Voice of Experience: Cleo Thompson, Head of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Gender Advisory Council

by Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

With a background in IT and project management, it may surprise some that Cleo Thompson, the head of PwC’s Gender Advisory Council, is the company’s global go-to person for gender diversity. But her personal philosophy may explain it:

“Don’t pigeonhole yourself. Don’t think you are restricted by what you studied. If you are flexible, there are lots of ways to use your skills to make a sideways move, especially within a large organization like PwC.” She added, “I’ve never yet had a job in PwC that someone has done before –I’ve either applied for a newly-created role or I’ve convinced management to craft the position for me.” She advised that she prefers to “drag myself up and bring someone along with me – many of the people I have recruited and trained within PwC have been promoted and gone onto great things.”

When she graduated from the UK’s Nottingham University with a dual major in English and history, Ms. Thompson knew she didn’t want to follow the traditionally suggested career paths for those majors–librarian or teacher–she wanted a career in business. She joined a small software house right out of school, working initially in an operations and management role and then moving into project management. Several years and a number of boutique software houses later, she joined National Westminster Bank (NatWest), which was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in 2000. At NatWest, she worked on many IT projects, including the management of the third party client which was handling the migration of the back office IT systems to the RBS platform as a result of the merger. When RBS relocated her function from London to Scotland, Ms. Thompson joined PricewaterhouseCoopers’ IT department.

She started as a project manager but quickly moved into the role of resource management, assuming responsibility for assigning IT management personnel. She was able to save the IT function a lot of money in this role, an accomplishment to which she pointed when convincing PwC management to create a position for her to do the same thing on a company-wide level. “I recognized that they were spending an absolute fortune. I was good at keeping records of what I’d accomplished and letting management know: this is how much I saved in the IT division, would you like me to save money for you?”

At Ms. Thompson’s suggestion, PwC in the United Kingdom created a new contractor management function–similar to a temporary staffing unit–and a completely new division. Prior to that time, each department would contract directly with their preferred temp agencies when temporary help was necessary. By centralizing the activities, Ms. Thompson was able to set specific commercial and legal terms with the various agencies, thus cutting millions in spending.

Hers was a hybrid role. As she put it, “I was the love child of IT, procurement and HR.” And all her efforts saved the company approximately 1.3 million pounds in the first year. “I made a name for myself as a ‘doer’ with a strong commercial awareness.”

Ms. Thompson worked in that role for a number of years, taking the model that worked in IT and applying it across all functional areas and UK geographies. “I brought in auditors during audit season, tax consultants for the end of the tax year, temporary people for IT on key, time critical projects, interim due diligence workers…it gave me a good overview of lots of different business units. Because of that, I now know the kind of people and skills those divisions value and the environments in which PwC people have to work.”

A 2005 business trip to New York to assess whether that office was using temporary workers in an innovative way prompted Ms. Thompson to seek a fresh PwC opportunity. In her words, “What is the point in working for a large multinational company if you stay in the same position?”

It was around that time that Ms. Thompson learned about the new position as head of the CEO sponsored, newly created Gender Advisory Council and applied. “I was the only person without diversity experience to apply. But I filled the other requirements – being good on your hind legs, a great organizer, a quick study, good at talking, writing, good at converting the unconverted.” It also allowed her to use the skills developed in prior positions, including those from project management and stakeholder management. “Two years down the pike, the job brings together everything I like doing, ” which includes her regular contributions to her self-created popular blog, The Gender Agenda.

By design, the blog is a departure from a typical corporate one, which is usually only a step above a pro-company press release. She told us that she enjoys giving a fresh, intimate yet global perspective and sharing it as a real person and in a humorous way with her international audience. She thinks the blog is particularly important, as it shows that PwC takes the issues of gender seriously. “It acknowledges that diverse organizations and diverse issues need a diverse set of solutions. It’s not one size fits all; it’s important to recognize the issues of the whole audience and not just write about senior women or women with children, for example…[i]t is a platform to celebrate a diversity of role models.” She is clearly doing something right. She enjoys a large and diverse readership, with over half of the subscribers coming from outside PwC.

Most recently, Ms. Thompson co-created, wrote and executive produced the film “Closing the Gender Gap”, as previously reported on by The Glass Hammer. Spearheading the production from conceptualization to the final edit, Ms. Thompson talked to The Glass Hammer about the numerous challenges that came up during the process. “It has been a great stretch assignment. There were operational challenges which existed because of these difficult economic times. There was lots and lots of change because of the [recent economic crisis]. Politicians changed roles. Top people who we interviewed were, just one month later, no longer with their companies and dropped out of the film. It was a moving target because of the global shift.” While she learned a lot and enjoyed the process, she was quick to add that she is “not convinced that she has, or wants, a future career as a film producer!” She also talked of the challenge of doing this film -– which was a full-time job unto itself-– whilst continuing to perform her regular duties as head of the Gender Advisory Council. And, while it was demanding and time consuming, she “proved it could be done.”

“The good news is that, while it may have been difficult, we are launching the film at a time when people are very much talking about the future and the global economy. We want to be part of the global debate.”

When asked about the best career advice she’s received, she advised that when working on PwC’s “Leaking Pipeline” project last year, she interviewed hundreds of the “smartest women in the world” about their careers. According to Ms. Thompson, many advised the same thing – “toot your own horn” and “be your own cheerleader”. Ms. Thompson continued, “No one is going to toot your horn for you. Keep a log of feedback you’ve been given and the work that you do. Don’t just sit there thinking ‘I’m so brilliant – it’s going to be obvious to my boss’. Stick your hand up if you want to do something. Ask. Don’t go thinking that your obvious talent will go and shine out into the world.”

She stressed the importance of mentors and warned women not to overlook the value of male mentors and coaches in their careers. “Don’t just look to women to help you. We often look to women who’ve made it for help, essentially punishing women by expecting them to fix the organization’s diversity problems as well as do their day jobs. We should also consider men as part of the solution. I recommend looking for men to be coaches. Consider men more junior as well as more senior and work with them in an integrated way. “

As head of the Gender Advisory Council, Ms. Thompson has global responsibilities requiring significant time and travel. Yet even this doesn’t faze her, although she’s on the road nearly 40% of the time. “You can think of it as a bore or you can think to yourself that the Chrysler Building is the most beautiful building in New York and I get to see it walking back to my hotel from the office.” Her husband also sometimes joins her on the trips, if the schedule suits and “if he thinks it is a cool place to go.”

When asked how she achieves work-life balance with such a demanding position, she cited her autonomy and her ability to set boundaries. She sets her own schedule based on her personal preference for working hours and an understanding of the global patterns of work that come her way. “I have a fantastic position in which I am completely judged by output rather than physical presence. No one cares if I’m at my desk and beavering away at 8 am or 8pm. I think that by the fact that I work virtually – I usually work from home or in an overseas hotel/office – I don’t personally feel any pressure to being SEEN to be working. It is a very trusting environment. “

Ms. Thompson also stressed the importance of delegating, as well as setting boundaries with regard to work. “I am asked for help and materials by people around the world. I sometimes have to push back and say ‘I would love to help with that but how does this ultimately support the work of the Gender Advisory Council?’ If I don’t have the time or capacity to help, I connect the requester with an alternative person from on my great network. Work-life balance is only as good as your network.”

Of her job she said, “It is massively hard work and there are lots of expectations. But the rewards and the feedback make it very worthwhile – it is extremely fulfilling to see our great women grow, progress, develop. Our global female Partner numbers have increased by 20% in the last three years. Such measurable progress is very satisfying. But I am also very aware that my role is a “back office” job, it is a cost to the company and thus it is incumbent on me to work hard and to be as beneficial to PwC as possible.“ But she added, “I honestly think I have the best job in PwC – and you can quote me on that!”