Enjoy our LGBTQ and Ally coverage all of June

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Here at theglasshammer.com we celebrate diversity and differences all year long but give extra focus in certain months to certain themes.

June is Pride Month in many countries in the world, with NYC hosting World Pride this year. This coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising which is the place where civil rights for LGBTQ Americans began.

The bad news is that fifty years later, someone can be legally fired from a job, because a manager or business owner doesn’t approve of the person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, in a majority of US states. The Employment Non Discrimination Act or ENDA which has been in circulation since 1994 and has not yet passed despite a historic recent victory of the passing of the Equality Bill. This important bill was passed on 17th May by the House of Representatives to try prevent this type of discrimination but still has to clear Congress so LGBTQ people are far from safe from subjective decision making by a person who decides to create a ‘less than me’ dynamic.

The good news is that we will shine a light on amazing LGBTQ women and Allies this month as well as talk about what you can do to be a great Ally.

We will also look at how great companies are pushing for progress in the legislative vacuum and are making positive changes in the world. Sometimes, it is about changing the world and sometimes if all you can do it change your corner of the world to make it better for the people around you, then that is a good start.

Enjoy the articles and profiles.

And, walk the talk on your values.

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Get Profiled on glasshammer2.wpengine.com

group of business women - career-adviceHere at glasshammer2.wpengine.com we are always looking for great people to profile.

Over 12 years we have profiled nearly 1,000 women! We have certainly honored our mission of telling people’s stories and continue to do so…we quite possibly could be the longest running online magazine in existence that has focused on career advice for professional women!

The important work continues, and it starts with you!

If you would like to be considered or have someone to nominate please let us know by emailing nicki@glasshammer2.wpengine.com.

We do have criteria: Voice of Experience (our Monday column for the past 12 years without fail) is for women in financial or professional services firms or in Fortune 1000 firms who are Managing Director/SVP and above.

To be considered as a Mover and Shaker, Rising Star, Intrepid Women or Men Who Get It, please tell us more about you.

We also have a thematic calendar to tell deeper stories regarding the many identities we all hold. We are welcoming suggestions for these months now:

  • May – Asian Pacific Heritage Month
  • June – LGBT Pride and Allies Month
  • September – Latina Leaders (Hispanic Heritage Month)

In addition, we accept guest pieces and op-eds where appropriate.

All of this and the past 12 years have only been possible due to amazing site sponsors, so if your company would like to sponsor the site, we would love to hear from you.

Thank you for reading us.

Remember, we coach individuals, train, and consult on networks and diversity programs as well! Get in touch if you want to hire us.

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If You Have a Disability and Want to Work, You Need the Help of an Employment Network

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disabled-featured

A new report found that companies who hire people with disabilities outperform their peers, and the U.S. Department of Labor found employers who embrace disability in their talent acquisition strategy have higher retention, employee productivity and workplace safety.

Despite this hard evidence and compelling statistics, the workplace landscape is still disappointingly homogenous when it comes to disabilities. Many hiring managers harbor misconceptions and subscribe to inaccurate stereotypes about people with disabilities and what they are capable of with their conditions. Some of our clients say they wanted to return to their former employer once they medically recovered, but their job was no longer there. Others make the mistake of disclosing their condition during the interview process for a new position and never hear from a potential employer again. Still others don’t believe they can ever go back to work because they don’t realize accommodations can be made for them.

10 million former workers and their dependents currently receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, a type of income replacement insurance that is paid by the federal government when workers experience severe health conditions. These benefits help individuals and families survive when the salary stops coming in.

In the first several decades of SSDI’s inception as a program, its beneficiaries were overwhelmingly men. Women were not as prominent in the workforce, and therefore were not as likely to be insured for these benefits through their employment (FICA) taxes. In fact, in the 1970s, researchers found that women reported higher rates of disability but were less likely to apply for SSDI. They also found that compared to men with disabilities, women with disabilities were more likely to rely on a spouse’s earnings instead. Now, women are nearing equity with men when it comes to being awarded the benefits they deserve.

Many of us think we’ll never need to take advantage of such a program — we are healthy, fit and successful, right? But the truth is, the odds of experiencing some sort of debilitating medical condition are higher than you think. The Social Security Administration (SSA) estimates one in four twenty-year-olds will be disabled before reaching age 67, and for those who aren’t in their 20s, the chances are even worse. It pays to be prepared.

If you’ve gone through the SSDI process, you know how complex and lengthy it can be — tons of paperwork and an average wait time of 600-800 days. While waiting, dangers are everywhere: you can easily slip into poverty, lose your assets, and deplete your savings while trying to make ends meet and continue paying to treat your newly acquired condition. Due to lack of funds, many people with disabilities are even forced to file for foreclosure on their home.

Whether you have been collecting SSDI for a long time or got awarded benefits recently, it’s crucial to consider getting help to go back to work as quickly as possible. Key to this decision is your long-term financial picture. You’ll simply be better off if you can work and generate additional income. Should the unthinkable happen, research shows the longer that someone with a disability is out of the workforce, the harder it becomes for them to re-enter. The market changes, you lose skills, and the gaps in your resume become more and more prominent.

Unfortunately, the unemployment rate for this population is twice as high (7.9 percent versus 3.5 percent) as it is for those who are able-bodied. Getting hired with a disability is no easy task, even though it’s proven to be good for business.

If you find yourself on the job hunt without a plan for success, you need to contact an Employment Network as soon as possible. Employment Networks help thousands of people with disabilities across the nation find or return to jobs by streamlining the process, offering valuable resources and keeping your SSDI benefits safe while you try to work again.

Former workers on SSDI benefits can access free help through SSA’s free Ticket to Work program, which protects SSDI and Medicare benefits as participants transition to full-time work. If you find that you are unable to go back to work or experience a medical setback, the Ticket to Work program acts as your safety net — you won’t lose the benefits you waited years to receive. Employment Networks help coordinate your benefits as you re-enter the working world, alerting SSA to your change of work status and helping you achieve the accommodations you may need to do your job to the fullest extent, perhaps through a flexible work schedule or a remote work arrangement.

For corporate women, every day can be a struggle, but even a severe disability cannot keep them from experiencing the personal and financial rewards of returning to work. Employment Networks can help them create an Individual Work Plan, start the Ticket to Work program and get back to climbing the career ladder.

Paula Morgan has more than 18 years of public and private experience helping people successfully navigate Social Security Administration (SSA) disability programs. She is a return to work case manager for Allsup Employment Services (AES), a national, SSA-authorized employment network (EN). Morgan works with former workers with disabilities to help them navigate the SSA’s Ticket to Work (TTW) program. She focuses on education and early intervention of social security disability insurance (SSDI) applicants as they move through the insurance program and identifies opportunities for returning to work should their condition improve.

Paula Morgan AESAuthor Bio

Paula Morgan has more than 18 years of public and private experience helping people successfully navigate Social Security Administration (SSA) disability programs. She is a return to work case manager for Allsup Employment Services (AES), a national, SSA-authorized employment network (EN). Morgan works with former workers with disabilities to help them navigate the SSA’s Ticket to Work (TTW) program. She focuses on education and early intervention of social security disability insurance (SSDI) applicants as they move through the insurance program and identifies opportunities for returning to work should their condition improve.

Guest contributors views are their own.

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Women’s History Month Offers an Opportunity to Reflect on the Importance of Women Leaders

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Laura MartinBy Laura Keidan Martin, National Chair of Katten Muchin Rosenman’s Women’s Leadership Forum and member of the firm’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee

In honor of Women’s History Month, it’s important we take the time to celebrate our accomplishments and the progress we have made as working women but also to reflect on the work that lies ahead so women in all professions, particularly in the legal field and others that are traditionally male dominated, can achieve gender parity and equity – especially at the leadership and partnership levels.

At Katten, women attorneys are making a mark. Women are represented at every leadership level from practice head and office managing partner to the board of directors and the executive committee, which oversees all governance activities and sets policies for the firm.

This year, not only are Katten’s female attorneys garnering accolades for their hard work and many achievements, but the firm has also been recognized for its efforts to support the career advancement of women and improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Katten secured spots on the 2018 lists of Working Mother’s 100 Best Companies and 60 Best Law Firms for Women, as well as Yale Law Women’s Top Ten Female Friendly Firms. Katten also achieved Gold Standard certification from the Women in Law Empowerment Forum and is among National Association for Female Executives’ Top Companies for Executive Women.

But make no mistake: there are still more gains to be made as the number of women attorneys advancing to higher levels is sluggish among law firms in general. And the rate of female minorities ascending to positions of power has lagged even farther behind in the legal profession.

As National Chair of Katten’s Women’s Leadership Forum and a member of the firm’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee, I have a personal commitment to advancing and retaining women attorneys through mentoring, external networking, internal relationship-building and career development programs. We want to see women rise to the top at Katten. That’s why as leaders we aim to do more and to do better by offering firm programs and policies to help women climb the career ladder and develop the skills they need to advance to leadership roles.

Women leaders are integral to the success of empowering all women at all stages of their careers. And that’s why Katten’s female leaders are so vested in the development and implementation of programs and policies that help women reach their professional goals. We believe that women’s upfront involvement is critical to getting these initiatives right and vital to our success.

Our women leaders also serve on the firm’s National Mentoring Panel, which is made up of 17 successful female partners recognized as leaders in their fields. These women serve as role models and share their professional and personal experiences as a means of helping their colleagues. But the objective is to be more than just a mentor. Fellow board member Nadira Clarke likes to remind us, “Women leaders can impact how women get business, how they are compensated, whether or not their work is recognized, or whether or not they get promoted.”

Katten leaders continue to work hard to identify the next generation of female leaders at the firm and provide the tools they need to succeed, including diversity-focused initiatives, in which female attorneys of color participate. Such programs can assist in building leadership skills, developing client relationships and generating substantial books of business, which can go a long way toward a greater likelihood of career advancement – and it’s simply good business sense for the firm as well.

Katten is also committed to dedicating resources to set women on successful career paths. We want to empower our female attorneys at various stages in their careers so they see an attainable, upward trajectory at Katten.

And most importantly, we know we can’t achieve greater gender-balance alone. That’s why we collaborate with organizations at the forefront of generating innovative ideas and solutions that will assist us with improving the retention and promotion of our female attorneys. By working together we learn from each other’s best practices so that we can continue to create positive change.

That’s why we teamed with Diversity Lab’s Women in Law Hackathon, which brings together law firms across the nation to create solutions to boost the retention and advancement of women in law, and pledged our commitment to the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion initiative, dedicated to advancing diversity and inclusion within the workplace.

That’s why we signed on to the Mansfield Rule initiative (a winning idea from the 2016 Hackathon). It was a major milestone when Katten achieved certification for meeting Mansfield Rule standards by ensuring that women and attorneys of color make up at least 30 percent of the candidate pool for firm leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions and senior lateral positions. This year we are also participating in the Mansfield Rule 2.0 which expands our agreement to be even more mindful of diversity by tracking roles in client pitch meetings, including LGBTQ+ lawyers as part of the diverse candidate pool, and making sure that appointment and election processes are transparent to all lawyers.

All of these efforts combine to help push male-dominated industries to focus on creating diverse teams and to snuff out bias, whether intentional or unintentional. They help put more women in the room and at the table when key business decisions, promotions, or job offers are being made. They help transform what leadership looks like today and what it should look like tomorrow. They help encourage the next generation of women to pursue careers in these fields because they see more and more women represented in the industry.

This Women’s History Month, let’s celebrate the affirmative impact of women in the legal profession and renew our commitment to diversity, innovation and greater gender-balance in the workplace. We all have a role to play, to lean in, lead the way and be the change agents. Our careers, businesses and society will be stronger for it.

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Happy International Women’s Day 2019. Does Change Start Here?

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Nicki Gilmour

Celebrations and recognition of women and women specific issues are being highlighted today around the world and inside corporate offices. Celebrating and making people aware of amazing women and their accomplishments is excellent. Shedding light on social, economic or cultural issues that do not get enough attention is also great. Better to have it, than not have it for sure.

However, does change happen because of it? No, change requires more than a day of talking and a hashtag (which by the way is officially #balanceforbetter which hints at two things, balance of power, not just more balance for women)

But, when all is said and done, it is just a hashtag that means pretty much zero when it comes to actual behaviorial change or any action for anyone whatsoever. Now that we have named the elephant in the room on the sheer vacancy of going through the motions of pretense, perhaps we can talk real talk about change?

Awareness is the first step. But, only the first step in change.

How do we achieve parity. equality, equity or meritocracy?

I like the #biascorrect idea that Catalyst is motioning this IWD (International Women’s Day). Stereotypes limit us. Anyone who has ever been stereotyped will tell you that. Catalyst provide resources to address that bias and in this instance, convey that words matter.

What is less discussed, are the false positive stereotypes and head starts that many women and many men but not all, give to men as leaders and heads of teams, families, power structures generally. That is the balance of power piece we really need to discuss.

What can you do?

Recognize that you probably implicitly have bias. We all do. I coach people to examine their paradigms regularly, as your mental model is formed via your life experiences and their context. That means, you probably are operating off ideas that your family and society told you was the “way it is” and that way it was, was steeped in notions of one gender’s needs being met before others.

Socialization, not brain differences feed into cognitive process whereby we place evaluative meaning on everything. Men are not from Mars and Women are not from Venus. We are all from Earth. The backlash we are seeing is due to people trying to maintain a historically granted place of power and is not surprising. The protection of the patriarchy by women,  is to do with their socialization under men’s rules and women’s place in the structure of society so far, secure but secondary so fear on an unknown alternative prevents change and fuels racism, nationalism, and is why we see sexism by women against women.

We need to educate everyone on the benefits of equality and equity as the patriarchy is a system not a gender or a person and does not serve very many people other than the bad guys ( their reckoning is here, though) in this modern world.

It is only when we stop our bias cognitively, and make efforts to behaviorally change that we can be freed from false expectations around diversity parties, celebrations and hashtags actually changing anything. Stop asking the women to balance for better and start asking everyone to stop believing everything they think to be true. Test assumptions for best results.

Enjoy this satire piece in The NY Times today. I could not agree more.

Enjoy the day, however you spend it.

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Effective Networking for Female Professionals: The Old Girls Club?

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By Nicki Gilmour

It is Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day this week (Friday 8th March, 2019) so tune in for hard hitting editorial on women’s advancement at work, like we do the other fifty weeks of the year also.

According to a new study published last month, women should be networking with other women as well as men if they want to land more prestigious and better paid jobs. This study of suggests women need a women-only inner circle and a larger, well-connected network generally. The study analyzed the peer networks and job placements of 728 students at leading university, representing two class years, from an MBA program in 2006 and 2007. All of the graduates landed leadership jobs, so the (well respected) researchers ranked the positions according to prestige and other factors. The subjects studied consisted of 542 were men and 186 women, which is roughly consistent with the researchers’ findings that women make up about a quarter of business school students nationwide. The conclusion being that a person’s network composition regarding gender split can predict the career success of women. Wired magazine broke down the study and talked to the study authors and interpreted the study with the main message being women and men who are connected to other well-connected peers across their social network do better. In addition, it is extrapolated that women thrive from “gender-specific private information and support.” And men do not need insider information to thrive and advance because, wait for it ‘work is built for them’. Words that interested me from the study’s lead author, Northwestern University data scientist, Brian Uzzi, he goes on to state,

“Quite frankly, most of the jobs are still male-dominated and therefore the kind of private information that’s so important to help women get ahead isn’t as important to men’s advancement,”

Despite Brain Uzzi being possible the leading network expert, a respected expert in social psychology with a very respectable body of work that no one can argue with and some really good advice, it is hard to accept that his conclusion from just final job outcome is the end of the story.

For me, it is very much the opening of the conversation around bias, gender stratification and gender roles, because people decide if the men and women of this study get hired and people negotiate offers for salaries. That is to say, a man and a woman could have made the same connection at the same networking mixer, but the man got hired.

But, if we take this study at face value, then we can conclude that this is not new news as we know women have to work twice as hard at networking just as they do with other areas.

Uzzi shares his opinion on how he feels women should behave via his interpretation only of the results,

“When it comes to networking, women need two things and men only need one, so for every one contact a man makes, a woman has to split her time between the contact that’s going to give her market information and the contact who’s going to give her private information. If you’ve got to split the time between the two, you’ve got to be very smart about the kinds of choices you make.”

It is not a revelation that women have to work harder or are given less credibility for the same thing, or are dinged for same traits. Nor is it a shock to most of you that you do get the scoop from other women, because it could be friendship or a deeper phenomenon involving “out group” dynamics. Call it what you will, because what is real that we pay the same money for those MBAs so we need a way to ensure we get the same Return on Investment as literally the next guy. And for the love of golf, do not ask us to play unless you want to and even then, you are not one of them.

A step backwards?

What this research does not talk about is what men can do to prevent women from having to make choices. You can be a good man yet not be a man who advocates for women to have equal pathways to success.

Then, #metoo comes along with the shouts of “not all men” which of course is entirely valid because we all know some really great caring men who understand consent and respect and where the lines of proper behavior lie. The problem with the “not all men” chant is that it can silence the nuance of useful conservation around “although you do not, but by virtue of a legacy power structure you probably could be you were inclined to, therefore how do we ensure the bad guys are stopped by a new structure so you do not ever have to feel lumped in with them, because you are in fact part of the solution”. Instead, out of fear many men have taken a step back from interacting with women at work. Not helpful. Just actually more indulgent of a privilege to withdraw of a historically dominant group instead of facing the work that has to be done. Some people do not have that privilege to say no without consequence.

Networking past the biases and fear

Most networking information is entirely based on men networking with men with male examples given as an argument for basing your connection on hobbies and passions. Herminia Ibarra’s work clearly delineates the differences between personal, operational and strategic networks and is worth a read.

In this era of strong gender roles still being perpetuated by most people, men and women alike (granted glimpses of hope around understanding the negative effects on boys as well as girls of the patriarchy and toxic masculinity), it no shock that men continue to network with each other in the way they have always known how, excited primal physical arousal states usually with sports and competition. Which is why we have to believe there are physiological differences without believing we are beholden to them. We all have the ability to disrupt our cognitive process with a behavior change. That goes for women too. Start with your own biases. How much do you do love the patriarchy? Odd question you might think, but really look at to what extent do you favor men and boy’s needs over those of women and girls? This question is not about whether you like men or whether you believe in raising strong daughters or whether your husband does the dishes. It is a question about your own value sets, deep, intrinsic ones that are probably buried in your unconscious and then how that affects your conscious and unconscious behaviors.

Why do you go to women for information and perhaps comfort but not for promotion, stretch projects and general greatness? Why do men get immediate credibility and do you give it freely while in parallel asking women to prove themselves?

As we enter the hoopla, ceremony and celebration of International Women’s Day, the question to ask yourself is where are you on this spectrum of consciously and unconsciously endorsing for men because they are men, because it’s a spectrum we are all on.

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2019 Workplace Predictions

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diary, predictions

Guest Contribution by Fierce Inc.

An increasing number of fledgling workers are currently being thrust into the spotlight as baby boomers retire and millennials and Gen Z increasingly take over the majority of new jobs.

Many companies are at a loss with how to properly deal with this change and the publicity that comes with it. What makes matters worse, many suffer from a “culture of nice” and have complicated organizational structures, which only perpetuates business problems and proves detrimental to the bottom line. A survey Fierce conducted found that over 40% of leaders felt their organization suffered from “terminal niceness,” valuing politeness over the pursuit of the best ideas and perspectives.

Based on our conversations with current and potential clients — after thousands of hours of conversations and learning about their concerns, unique challenges and goals — we’ve developed the below five trends that we predict will be key to organizations of all sizes in 2019:

Increased accountability for corporate bad behavior. We’ve all seen the news: companies seem to be plagued with worsening scandals, dubious leadership practices and unethical decisions at a near constant rate. Moving forward organizations will internally face these issues head-on, as they happen. No longer will they be swept under the rug or ignored altogether. To get in front of some of these potentially negative stories and to ensure they know what happens within their companies, leaders will work to gain a deeper understanding and connection to the people who make up their organization. This means the popularity of employee training and engagement programs will rise and cover a wide range of topics such as diversity, unconscious bias, ethics, and inclusion.

Fewer organizations will suffer from a “culture of nice.” In these “overly nice” environments, no truly productive feedback is given. People are afraid to disagree or speak up, refuse to address problems and rarely challenge the status quo. A culture of “nice” lends itself to a host of challenges including lack of trust, higher turnover, and lower productivity—none of which are actually “nice.” As organizations continue to improve their conversations skills as it pertains to feedback, and as younger workers vocalize their desire for more frequent feedback, the number of organizations who suffer from this type of culture will decrease in the coming year.

Generation Z will no longer be ignored. An estimated 61 million Gen Zs will apply for jobs in the U.S. next year, many entering the workforce for the first time. However, organizations are only spending 4% of their resources on training those less than 25 years old, according to IBIS. Organizations will be forced to adjust to this new reality in 2019, and in order to be successful, will need to find innovative ways to invest more heavily in their training from the get-go. Fierce believes the New Year will be an area of growth in this regard, as organizations figure out the best way to engage with this new generation. A part of this will no doubt be providing the right resources to this tech-savvy generation to help them succeed both in the short and long term.

Companies will move away from hierarchy and towards more agile teams. Organizations are starting in earnest to understand that strategic alignment is key to their success, and the best way to achieve it is to ensure the company is flexible and responsive at every level. There will be a shift away from teams interacting only at the highest echelons within an organization and towards a more integrated and collaborative approach. With this shift will come an increased need for communication skills, as it will be imperative that managers are well-versed in both delegation and decision making. By empowering teams with greater opportunities for collaboration, 2019 will result in higher productivity and employee engagement.

Progress will be made on digital transformations. While most organizations have been slowly integrating digital components across many areas of their business, 2019 will be the year where real progress is made. Organizations will spend more time focused on truly understanding the needs of the end user—be it employees, clients or customers—and in turn, work with their IT departments to ensure these needs are being met. Innovation is no longer a luxury; without adopting and staying on top of digital trends, organizations will become obsolete.

When we look back a year from now, how successful company leaders are at addressing these themes will come down to a key component — the strength of their conversations. The skills leaders have in addressing issues, assessing concerns and finding solutions all come down to one simple thing: how well an individual can communicate and connect with those around them.

Guest contributions express views of their own and are in no way affiliated or endorsed by theglasshammer.com

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2018 Year in Review: Looking ahead to 2019 and Beyond

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By Nicki Gilmour, CEO and Founder of theglasshammer.com

As 2019 is getting underway, I dare to feel slightly upbeat since figures show that there have been gains for women in board seats for the first time in ten years in the US with women making up 31% of newly appointed directors for 3000 companies between January and May of last year. Do not question me too deeply on my optimism as overall, there is still vast amounts of work to be done since there is a tenacious link at best between board and female management progress. And, before we get too excited, the number women on boards is only hoovering around 18%-20% overall regarding female board directors in big companies in the US. The European Union varies greatly country by country with some highlights and low lights which is interesting since culture is the variable element in a legislatively mandated arena. France is leading the charge with almost 35% women on boards with Nordic/Baltic nations (Sweden then Latvia next at around 30%) with Italy, UK, Germany and the Netherlands inching up around 26% female board representation. Asia is deemed to have the lowest female board numbers (around 8%) but higher numbers (40%) for senior female leadership roles than the US or most of Europe.

Why Such Slow Progress for Boards?

As research from Kellogg Insights (Northwestern) points out, the criteria for hiring women for boards puts an unfair standard on women that seems to not apply to men regarding their job title or experience. Also, there is the little elephant in the room regarding why perceptual euphoria is reached when a third of board are women, as opposed to not putting unconscious putting limits on it as what we are really saying is we expect one gender to continue to  dominate decision making. Power sharing is never really that if women are expected to not exceed 30% of board representation, (if that is even reached) whereas men are being implicitly expected to hold 70-100% of it for the near and far future despite the ten year (at least) claim that women are graduating in greater numbers from university.

Back to the Future?

Should we re-read “Men and women of the corporation?” This amazing book written almost forty two years ago seems to be still relevant today Rosabeth Moss Kanter states in an interview to (another favorite) Robin Ely in HBR, via Forbes,

“The main idea in Men and Women of the Corporation is about institutions and self-perpetuating cycles. It’s about the interplay of structure and behavior. If you observe behavior—like a woman seems to be less ambitious in a particular situation—do you conclude “Women don’t go for success,” or do you conclude there’s something about that situation that’s evoking a certain kind of behavior. I looked inside the company, and I looked at the evidence about gender roles outside the company, in society. There was always an interplay. There were women in management, but they tended to be concentrated in the more routinized functions. And if you’re in the more routinized functions, it’s hard to break out, because you’re not being rewarded for independent judgment, and we still have that today, with the notion that women lack “vision” compared to men……. What would account for ambition or a lack of ambition? Opportunity. That’s pretty simple. If the door is open, you can aspire to go through it. If it doesn’t seem to be open, you can’t. In the company I wrote about in Men and Women, a lot of it had to do with the placement mechanisms.”

This book was published in 1977. It is 2019 and frankly we have seen such a fast rate of change in every other aspect of life, but not diversity.

Most corporations despite their diversity programs and networks and sponsoring of gala tables, do not have the faintest notion of what they need to do to see real change. Even Robin Ely’s paper on Diversity and Difference is twenty three years old and her “new” and third paradigm ( and a good one) seems like new news since most firms are bumbling around thinking they need certain groups to sell to same demographics or worse in denial of differences without understanding the real work needed to be done.

Wider Society- Gains and Losses.

Over the years, I have written pieces on how culture affects what happens inside and outside of the office here on this site, even just last year in the review of the 2017 year, and it is the core backbone of how to advance women at work and better this and other societies. We all to a lesser or greater degree have bias  as whether we want to admit it or not, its cognitive process and we can blame our brains. It is what we are going to do about over-ridding our brain that interests me as that will divide the evolved and the unevolved on this topic.

These past two years we have seen the use of backlash as a fascinating mechanism ( not the only one, but one that should be named). The first reflex by some was the whitelash of having the first Black President (I use the word Black over African American because the reflex was based on that definition). The second reflex was the testing assumptions exercise regarding ambivalent sexism when it comes to patriarchy and power of the Presidential US election with Trump v. Hillary. The third reflex of creating the most diverse US government to confront the highest office’s sympathies and policies. The end result means a more diverse government, but it is still worth nothing Congress is still 80% male, 80% white and 92% Christian so there are parallels with the corporate construct of a few is enough, if not too many, while dominant legacy groups never get the same restrictive belief measurement. Double standards still are very much at play and the African writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who wrote “We Should all be Feminists” eloquently talks of this.

Those firms who do understand the whole picture of diversity as a change projects as opposed to Noah’s Ark are seeing the rewards of it, despite a continued backdrop of assumed power and authority by one gender and an overarching air. Yes, we have seen assumed authority and credibility challenged and lessened with #metoo, LGBT and other advocacy efforts creating bottom up change of outdated or inequitable decisions from flawed systems. But, there is still a strong tolerance of unchecked behaviors for one group over all others and it is dependent on which body and skin you were born into and very little else.

Conclusion

The system needs to always be addressed for transformational change to happen. Leaders and people have behaviors that create impactful actions and whatever the intention is, the impact is what matters. Structures and promotional mechanisms are a very important thing to do, start there because let’s face it, people didn’t stop smoking on airplanes because it was the “right thing to do”. Mindsets and incentivizing structures are more closely related than we think!

Read all Year In Reviews here (10 years worth to compare and measure organic change or the lack of it for yourself).

About Nicki Gilmour

Nicki founded theglasshammer.com in 2007 and has published more than 8000 articles on advancing women at work. She has undertaken deep study at Teachers College, Columbia University to understand the systemic cause and effect of power and authority as it pertains to diversity, performance and change in workplace and wider culture. Nicki has a masters in individual/organizational psychology with a specialization in change leadership and an executive coaching certification (masters level) specializing in the neuroscience of coaching regarding subconscious mind and the behavioral implications regarding goal setting and execution. Nicki has clients in Fortune 500 and financial services all over the world and can be reached nicki@theglasshammer.com

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Happy New Year: Tell your story, pass on your wisdom

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Happy New Year 2019
Happy New Year from theglasshammer! Welcome 2019.

Instead of talking about New Year’s resolutions and the very interesting psychology behind them, I will ask you to simply take actions to help yourself and in turn, help others.

Firstly, tell your story. Although it might seem unremarkable to you, others might really be inspired to do more than they thought possible because you trail blazed for them. All of the women that we have profiled (over 1000) have had an amazing amount of experience and wisdom to share and since we are all different, it is always great to hear about different approaches to one’s career.

Secondly, pass on your wisdom and this can be formally as a mentor or a sponsor (by giving access to projects and people) or informally such as over a chat or a site like this one.

Thirdly, be yourself but know what that is exactly. You, according to you can be different to you, according to them. Work with a great coach (we offer coaching services, book an exploratory call here to see if there is a fit) to determine your behaviors, traits and skills and then how you are perceived in the social system you are operating in. How do you show up? What is your impact versus your intention on people and situations?

We are looking to you, the collective wisdom of the readership to contribute more this year. So if you would like to contribute with an op-ed, or a career article or be profiled, please let me know (write to nicki@glasshammer2.wpengine.com and put “editorial” in the title of the email).

As you know, we do not exist without sponsors, so if you would kindly ask your company to sponsor this site to show the organizational commitment and employer of choice commitment that they espouse to have, we would be very grateful.

Here is to a successful, happy, healthy, productive and stress-free 2019

Best Wishes
Nicki Gilmour
Founder and Publisher

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Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year

We would like to wish all our readers a safe and healthy and fun festive season.

Whatever you celebrate, however and whenever you do that, we want to thank you for your continued support of this site.

Gloria Steinem once said to me that we should continue to build the camp fire to let women tell their stories and that is exactly why after 11 years we are still here, telling your stories. Much imitated, we are the longest running publication of this type. Thank you to our sponsors for keeping us alive and to all the hard working people who continue and have in the past written and edited and helped out with their expertise over the years.

Best wishes to you and yours for 2019. We will be back in January to continue to “inform, inspire and empower you”.

Nicki Gilmour
Founder and CEO

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