Phew! Saying Goodbye to a Busy Summer

wireless communicationBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Today The Glass Hammer is taking a day off to celebrate Labor Day and bid farewell to a very eventful summer. Over the past few months, we’ve managed to host two big events – A Brave New Regulatory Environment and The Newest Innovation in Technology – and we’re busy putting the finishing touches on our inaugural London event as well (not to mention surviving some pretty unusual weather here in New York!).

Beginning this month, we have some other very exciting surprises in store for our readers – and we can’t wait to share them with you. Of course, as always, we’ve got some fantastic interviews with industry leaders, articles on effective career advice, and the latest news on women in leadership lined up for this fall.

Finally, last Friday, we asked you to tell us what you’d like to see more of on The Glass Hammer – after all, this is your community. And the results are in! The top three topics you voted for were:

  • Advice on career navigation and office politics
  • Articles on women in sustainability
  • Advice on mentoring and sponsoring the next generation

We’re already at work planning more stories around these topics. If you have any specific questions you’d like us (or one of our amazing career coaches) to address, please ask in the comments section below.

Here’s to a productive budget season, a seamless back-to-school, and a sigh of relief for some gorgeous fall weather!

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Celebrate Women’s Equality Day – Exercise Your Right to Vote

iStock_000000292856XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Today, August 26, marks Women’s Equality Day here in the US. Today we celebrate the passage of the 19th amendment, which granted women the right to vote. It’s shocking that less than 100 years ago, women weren’t considered capable of exercising good judgment over who they would like their leaders to be.

Now we know that’s not true – women are smart, strong, and effective decision makers. And a day like today provides us with the opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come. Today, women do more than vote on leaders. Women are leaders. Just consider the achievements of the individuals included on this year’s Forbes’ Most Powerful Women list.

Of course, this day also serves as a reminder that in many ways, our society has not yet achieved gender parity. As President Obama pointed out in last year’s Women’s Equality Day Proclamation:

“Women comprise less than one-fifth of our Congress and account for a mere fraction of the chief executives at the helm of our biggest companies. Women hold only 27 percent of jobs in science and engineering, which are critical to our economic growth in a 21st-century economy. And, almost 50 years after the Equal Pay Act was enacted, American women still only earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn. This gap increases among minority women and those living with disabilities.”

One of the most important ways women can help strive for parity is to serve as role models for others – men and women – looking up. It’s time to start seeing yourself as the leader you are and mentor or sponsor promising young people. As Catalyst’s recent research on sponsorship shows, by making a difference in the lives of others, you can boost your own career as well.

Readers’ Poll

On this Women’s Equality Day, we invite you to exercise your right to vote. The Glass Hammer is your community and we want to make sure we’re providing you with the informative, empowering, and inspiring content you’re looking for.

Last year, we asked you, our readers, what you’d like to see more of on The Glass Hammer. The answer was loud and clear – more advice on management and career navigation. We’ve worked to ramp up content on these topics, and we hope we’ve come through for you. This year, we’re asking you again. Please consider the topics below, and let us know which topics would be most valuable for you.

[polldaddy poll=5453088]

Finally, we encourage you to take stock of those senior women who’ve helped you throughout your career, and in the comments section below, nominate someone you’d like us to profile.

Thanks for your help. Happy Women’s Equality Day!

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How to Sponsor Your Way to the Top

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iStock_000006952019XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“Sponsors can be a core differentiators for proteges, particularly as they move up in the organization and competition becomes fiercer,” explained Heather Foust-Cummings, PhD, Senior Research Director at Catalyst, and lead author of the organization’s new report, “Sponsoring Women to Success,” released today.

But having a protege is a career booster for senior women as well. “Sponsorship was a trait of effective leadership” she explained.

The study, which Foust-Cummings co-authored with Sarah Dinolfo and Jennifer Kohler, explained that many people and companies are still confusing sponsorship with mentoring. The report says, “While a mentor may be a sponsor, sponsors go beyond the traditional social, emotional, and personal growth development provided by many mentors. Sponsorship is focused on advancement and predicated on power.”

And that relationship of power goes both ways. Proteges benefit from having someone pulling them into new roles and opening doors they might not have known existed. But sponsors also gain career capital when the individuals they have in pocket do well.

Foust-Cummings said, “The sponsor can gain reputational capital by sponsoring someone who does well and becomes a leader. The sponsor gains the reputation of someone who can spot good talent and advance them.” As talent management and succession planning become ever more important issues for great leaders, building an effective sponsor-protege relationship should be top of mind for those climbing to the top.

Here’s how to build your own sponsor-protege relationship that can help you and your protege get to the next level.

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New UN Women Report Highlights Disparity Between Law and Practice

Woman with tablet computerBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

This week marked the release of UN Women‘s first report, Progress of the World’s Women 2011–2012: In Pursuit of Justice. UN Women was founded last July, in order to accelerate the UN’s progress toward achieving its gender equality goals.

The report produced some tidbits that may surprise you – for example, that women in Quatar earn 142% of what men earn in the manufacturing sector, or that women hold 51% of seats in Rwanda’s parliament.

But the report goes much deeper than that. The comprehensive study of women’s access to justice around the world is not intended to portray women as people who need protection, but to seek out ways to empower women and improve gender equality. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon wrote, “This edition of Progress of the World’s Women examines the injustice that far too many women endure. It also highlights how essential it is to see women as far more than victims, but as agents of change.”

The aim of the report is to acknowledge the global gap between what is set down in law and what really happens, and to establish goals in narrowing that gap.

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Happy Independence Day!

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Here in the US, The Glass Hammer is taking a publishing holiday. It’s the Fourth of July, and we got the memo to barbecue!

Reflecting on 2011 so far, we’ve profiled almost fifty successful women – and we’ll continue to do so, with some really inspiring women coming up in the next few weeks. We’ve got more informative and empowering content ahead for this summer and fall as well, plus some very exciting events in store. And we’re also excited about launching our first white paper later this year on women in technology.

But mainly, we’re your community, and we want to hear more from you. What are your career goals for the rest of 2011? Be sure to join our social network and subscribe to our weekly newsletter to ensure you stay connected and join in the conversation!

Also, we are delighted to welcome our dynamic new team member Jewells Chambers, an engineering graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an AmeriCorps alumna. Jewells is taking on the role of Community Manager and Events Coordinator.

Finally, we’re looking for contributors to our Intrepid Woman article series. The series chronicles the stories of professional women stepping out of their comfort zones passionately and courageously. How have you challenged yourself physically or emotionally lately? What was the outcome? What has your adventuresome, limit-pushing experience taught you about yourself, and how has it helped you professionally? Tell us your story! Get in touch with our editor Melissa Anderson at melissa@theglasshammer.com to learn more.

We look forward to seeing you all soon!

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Happy Summer!

iStock_000003543959XSmallDear Readers, we’re taking today off in honor of Memorial Day in the US and the Spring Bank Holiday in the UK. And, we have something exciting planned for the summer… We want to hear more from you! We’re looking for contributors to our Intrepid Woman article series. The series chronicles the stories of professional women stepping out of their comfort zones passionately and courageously. Recent Intrepid Women include:

Previous Intrepid Women have also included a lawyer / volunteer fire fighter, a marketing executive who scaled the Great Wall, and our former editor Pamela Weinsaft – who wrote about her expedition to Antarctica. We’ve also visited trapeze school, sky diving class, and even the Russian Bath House here in New York.

How have you challenged yourself physically or emotionally lately? What was the outcome? What has your adventuresome, limit-pushing experience taught you about yourself, and how has it helped you professionally? Tell us your story! Get in touch with me at melissa@theglasshammer.com to learn more.

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The Accounting MOVE Project Takes a Look at Millennials

iStock_000008472982XSmallBy Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

In the past, the annual Accounting MOVE Project has revealed the best accounting firms for women; has shed light on why firms fail to advance and retain women; and has revealed why women leave at certain levels. But the 2011 report released earlier this month revealed some promising news: the next generation of top accounting professionals will bear little resemblance to the male-dominated leadership ranks currently occupying corner offices.

Joanne Cleaver, president and founder of the research firm Wilson-Taylor Associates, spearheaded the study, which focuses on figuring out millennials. According to the study, millennials are “confident and assertive. They’re loyal — to technology and to their own ambitions. They’re smart. And in accounting, they’re women.” Half of today’s accounting grads are women, which is why the report asserts that public accounting firms will have to realign their professional development programs to reflect the ambitions of these professionals. “If they do not,” the report says, “firms simply cannot remain competitive and will not have enough partners for an orderly transition when baby boomers are ready to retire.”

Based on dozens of interviews, reviews of best practices at 25 firms, and statistical analysis, the report found that some of the most progressive and promising firms are successful because of how proactive they are concerning the issues that face millennial women in the accounting industry.

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Sharing Best Practices to Boost Senior Female Leadership

business woman with penBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Last week Catalyst presented its annual awards for companies going the extra mile to advance and retain women. While the winning companies – Kaiser Permanente, Time Warner, and McDonald’s – boasted strong results for promoting women across the board, they each took an interesting approach to getting more women into senior roles.

Each of the winning companies recognized the business value of employing more women. After all, women traditionally make the majority of healthcare and nutrition related decisions within the family. And women are also a huge market for news and entertainment. It makes sense that these companies would benefit by improving the gender balance of their workforce in general, as well as key leadership and decision making roles.

As Julie S. Nugent, Senior Director, Research, and Chair, Catalyst Award Evaluation Committee, remarked, “diversity and inclusion is an important business imperative that deserves our attention, and it’s not just a nice thing to have.”

The conference enabled business leaders to learn from the winning companies’ best practices, and hopefully implement the gender diversity strategies at their own companies. Here are a few of the key takeaways that the conference participants shared.

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Catalyst Honors Companies Making a Difference in Gender Diversity

catalystawardBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

This week marked Catalyst‘s annual awards celebration to honor companies that are making progress in the advancement and retention of women. This year’s honorees included Kaiser Permanente, McDonald’s, and Time Warner.

Each of the winning companies was commended for its ongoing work to improve gender balance – as Julie S. Nugent, Senior Director, Research, and Chair, Catalyst Award Evaluation Committee, explained, the awards honor progress – not perfection. Plus, Nugent explained, winners of the award were careful to back up their success with metrics. “We do love our results, being a research organization,” she said.

Whether it was the growth of women on boards at Kaiser Permanente, an increase of women in senior management at McDonald’s, or an improvement in the retention of women at Time Warner, each of the companies had the numbers to show that their programs were working.

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Taking Risks and Making Challenges: Advice from Dynamic Women in Business

Leader with team in backgroundBy Melanie H. Axman (Boston)

Harvard Business School kicked off its 20th Annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference last Saturday, celebrating esteemed, accomplished, and professional women from various walks of life. Created in 1992 to highlight issues women face in the workplace, the Conference continues to draw emerging and distinguished female business leaders into a “conversation about how to proceed, succeed, and survive as women in business.” The panelists and speakers hailed from a variety of backgrounds and career trajectories, sharing their journeys, successes, challenges and even failures. In turn, they received a reception of energetic engagement, curious respect and supportive appreciation from their diverse audience (comprised of undergradudate and graduate students, young and experienced professionals, community leaders, and Harvard faculty.)

The morning began with a Keynote address by Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President of GE. The focus of her discussion was on risks, consistent innovation, and the bravery to recognize failure as a critical and integral part of the learning curve and growth process. Throughout her career, including two years as President of Integrated Media at NBC Universal, she kept coming back to the notion of risk and risks worth taking. She said, “To live is to risk. Not to take a risk is to be stagnant. To stand still.”

“You have to stand for something. You have to stand very tall. Sometimes risks are risks that aren’t of your choosing,” she said. She challenged the captivated audience to allow themselves to fail fast, and fail in small enough ways that lessons were learned quickly and innovative solutions were the outcome.

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