“I realized I’m never going to finish the fight for gender equality for my girls if I don’t finish the fight for their moms. That’s what led me to step down as CEO of Girls Who Code and start Moms First, which I had never intended to do,” says Reshma Saujani. “The reality is that the pandemic played a huge hand in that. But what was happening for women in the pandemic wasn’t going to start and end with the pandemic.”
We interviewed Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, the non-profit organization launched in 2011 with the mission to close the gender gap in tech. For over ten years, she served as CEO, leading to change the face of programming as we know it. At the end of 2020, and spurred by witnessing the impacts of the pandemic on women’s lives, Saujani also became Founder and CEO of Moms First (formerly Marshall Plan for Moms).
Through Moms First, she is leading the campaign to transform our workplaces, our culture and our government to enable moms to thrive. Her fourth book, Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think) proposes clear and necessary structural and cultural changes to support women in the workplace, and puts a halt on telling women to change.
Saujani was a recent keynote ‘fireside chat’ speaker for the 2023 Catalyst Awards Conference, the premier gender equity conference for advocates of diversity, equity and inclusion. With the conference themed Accelerating Equity on All Fronts—So Women Thrive, Saujani emphasized the need to drastically change the discussion around women and the workplace. She also iterated key actions that policy makers and organizations need to take, such as family-friendly policies, paid leave, and childcare to support equity, engagement, retention and advancement among women.
Saujani spoke to us about how changing the workplace to work for women – as Catalyst has researched, advocated and reimagined for over 60 years – is really not a women’s problem.
On women in the workplace:
“At the conference, I spoke about the core shifts that need to happen in the workplace to support women in leadership. The idea of supporting women in their roles as mothers is really new for Corporate America. It’s a different conversation than the one we’ve been having, because the conversation we’ve been having is really what I call the ‘big lie of corporate feminism’: that if we just raise our hand, if we lean in a little harder, then we can ‘girlboss’ our way to the top. But that leaves out the fact that two-thirds of the caregiving work is being done by women, and that women come to work already doing two and a half jobs. So this idea of ‘having it all’ is just a euphemism for ‘doing it all.’
We have to stop trying to fix women and fix the system. We need to accept the fact that workplaces have never been built for moms, so let’s redesign them for moms now. In my book, Pay Up, I lay out some strategies that companies can actually do to support working moms.
One, it begins with supporting moms with childcare. Childcare in this country is unaffordable and unavailable. 40% of parents have gone into debt because of the cost of childcare. The reality is that childcare isn’t a personal problem that you or I have to solve. It’s an economic issue. Women cannot work without childcare. So companies, for the first time, really need to step up and start providing childcare benefits – whether that’s a subsidy or back-up care. They have to start providing that support.
The second thing is paid leave. Many companies still don’t have gender-neutral paid leave policy. In a heteronormative relationship, whether a man takes paternity leave has huge consequences for women. The more men, quite frankly, that are taking paid leave, the better for the equity in a family. Right now, the vast majority of men take fewer than ten days off after having a child. So companies need to not only offer gender-neutral paid leave policy but also incentivize or mandate it.
The third thing is the motherhood penalty. The mom bias is contributing to a huge pay gap between mothers and fathers. Studies have shown that men earn 6% more when they become a dad whereas women earn 4% less when they become a mom.”
On her shift from Girls Who Code to Moms First:
“During the pandemic, I had a new ‘pandemic’ baby and I was homeschooling my six-year-old. My entire leadership team were working moms with young children, and we were barely making it. I saw so many of my students had to stay at home and take care of their siblings, instead of going on to major in computer science at college, because their mothers were essential workers. The fact that we had a broken structure of childcare in our country was continuing the generational cycle of poverty.
Moms have really been in crisis for decades – even the fact that the United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have paid family and medical leave. The fact that we’ve never made childcare affordable or available for moms. The fact that we’ve always paid mothers less than we pay fathers for doing the same exact work. If we didn’t actually solve those three things, what’s the point of even telling girls to go to college? What’s the point of even telling them they can be everything or anything when we’re just again perpetuating them in this cycle of oppression and inequality?
So I stepped down from Girls Who Code, and I’ve built Moms First, over the past year and a half, up to a grassroots movement of over half a million moms and supporters. We’re fighting for three things: childcare, paid leave, and equal pay. And it’s not just about a single piece of legislation or a workplace policy or about getting equal pay. It’s all three. They’re all interconnected.”
On the broken narrative of success:
“I think the big lie is essentially that if we only fix women, we can have equality. So again, what we keep telling women is that if you just raised your hand, if you just leaned in harder, if you just ‘girlbossed’ your way to the top… Just think about the whole conversation about equal pay. What we tell women, usually, is you’re just not negotiating well enough.
But that’s going one woman at a time rather than saying the entire structure of how we compensate women is wrong, and we actually have to build an algorithm or audit our pay policies. Those are the structural changes that we have to make instead of telling women, ‘The problem is you. You just didn’t negotiate for yourself.’
Everything around ‘the big lie’ is about making women feel like they’re the problem. They’re not the problem. The structure is the problem. Workplaces are the problem. And, even basic things like workdays are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and school days are 8:30 am to 3:00 pm. We’re just setting women up to fail by having these structures in place that are leading to us, again, never being able to truly succeed. We’re not set up to succeed. We’ve never been set up to succeed.”
On how the future of women and work will be different than we think:
“Why it’s different than you think is that I’m not going to tell you how to fix yourself. I’m not going to tell you, yet again, how to just get a mentor, get a sponsor, or learn how to negotiate.
I’m going to walk you through the history of how workplaces have never been set up for women. And I’m going to give you strategies that are radically different than the strategies that you’ve been given. The vast majority of women that participate in an ERG are not taught how to ask for childcare. They’re not taught how to take your paid leave and not feel guilty about it. They’re taught how to learn another skillset. Get a sponsor. Be more confident.
But when you do those things, and you still feel like you’re barely making it again, you think something is wrong with you. No. Something is actually wrong with the system as it’s been set up.”
On the cultural change necessary to begin to support working moms:
“We do not value what we do not aspire to be. And being a mom, in America, is often times not something so many people aspire to be. Because, too often, motherhood in America is not seen as something that is respected and valued and dignified. Consider even the fact that we have countless school shootings and every day mothers, like me, have to drop off our children at school and not know if we’re going to see them again. That we continue to allow that to happen in this country just shows the lack of value and respect we have for the role of mothers and for our children.
So, to me, that’s cultural. Culturally, we have to become a society that says, we need to support mothers and we need to support children. Well, that means that one in four women should not have to go back to work less than two weeks after having a baby when they’re wearing an adult diaper. That means that we shouldn’t have daycare that’s not safe or that’s not affordable. We shouldn’t have parents piecing it together because, as a society, we want people to have children. Innovation dies in a nation when you have a declining birth rate, and, right now in the United States, we have a declining birth rate.”
On what women can do:
“I think that we have to fight. I think that we need to ask for what we need. I think we need to stop apologizing. I think we need to not think something is wrong with us and instead see the system as broken and demand for it to change. Right now, we’re in the middle of doing a Moms First Challenge. I joke that when we went on godaddy.com to get the URL for Moms First, it was available, because the idea of putting yourself first is very radical.
So, how do you teach that? In the first week of our challenge, we did that by having women write down all of the tasks of unpaid labor that you do. This week, we said to do something for yourself. In my case, I’ve had a horrible stomach virus where I need to be on a pretty extensive set of antibiotics, and I put it off for four years because it was never the right time. This week, I’m doing it. I’m canceling my week if I don’t feel well, and the world will be okay. So many women put off their doctors appointments and the things they need to do for themselves because we don’t live in a society that allows us to put ourselves first. We’ve been conditioned to think that that’s selfish.
Also, statistically, a lot of women will quit rather than saying ‘I can’t get on a call at 6 p.m. because that’s dinner time for my family.’ Or ‘I’m not going to travel three days a week because I have a young child.’ But they would rather quit than say, ‘hey, this is what I need.’”
On the impact she wishes for it all to add up to:
“I want to finish the fight for gender equality. And I will tell you that the most ambitious thing I’ve ever done is Moms First. It is so hard. It’s so hard and a lot of people have tried and have been trying.
But I cannot tell you how much, I believe that this – childcare, pay equity, paid leave – is central to women’s equality. I literally say, ‘why am I even bothering to tell my students to get educated when they’re going to get into the workforce and just get pushed out the minute they choose to become a mother?’
At the same time, getting these changes in place is not rocket science. So, it’s ironic. It’s not climate change, but it is climate change. It’s not as hard to move and shift behavior. It’s a policy change, but it’s so challenging for this country to move along and say, ‘yes, we must do this.’”
On the necessary cultural pivot:
“We’ve been indoctrinated to think that women are the problem or even men are the problem. Men are not even part of this conversation. They’re not the ones standing in the way of us getting our benefits or getting these support mechanisms. It’s a cultural change that we have to make. It’s the shift to seeing that childcare is an economic issue, not a personal issue – that in and of itself. If we started to say that childcare is not a personal problem that we have to solve. It is literally an economic issue that the country has to fix. If you made that one change, it would move mountains in terms of women’s economic freedom.
I think we have to decide, though, are women in the workforce a nice to have or a must-have? Nearly 60% of Americans still believe that one parent should stay at home with a child. So, that’s the cultural impediment that you’re trying to move. I always say a perfect world is where women have the choice to move in and out of the workforce with freedom. But it’s not even possible anymore to live in a one-income household. We’re almost living in the 1950s with that idea, when it was, but it’s not possible anymore.
So, if it’s not possible, knowing that, if we were to create society from scratch today, we would create a very different society. I was talking to a behavioral economist who was saying you would create more options for part-time work that was satisfying and fulfilling that paid well. You would think about this differently.
But it’s almost like we’re refusing to think about this differently. Even with the pandemic and how much society refused to accept remote work. I think something like 66% of employers are now back in the office even though we learned that flexibility was actually good for families. But the resistance towards doing something new is radical. That’s why what I am trying to do right now is so ambitious – because the headwinds against change are so strong in this country. But that has to change.”
To read more from Reshma Saujani, follow her on social media @ReshmaSaujani
Interviewed by Aimee Hansen
How To Optimize Your Leadership Effectiveness When Working from Home
Career Advice, Career Tip of the Week!According to recent YouGov statistics, women place more emphasis on the importance of job flexibility than their male colleagues. Not only do 57% of women say that flexible working hours are very important (compared to 44% of men), but almost three-quarters of female respondents (72%) said they want a flexible working location compared to just 57% of men.
When it comes to leadership roles, further research suggests that remote working arrangements give more women the opportunity to be in positions of responsibility. In fact, of the 129 remote companies surveyed, 29% had women in leadership positions (CEO, founder or president). Meanwhile, for traditional companies on the Fortune 500 list, this figure sits below 5%.
In this blog post, we will explore a variety of tips and best practices for optimizing leadership effectiveness while working from home. Whether you’re a seasoned remote worker or are still acclimatizing to the modern working world, this guide will provide valuable insights for cultivating productivity, engagement, and overall success.
Encourage constructive feedback/have individual check-ins
Among the many challenges of remote working is the potential feeling of disconnectedness between team members. When in-person meetings happen less frequently and those impromptu morning catch-ups go by the wayside, it’s harder to form meaningful professional relationships with your teammates.
While it’s incumbent upon each team member to make a concerted effort to form these bonds, ultimately the manager has a pivotal role in generating that team spirit and feeling of belonging.
There are a number of ways in which this can be accomplished, but organizing one-to-one check-ins can be a great starting point. Encourage your staff to come to these meetings with honest feedback about things the team or you as an individual could do differently to enhance their wellbeing in the workplace.
Not only do these regular meetings provide the opportunity for virtual contact, but they’re also a great way to ascertain the thoughts and feelings of the team. If they feel able to provide feedback and know that it’s going to be taken seriously, that can go a long way to helping them feel part of the bigger picture.
Balance the company’s needs with the people’s
One of the biggest battles for any business owner is striking a balance between pursuing long-term goals with the individual needs of their employees. Often, owners and managers can become preoccupied with setting KPIs and tracking metrics that the human element to the world of business can be an afterthought. Essentially, leaders need to consider how they can support staff to have a healthy split between their work and personal lives, whilst also ensuring the company continues to move forward.
For some, work and life has been easier to balance since working remotely, with the removal of commutes giving professionals some extra time back each day. For others, the expectation to always be ‘online’ and constant temptation to check back in after working hours makes it difficult to detach themselves from their professional responsibilities.
According to research, women are more likely to do informal work to promote DEI within their company. Female leaders are also more likely to support the ‘people’ side of the business, advocating for the wellbeing of their colleagues and offering support in managing their workloads and personal challenges. However, while this ‘extra-curricular’ support can be invaluable to employees, it can often lead to female professionals overburdening themselves and sacrificing their own wellbeing as a result.
As a manager, it’s important you lead by example, and set your own boundaries when it comes to working hours. You should make it clear when you can and can’t be contacted for work-related issues – consider setting your hours on your digital calendar or workplace communication platform. Not only will this provide clarity around when people can expect a response from you, but it will also hopefully encourage them to do the same, and keep a clear distinction between work and personal life.
Develop your communication skills
Strong communication is one of the most important aspects of effective leadership, but this can be more difficult to demonstrate when face-to-face conversations are no longer an option. When exclusively communicating to colleagues via online communication tools, there is more opportunity for words to be misinterpreted, which could mean they end up having a harmful effect on the team. At the same time, you want to make your presence felt as a leader, and avoid going days without having any contact with your colleagues.
To get the most out of these digital communication tools, it’s important to understand the role of different platforms. For example, you may not need to organize a virtual meeting to discuss a minor query about a piece of work. Not only is this disruptive to your colleagues’ schedules, but the message is likely to be diluted when communicated in this way. Think carefully about the appropriate times to use emails, instant messaging platforms, phone calls or video conferencing, to streamline your communication and have a more positive impact on the wider team.
By: Elizabeth Fletcher – She writes posts designed to help businesses and employees to come together and create a productive, healthy workplace. She believes that good communication and collaboration are key to a happy working life.
(The opinions and views of guest contributions are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com).
Graciella Dominguez: Vice President of Investment Operations, Operations and Innovations, PGIM
Movers and Shakers, PeopleFrom Numbers to Relationships
Dominguez was drawn to accounting due to her love of numbers – concepts like credits and debits that felt concrete and measurable. She began working for Ernst & Young while in college, and then joined Prudential a year after graduating. After switching to a smaller firm for a few years to try out auditing, she returned to PGIM, Prudential’s global asset management firm, where she has been for 23 years.
“That brief experience in auditing really challenged me and gave me a lot of confidence in going to different places, interacting with different people and tracking with different levels,” she says. “It was pivotal for my career, but it wasn’t for me long-term, so I brought what I learned back to PGIM.”
PGIM has grown tremendously during her career, and so has she. Although Dominguez went into accounting because of a love for numbers, her work focused just as much on supporting people as she stepped into leadership.
“You really have to push yourself in areas of unexpected growth. When I started as an accountant, I didn’t realize that interacting with people and building relationships was going to be more central to my experience,” she says. “I have been able to grow my relationships, and they are so important – and rewarding – in accomplishing greater things.”
Facing the Toughest Experiences as a Mother
“What has been most pivotal in my career, and truly in my life, was when I became a mom,” says Dominguez. When it comes to the challenge of dividing your energies between work and home as a working mother, nobody understands what that means more than she does. She lost her 11 year-old son, Alexander, five years ago. Throughout her son’s life journey, Dominguez worked, mostly full-time. One of her key motivators was providing for her son and his needs.
“I think we as women have to lean into all of our experiences. For me, that included leaning into being a mom of a child with special needs. It shaped me both as a person and as a professional,” she says. “I learned from his great strength, determination and courage in his short life.”
Alexander was born medically fragile, immunocompromised, hearing impaired, legally blind and ultimately unable to walk. While parenting a child with several medical needs, Dominguez had to find her voice in advocating for what was important when it mattered most.
“Being a mom to a child with so many medical complexities gave me the confidence to speak up and say, ‘No, I don’t agree with that. I don’t agree with how you’re going to treat my son,’” she says. “And that same confidence to speak up for what I believe crossed over into my work.”
Her motherhood has also inspired her to be a more empathetic leader. “As a leader, I’m more compassionate now,” she says. “Because I understand that people have so much more going on than you see at work. You don’t know the challenges people are facing day in and day out. Everybody has a story.”
She continues, “But at the same time I also expect a lot from people, because I saw my son, who was completely disabled, and his friends who faced the same conditions, show up for school every day with a smile and ready to work. That inspired me and really shaped me. Witnessing that has given me the courage to face anything. That is how I honor his legacy to make him proud.”
Dominguez describes her son as a social butterfly with a sparkling personality and smile that shone through no matter what challenges life threw at him. Knowing him has pushed her to get out of her comfort zone – as an introverted person – and show up more with her own voice to share her story and her son’s legacy.
“I hope sharing my story can inspire people to learn how both amazing and fragile life is,” she reflects. “We all have these gifts and abilities to do good things, so never take that for granted.”
Working with Integrity as a Core Value
Being detail- and research-oriented has supported Dominguez throughout her career, as well as her principle of doing due diligence for the work and her clients. Integrity is the most important value to her – being who you are, being true to yourself and leaning into your experiences.
As such, Dominguez is inspired by leaders who show openness and truly embody their words and what they stand for. “I admire the leaders who truly act and behave from who they say they are and who show up as their authentic selves,” she says. “I respect integrity.”
When approaching any challenge, Dominguez emphasizes process – taking the necessary extra steps and knowing the why behind every decision you make. This comes to the forefront especially when bringing junior members on board – helping them learn processes in a way that helps them appreciate each step and helping them question each decision. She aims to always rise to the challenge to do the best, most complete job for the task at hand.
Using Her Voice as a Latina Woman
As the daughter of Cuban immigrants, Dominguez prizes hard work. “My family came to this country seeking freedom, and that’s not lost on me. My family left everything and sacrificed so much. Their experience instilled in me a strong work ethic,” she says. “My grandparents and my parents (who immigrated as adolescents) understood the importance of education and hard work to succeed amidst challenges, and that drives me. I want to honor their legacy, and my son’s, with how I show up in my own life.”
Dominguez appreciates working in a culture that also values high integrity and high standards, and emphasizes diversity and inclusion. She is also co-founder of the PGIM Operations & Innovation Latinx Networking group.
“Representation is really important to me as a Latina woman. Earlier in my career I used to observe women in more senior positions. I love working for a company that really values diversity of backgrounds and perspectives, and puts so much effort into their initiatives for diversity and inclusion,” she says. “It’s really important to me to use my voice and honor all the women who paved the way for me. I am also trying to pave the way for other women. I don’t take that responsibility lightly.”
For those beginning to make their mark in the professional world, whom she also learns from, she advises, “Be yourself. Hard work and integrity pay off at the end of the day. Be yourself and be open to possibilities.”
Reflecting back she says, “I wish I would have been kinder to myself as a young mom. Challenges can look so big sometimes, but you will climb them and be successful, and it’s going to be OK.”
Kindness, More Kindness, and Service
“The more I go through life, the more I realize we do not know what challenges people have every day,” reiterates Dominguez. “So above all, we need to practice kindness towards ourselves and others.”
Classically trained in piano, Dominguez has also returned to playing piano since leaving it behind in her early 20s. She is remembering how to read music again and starting out first with greatest hits.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Dominguez is passionate about volunteerism and giving back to the community. She is on the finance council and works with children at her church. In honor of Alexander’s birthday each year, Dominguez and her husband collect and donate books to Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, the local hospital where their son spent so much of his time.
By Aimee Hansen
Fabiola Gutierrez-Orozco: R&D Director, Global Nutrition Science, Reckitt
People, Voices of ExperienceGutierrez-Orozco speaks candidly about the challenges she has overcome since leaving home at 13 to pursue her education, and the inner growth journey she is pursuing while stepping into a senior global leadership role in STEM. Coming from San Luis Potosi in Central Mexico to the U.S. to obtain a Master’s degree in Human Nutrition, Gutierrez-Orozco was drawn to nutrition science, gut health and the microbiome. One year before obtaining her PhD, she realized she didn’t want a career in academia. Upon graduation, she joined the business world, working in pediatric nutrition, which allowed her to stretch her scientific research foundation into applied nutrition and allowed her to continue to constantly learn.
Perspective and resilience have carried her to where she is today: “Earning my Master’s and Doctoral degrees wasn’t an easy road – coming from Mexico, moving to the U.S., being the first one in many generations in my family to earn a college degree, and then go onto graduate school,” she notes.
“It has been both resilience and the desire to do better not just for myself, but for my family. Initially, the reason I came to the U.S. was to improve my education so I could access better jobs and provide financial help to my family,” she shares.
Indeed, so many factors at a cultural level in Gutierrez-Orozco’s life have challenged her to create mental and emotional resilience. At 13 years old, she had to leave her parent’s house and her hometown in rural Mexico and rent an apartment in a nearby city to be able to attend high school. She then moved farther away for college before moving countries and coming to the U.S. for her Master and PhD degrees.
Cultural Challenges Beyond Her Peers
Incredibly, Gutierrez-Orozco took on a STEM graduate education whilst learning to express herself in English. “I didn’t speak English when I first came here in 2006. I had all the grammar in my head. I could write and read and understand what people said. But, while in class, if the professor asked me a question, I had the answer in my head. I just couldn’t say it.”
She also had to unlearn the need to hide that she was gay. “I had a relationship in Mexico that was in the closet because my family was raised strictly Catholic. So coming here, and trying to find my way out of that was another big change for me.”
While in grad school, Gutierrez-Orozco also perceived that she was not as primed for success as her student peers. “Honestly, growing up in public schools in Mexico, I don’t think I received the best education compared to other people in the same graduate program as me. I always felt a little behind and tried to work harder to catch up and do well.”
That same feeling followed her to the workplace, being self-conscious about other’s projections around her accent or when she comes across unfamiliar words at first exposure – “I can always find the meaning through context, but I often feel like I have to be paying extra attention to keep up.” She credits her wife and daughters, English native speakers, for being fluent now.
The Mindset Shift of Leaping To a Big Leadership Role
In April of 2022, Gutierrez-Orozco was promoted to a senior leadership role, managing a 24-person team of scientists, many with PhDs in chemistry, biochemistry or nutrition. While she’s held managerial roles since 2018, Gutierrez-Orozco has focused her growth on transitioning her mindset from that of an individual contributor to that of a global team leader.
“In my previous managerial roles, I still had at least 50% of an individual contributor role. However, in my current role, I don’t know everything anymore. I don’t have the time to read all the science that I want to read,” she says. “So I’m learning to be okay with not knowing everything and finishing my work day without seeing tangible results because so much of what I have to do now is strategic work. Losing that sense of tangible accomplishment has been a struggle.”
She’s also learned to separate her work-style preferences from what is needed to inspire a team: “I have never liked being the center of attention or the object of recognition,” she admits. “I’m really trying to remind myself that just because I don’t feel comfortable being recognized, doesn’t mean my team members don’t need, and obviously deserve, that recognition.”
Confronting Imposter Syndrome with Executive Coaching
Experiencing imposter syndrome led her to seek out help in confidence-
building and owning her worth – despite cultural messaging – through executive coaching.
“Working with Nicki Gilmour on my leadership journey has really helped me reflect on how these thoughts and the belief that ‘I am not enough’ are holding me back from growing, not just in my role but as a person and leader,” she says. “Coaching has also helped me reflect on ways in which I can leverage my background to help others that might have a similar experience. Lastly, coaching has given me the confidence and courage to move forward on my growth journey as a leader. I know I am not going to get it right at first, or all the time, but I am willing to try and learn.”
To dial down the voices of self-doubt, Gutierrez-Orozco also reminds herself why she took this role in the first place: to provide support and guidance at a time when the entire team was experiencing a significant lack of stability and optimism because her company had just gone through a wave of layoffs that impacted many people in her department. Therefore, when she begins to doubt, she can focus on the good she is doing serving her team. She also reminds herself that her work is not about perfection, but is rather about showing up every day and being there for others.
Modeling Authenticity and Vulnerability As a Leader
One way Gutierrez-Orozco has leveraged her background is by being open at work about who she is, where she grew up, and her life with her wife and family. She also shares when she struggles with anxiety and depression. The impact of her authenticity and her vulnerability has given her team members permission to be real, too, and it has strengthened the group overall, allowing them to work closely together more effectively, and therefore deliver on the company objectives.
“Inside my team, I’ve had an impact with people being willing to share what they might be struggling with and being able to express the need for support. Some have shared that it’s been such a change in the past year”, she says. “In the past, if someone was struggling and brought it up, especially a female, management would have thought that person was just being weak or whining. Or if a woman spoke up and shared her mind in a meeting – and this happened to me, too – she may have been portrayed as too emotional. However, when a man did it, it wouldn’t be looked upon that way.”
She continues: “So I feel there’s been more openness to really be who you are at the workplace. And I believe that when people can truly be themselves at work, they are more engaged, satisfied, and effective,” she says, “So that’s an impact I feel I have had in my team.”
Sharing Your Voice and Not Self-Sacrificing
Gutierrez-Orozco is grateful for the mentorship of a previous manager who brought her to Reckitt through a postdoctoral internship, instilled faith in her abilities and encouraged her to share the value of her voice in the room.
“I will never forget what he told me: ‘People are wanting to hear from you. You have so much to share, so make sure you’re speaking up,’” she recalls. “I often remember that phrase and though I don’t like to be the center of attention, I remind myself I should just speak up, anyway.”
Reflecting on her past, Gutierrez-Orozco would challenge her younger self on the notion that in order to advance in her career, she had to sacrifice important parts of her life, like spending four years away from her wife and daughters and driving ten hours in a weekly commute between cities. Now, she realizes that, even then, she had a choice. It’s about retaining perspective on what’s most important.
“In my team, we’re all scientists and we want to get things done and we want them to be perfect, so we give our best and go above and beyond,” she says. “But I always like to remind my team that the job is important, but so are your health and family. While there are times when you may have to work extra hours to meet your objectives, doing so is never sustainable in the long run.”
You Have More Options Than You Think
Gutierrez-Orozco has learned over the years that part of her success also results from choosing and investing time in hobbies that provide stimulation and relaxation. She lives with a family of runners, and she prioritizes time that allows her to participate in that activity with her wife and daughters. In the last two years, she’s also begun woodworking, and she’s already made a few pieces of furniture.
This same mentality of being aware and having choice applies to career paths. Her daughter Toby is graduating from high school this summer and plans to pursue a biochemistry degree in college, and her daughter Sasha will graduate from college next year with a degree in dental hygiene. “It is great to see their love for science. The beauty of science is that there are so many routes you can go,” she says.
Gutierrez-Orozco emphasizes to her own daughters, and to any young women interested in science, “that you don’t have to choose the whole PhD route. If you begin in science, there are so many options you will have on how to apply that, so don’t feel like you must have everything figured out from the start.”
As she’s learned, there is always more than one choice in any situation – if you only free yourself to make it.
By Aimee Hansen
Four Reasons Leaders Need to Look After their Well-being
Career Advice, Career Tip of the Week!Many professional women often feel additional pressure to prove themselves hardworking, especially when leading in male-dominated industries. However, problems can arise when we overwork ourselves so much that our well-being suffers and the ability to lead effectively diminishes with it.
Here are four important reasons leaders need to protect, not sacrifice, their well-being.
Rest is essential for protecting mental and physical well-being
Good quality sleep is essential for maintaining physical and mental health. Sleep deprivation can inhibit cognitive function, meaning that you can’t perform at your best when you’re tired. Plus, chronic sleep deprivation can lead to depression, anxiety, and stress, all of which can affect work.
Stress is both a cause and symptom of poor sleep, so it’s common to become stuck in a cycle of stress leading to insomnia, leading to further stress, and so on. This cycle can only be stopped when you consciously adopt a healthy sleep hygiene routine and incorporate positive stress management tactics into your day.
Work is a leading cause of stress and subsequent sleep problems, with around 80% of workers in the USA experiencing work-related stress. Those in leadership positions are particularly susceptible to excess stress because they carry more responsibility and are ultimately accountable for their team’s work.
Make sure you put firm limits on your working hours and avoid working late into the night to give yourself time to switch off from work. Many leaders find it helpful to gently unwind before bed by doing gentle exercise, meditating, journaling, taking a bath or reading a book. Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day can also help your body find its natural sleep rhythm, meaning you’ll find it easier to fall asleep.
Self-care habits can support productive routines
When you schedule self-care habits into your daily routine, you’re likely to become more productive overall. Our minds can become overwhelmed with lists, tasks, and issues, which may make us reluctant to make time to exercise, indulge in a creative hobby, or prepare a healthy meal.
However, it’s important to take regular breaks from work and allow yourself the time to write down all your to-do’s, make a plan, and take a moment to breathe. Prioritizing self-care is essential for alleviating stress, and when you schedule specific self-care activities in your breaks, you’re less likely to skip them.
Many self-care habits help you to refresh your mind and return to work with greater focus. For example, art and craft activities boost dopamine levels, which aids the creation of neurons in order to promote focus and aid productivity. It might sound counterintuitive, but working less could help you to achieve more if you replace work with activities that nourish your well-being.
Protecting well-being prevents burnout
Burnout is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion that occurs after a long period of chronic stress. It affects focus and productivity, and it tends to generate an uncharacteristic sense of apathy toward work. When someone feels burned out, they can’t function professionally to their full capacity. If they continue to push themselves at work despite experiencing burnout, they run the risk of developing depression or anxiety.
Burnout seems to affect women more than men, especially for those in managerial and leadership positions. A 2021 study found that 49% of women in senior leadership roles reported feeling burned out, as opposed to only 38% of men in similar jobs. This means it’s particularly important for professional women to protect their well-being and create clear boundaries between their work and their personal lives.
Modeling healthy habits inspires team members
A workforce with good physical and mental well-being is likely to be more productive and require fewer sick days than a workforce that is stressed and physically unhealthy. As a leader, it’s your job to support your employees’ well-being to ensure your team operates to its full potential. By prioritizing your self-care, you can lead by example and encourage your team members to look after themselves, too.
Good leaders inspire their teams, and although it’s important to inspire hard work, there’s a fine line between hard work and overwork. If a leader works incredibly long hours with few breaks, their team members might feel pressure to do the same – despite the damage, this can do to their mental health and well-being.
When you encourage a healthy work-life balance and create a culture of self-care in your workplace, you help your team feel inspired to look after their own health, making them more able to perform at their best.
Prioritize your wellbeing to become a better leader
When you take care of your physical and emotional well-being, not only do you protect your ability to lead successfully but you also become a better, more effective leader. Make sure you get plenty of rest and stack up your healthy self-care habits to lead your team to great heights of success.
By: Lucy Ranger is a business development executive who has acquired more than 15 years of experience in the industry. Away from her remote office, Lucy is passionate about sustainability, and regularly volunteers in her local community to help with various clean-up projects and initiatives.
(The opinions and views of guest contributions are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com).
Mikaylee O’Connor: Principal, Senior Defined Contribution Strategist, PGIM DC Solutions
People, Voices of ExperienceMoving From Her Comfort Zone
Growing up in a small Oregon town, O’Connor was put on the Montessori track with an emphasis on independent thinking and hands-on learning. She then skipped middle school, while being home-schooled and spending her time in the stables, riding horses. She graduated high school at 17 and was off to Portland State University.
As a finance graduate, O’Connor joined a local investment consulting firm, RVK, as an investment analyst. She stayed for almost 13 years, working her way up while advising clients on pensions, 401k plans, and endowment foundations, to eventually becoming Head of Defined Contributions (DC). In 2020, she craved a new challenge.
“When you feel like you’re in your comfort zone, it’s the right time to maybe see about getting outside of that comfort zone. I wanted to do more strategic thinking, be a little more creative and be part of a movement to help the DC industry forward and find better solutions for everyday people,” she says.
In the start of 2021, she joined PGIM as a senior DC strategist and, this past February, she became a principal. O’Connor enjoys the ‘think tank’ atmosphere of her team: “We’re always asking, ‘What is the problem out in the market and how can PGIM and Prudential as a company come together to solve these problems and deliver solutions?’”
Embracing the New Challenge
“In my experience, the consulting world is very much for people who like to be constantly challenged,” she notes. “Every client project provides something new – new content, new research, new ways of presenting materials, or simply, adjusting to different personalities.”
O’Connor finds that everything depends upon how you approach those challenges: getting frustrated or seeing each as an invitation to grow. Receiving the support of mentors and advocates has been critical to rolling with new challenges. As she’s become senior, providing that same support to junior associates has been essential and rewarding.
She’s also learned to stay open to what she doesn’t yet know: “If you’re constantly trying to learn new things, you have to be humble to the fact that you don’t know everything,” she advises. “It’s important to surround yourself with different voices and perspectives so that when you’re trying to solve problems or provide solutions, you have that 360-degree view instead of looking only right in front of you.”
Opening to More Possibilities
O’Connor is known to give an unfiltered view of what she is thinking and play her own part in widening the conversation in any meeting.
“I push us to think differently or to have a different view on what we’re trying to solve. I often bring the end-user to the table,” she reflects. “Let’s put ourselves in the position of the person that’s going to be using this product or solution. How would they go about doing this or that?”
Despite being in a predominantly white male industry, O’Connor had the opportunity to work under a female CEO at RVK and with many female shareholders throughout her career. But when becoming involved in industry organizations, the gender skew became salient. Her approach to being underestimated by male peers was simple: “I would feel compassion for them because, at the end of the day, that’s their own challenge, not mine.”
But mostly, she has leveraged being a unique voice in the room to help her challenge the status quo.
“I’ve always been one to point out that just because we’ve done it this way in the past doesn’t mean we need to do it this way going forward. What are we missing? What should we be thinking about differently?” she says. “Having both that fresh perspective and high conviction about thinking about problems and solutions differently doesn’t always make people feel good. But I like a good debate and being uncomfortable talking about things, because we are only going to grow more through it.”
Adapting For Your Audience and Your Team Members
“Whether it’s your boss, client or a prospect, reading the room and adjusting how you approach the situation and your communication style matters to being effective,” says O’Connor.
Being able to adapt to and apply different ways of learning and communicating has been a powerful component in her ability to meet people where they are and create the momentum that drives results. Equally, sitting on the extrovert-introvert cusp, O’Connor highly values adapting her approach to hearing all voices in the room, including considering the different ways they may need to be heard.
“You have extroverts and introverts. You have people who need more time to think and you have people who can come up with ideas right on the spot in the meeting,” she says. “In order to capture all of the different great ideas, concerns and considerations, you have to consider how to make sure that you’re getting what you need from each of them, and that you make them all feel included.”
Reframing for Confidence
Shifting her mindset to increase her confidence has helped O’Connor to take on bigger roles.
“In the past, despite being overly prepared for a client meeting or discussion, I would still feel nervous,” she recalls. “But one mentor in particular assured me, again and again, that I knew more about the topic than anyone in that room. Over time, it shifted my perspective from being the ‘victim of scary stares and expectations’ to a ‘person with important information to share.’ I shifted to see that I’m going in there as a teacher.”
Now she loves to speak in front of an audience and does so often. Another learning curve has been around the challenge of leadership.
“I can be a perfectionist and always want to do things correctly, but when you’re in charge of people and emotions, that’s a different skillset and a different realm of understanding how to deal with things,” she says. “It takes a lot of listening and stepping back to ask how you can best support each of these individuals. Ultimately, their success is also my success.”
She’s also learned to always ask for feedback and to create an environment where people feel comfortable giving it.
Meanwhile, O’Connor has recently been unlearning multi-tasking as a leader: “I’ve been working on mindfulness and there’s a huge benefit to focusing your attention on one thing at a time. I’m much more active and creative when I get rid of distractions.”
Focusing on Internal Gratification
“By focusing on internal gratification, I’ve naturally been given more opportunities without necessarily focusing on what I have to do to get to the next step or to get promoted, because those are external focuses,” she notes. “By doing what I want to do – to grow and to learn and to do it for myself – I’ve just had those opportunities come to me.”
For years, O’Connor has been doing a self-review after meetings to consider whether she could have done anything better or differently. While it can be exhausting, it helps her grow and creates internal gratification.
“I would encourage women to focus internally and not worry so much about external steps and getting to the next one,” she says, “because then you’re doing the work for someone else instead of yourself.”
Being Human, First
O’Connor appreciates how PGIM Quantitative Solutions CEO Linda Gibson shows strength in her role and humanness in her communications.
“Linda has brought a sense of ‘we’re all just people.’ We’re all trying to do the same thing and nobody needs to be on a pedestal,” she says. “She can talk to you in the office just like anybody. It’s refreshing.”
O’Connor observes that since the pandemic and remote offices, more people are breaking down barriers and hierarchy, while seeing everyone as individuals and not just as employees.
“If we want to bring out the best in ourselves, we also have to show that we’re all humans and we all have things going on,” she says. “We can normalize that. But also, how do we take that change and use it to create a more cohesive and better company? Our relationships can be stronger because I can relate to you on something I didn’t know before.”
Speaking of which, O’Connor finds travel to be good for the soul, and enjoys seeking out AirBnBs and boutique stays with her husband while getting out of their comfort zones and taking in the cultures wherever they are exploring, most recently the Swedish Lapland in the forests of the Arctic circle, with saunas and cold plunges. Iceland is another favorite. Closer to home, she likes scouting out new atmospheric spots for a great meal in New York.
By Aimee Hansen
Neutral Thinking: The Key to Hard Conversations and Hard Decisions
Career Advice, Career Tip of the Week!, NewsCorporate leaders and professionals face difficult decisions and conversations daily. The key is to check their emotions and express themselves in a way that remains neutral and makes them proud.
Why Are Hard Conversations and Decisions Challenging?
There are a few reasons many managers avoid hard conversations and decisions:
Leadership may be known for avoiding talking to employees about hard topics, whether it’s firing someone, demoting them, issuing blame, addressing low productivity or resolving office conflicts. In fact, more companies are ditching the nail-biting year-end reviews for regular touchpoints focusing on goal-setting and open dialogue just to temper negative emotions.
Yet, despite the possibility of all these behavioral outcomes, 54% of leaders have indicated that conflictual discussions spark team engagement and uncover potential growth areas. However, they must engage employees with respect, transparency and prime leadership skills to avoid damaging outcomes.
Gender differences in communication styles significantly impact reactions. Women typically approach conversations with compassion and rapport, while men often lean into facts and problem-solving. Regardless of one’s method, learning to strike a balance is crucial.
6 Strategies for Having Hard Conversations
Your approach to difficult discussions with people can make or break spirits and significantly impact workplace morale. A 2019 Gallup survey found that a mere 10.4% of employees remained engaged at work following negative feedback — another four out of five sought other employment.
Fortunately, honing in on your leadership skills and aiming for neutrality is the best way to decide on and deliver bad news. Here are six strategies that will help you master hard conversations.
1. Create a Planned Approach
Develop a list of bullet points you want to discuss during your meeting. Having the most essential topics in front of you will keep you on track. Just be sure not to write out a script, as conversations rarely go the way you’ve planned.
A well-thought-out approach to challenging discussions with employees or co-workers ensures greater authenticity and a free-flowing discourse.
2. Practice Empathy
Emotional contagion is an alignment of emotions — if a person smiles at someone, they’ll most likely trigger a smile in return. When approaching difficult conversations, empathy goes a long way. The receiver of bad news will take cues from facial expressions, prompting a particular reaction. Likewise, a response may stem from the voice or tone used during indirect communication, such as online or on the phone.
Research suggests that women have an easier time with emotional contagion than men. One study even found that female babies cried for longer when they heard another crying.
However, empathy doesn’t come easily to everyone — some people need to practice it. Demonstrating emotional contagion, whether through facial cues or tone, will help regulate the receiver’s reactions and result in positive communication.
3. Listen and Observe
An effective leader engages in active listening and open communication to reach a solution. That means you should focus more on the other person’s words during conversations.
These one-on-one meetings don’t need to feel like an attack. Ask open-ended questions and allow employees to share their take on a situation. For instance, if someone struggles to meet deadlines, have them explain their challenges, then repeat what they shared to show you understand — “To be clear, you’re saying that knowledge gaps require more time to go over directions than doing the actual work.”
The attention and respect you offer by listening to your employees may result in a more favorable outcome than you initially thought, such as providing additional training. It may also be that they’ve taken on more responsibility than one person can handle, which leaders can step in and help delegate.
4. Face the Hard Stuff Head-On
Some decisions and conversations may be uncomfortable, but being direct often results in more profound respect and better workplace relationships. Nothing will ever get done if you constantly avoid potential conflicts and avoidance could worsen personality clashes and negative behaviors.
People who avoid hard conversations might purposefully overlook problems, joke their way through confrontations, change the topic or bottle up their emotions until they explode. Many put off having conversations indefinitely.
A more direct approach — even if it’s something positive like negotiating a raise or promotion — should encourage back-and-forth communication — this style comes across as less threatening to both parties. It might also be best to give the receiver some times to cool down and reflect on the discussion before continuing.
5. Avoid Absorbing Negative Emotions
While an effective leader should have empathetic tendencies, injecting too much empathy into hard conversations could lead to you absorbing negative feelings — also known as emotional contagion.
It’s crucial to create separation between what you need to get across and how the person responds. You can expect pushback in some instances or meltdowns, but protecting yourself is essential.
Imagine putting up a shield to block negativity or envision yourself wearing armor — this helps build up your resilience to say what you need. The key to emotional neutrality is to stay grounded. Of course, if a hard conversation ends badly, withdrawing to a quiet place will help you regroup and regain composure.
6. Stay Positive
It’s easy to anticipate discourse going array and for someone to fly off the handle. However, not all hard conversations end badly, and addressing complicated topics can have several benefits. When you approach these discussions positively, they’re more likely to be constructive than disastrous.
Hard conversations done correctly could result in an employee that strives harder to meet deadlines, boosts productivity and collaboration, feels more engaged and better aligns themselves with the company’s mission. It could also improve employee attitudes and reduce conflict.
Complex decision-making and conversations will become second nature in time because you’ll expect positive changes and relationships.
Stay Neutral for More Positive Interactions
It’s possible that you’ll never particularly enjoy giving negative feedback and criticism. You may especially dislike letting someone go or engaging in uncomfortable discourse about diversity and inclusion. But as you’re aware, these conversations are crucial and may present the best outcome for the company.
Mia Barnes is a freelance writer and researcher who specializes in mental wellbeing and workplace wellness. Mia is also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Body+Mind magazine, an online women’s health publication.
(The opinions and views of guest contributions are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com).
Tiara Henderson: Corporate and Investment Banking Head of Women’s Segment and Commercial Real Estate Head of Diverse Segments, Wells Fargo
People, Voices of ExperienceDiversifying The Advantage of Financing
As a psychology major at Davidson College, Henderson recalls, “What we learned in liberal arts was to think critically and the rest will fall in place. That skill is of paramount importance in every job or career, no matter the industry.”
During her senior year, Henderson interned for a developer, her doorway into commercial real estate and development, which led to her early career path, which included working for affordable property development (Hope VI) to mixed-income property development to Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS). She joined Wells Fargo ten years ago, originally in the Commercial Mortgage Loan and Securities Finance group which provides credit facilities to non-bank commercial real estate lenders.
Advancing to her current role in August 2021, Henderson wears many hats as both Head of Women’s Segment for Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) and Head of Diverse Segments for Commercial Real Estate (CRE). Her two roles have one mission: identifying, engaging and retaining more diverse bank clients.
“What drew me to this role was the opportunity to create something new while having an impact on women and other diverse owned and led firms. It’s the chance for me to bring them to the table and watch their platforms grow as we surround them with support, resources, and access, and not just access to capital, but access to information, people and ideas.”
She iterates that it’s not only her passion, but a Wells Fargo priority.
“Having the support of the leadership at Wells Fargo in the work that we do has been tremendous – necessary, but also tremendous,” says Henderson. “There is a positive spotlight on our group at all times and when people speak of Diverse Segments as an ‘initiative,’ senior leaders will quickly step in and say, ‘no, this is part of the fabric.’”
Building Relationships with Diverse Owners
Henderson spends her days finding and engaging with new clients, deepening relationships with existing clients and re-engaging previous clients – including outreach through panels, conferences and events. Her group, (led by Danielle Squires – Head of Diverse Segments, CIB) is set up to foster close collaboration with her banking and markets diverse segments partners to meet the multi-functional needs of a given customer. She says her people-oriented personality is core: really listening to what clients are looking for and what their needs are and making the right introductions for them.
“Because of our differentiated approach to client management, we are able to engage and have an immediate connection with clients,” she says.
Henderson’s team creates events that bring in a wide array of clients from smaller and larger diverse-owned firms. While she loves to golf, for example, some of her clients might not be drawn to such a traditional networking event. So, when her team put on the Women’s Leadership Summer last October, they tailored it to their audience.
“It’s hard to get people out of the office for three days to travel, especially when we’re talking about CEOs and women in the C-Suite,” she said. “We were hoping to get 50 or 60 people, but we had 90 women enrolled, because this was an event created and curated for women, and it resonated.”
She adds the biggest feedback she received from the women’s leadership conference was it should be longer and no suits or heels – only yoga clothes allowed. Wells Fargo is no stranger to hosting events that celebrate diversity. For example, Wells Fargo sponsors the Spoleto Festival, and last spring, her clients (some with their families) traveled to Charleston for Memorial Day weekend and the world premiere of the opera, “Omar” – based on the autobiography, translated from Arabic, of West African Muslim scholar, Omar ibn Said, who was enslaved in the Carolinas, after being captured at the age of 37. The opera was composed by Grammy-winning artist, Rhiannon Giddens.
“These events reach our clients on a deeper level and it’s why they are so successful,” says Henderson. “We are connecting in a more meaningful way, and they appreciate and enjoy engaging with Wells Fargo.”
If You See Her, You Can Be Her
Henderson can be trusted to bring candor, connection, and industry knowledge to the table. Being regularly in the room with top senior leaders to witness firsthand how strategies and ideas can be pulled apart has leveled up her own strategic thinking – for example how to engage with women or build up the CRE diverse segments platform.
“Keeping that leadership lens and the lens of ‘who is my audience’ at all times is a skill that I’ve had to sharpen and will continue to hone as we evolve our strategic priorities and throughout the implementation of our strategic plan,” she says.
As a woman of color in the banking industry, Henderson comments, “I’m competitive and I like a good challenge. If someone says ‘it can’t be done,’ well that is probably the best motivator for me.”
Recently, she wrote an internal piece: “If you can see her, you can be her” – highlighting the importance of having diverse leaders who blaze the trail since it encourages others to envision themselves as future leaders too. She notes that it has traditionally been harder to find diverse representation in banking, and cites seeing more diverse representation on the Wells Fargo CIB operating committee (eg. Kara McShane, head of CRE, the largest real estate platform in the country and her own boss, Danielle Squires), as a sign of measurable change.
“That motivates different people to envision a career in banking, because now they see the path to leadership,” says Henderson. “That can change the mosaic of our future leadership.”
But she admits she’s catching up to seeing herself as that person who others will aspire to be: “Many women in leadership roles still don’t give themselves enough credit that we are, indeed, leaders. We feel like we never get ‘there’,” she observes. “The first time someone reached out to ask for time on my calendar, I had to take a step back and realize I have gone through this 25+ year career path and people are interested in connecting with me as a leader. But I also know it’s a two-way street. There is always something we can learn from each other, no matter what your level is within an organization.”
A Personal Board of Directors and Ownership
Through experience, Henderson has observed the leadership traits she seeks to emulate, as well as those she doesn’t. She prefers the calm, confident, strategic thinker as a leadership approach, which she identifies with. One suggestion she received from a mentor was to have a personal board of directors, people who you trust and can consult for advice.
“I want the disruptor. Somebody who is always thinking of the antithesis and they’re not going to give you the answer you want to hear. They’re going to shoot it to you straight and play devil’s advocate. I also want the people who have lots of lived experience and are highly competent, who can provide the guidance that helps you stay grounded in the decisions that you make,” she says. “Also, for me, having a spiritual person is important because that helps you stay centered. Depending on what I’m contemplating, I may also need someone industry specific. Your personal board can help shape goals and strategies.”
Henderson advises her mentees to be their own best advocate and take control of their career, because no one else is going to do that for them. In her view, this has become more important versus 20 years ago in Corporate America, when people-focused middle managers would meet to talk about career paths. Now, she notes, managers tend to be product-specific experts over a product group, but that doesn’t always mean they are experts at managing people.
“I think, because of that, the onus is now on each individual employee to think through their career, their path and trajectory and bring that to their manager, whereas in the past it was more of a team effort,” she observes. “I have had some great managers who I would absolutely invite to my board of directors.”
Networking – Whether It Comes Naturally Or Not
“Networking comes naturally to some people and for others, it doesn’t. The first step is to understand which bucket you’re in,” she advises. “If you are a natural networker, find as many chances as you can to put that to use because it’s only going to be to your benefit. If you are not a good networker, you need to recognize that, number one, and focus on growing that skill.”
She points out various ways to do this for those it doesn’t come naturally to. Perhaps its networking with people in your industry, where you have more confidence. Then, perhaps expand to network with people in banking, covering different industries. But find your niche and focus on growing the skill from there.
Henderson considers herself somewhere in the middle. But she’s learned networking hacks: “If there’s an event that evening, I try to reserve some energy so that I am prepared and charged for the networking that will come into play.”
She also knows that she must be mentally prepared if the networking involves working her way around a room of 500+ people, but she’s noticed an exception to that rule: “What I’ve found is that if I speak on a panel or I’m introduced as a sponsor, I am very comfortable tearing through the room and meeting everyone afterwards,” she notes. “I can take it from there!”
A Personal Board of Supporters
One hard truth that Henderson has learned to accept is that not everyone has a vested interest in your success: “Some people are not going to be a cheerleader,” she says. But focus on the bright spots. Along with a board of directors, you also need a board of supporters and hopefully they are one in the same. Once you have shaped your strategy and goals, you need those people who are going to continue to support you and push you forward.”
As a wife and mother of a 14-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son, she’s very focused on her children’s school activities and sports. Her daughter is a “retired” competitive gymnast turned tennis player, while her son excels in any sport that ends in the word “ball” and lacrosse. He’s following in his dad’s footsteps. His dad is in the Davidson College Football Hall of Fame and, interestingly enough, also has had a long career in commercial real estate. Henderson loves going to the beach, playing golf, and sharing moments with friends and family.
5 Ways to Highlight Your Leadership Skills on Your Resume
Career Advice, Career Tip of the Week!A slick, well-organized resume is the first step to upping your profile as a leader, so choose a fresh template, and get ready to dive into the content.
Job searching can be draining, trying to get one of the highest paying jobs or even getting that interview, but you may be missing out on opportunities to craft each section of your resume so it reflects essential leadership skills, making it stand out among a sea of applications from similarly-experienced candidates.
Emphasizing crucial skills such as making tough decisions under pressure, guiding colleagues, or coming up with innovative ideas that shape the direction of projects can help propel your resume to the top of a company’s interview list. Below, we’ll go through 5 great ways to highlight leadership on your resume for maximum impact.
1. Include examples of coaching and mentorship
Experience in coaching or mentoring can make you more attractive to hiring managers because it shows your ability to enhance the performance of those around you.
As a starting point, note whether the job description uses specific mentorship-related keywords, such as ‘guide’ or ‘support.’ Mirroring the job description by incorporating these keywords into your resume summary or experience bullet points is a great move because it shows you have the exact skills they’re looking for and optimizes your resume for ATS software.
Then, add a few specific examples of coaching that demonstrate the impact of your mentorship. If you have metrics displaying results such as reduced employee turnover or improved employee satisfaction, now’s the time to mention them.
You can also outline positive outcomes for individuals to demonstrate your impact, such as your mentee receiving a promotion or meeting more KPIs.
2. Highlight the outcome of your projects or teams
Including measurable outcomes in your resume shows hiring managers that you don’t just lead — you lead effectively. Potential employers want to gauge the impact of your leadership on your company’s performance, so backing up your experience with hard data can help employers visualize your impact.
Examples of metrics to include in the experience or achievements sections of your resume include:
Even if you don’t have much hard data to work with, you can still use the examples above to guide you in making your resume’s experience section more results-focused so hiring managers can see your successes, not just your experiences.
3. Emphasize effective collaboration
A recent report on HR statistics found that effective teamwork and communication are two of the biggest skill gaps applicants struggle to match. While this applies to any role, effective collaboration is an especially appealing quality in a leader because it’s vital to ensuring team unity, performance, and productivity.
Managers must be able to delegate tasks effectively to ensure roles are clear and prevent workflow bottlenecks. If you have a good example of how your communication skills have improved your team’s ability to collaborate effectively, be sure to include it in the experience section of your resume.
Describe positive results after giving constructive feedback so potential employers can envision how you’ll ensure your colleagues’ growth and development. It could also be worth giving an example of how you’ve acted on feedback you received to demonstrate your ability to reflect and adapt.
4. Show you can lead a team or project remotely
According to McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey, over half of American workers are working remotely for at least part of the week. Remote leadership skills are in high demand as companies support their employees in maintaining a healthy work-life balance and ensure deliverables are met by a scattered workforce.
Demonstrating remote work skills and experience shows hiring managers you can help their company overcome these hurdles, particularly if you have experience managing a team or project in a remote setting. Even online part-time jobs like a virtual assistant or copywriter help you develop necessary skills to lead remotely.
Describe any strategies you’ve successfully employed to manage issues such as scheduling, employee development, or task management in your experience bullet points and include any quantifiable positive impacts.
5. Demonstrate your problem-solving skills
Problem-solving skills are an essential part of any successful leader’s toolkit because they allow you to identify and troubleshoot issues early, from less significant snags causing inefficiency to major problems threatening entire projects.
Providing examples of changes you’ve made to address a problem and their positive impact offers employers a clearer idea of your abilities than simply listing ‘problem-solving’ in your resume’s skills section. For example, you could add a bullet to your experience section outlining how you streamlined a key process and what difference it made to your team’s time management or productivity.
If you’re unsure where to start, abilities such as organization, effective planning, and critical analysis are strong examples of skills necessary for problem-solving and risk management.
Key Takeaway
Creating a leadership-focused resume involves more than simply listing your experience as a manager. Providing examples of how you applied leadership skills, adding performance metrics to experience bullet points, and enhancing your resume summary and skills section with the right keywords can help you communicate your career story more effectively and paint a compelling picture for potential employers.
By: Emily Crowley is a Senior Content Writer and Resume Expert at Resume Genius, where she loves helping job seekers overcome obstacles and advance their careers. She graduated from George Mason University with a degree in Foreign Language and Culture.
(The opinions and views of guest contributions are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com).
Reshma Saujani: Founder and CEO of Moms First
People, Thought Leaders, Voices of ExperienceWe interviewed Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, the non-profit organization launched in 2011 with the mission to close the gender gap in tech. For over ten years, she served as CEO, leading to change the face of programming as we know it. At the end of 2020, and spurred by witnessing the impacts of the pandemic on women’s lives, Saujani also became Founder and CEO of Moms First (formerly Marshall Plan for Moms).
Through Moms First, she is leading the campaign to transform our workplaces, our culture and our government to enable moms to thrive. Her fourth book, Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think) proposes clear and necessary structural and cultural changes to support women in the workplace, and puts a halt on telling women to change.
Saujani was a recent keynote ‘fireside chat’ speaker for the 2023 Catalyst Awards Conference, the premier gender equity conference for advocates of diversity, equity and inclusion. With the conference themed Accelerating Equity on All Fronts—So Women Thrive, Saujani emphasized the need to drastically change the discussion around women and the workplace. She also iterated key actions that policy makers and organizations need to take, such as family-friendly policies, paid leave, and childcare to support equity, engagement, retention and advancement among women.
Saujani spoke to us about how changing the workplace to work for women – as Catalyst has researched, advocated and reimagined for over 60 years – is really not a women’s problem.
On women in the workplace:
“At the conference, I spoke about the core shifts that need to happen in the workplace to support women in leadership. The idea of supporting women in their roles as mothers is really new for Corporate America. It’s a different conversation than the one we’ve been having, because the conversation we’ve been having is really what I call the ‘big lie of corporate feminism’: that if we just raise our hand, if we lean in a little harder, then we can ‘girlboss’ our way to the top. But that leaves out the fact that two-thirds of the caregiving work is being done by women, and that women come to work already doing two and a half jobs. So this idea of ‘having it all’ is just a euphemism for ‘doing it all.’
We have to stop trying to fix women and fix the system. We need to accept the fact that workplaces have never been built for moms, so let’s redesign them for moms now. In my book, Pay Up, I lay out some strategies that companies can actually do to support working moms.
One, it begins with supporting moms with childcare. Childcare in this country is unaffordable and unavailable. 40% of parents have gone into debt because of the cost of childcare. The reality is that childcare isn’t a personal problem that you or I have to solve. It’s an economic issue. Women cannot work without childcare. So companies, for the first time, really need to step up and start providing childcare benefits – whether that’s a subsidy or back-up care. They have to start providing that support.
The second thing is paid leave. Many companies still don’t have gender-neutral paid leave policy. In a heteronormative relationship, whether a man takes paternity leave has huge consequences for women. The more men, quite frankly, that are taking paid leave, the better for the equity in a family. Right now, the vast majority of men take fewer than ten days off after having a child. So companies need to not only offer gender-neutral paid leave policy but also incentivize or mandate it.
The third thing is the motherhood penalty. The mom bias is contributing to a huge pay gap between mothers and fathers. Studies have shown that men earn 6% more when they become a dad whereas women earn 4% less when they become a mom.”
On her shift from Girls Who Code to Moms First:
“During the pandemic, I had a new ‘pandemic’ baby and I was homeschooling my six-year-old. My entire leadership team were working moms with young children, and we were barely making it. I saw so many of my students had to stay at home and take care of their siblings, instead of going on to major in computer science at college, because their mothers were essential workers. The fact that we had a broken structure of childcare in our country was continuing the generational cycle of poverty.
Moms have really been in crisis for decades – even the fact that the United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have paid family and medical leave. The fact that we’ve never made childcare affordable or available for moms. The fact that we’ve always paid mothers less than we pay fathers for doing the same exact work. If we didn’t actually solve those three things, what’s the point of even telling girls to go to college? What’s the point of even telling them they can be everything or anything when we’re just again perpetuating them in this cycle of oppression and inequality?
So I stepped down from Girls Who Code, and I’ve built Moms First, over the past year and a half, up to a grassroots movement of over half a million moms and supporters. We’re fighting for three things: childcare, paid leave, and equal pay. And it’s not just about a single piece of legislation or a workplace policy or about getting equal pay. It’s all three. They’re all interconnected.”
On the broken narrative of success:
“I think the big lie is essentially that if we only fix women, we can have equality. So again, what we keep telling women is that if you just raised your hand, if you just leaned in harder, if you just ‘girlbossed’ your way to the top… Just think about the whole conversation about equal pay. What we tell women, usually, is you’re just not negotiating well enough.
But that’s going one woman at a time rather than saying the entire structure of how we compensate women is wrong, and we actually have to build an algorithm or audit our pay policies. Those are the structural changes that we have to make instead of telling women, ‘The problem is you. You just didn’t negotiate for yourself.’
Everything around ‘the big lie’ is about making women feel like they’re the problem. They’re not the problem. The structure is the problem. Workplaces are the problem. And, even basic things like workdays are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and school days are 8:30 am to 3:00 pm. We’re just setting women up to fail by having these structures in place that are leading to us, again, never being able to truly succeed. We’re not set up to succeed. We’ve never been set up to succeed.”
On how the future of women and work will be different than we think:
“Why it’s different than you think is that I’m not going to tell you how to fix yourself. I’m not going to tell you, yet again, how to just get a mentor, get a sponsor, or learn how to negotiate.
I’m going to walk you through the history of how workplaces have never been set up for women. And I’m going to give you strategies that are radically different than the strategies that you’ve been given. The vast majority of women that participate in an ERG are not taught how to ask for childcare. They’re not taught how to take your paid leave and not feel guilty about it. They’re taught how to learn another skillset. Get a sponsor. Be more confident.
But when you do those things, and you still feel like you’re barely making it again, you think something is wrong with you. No. Something is actually wrong with the system as it’s been set up.”
On the cultural change necessary to begin to support working moms:
“We do not value what we do not aspire to be. And being a mom, in America, is often times not something so many people aspire to be. Because, too often, motherhood in America is not seen as something that is respected and valued and dignified. Consider even the fact that we have countless school shootings and every day mothers, like me, have to drop off our children at school and not know if we’re going to see them again. That we continue to allow that to happen in this country just shows the lack of value and respect we have for the role of mothers and for our children.
So, to me, that’s cultural. Culturally, we have to become a society that says, we need to support mothers and we need to support children. Well, that means that one in four women should not have to go back to work less than two weeks after having a baby when they’re wearing an adult diaper. That means that we shouldn’t have daycare that’s not safe or that’s not affordable. We shouldn’t have parents piecing it together because, as a society, we want people to have children. Innovation dies in a nation when you have a declining birth rate, and, right now in the United States, we have a declining birth rate.”
On what women can do:
“I think that we have to fight. I think that we need to ask for what we need. I think we need to stop apologizing. I think we need to not think something is wrong with us and instead see the system as broken and demand for it to change. Right now, we’re in the middle of doing a Moms First Challenge. I joke that when we went on godaddy.com to get the URL for Moms First, it was available, because the idea of putting yourself first is very radical.
So, how do you teach that? In the first week of our challenge, we did that by having women write down all of the tasks of unpaid labor that you do. This week, we said to do something for yourself. In my case, I’ve had a horrible stomach virus where I need to be on a pretty extensive set of antibiotics, and I put it off for four years because it was never the right time. This week, I’m doing it. I’m canceling my week if I don’t feel well, and the world will be okay. So many women put off their doctors appointments and the things they need to do for themselves because we don’t live in a society that allows us to put ourselves first. We’ve been conditioned to think that that’s selfish.
Also, statistically, a lot of women will quit rather than saying ‘I can’t get on a call at 6 p.m. because that’s dinner time for my family.’ Or ‘I’m not going to travel three days a week because I have a young child.’ But they would rather quit than say, ‘hey, this is what I need.’”
On the impact she wishes for it all to add up to:
“I want to finish the fight for gender equality. And I will tell you that the most ambitious thing I’ve ever done is Moms First. It is so hard. It’s so hard and a lot of people have tried and have been trying.
But I cannot tell you how much, I believe that this – childcare, pay equity, paid leave – is central to women’s equality. I literally say, ‘why am I even bothering to tell my students to get educated when they’re going to get into the workforce and just get pushed out the minute they choose to become a mother?’
At the same time, getting these changes in place is not rocket science. So, it’s ironic. It’s not climate change, but it is climate change. It’s not as hard to move and shift behavior. It’s a policy change, but it’s so challenging for this country to move along and say, ‘yes, we must do this.’”
On the necessary cultural pivot:
“We’ve been indoctrinated to think that women are the problem or even men are the problem. Men are not even part of this conversation. They’re not the ones standing in the way of us getting our benefits or getting these support mechanisms. It’s a cultural change that we have to make. It’s the shift to seeing that childcare is an economic issue, not a personal issue – that in and of itself. If we started to say that childcare is not a personal problem that we have to solve. It is literally an economic issue that the country has to fix. If you made that one change, it would move mountains in terms of women’s economic freedom.
I think we have to decide, though, are women in the workforce a nice to have or a must-have? Nearly 60% of Americans still believe that one parent should stay at home with a child. So, that’s the cultural impediment that you’re trying to move. I always say a perfect world is where women have the choice to move in and out of the workforce with freedom. But it’s not even possible anymore to live in a one-income household. We’re almost living in the 1950s with that idea, when it was, but it’s not possible anymore.
So, if it’s not possible, knowing that, if we were to create society from scratch today, we would create a very different society. I was talking to a behavioral economist who was saying you would create more options for part-time work that was satisfying and fulfilling that paid well. You would think about this differently.
But it’s almost like we’re refusing to think about this differently. Even with the pandemic and how much society refused to accept remote work. I think something like 66% of employers are now back in the office even though we learned that flexibility was actually good for families. But the resistance towards doing something new is radical. That’s why what I am trying to do right now is so ambitious – because the headwinds against change are so strong in this country. But that has to change.”
To read more from Reshma Saujani, follow her on social media @ReshmaSaujani
Interviewed by Aimee Hansen
Different Methods of Personal Development in the Workplace
Career Advice, Career Tip of the Week!Fortunately, there are many ways to begin your personal development journey and stay ahead of the trends. In this article, we cover several different methods of personal development to help you find the best fit.
Undertake training courses
Although personal development isn’t exclusive to training courses, they remain an effective way to pick up new skills. You can find all kinds of courses for almost any area of development, ranging from job-specific to more general soft skills such as communication.
To know which type of training would be most beneficial to you specifically, look at your performance review feedback and your personal goals to see which areas you need to buff up. Especially if you work in a competitive industry, it’s well worth doing your research and staying up to date with emerging trends and technologies that you could learn to help keep you at the front of the pack. If you’re not sure, then make sure to follow some industry leaders on social media, and see what skills they’re displaying that you’re not.
Finding and embarking on a training course is easier than ever in the modern age of remote learning. There’s no longer a need to travel in order to upskill yourself, making it more accessible and convenient. Completing the course remotely also tends to make it a lot cheaper, owing to the typical venue overhead costs being eliminated.
Set achievable goals
Setting goals provides a sense of direction and purpose, motivating workers to focus on their priorities. When setting goals, it’s important to ensure that they’re achievable amongst other things. Using the SMART method can help with this, standing for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Ask yourself what it is that you want to achieve in order to further your personal development. Once you’ve decided on your target areas of improvement, use that to formulate goals following the SMART method. This can really help to break down a seemingly big task into smaller, more manageable steps.
Use an executive coach
An executive coach is a specialist dedicated to your own personal development. Their industry experience means they’re able to provide clients with detailed advice specific to their own situation. This kind of customized plan is invaluable when it comes to self-improvement, as your coach will be able to help you quickly identify areas of improvement and provide you with tips on how to tackle them.
Be sure to also ask your employer about mentorship opportunities, as they may be able to assign you to someone within the company to help your progress and expand your professional skills. Perhaps you’re interested in learning more about a different department, or leadership skills to help you climb the ladder of success. Being active and seeking new learning opportunities is a great way to show your employer you take your professional progression seriously.
(If you would like to be coached by the founder of theglasshammer, please email nicki@theglasshammer.com or book an exploratory session.)
Learn something new every day
Keeping your brain active can be done in many different ways, and you shouldn’t only focus on work-based learning. Reading regularly, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, exercises your brain and makes you better able to absorb knowledge, improves cognitive function, enhances memory and enriches your vocabulary. These skills are beneficial not just for personal evolution but will also go a long way to furthering your professional pursuits.
From listening to podcasts to learning a new hobby, cooking, or just socializing with new people, there are plenty of ways to enrich your brain and learn new skills to help your professional development.
Work on your existing skills
No matter your industry, there is always room for improvement within your existing skill set. You might think you’re an expert on your current tools, but quite often there are ways to further optimize your work.
Think about what your typical day consists of and do some research on the tools you use the most often. Sometimes something as simple as watching a quick video online can provide you with new shortcuts or ideas, but if you’re looking for more in-depth knowledge, consider reaching out to a coworker or friend that’s familiar with the tool.
You might find that you can both learn things from each other that can help to make you more productive. As the saying goes, knowledge is power, so make sure you’re taking the time to invest in yourself.
By: Kathleen White, who works as an independent business analyst for several small businesses. She completed her degree in Business and Management. She enjoys writing in her spare time to share what she has learned, in hopes of benefiting other businesses.
(The opinions and views of guest contributions are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com).