By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

In a ForbesWoman article earlier this month, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, founding president of the Center for Talent Innovation (formerly Center for Work-Life Policy), wrote that while there are 144 boards with no women in the Fortune 1000 and women make up only 15 percent of all Fortune 1000 directors, there is also some good news when it comes to the effort to achieve board parity.

The good news, Hewlett says, is that over 1,100 directors on Fortune 1000 boards are over 70 years old.

If we only wait just a bit longer, she suggests, soon qualified women can rush into the seats vacated by retiring males. She concludes:

“The time may finally be arriving for women to fulfill B.C. Forbes’ predication. As more women pry open the boardroom door and assume a seat at the table, they can not only serve as a powerful voice for change within each company but can proactively broaden the pipeline of female candidates to ensure that even more women advance.”

Hewlett’s message about being rigorously prepared to assume board service when elected is valuable. But her suggestion that women simply wait their turn to be chosen for board service when the old guys are out of the way is disappointing. Women have been waiting for decades to get to the top, and – as Catalyst data on the percentage of women making it into the boardroom shows – playing the waiting game isn’t getting women anywhere fast.

Read more

By Jenny Chen (Washington, D.C.)

Recent studies on women in the boardroom reveal that women are getting seats at the table at an unfortunately slow rate. In fact, calls for more women on boards have been more vocal in Europe and the UK.

For example, Britain just announced that companies would have to announce to shareholders by September 2012 their own targets for placing women on their boards, and state clearly how they plan to do so. Countries such as France, Spain, and Norway have already introduced compulsory quotas.

Irene Natividad, chair of Corporate Women Directors International, said, “Something is happening, and it’s driven by Europe.”

But supply seems to be unable to keep up with demand. The CWDI reports that US companies hold about 20.8% of board seats. According to the European Professional Women’s Network, 9.7% of the board members at the top 300 companies. And in China and India, women hold only about 5% of board seats.

This opens up an opportunity for women in the United States to join boards abroad, particularly in Europe where many companies are looking to fill their quotas or mandates.

As Candice Morgan, director of advisory services at Catalyst recently told HR Magazine, “We’ve certainly seen, for a while, an interest in women with international formal experience, since the legislation in Norway.”

Serving on a board is a great opportunity to broaden your horizons, said Lauren Leader-Chivee, Senior Vice President at the Center for Work-Life Policy and Partner at Sylvia Ann Hewlett Associates. “If you aspire to top leadership, being on a board…gives you exposure to a diverse set of management. To be fully competent in your own company you need to have a diverse range of experiences,” she said.

Here are seven tips to keep in mind when you are seeking a board seat abroad.

Read more

By Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

For years, we’ve been led to believe that once women had the “right” education, the “right” training, and the “right” work experience, not only would they succeed at the highest levels of business, but they’d also reach parity in the c-suite. According to the Catalyst report The Pipeline’s Broken Promise [PDF], the premise of this assumption was that the pipeline for women into senior leadership was robust, but it appears that the hopes surrounding parity were too optimistic.

Catalyst reports that when it comes to top talent, women lag in advancement, compensation, and career satisfaction and in order to combat this systematic gender inequity, companies must better develop and fully leverage highly talented women in the workforce.

The good news is that there are major companies, like Time Warner, American Express, and McKinsey, that are working to plug the leaky pipeline at the mid-management level.

Read more

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I’m an easy crier,” began Cheri Beranek, CEO of Clearfield, a NASDAQ-traded broadband company. “I’ve learned that there can be a right time for crying, but it can’t be about business.”

Beranek recalled recently losing a CFO to a heart attack – and when she informed her staff, she shed some tears. But, she said, she also worked hard to maintain poise. As a leader, she explained, it was her responsibility to respect her team’s emotions as well. “It’s about knowing how to support your staff, while also communicating the fragility of life,” she said. “Regardless of the situation, you always have to have empathy with the environment.”

“Remembering that it’s not just about my emotions, but also someone else’s helps me to be more objective,” she continued. “You have to approach people with dignity and approach people with empathy.”

In her 25 years in the telcom industry, Beranek said, she’s learned a lot about leading with empathy. “Gravitas, dignity, and depth of personality is something you are constantly developing.”

Read more