women’s Day, the month of March can serve as an ideal time to increase the volume on conversations about the challenges and opportunities for professional women.

While it is important for companies and their employees to be agents of change every day of the year, many firms take advantage of International Women’s Day to increase awareness, provide data, relate progress, and encourage participation in ongoing efforts to increase the number of women in leadership roles.

Defining Keys to Success and Unlocking Potential
Accenture has released a new study called “Career Capital” in honor of International Women’s Day. The study emphasizes the need for continued proactive training programs and leadership initiatives that focus on how men and women approach their career paths—as well as where the two genders differ on certain values.

The study revealed that men are still more likely to ask for (and negotiate) a raise, while women tend to rate efficiency somewhat higher than men as the skill they bring to the table, whereas men rate their leadership skill higher. Both men and women anticipate a greater number of women CEOs and board members by 2020, with correspondents across the board (74 percent) claiming that experience mattered more than education.

Accenture also hosted a webcast this past Friday with keynote speakers Arianna Huffington and Gayle King, and panelists ranging from Accenture’s Managing Director of Global Inclusion and Diversity, Nellie Borrero, to the Chairman and CEO of BAV Consulting, John Gerzema. The conversation centered on professional insights and how participants can best acquire and build their own career capital.

Community Outreach Builds the Pipeline and Boosts Morale
To celebrate International Women’s Day, SunGard teamed up with Girl Develop It – an international organization providing affordable and accessible programs to women who want to learn software development through mentorship and hands-on instruction – to host screenings of the film, Girl Rising, and raise awareness for access to education for girls across the world.

Suzanne Penavic, Director of Employee Engagement at SunGard, commented on how being aware of issues can really get people thinking and talking.

She noted, “As a technology company we rely on our software developers, who represent 33% of our total workforce and are based in numerous locations around the world. We support recruiting and retaining a diverse talent pool among this group, and within our entire company, because in the end we want the best minds working together in our organization. We invited Girl Develop It to help connect the dots around this notion.”

Penavic added, “Girl Develop It will join SunGard in other locations such as Chicago, Miami and Philadelphia, and in screening locations where they do not have a presence, such as Pune and Tunis.”

Engaging Women in the Workplace
Capco, likewise, continues to evaluate and evolve its mentoring efforts, with Kaylin Kugler, a principal consultant and leader at the company, acting as one of the chief advocates for Women@Capco –an initiative the company launched in 2011.

Kugler said the network consolidates available resources, including Capco’s mentoring circles, and provides current (and incoming) generations of women with a means for reaching out to the leadership, as well as each other, for support.

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OP-ED: Next Generation Diversity: Developing Tomorrow’s Female Leaders

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diverse women in the boardroomContributed by Aoife Flood, based in Dublin, Ireland, Aoife is Senior Manager of the Global Diversity and Inclusion Programme Office at PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited.

Saturday, 8 March, marks International Women’s Day. As we celebrate the achievements of women in the workforce and beyond, my advice for leaders is don’t limit your focus to the gender leadership gap.

We know that organisations the world over are currently challenged with a lack of women in leadership positions, and concerned with the competitive and financial toll this could mean for their organisation. However, to achieve sustainable change CEOs must be committed to driving parallel efforts which tackle enhanced leadership diversity in conjunction with systemic change efforts targeting their workforce from day one. Organisations need to be focused on developing talented junior women now for future leadership roles – because when talent rises to the top, everyone wins.

At PwC Diversity and Inclusion is a strategic priority. We recognise that diversity is fundamental to the success of our business strategy and with the sponsorship of our Global Chairman, Dennis Nally, we are working hard to get this right. But we also recognise that to do this PwC, like other organisations, must first understand how to attract, develop and retain female millennial talent.

We are passionate about this, so to mark International Women’s Day this year we are launching the research based report Next Generation Diversity: Developing tomorrow’s female leaders which focuses on the attraction, development and retention of the female millennial.

A New Era of Female Talent

Born between 1980 and 1995, female millennials make up a significant proportion of the current and future talent pool. Female millennials matter because they are more highly educated and are entering the workforce in larger numbers than any of their previous generations. The female millennial has likely outperformed her male counterparts at school and at university and is the most confident of any female generation before her. She considers opportunities for career progression the most attractive employer trait. When it comes to the female millennial we really are dealing with a new era of talent; both in terms of the make-up of the workforce she enters and the career mind-set with which she enters.

The female millennial sounds pretty amazing, right? But how will organisations lean in to this new era of talent so they are successful in capitalising on these stellar traits? The Next Generation Diversity report shares six key themes that matter to the female millennial and positions the difficult questions that employers need to be cognisant of when it comes to this significant cohort of talent.

Female Millennial Demand for Global Careers

Let me delve a little deeper into one of the themes: ‘Global Careers’. I choose this theme because I am a millennial woman who was lucky enough to undertake an international assignment to PwC’s Boston office in 2006. This experience was life changing – throughout my 14 year career it is un-paralled as an experience in driving such an intense level of both personal and professional development. In essence, I know the impact an international assignment can have on a woman’s career.

Millennials have a strong appetite for working abroad, with PwC research telling us 71% are keen to do so at some stage in their career. What’s compelling – and critical for employers – is to realise that this is not a male phenomenon.

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The Toigo Foundation: Taking Steps to Diversify the Financial Services Industry

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Group of diverse business colleagues enjoying successBy Kerry Jordan

“No one who makes it does so alone.” This assertion by Dr. Stacy Blake-Beard, Professor of Management at the Simmons School of Management, was recently made at the Toigo Foundation’s third-annual Groundbreakers Women in Leadership Summit on December 5. In those eight words, Blake-Beard encapsulated so much of what Toigo is about as an organization.

Founded in 1989, the Robert Toigo Foundation’s goal is to bring increased diversity to the finance industry through a number of programs aimed at inspiring young people of color who might not have otherwise considered a career in the finance industry. Through its MBA Fellowship the Foundation provides leadership training, mentoring, tuition assistance, and support as they pursue MBAs and launch their finance careers. Toigo offers the only diversity leadership development program focused on the field of finance.

Financial Services’ Lack of Diversity
There is endless data that illustrates the great need for an organization like Toigo that is committed to encouraging people of color to enter the financial services industry. A report by the General Accountability Office (GAO) looked at the issue of diversity in the financial services industry, finding that “overall diversity at the management level in the financial services industry did not change substantially from 1993 through 2008.” Using data collected by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the GAO reported that minorities held just 10 percent of senior-level management positions at financial services firms. In 2008, EEOC data revealed that white males held 64 percent of all senior jobs in financial services, with African Americans holding 2.8 percent, Hispanics 3 percent of all senior jobs, and Asians holding 3.5 percent of top-level jobs.

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Thought Leaders: Donna Parisi on the Derivatives Industry

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Donna ParisiDonna Parisi, a Partner at global law firm Shearman & Sterling, recently sat down with theglasshammer.com to share her thoughts on the future of the derivatives industry. Donna was profiled on the site in 2010 when she participated in our “Top Women on the Buyside” management event, which she will be chairing again this year. Since 2010, Parisi has assumed the roles of co-head of Shearman & Sterling’s Asset Management Group and head of the Derivatives and Structured Products team. Over the past few years, Donna has been focusing on financial regulatory reform matters. At London’s Chatham House Conference on Global Financial Markets on March 17, Parisi will be discussing cross border derivatives harmonization.

The Glass Hammer: What is the outlook like for the derivatives industry at large?

Donna Parisi: The OTC derivatives industry, which has only been around for about 30 years, has constantly innovated and I believe will continue to do so. Over time products become commoditized and profits compressed, but new products have been introduced to meet customer and market demand. The inherent power and beauty of a derivative instrument is the ability to link it to an unending supply of asset classes limited only by a financial professional’s creativity. I believe the outlook is bright – different from what it has been in the past – but one of opportunity.

TGH: What impact does the most recent regulation have on the industry?

DP: The three central tenets of Dodd-Frank are improving transparency, mitigating systemic risk and protecting against market abuse. The regulations attempt to improve transparency in what has been called an “opaque” derivatives market by requiring exchange trading of more liquid derivatives instruments and requiring reporting of all derivatives transactions. Systemic risk is addressed by requiring liquid derivatives transactions to be centrally cleared and providing for higher margin requirements for uncleared instruments. Registration and regulation of major market participants such as swap dealers are intended to prevent market abuse and give regulators greater enforcement powers. Both the sell side and buy side are well past debating the need for or efficacy of new regulations and instead are fully focused on implementation and getting back to business. One major implementation challenge is compliance with regulations across multiple jurisdictions that are substantively similar as a policy matter, but differ in the details, presenting compliance complexities in what is a global marketplace. Related to this is the need for major infrastructure build-outs, including on unrealistic timeframes imposed by regulators on the technology side.

TGH: What do you think is keeping senior execs in derivatives up at night?

DP: What worries senior industry professionals are liquidity and capital. A perhaps unintended consequence of the new regulations has been fractured pools of liquidity largely resulting from cross-border issues such as broad extraterritorial scope, differing regulatory implementation timelines and a lack of mutual recognition of regulatory schemes in other jurisdictions. What does this fractured liquidity mean for the market? Who will the winners and losers be? What will be the impact on pricing and spreads? In some ways, capital considerations instead of regulatory requirements are driving business decisions. What capital is needed to support my business, and do my returns justify this allocation? I expect that in the next few years banks will be scaling back or even abandoning more capital-intensive businesses, perhaps creating opportunities for other credit intermediaries.

By Nicki Gilmour, CEO theglasshammer.com

This week The Glass Hammer is profiling successful women in the derivatives industry.

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Hispanic and Latino Business Women and Men Emerging as Influential Leaders

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Young business woman in a office environment.By Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief

Since 2009, the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) has published the Corporate Inclusion Index survey, which seeks to ensure the inclusion of Hispanics in four core areas: employment, procurement, philanthropy, and governance. In the 2012 study, HACR enjoyed the highest participation ever, with 55 companies submitting responses, including eight new participants, 26 returning companies that improved on their rating from the previous year, and all seven commercial banking companies in the Fortune 100.

To the HACR, this represents a significant shift in the way the business community views the Hispanic population, as being valuable in both the workforce and as a group of influential consumers and clients. There is something to be said about the fact that Hispanics now represent the largest non-white group in the United States. According to the 2012 Corporate Inclusion Index survey, corporate America will experience more Hispanic and Latino workers in the talent pipeline who will replace an aging, predominantly white workforce.

This week on The Glass Hammer, we are featuring profiles of Latinas in business, representing the established and emerging leaders who are making a difference in their companies. We will also highlight national organizations like ALPFA and Proud To Be Latina that devote resources to the professional development of Hispanic business women and men.

Kelly Brennan is a Managing Director in the Securities Division at Goldman Sachs and in her interview with us, she pointed out that there are cultural differences that must be acknowledged and understood in order for business leaders to effectively tap into their Hispanic and Latino workforce. Taking a look at the results of the 2012 Corporate Inclusion Index survey indicates that major companies are making the effort to engage their Hispanic and Latino workforce.

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Spotlight on Asia: The Future of Professional Women in Corporate Asia

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Leading a dynamic teamWelcome to The Glass Hammer’s Spotlight on Asia Week. We’ll be featuring profiles of successful business women working in Asia all week long!

By Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief

This week on The Glass Hammer, we are featuring profiles of senior level women living and working (not to mention succeeding) in Asian markets. Collectively, their stories are inspiring and offer a representation of professional women in Asia that is motivating to future generations. Individually, each of their journeys is truly remarkable. Here, we take a closer look at some of the key issues surrounding women’s career advancement in Asia and what the future holds for the talented and bright young women emerging from this region.

Women’s career advancement has become a focal point in different industries across the globe, and some countries and regions have progressed at a faster rate than others. When you take a look at the landscape of gender diversity in the corporate culture in Asia, you will notice a gap that is starting to gain a lot of attention from business leaders who are beginning to recognize the value of women leaders in the workplace.

Tapping into the Female Workforce in Asia

McKinsey recently released their report, Women Matter: An Asian Perspective [PDF], which offers an in depth look at the state of gender diversity in Asia. This research is based on their assessment of 745 companies and a survey of 1,500 senior managers to assess the interest in increased gender diversity, the challenges involved in getting more women in leadership positions, and the barriers preventing female talent from gaining access to the talent pipeline.

The report states:

“Asian cultures of course vary widely, so the picture is a varied one. Nevertheless, the survey results are an important benchmark against which to assess both the current situation and judge future progress. Not surprisingly perhaps, the results show women hold very few of the top jobs in Asia. On average, they hold 6 percent of the seats on corporate boards and 8 percent of those on executive committees. Moreover, although elements of a gender diversity program are in place in some Asian companies, the issue is not yet high on the strategic agenda of most.”

The data may look bleak, but it can only mean one thing –there is only room to grow from here. The global economy is growing, but Asia boasts some of the fastest growing economies in the world right now. In order to keep up with the growth on the consumer side, businesses must create growth driven strategies to stay competitive. What does this all boil down to? All of this economic growth is a driving force behind the need for more labor force participation, and if this does not include women, the well of the workforce will dry up pretty fast.

Aside from the sheer supply and demand economic benefits associated with getting more female participation in the workforce in Asia, there are strategic advantages as well. Champions of gender equality have been making the business case [PDF] for gender diversity in the workplace for years, but as more women fill the top spots, companies are starting to see a profound effect on their bottom line. Yet, according to the McKinsey report, 70 percent of the executives they surveyed stated that gender diversity is not a priority on their strategic business agenda.

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