By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Released last week, the 2010 Alliance for Board Diversity Census revealed some discouraging news. Despite the efforts of many organizations to highlight the importance of board diversity, despite the overwhelming business case for diversity of thought in the boardroom, and despite the high-level push for shareholder education on the value of diverse boards, today we have less diverse boards than we did six years ago.

Many people anticipated that the effects of the global recession would illuminate the fact that business as usual isn’t working. But, according to the ABD Census, boards have gotten whiter and more male.

As Janell Ross wrote in the Huffington Post last week, “The pattern raises questions about corporate America’s commitment to diversifying corporate boards and the efficacy of decades-long efforts by advocacy groups to reshape them.”

Despite the best efforts of outspoken organizations, companies continue to keep women and minorities out of the boardroom. And while ABD does highlight those companies that have achieved relatively high levels of diversity (although only a handful of Fortune 500 company managed a diversity level of 50% or more), it also published a list of 37 “stale, male, and pale” Fortune 500 companies that are failing the diversity imperative abysmally – with zero female or ethnically diverse board directors.

Most board diversity advocacy efforts have been focused on the carrot – explaining what companies can gain by improving leadership diversity (studies show that board diversity improves business). But what the report seems to show is that it’s time for the stick – naming and shaming those companies that stubbornly refuse to elect anyone but white men to the board.

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By Kelly Tanner (New York City)

Executive coaching can be an effective tool for women looking to advance their careers, one that businesses can leverage as an investment in developing leaders.

Dale Kurow, an executive coach based in New York City, says clients seek her services for a variety of reasons. Some are looking to develop stronger skills politically due to a recent promotion, or to quickly strategize for a new, “stretch” assignment. Others are looking for fresh ways to resolve a problem, such as behavior patterns that hinder promotion or recognition, managerial difficulties, or a communication “style” that needs development, which Kurow says is often code for “a need to increase sensitivity towards others, or improve emotional intelligence.”

Still others seek coaching with a longer view, to achieve goals within their career path and reach the next level in their journey. Employers may refer an employee to an executive coach for these same reasons, or clients may find a coach independently. In each case, the coach partners with the client to objectively identify strengths and challenges, and becomes a strategic resource towards achieving the set objectives.

Kurow states that women may especially benefit from this partnership:

“Many of my female clients hire me to help them get to the next level. They lack the skill sets and mind sets that men seem to have been born with. Some feel that working as hard as you can should set them up for promotion, without realizing that managing up, across and down effectively is crucial. Just as important is building political skills and developing champions/mentors across their organizations. In our coaching sessions, we work on what they can do, specifically, to build those relationships and raise their profile.”

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Contributed by Carol Roth

The glass ceiling has gone digital. Even though we are in a new age of information and engagement, there is still the old boys’ network in place. When you think of the top thought leaders, authors, and influencers, the names that are bantered about are more often than not male. There a very few women in the top spots or being given the credit they deserve when it comes to business—except for in “special” women’s lists and women-only groups.

“Top Women in Social Media” lists, “Top Women Authors” lists, women’s conferences, and women’s networking groups are creating, as marketing and advertising executive Margie Clayman calls it, a “league of our own.” These are supposed to help recognize women’s achievements, develop leadership skills, or create networking and business development opportunities. However, this special treatment actually is having a negative effect on our progress.

The league of our own further segregates women instead of integrating us alongside our male peers and coworkers. How? Gender segregation in business organizations makes it less likely for us women to secure top spots, because we are being isolated from those making the decisions at the top. If we aren’t working and playing alongside men, we aren’t going to benefit from mentoring opportunities. We aren’t going to be top of mind when someone is considering filling a C-suite position or scouting for a conference speaker. We aren’t going to be the first call to get the “big deal,” because we are hanging out with other women who are primarily in the same position—and not the decision makers.

Moreover, putting us in a league of our own makes us seem like a special interest group. We aren’t. We would be horrified by a men’s-only networking group. Why put ourselves at a distance by doing the same thing as women? I don’t want to be a female entrepreneur. I want to be an entrepreneur with the same opportunities as anyone else, regardless of my anatomy.

Let’s focus on integration instead of segregation!

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By Elizabeth Harrin (London)

Don’t get us wrong. We love the fact that there are more women being recommended for non-executive roles at British companies, according to new research. But does this small uplift really show a sea-change in attitudes to women in the top jobs?

The research, published by MM&K, an executive remuneration consultancy, involved more than 300 directors. HR Magazine reports that in 2010, only 43% of survey respondents said they would recommend a woman as a non-executive director. This year the figure is up at 50%. Good news for women wanting roles as non-execs; there seems to be more willingness to put forward women’s names when considering making new board appointments. But 50%? Seriously? The other half of the people asked don’t know any women who would make good non-executive directors?

The trouble is that there just aren’t that many great female candidates around. There are only 242 women with board seats in the FTSE350 companies. That’s 242 seats out of 2,742 available seats. Part of the problem is that women are under-represented in senior management in general. “Of the 14 companies in the FTSE100 that were founded within the last fifty years, every one of them was started by a man, or group of men,” says David O’Hara, Founder of Blackthorn Focus. He cites examples like Autonomy, Cairn Energy and Investec. O’Hara believes that non-executive roles are generally filled by people who are in a founding position or the role of finance director – and these are not the positions typically held by women.

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