Breakfast of Corporate Champions: Eye-Opening and Inspiring

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boardroom womanBy Natalie Sabia Hackett

Despite a strong push for gender parity over the past 20 years, women on Fortune 500 boards have only increased, on average, by half a percent annually. Today, 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies have, at the most, one woman on their boards. At less than 17 percent representation, it will take 75 years to even out. On November 21, those statistics were enough to draw about 300 attendees to the New York Stock Exchange for the second bi-annual Breakfast of Corporate Champions, an event by the Women’s Forum of New York in partnership with the Committee for Economic Development and the National Association of Corporate Directors. The purpose of the breakfast was two-fold: to honor 174 US-based Fortune 500 Companies and 31 Fortune 1000 companies in the New York area with corporate boards that are at least 20 percent female and to hear CEOs discuss their companies’ success and how others can move toward parity.

Janice Reals Ellig, co-CEO of Chadick Ellig, opened the event, discussing the reasons to applaud the companies and executive leaders in the audience while also encouraging them to help inspire others to follow in their footsteps. “We honored the companies and their key decision makers to this event today and you have filled this room,” Ellig said. “You are driving change in the board room and we thank you for that.”

The Women’s Forum of New York City: Opening Doors
The Women’s Forum is New York City’s distinguished organization of over 450 women leaders representing the highest levels of achievement across all professional and business sectors, from finance to fine arts. Membership in the Forum is limited and by invitation only. Founded in 1974 by Elinor Guggenheimer, the Women’s Forum mission is to form a community where preeminent New York women leaders of diverse achievement come together to make a difference for each other and to take an active, leadership role in matters of importance to them.

Judy Woodruff, co-anchor and managing editor of PBS NewsHour, monitored a panel at the breakfast, reminding the attendees the event was about figuring out how to open more doors for women, as only 16 percent of board members are women.

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How to Manage a Global Team Successfully

Asian Chinese Woman or Businesswoman in OfficeBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Today’s companies are becoming more and more global, with teams spread across continents and time-zones, languages and cultures. As telecommuting becomes the norm, managers have to understand how to supervise teams that are spread across the globe.

In a recent working paper on designing virtual teams, INSEAD professor José Santos explains that managing a global team is becoming a core leadership competency. In fact, being able to work with colleagues who are very far away is even more common for those in executive leadership roles. He writes, “While companies use virtual teams in many areas of business, their most important function is in high-level management. The top management teams of many global business units are fast becoming virtual teams. Indeed, the hallmark of a globally integrated company is its virtual top management team.”

If you aspire to a top level role, being able to work well with people who are in a different location – and manage teams of people who are spread far and wide – could be an important skill to add to your resume. Here’s Santos’ best advice for managing virtual, global teams.

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How Critical Dialogue Builds Inclusive Companies

iStock_000017389678XSmallBy Tina Vasquez

For years now, the nonprofit research organization Catalyst has been doing critically important work, work that we write about often here at the Glass Hammer. The organization seeks to expand opportunities for women and businesses and create more inclusive workplaces. Arguably, Catalyst’s Engaging Men research series is pushing these endeavors forward like never before. According to the organization, men are a critical, untapped resource in diversity and inclusion efforts aimed at eliminating gender bias. To address this disconnect, Catalyst’s Engaging Men in Gender Initiatives research series “provides evidence-based advice about the most effective ways to partner with men in ending gender inequalities at work.”

The fourth report in the series, entitled “Anatomy of Change: How Inclusive Cultures Evolve”, was released in September and piggybacks off of the previous report “Calling All White Men: Can Training Help Create Inclusive Workplaces?”, which details an approach that makes white men part of the solution, rather than simply dismissing them as the problem.

“Anatomy of Change” seeks to answer an incredibly complicated question: How do you make a male-oriented organization more inclusive, enabling women and minorities to advance? By studying how the industrial automation company Rockwell Automation was able to transform its predominantly white, male-orientated North American Sales division into a more equitable workplace, Catalyst was able to highlight effective solutions for companies seeking to be more inclusive. The good news is that progress is not only possible, but can be made relatively quickly. The caveat: companies must be willing to engage in deeply honest, candid conversations that tackle the challenges and hardships that women and people of color face.

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New Class of First Time UK Board Directors: More Diverse, Less Experienced

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iStock_000005922401XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

A new Korn / Ferry Institute study shows that first time board-appointees in the UK are getting younger and are more likely to be female than ever before. According to the report, 47 percent of first-time directors in the FTSE 350 last year were women. That’s a huge leap from just 2007, when a miniscule 11 percent of first-time appointees were female.

On average, last year’s class of first-time appointees was 52.6, four years younger than the average for all appointments to the FTSE 350 in the year. It’s a year younger than the 2007 class of first-time appointees.

In fact, the report authors, there’s more than demographic diversification taking place. UK director positions are also opening up to people in roles outside the traditional commercial background to people with human resources, marketing, and legal expertise. Additionally, first-time appointees were more likely to have international experience, with more than half having lived or worked abroad.

The downside to all this diversity amongst non-executive directors (NEDs), the report says, is less executive director experience.

Fresh Perspectives

The vast increase in the percentage of female first-time appointees can be attributed to the push from the public to promote more women to leadership positions. In particular, the push for more women on boards can be attributed to the Lord Davies report, published in 2008, which called for companies in the FTSE 100 to increase their proportion of women board directors to 25 percent by 2015. Groups like the 30% Club have also led the charge to increase the gender diversity on boards.

It’s likely that at least some of the other diversity factors within last year’s class of first-time board appointees were been driven by the need for companies to reach beyond their traditional circles to find women to fill these positions. Korn / Ferry indicates that the gender and age factors may be linked to some extent. But as for the other areas of diversification, it may simply be a case of the UK’s biggest companies realizing they need new views and broader areas of expertise in order to stay competitive. The report says:

“Analysis of NED appointment trends in 2012 makes it clear that companies are increasingly looking to refresh their boards by adding more diverse talent among NEDs. Whether this diversity is through discipline, gender, nationality or knowledge of the internet economy, it is both broadening the skill base of FTSE 350 boards and driving the age of board directors down.”

Nevertheless, this diversification does come at a cost, Korn / Ferry says. The 2007 sample of first-time directors had significantly more people with executive-director experience. “In 2007, 46 percent of first-time NED appointees had executive director experience gained on a quoted company board, including 24 percent with a FTSE 350 company. This dropped to 29 percent among The Class of 2012, and only 11 percent with a FTSE 350 company.”

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Congratulations! You’ve been identified as a “High Potential.” Now What?

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iStock_000014038693XSmallBy Gabrielle Rapke Hoffman (Sao Paulo, Brazil)

According to Harvard Business Review, companies identify 3-5% of their workforce as “High Potential.” If you have made that list, congratulations! You likely have outstanding technical expertise and an aptitude for strategic thinking. You probably have already delivered strong results, succeeded in various roles, and sought ways to improve processes and efficiency. Although making the list is an achievement in and of itself, it is only the first step. Now, as your journey as a “High Potential” begins, what steps should you take to position yourself for realizing that potential?

Anticipate that “soft” skills will increase in importance. A common mistake is assuming that the same skill set, approach, and behaviors that led you to be named a “High Potential” will also lead to further advancement. Your technical skill, strong work ethic, and strategic thinking will likely allow you to continue excelling in your current job, or to make lateral moves. However, additional competencies may be necessary to reach the next level – ones you may need to work on developing. For instance, as ”High Potential” candidates are considered for promotions and stretch assignments, ”soft” skills such as influencing, delegating, networking, and leadership become more important than technical expertise. According to INSEAD, these all-important shifts are “common traps” for women as they transition to senior management. To successfully make these transitions, it is essential to be self-aware and make a conscious effort to hone the new competencies that will be needed as you strive to advance in your organization.

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8 Ways to Survive a Re-Org and Keep Your Career on Track

8 Ways to SurviveCorporate restructuring has become a dreaded buzzword for many in the finance, tech, and legal industries. The upheaval caused to employees at all levels of the organization, including the executive rungs, during a reorganization can be cause for significant career concern.
How can you make sure that new bosses or those above you in the new organization know who you are so that you receive support for promotions, even as you find yourself with a series of new bosses? Is it possible even in the midst of corporate upheaval to make yourself seem indispensable during turbulent periods, so that you will stand out companywide?

Yes, there are ways to get through a re-org with your career intact—or better yet thriving. Here are 8 ways to survive and succeed in any environment:

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International Professional Experience is More Important than Ever

global financeBy Gabrielle Rapke Hoffman

There has been debate recently over the career value of working abroad. Considering the ease and frequency with which executives travel the world, is it necessary to spend time living in another country? “True” international experience is not a two-night trip spent in luxury hotels, being chauffeured from meeting to meeting — it is facing the same challenges locals face on a daily basis. It is immersion in a business environment and daily life different from your own. In addition to the obvious benefits for those who aspire to have a global career, even for those who plan to work solely with their own domestic market, international experience provides extensive benefits in critical areas of professional development.

International experience is practically mandatory to become CEO of a global corporation. Seventy-five percent of Fortune 100 CEOs today have international experience, compared to less than half ten years ago. Considering that ever-growing portions of corporations’ consumer base and supply chain are global, it has simply become too risky for global corporations to have leaders without international experience. However, although the international experience is increasingly required for senior managers looking to rise in a global corporation’s ranks, it is not necessary to become a “serial expat.” Most individuals will not become CEO outside their country of origin. Rather, a study from IE Business School shows that executives actually may be more likely to advance their careers by returning to their home market.

Challenge yourself and refine your skills by working in an unfamiliar environment. Working abroad will improve your problem-solving and management skills in a way that no domestic assignment would, because of the additional layers of complexity inherent in doing business outside your home country. You will be challenged in new ways, as you need to perform functions that were already complex within an unfamiliar framework, often contrary to the norms you are used to. You learn to play by a new set of rules and begin to question things you believed to be unquestionable. That improves your flexibility and encourages you to think innovatively. Leisure travel and short international business trips can give you a taste of these benefits, but living in another country will develop these skills over an extended period of time.

Your EQ will thank you. If you are looking to develop your emotional intelligence and ability to successfully communicate, collaborate, and negotiate, working internationally will challenge you at a whole new level. On the international communication continuum, the US is considered to be a “direct” culture. By spending time abroad, particularly in a culture with significant differences from your home culture, you will become aware of these nuances. As a result, you will improve your ability to “read” people and will be better able to adapt your communication style to your audience and the situation.

Opportunities may be greater than those available at home. This is especially true in rapidly-growing markets, where opportunities often exceed the number of people trained for them in the local market. International assignments may enable you to work on high-profile projects that would not be available to you at home. You may also be able to attain higher levels of responsibility more quickly. While on an international assignment, your knowledge of your home country and your network there will be an asset. In the eyes of your new colleagues, you will already have valuable international experience (in your home country) from the day you arrive.

International experience may make you more successful in the US as well. The percentage of the US population that is foreign-born is at a high for our lifetime, and has been on a continual upward trend since 1970. This means that all people – including customers and potential customers, coworkers, and fellow citizens – are more likely to come from different countries today than was the case just a couple of decades ago. Individuals who have experience understanding other customs and cultures, and interacting and collaborating with people with diverse backgrounds will be well-prepared for success not only working in international business, but when collaborating with the diverse and international population living in the US.

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Leading Multi-cultural Global Teams: Asia

iStock_000017262943XSmallBy Pragati Verma (New York City)

Do you know that women in India are more likely to give up their career to take care of their elderly parents than to raise kids?

If you think you are ready to build and lead a team spread across the globe or perhaps already do, there are some inter-cultural issues to consider that can help you as you take up the challenge of working in, or working with a team, whose implicit norms are different from your own. Don’t leave the human resources department to be the only folks on top of the “do’s and the don’ts.”

As Shanker Ramamurthy, President of Global Growth & Operations, Thomson Reuters, explained recently at the WILL USA conference in NYC:

“We live in a VUCA (volatile, unstable, complex and ambiguous) world. As we manage workforce across vast distances, command and control organizational structures are giving way to collaboration and orchestration. These new ways of working need a shift in the traditional corporate structure and functioning.”

As companies scramble for new perspectives and disruptive thinking to wade through emerging markets leaders and top executives – both men and women, need a deep understanding of diverse cultural and gender norms in different parts of the world.

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Harvard Women Reflect on the School’s New Focus of Fostering Female Success

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iStock_000014186302XSmallBy Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

The New York Times recently highlighted Harvard Business School’s (HBS) attempt to create gender parity in the classroom, changing a culture considered to be the breeding ground for corporate leaders globally.

When Harvard’s first female president, Drew Gilpin Faust, appointed the new dean, Nitin Nohria, the dean vowed to do more than his predecessors when it came to remaking gender relations at the school.

HBS’ approach was radical, changing how students spoke, studied, and socialized. The transformation also went deep, with administrators installing stenographers in the classroom to guard against biased grading and providing private coaching for untenured female professors.

Clearly, HBS’ makeover doesn’t mean it is now – or will be – perfect. The school’s gender makeover has resulted in a number of unintended consequences and issues. For example, the grade gap disappeared so quickly, it’s unclear what its true source was. Also, there are demands for more women on the faculty, which is a request deans are struggling to fulfill. There has also been pushback, mostly from young men who believe the makeover to be “intrusive social engineering.”

It wasn’t until August of 1962 that Harvard Business School accepted its first female students and in the fifty-one-years since, women have made considerable gains in academia. Today, three women earn a college degree for every two men and women are earning more graduate degrees than men. Admittedly, Harvard has been a hotbed for progress: the school’s current 900-plus first-year students are 40 percent women – HBS’ highest percentage ever. HBS’ student body is also far more diverse than it was 50 years ago, not just in gender, but in race, ethnicity, social class, and nationality. HBS also recently admitted its first transgender student.

In finance, however, women and minorities have made very little progress, though Harvard seems unafraid of tackling these difficult topics. A recent conference at HBS entitled “Gender and Work: Challenging Conventional Wisdom,” addressed the on-the-ground reality of women leaders 50 years after the first women were admitted to the School’s two-year MBA Program.

Harvard has been more than forthcoming in detailing the many ways the school was failing to retain female students, but how challenging was the atmosphere for female students before the makeover and what do female grads think of the school’s effort to foster female success?

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Employee Enthusiasm for Diversity Underpins Successful D&I

Leading a dynamic teamBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

A study [PDF] published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology suggests that one of the core factors in whether a company will build a successful diversity and inclusion program is whether people in the workforce see difference as an asset to the company or not.

The article, “Embracing uniqueness: The underpinnings of a positive climate for diversity” outlines the workforce characteristics of a company noted for a successful diversity program. They authors, Ashley Groggins, Peckham, Inc., and Ann Marie Ryan, Michigan State University, write that they set out to find “how diversity can be translated into attitudes (openness to change, openness to others, openness to error and perceived person-environment fit) and competencies (efficacy for change, interpersonal competence, improvement capacity and actual person-environment fit).”

They identified four factors for success: “our data revealed an underlying concept of diversity as a central organizational attribute, which leads to a key role for concepts of accommodation, difference, learning, and physical and organizational structure.”

When employees see diversity as one of the defining characteristics of their company, they are more likely buy into programs, policies, and structures that promote diversity.

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