Managing Change Archives | Page 9 of 19

Do We ‘Think Crisis—Think Female’?

Glasscliff By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Erin Callan, Zoe Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Patrica Russo: these are the names of women who have been put forth as victims of the notorious glass cliff in the recent past.

The glass cliff, it has been theorized, is when women take on the mantle of leadership during a time of crisis. The position is highly visible and comes with a lot of potential power – but the risk of failure is high; so high in fact, that the board or management committee decides it’s time to try something completely new and different to try and get it right: put a woman in charge.

Often the person peering over this glass precipice is charged with an impossible task, lacks the resources or training to overcome the challenge, or is simply scapegoated for circumstances beyond their control. That’s why it’s called a glass cliff – it’s a gender-based assignment at a very high level, for which failure is eminent.

Glass cliff skeptics suggest that women in such situation select these roles for themselves – if they fail, it’s their own fault and gender bias has nothing to do with it, they argue. On the other side of the coin, the glass cliff theory runs a dangerous risk of treating women as passive puppets – assuming they had no choice or agency in taking on the task.

A new study in the journal Psychological Science refutes both claims – and examines how women and men judge perilous jobs differently, while at the same time corporate management may have a role to play in the unusually high ratio of women to men in these risky roles.

Impact: How Women are Leveling the Playing Field

Managing Change

iStock_000009056376XSmall By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

On Tuesday night, American Banker magazine celebrated the Top Women in Banking and Finance with its annual awards dinner. This year, the theme was impact, and the evening celebrated women who are not only serving as role models for women in the industry, but changing the way the industry works for women.

Irene Dorner, CEO of HSBC Bank USA and the Top Women in Banking honoree, gave a powerful speech about how diversity can help improve the industry, as well as its reputation. She called out a culture of systemic bias and encouraged leaders to change it.

“I know plenty about soccer, cricket, football, cars… Do I care about them? No,” she said. “But does anyone ever ask me about my shoes? Rarely.” As the audience laughed, she continued, “But there are other manifestations of bias that are much more dangerous than a pair of shoes.”

According to Dorner, instilling a culture of true meritocracy would change the system to one where female leaders can thrive at work, where the right people make it to the top jobs, and where everyone can be their authentic selves. On top of that, she said, the industry would renew its standing in the eyes of the general public.

What Does Success Mean to You?

Managing Change

Cheerful employer By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to a new study by Citi and LinkedIn, the notion of success is expanding for women. As more and more women reach high levels in the workforce and handle issues like work life challenges or career advancement in their own way, it should come as no surprise to see that women are generating their own definitions of success.

Linda Descano – Managing Director and Head of Digital Partnerships, Content, and Social at Citi and President and CEO of Women & Co., Citi’s personal finance resource for women – explained, “We knew from the reaction on [Citi’s LinkedIn portal] Connect to this summer’s “having it all” debate that the survey results would paint a much different picture of success than a lot of the media commentary surrounding Anne-Marie Slaughter’s piece. ‘Having it all’ means different things to different people – and we were pleasantly surprised at how that came to life so evidently in the survey results, with marriage, children, and the C-Suite all being factors for some of our respondents – but not all.”

One surprise, though, was how many women said they do believe success is attainable. Very few respondents (four percent) said they didn’t think they could one day “have it all.”

Descano said she was “incredibly optimistic” about this data. “Had we asked that question out of context, I’m not sure if we would have received the same results. But when we asked women to really think about the factors that make up their definition of ‘having it all,’ they realized that it is totally attainable.”

Women MBAs are Changing the System

Managing Change

Businesswoman negotiating with men By Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

According to the GMAC Global Management Education Graduate Survey, 106,000 women took the GMAT exam last year and more than 1/3 of MBA students are women. As we’ve all heard, this means that there are more women MBAs than ever before. The problem? These highly educated women are encountering two massive road blocks: they’re struggling to find employment after graduation and those employed hit the second major hurdle that must be overcome by countless women across every industry, the glass ceiling. Women are half of the population and 36.8 percent of MBA holders, yet, compared to their male peers, they’re struggling.

As is often the case, the numbers just don’t add up. The GMAC Global Education Graduate Survey also found that female MBA graduates submitted 20 percent more job applications than male graduates last year, yet they received half the job offers. A 2010 Catalyst survey of global MBA graduates found that women lag behind men in job level and salary starting from their first position, and guess what? They never catch up. Catalyst also reports that on average, women make $4,600 less in their initial jobs, even after accounting for experience, time since MBA, industry, and region.

There is a lot of talk as to why this is happening, as to why in the year 2012 gender parity is still something that highly educated women fight to attain. In all of this talk what never gets said – or rather, what never gets said enough – is that it’s not their fault. Women are putting in the work, gaining the experience, obtaining the degrees; women are leaders, rainmakers, negotiators, and networkers; there are qualified female candidates and the pipeline should be filled with these women – but it’s not.

In light of these challenges, women are focusing on the ways that they can better equip themselves to excel. Not by fixing themselves, not by “being one of the guys,” but by developing a better understanding of the culture in which they’re working, creating a pathway that works for them, and changing the system for the next generation of women MBAs.

In other words, the time for talk is over – just ask the participants of next week’s Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), where women will see an extended network of power players supporting them.

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September 20, 2012/by The Glass Hammer

More Than a Trend: Expert Advice for Women General Counsel

Managing Change

businesspeople talking in meeting room and woman smiling By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to a new survey by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, there were more female general counsel at Fortune 500 companies last year than ever before, holding 21% of the roles.

Not only that, but the number of general counsel is rising faster than previously, with 23 women nabbing the top legal seat in the Fortune 500 since 2009. Additionally, the study showed that diversity amongst female legal officers is also increasing, with 16% describing themselves as minorities.

Michele Coleman Mayes, General Counsel of the New York Public Library, and Former GC of Allstate Corp, welcomed the news, saying, “I hope to see more and more women in this position.”

But, she continued, she wasn’t all that surprised by the study. In doing research for her book, Courageous Counsel: Conversations with Women General Counsel in the Fortune 500, which she co-authored with Kara Sophia Baysinger last year, she recognized the increasing presence of women general counsel in the Fortune 500. “I want people to recognize that this isn’t a trend, it’s the norm.”

She also shared her advice on how ambitious women lawyers can better position themselves for the General Counsel role at their company.

Measuring Small Achievements, Setting Ambitious Goals

Managing Change

iStock_000014604652XSmall By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Phew! This was one busy summer here at The Glass Hammer – and according to a recent online poll of our readers it’s likely been a busy one for you too!

Only 11 percent of you said you wouldn’t be taking any work on vacation this summer. Twelve percent said you’d be working during vacation – or at least checking in a few times. And – the bad news – a whopping 64 percent of our respondents asked, “what vacation?”

Yikes! We hope you got the rest you needed, because this fall is going to be a busy one. We’re running (at least) three events between now and the end of the year (including this year’s breakfast panel in our popular Top Women on the Buy-Side event series and our Women in Technology career development panel) and we’ve got a few more plans underway as well.

You, no doubt, also have plenty of big business targets to accomplish before the end of 2012. So now as you take last big gulp of summer air before sprinting toward the end of the year, it might be the perfect opportunity to take stock of the career resolutions you set in January. In fact, it might be the perfect time to think about the big, intimidating career aspirations you have too.

Be brave – is the work you’re doing now going to get you where you want to go?

Our Latest Research: LGBT Women in Finance in the UK

Managing Change

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

This year, The Glass Hammer has been exploring what it means to have many social identities – after all, not every woman is the same, obviously, and we are shaped by our other different social and ethnic backgrounds as well. For example, how does being a woman impact your ambition, your networking techniques, or your ability to get a promotion at work? How does adding an additional minority identity – like LGBT – change that?

We believe that taking a more granular approach to diversity is one way to develop programs, policies, and workplace cultures that help every person thrive in their career.

That’s why Evolved Employer, our workplace consulting arm, is launching today our latest research into multiple identities: “Being Out at Work: Exploring LGBT women’s workplace experience in the UK.”

Our research revealed some interesting results around the impact of leadership on creating inclusive cultures. And our respondents were not shy in letting us know – the leadership at many firms may be talking the talk, but managers and colleagues are not always walking the walk.

This points to the importance of LGBT allies (also known as straight allies). When straight colleges are willing to stand up for LGBT inclusion, they can help achieve the inclusive culture that so many people in senior management talk about. Leadership support is important, but leaders can’t do it alone. People on the ground practicing inclusion every day are critical to creating organizations where being out isn’t seen as being a career liability. This is the key to developing a company where everyone can bring their whole selves to work.

How Do You Define Feminism at Work?

Managing Change

Cheerful employer By EJ Thompson (New York City)

When Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s young, powerhouse new CEO, made comments recently that she did not think of herself as a feminist, the internet lit up with comments, both good and bad, about whether or not she should feel like a feminist icon.

But should people be angry with her? Yes, she did rise to the top of her field. Yes, she has been fortunate enough to make her way into a position where she doesn’t have to choose between family and career – she gets to have both. But does having wild success and a family make her a feminist, or just a woman who knew what she wanted and set out to get it? Is there even a difference?

How do younger woman in the workforce, planning to have success in both career and family, view the debate? Have we become too preoccupied by distinguishing and specifying our peers and successful women as “feminists”? Pragmatically, perhaps we should simply focus on their success, rather than a label.

Struggling to come to terms with the evolving role of women, and specifically feminists, in the workplace, we spoke to Caroline Ghosn, Founder and CEO of The Levo League, about what it means to be a young woman in the workplace today.

How to Get White Men to Join the Diversity Movement

Managing Change

iStock_000004922748XSmall By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to Catalyst’s Jeanine Prime, Vice President, Research, one group has traditionally felt left out of diversity initiatives – to their detriment. That group is white men, and by engaging them proactively, companies can see better results from their efforts to increase diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

“It’s really critical to engage men, and white men in particular, because diversity and inclusion efforts tend to be framed primarily around women and people from ethnic and racial minority groups,” she said.

“But white men tend to hold the majority of the positions of power and influence in organizations. We can’t expect to change cultures of these organizations without them being fully engaged. That’s why Catalyst is doing research on men’s engagement in diversity and inclusion and why we launched MARC,” the organization’s online learning community for men who are committed to achieving equality in the workplace.

In fact, the organization’s latest report, “Calling All White Men: Can Training Help Create Inclusive Workplaces,” suggests that by training white men with the tools to approach diversity positively (rather than implying blame), companies can see big results in a short amount of time.

Catalyst worked with Rockwell Automation, a global engineering company, sending white men in its North American sales division to learning labs about white men’s role in leading diversity and inclusion efforts. These men showed improvements on five measures: “critical thinking” about differences, “taking responsibility for being inclusive,” “inquiring across differences,” “empathetic listening,” and “addressing difficult/emotionally charged issues.”

“I was really surprised that there was measurable change in such a short time frame,” Prime remarked. The team surveyed participants a week before the lab, one month later, and then four months later, and found progress at each step. “At each survey point we found participants were really making improvements in their behaviors, and increasingly acknowledged white male privilege.”

She continued, “That the program could produce such a shift is a testament to the approach. It’s not about shaming or blaming white men, but calling them to leadership and inviting them to play a central role in creating inclusive work environments.”

Creating a Future: 2012 Multicultural Women’s National Conference

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iStock_000006308877XSmall By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

This week Working Mother Media celebrated the 10th year of its Multicultural Women’s National Conference. The event, led by Carol Evans, President of Working Mother Media, celebrated a decade of progress in advancing multicultural women in the corporate workplace.

Evans presented data showing how the percentage of multicultural women in corporations, while still slim, has grown significantly over the past ten years. The first time the organization surveyed its member companies (“Best Companies”) on the subject of multicultural women, Evans continued, “Nobody knew whether it was okay to release these numbers or if they should stay hidden.”

Looking at the total workforce of Best Companies, 21% are multicultural women. “But as you go up the ladder…” Evans continued, the percentage decreases significantly. Today 12% of officers or managers at Best Companies are women of color, compared to only 7% nationwide. Only four percent of board members at Best Companies are multicultural women.

Evans noted that 4.3% of direct reports to the CEO are multicultural women, while 72.7% are Caucasian men. Multicultural women only make up 2.8% of P&L roles at Best Companies, compared with Caucasian women at 19.5% and men at 77.7%.

But, she continued, despite these small numbers, multicultural women represented 14% of top earners at Best Companies, compared to 11% last year. Finally, she added, companies are working to increase diversity. Over four out of five respondents (84%) said they rate managers on how they handle diversity issues. And 36% have compensation practices that reward managers for helping multicultural women advance.

She called for more trust and cooperation between white women and multicultural women in order to share the growing space for women at the top. “Our future together is for us to create together,” she said.

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