Elisabeth DeMarse is the archetype of a distinguished leader. The current Chair, President, and Chief Executive Officer of TheStreet.com is a pioneer in the field of digital media and information technology, leading the next generation of women by example.
Young Startup
As a deliberate decision-maker with a persistent and insatiable work ethic, DeMarse had the good fortune of knowing, from the beginning of her career, what professional path suited her personality.
“I was co-opted by business early on, by the idea of getting things done,” said DeMarse, who, before delving into business technology, spent her pre-graduate school years working in social reform. First cutting her teeth in public policy after graduating from Wellesley College as a History major, DeMarse served on the Senate Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities (the Watergate Committee), and as an aide for then New York Congressman Edward Koch, following him to City Hall when he was elected mayor. However, the sluggish pace of the life of a public servant, slowed by the bureaucracy of politics, frustrated DeMarse and she sought out the quicker pace of an occupation that matched her industrious temperament.
“Business is so much more interesting than it gets credit for,” said DeMarse, who attended Harvard Business School where she received an MBA in Marketing and Strategy. “I intentionally sought out a career in technology in 1980. I told me classmates, ‘I think this is going to be big’.”
Following graduation DeMarse looked specifically for a tech job, and by determined perseverance landed a staff position on the Operating Committee at Western Union, where she gained valuable insight about engineering, technology, and communication networks. After Western Union and a brief stint at Quotron, an early financial information space, the motivated young professional took a job as head of marketing in the late ‘80s for then up-and-coming company, Bloomberg L.P. With just a couple hundred employees at the time, DeMarse, “employee number 217,” joined Bloomberg during its formative years when the company was a “rocket ship” propelling forward into the new, unchartered territory of digital financial analysis.
Years later, when Michael Bloomberg left the company to pursue the mayoral candidacy, DeMarse –knowing her tenure with politics expired long ago – opted to continue down her forged path of information technology. Coming off of several successful media property creations at Bloomberg, DeMarse was soon recruited by Jeff Cunningham, the iconic Publisher of Forbes, to run the public company iLife.com. As the new CEO, she engineered the turnaround of the sinking business, bringing it back from financial turmoil and rebranding iLife into Bankrate.com. The success of the image change and rapid growth of Bankrate’s shareholder revenue not only secured DeMarse’s fascination with finances and the power of the Internet, but helped solidify the marketing executive as a reputable, prominent, and innovative leader in her field.
Gold Standard
The reputation that DeMarse established help her found another digital financial content company, Creditcards.com, which she eventually sold to her former employer. Moving into the online media profession, she accepted the position of CEO in 2010 of Newser.com. From this news service organization, the digital media expert took over her current job at TheStreet.com, where she has been serving as CEO, Chair, and President for the last two-and-a-half years.
‘I’m liberal arts major who’s succeeded in tech,” DeMarse explained of her own work history, noting the opportunity for women of any educational experience to join the technology vocation. “You don’t need a heavy engineering background in order to succeed, especially in digital media. There is plenty of room for people with strong liberal arts backgrounds.”
For DeMarse, it was a combination of joining the technology industry early on – in the revenue and marketing side – and developing strong leadership skills during the beginning of her career that helped her maintain a long, successful profession. Additionally, she credits her accomplishments to the career-changing advice, wisdom, and knowledge of several influential advisers.
“I had some great, important mentors. Ed Koch, Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Cunningham, Michael Wolff (founder of Newser), and Jim Cramer,” she said. “No one makes it on your own. You need to seek out the best people and learn from them. These folks changed my life. They gave me a chance, and I ran with it. ”
In turn, DeMarse, whom Cramer, co-founder of TheStreet, calls ‘indefatigable,’ seeks to inspire the next generation of women in tech by setting a positive, tangible example.
“Success inspires success. Just by being here, as a female CEO, speaks volumes. I try to mentor, support, encourage and coach all my employees, male or female. I desperately want them all to succeed, to be the best they can be,” she said, stressing that the best advice she can give to young professionals is to place great importance in making smart business choices and operating under fair and honest business practices.
“Life is short, choose how you do business. Is what you are doing fair, accurate, and honest?” DeMarse asked, noting that she takes utmost care to make sure she delivers a good product, maintains excellent customer service, and honest marketing tactics. “It’s important to me to maintain a gold standard.”
After 40 years within the industry, DeMarse, who also currently serves on the Board of Directors of AppNexus Inc., still upholds her gold standard of excellence and places a strong belief in the moral value of work. She continues to find technology a source of growing interests, including her long-time passion for online financial literacy.
Moving Forward
In response to the theory that the media places a heavy emphasis on how women in high-powered positions must struggle to balance home life and work, DeMarse finds, “the whole thing preposterous. The media misinterprets real life, and they are making an issue that’s not an issue.”
She hopes her home/work life situation will eventually set an example for what could be the new norm for professional businesswomen.
“I’m one of the rare people who says ‘you can have it all.’ I don’t know how to cook and don’t know the last time I was in a grocery store, but I love what I do, and have two great children and a great husband.”
Last week, in a keynote speech at a Columbia University’s Journalism School Gala, DeMarse turned off topic to point out that, “Today, journalism schools are over 70 percent female and Columbia’s MS program 76 percent female. Yet we are hopelessly out of synch. Newsrooms linger at 40 percent female. There is a gap is in hiring and promotion. There is a gap is in giving women and minorities a fair chance. Now, let’s discuss the people business journalists are interviewing. Today, in 2014, elite business schools are 35 percent female. Imagine that.”
Recently, DeMarse was recognized by the Girl Scouts of Greater New York as a Women of Distinction honoree for her achievements, leadership and integrity, and inclusion and social accountability within her field. And despite her previous accolades (including: Folio’s Top Women in Media, Working Mother of the Year, Most Intriguing Person in Media, NOW Woman of Power and Influence, and Fast Company Fast 50, among others), DeMarse – a former Girl Scout – felt more personally connected to her recent award and its young audience, as she was able to reunite with her own youthful experiences and visions.
The role model, who inspires “confidence, courage, and character” for intrepid women of all ages, offered a final word of advice, explaining that diverse backgrounds can help open up new possibilities in any career path, in any profession.
“Don’t give up on anything, ever. Be persistent, indefatigable. The idea should be that you do the best job you can all the time and operate at the highest level,” she encouraged. “Furthermore, take on the obligation to make this world a place where women and minorities never experience limits based on their race or gender.”
By Hadley Catalano
Career Tip of the Week
Career Tip of the Week!, Thought LeadersKnow your bottom line. On Everything. Where are your boundaries?
Last week we talked about “Everyday Negotiations” in Career Tip of the week. What is your bottom line? What is acceptable and what is out of the question?. Know this ahead of every meeting!
Welcome to Career Tip of the Week. In this column we aim to provide you with a useful snippet of advice to carry with you all week as you navigate the day to day path in your career.
By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist
Voice of Experience: Seble Tareke-Williams; Managing Director, NYC Interborough Fund; Emmes Asset Management Company LLC
Voices of ExperienceShe started her post-college career at a social policy think tank before running an economic development program at Pratt Area Community Council, a neighborhood-based community development organization. That’s when Tareke-Williams realized it was necessary to acquire solid business experience for her next career step, whether she decided to transition to the private sector or progress to a more senior management level in the nonprofit sector.
She decided the most expedient way to make a professional pivot was to earn a graduate degree in business and chose Harvard Business School because of its strong focus on leadership across disciplines, combined with the opportunity it provided to network with people across a broad spectrum of professional and cultural backgrounds. “As a career changer, I also felt it was important to attend a top-tier school; that I would benefit from that extra stamp of approval,” she says, although she adds she doesn’t think this route is necessary for everyone.
While at Harvard, Tareke-Williams was named a fellow by the Robert Toigo Foundation, which works to advance the development and careers of minority MBA talent seeking careers in finance. Toigo allowed her to build a greater network with peers across business schools. “Toigo has such a great reputation in the industry for its strong caliber of fellows so I felt the Foundation offered an extra level of credibility.” She says the Toigo Foundation was influential in landing her internship at GE, and later for the number of interviews it helped coordinate, including with Emmes, where she has been since graduation.
Real Estate Fund Combines Her Interest in the Public and Private Sectors
Tareke-Williams decided to focus on real estate based on the exposure she had received at the community development organization prior to business school.
Emmes acquires, manages and sells commercial real estate on behalf of institutional partners, primarily domestic pension funds. While at Emmes, she’s been involved in asset management, capital raising and acquisitions and takes pride in the depth and range of her professional experience.
“The diversity of assignments I’ve undertaken has made me a better leader; it’s allowed me to be able to have meaningful context when making decisions. And ultimately, that’s just as important as your innate abilities. Your experiences are what make you an expert in your field.”
She currently manages the Emmes Interborough Fund that is solely focused on markets across New York City that have historically lacked institutional investment, namely Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and pockets of Manhattan.
“When you think about the attributes of these markets within the context of the entire United States, there are tremendously positive fundamentals, including density and cultural value.
“I’m going back to my professional roots as we bring institutional dollars to these markets. It’s exciting to think about the economic development implications of investing in these markets, while still working within the private sector,” says Tareke-Williams. She notes that while the primary goal, of course, is to make money on behalf of pensioners who are investing, there is also the secondary positive impact on these communities. “It is a great marriage of the two phases of my career.”
She finds the real estate industry to be in a fascinating phase given several economic trends such as technological growth. Technology is changing where and how people work: technology increases worker mobility and productivity which impact space utilization as, for example, the average square footage dedicated per worker is decreasing. And the growth of technology firms, as well as other high-growth industries like media, are attracting workforces that value working and living in culturally relevant urban markets that foster creativity and business development such as the ones that the Emmes Interborough Fund invests in. These residential population and workforce shifts are creating resurgence in the outer boroughs of New York City.
“Real estate is fascinating because it touches every aspect of your life- where you live, work, and play.”
Confidence Will Lead to Success
Tareke-Williams knows that the No. 1 asset a professional needs is confidence – in your own work, ideas and perspective.
“I find that women are naturally bolder when we’re representing the interests of others, including our firms’, because it’s how we’re built. We feel more comfortable in that role. But we need to exude that same level of confidence and boldness when representing our own interests,” she says.
She notes that the men with whom she interfaces are more transparent about their own interests – they tend to be clear about their personal intentions, including making money. She finds they’re not shy about it, and in return they more often get what they want.
“When we represent ourselves well internally, that also raises our value to the firm. The assumption being that if you can represent yourself well, that you will also represent the firm with conviction.”
Striving for Balance – In All Areas
Though her company, as a boutique firm, doesn’t lend itself to having robust, scaled programs dedicated to diversity, she has always felt supported by the firm’s leadership who encourage her to develop and retain a strong external support network. She is active in WX, a group of women executives in real estate, as well as the Toigo Foundation.
Tareke-Williams has three daughters, soon to be ages two, four and seven. She spends as much time with them as she can, but considers balance to be about more than work and family. She is proud to have come full circle and be engaged at a deep level as the board chair of the non-profit where she worked prior to business school. “No matter how busy I am with my work and family, I won’t feel complete unless I’m also involved in community.”
And even with all that on her plate – or maybe especially because she has all that on her plate — Tareke-Williams knows that she has to make a little time for herself. She does that through training for races and is especially looking forward to an upcoming all-women half-marathon.
By Cathie Ericson
Intrepid Woman: Elisabeth DeMarse, Chair, President, and CEO of TheStreet.com
Intrepid Women SeriesThe revolving door in the boardroom – Why men beget men
Next LevelObserving gender diversity progress at top executive levels and in the Fortune 1000 boardroom is like watching an uncommitted jogger – we’re moving in the right direction, but where’s the pace?
INSEAD’s Van Der Hyden commented that reaching “historic highs” of 4.8% female Fortune 500 CEOs isn’t exactly impressive as it’s touted: “A more accurate statement is that when one starts at (or near) zero any positive change is (almost) infinite progress.”
In a recent article, Van Der Hyden points out that “the barriers (behaviors, labels, biases…) that prohibit the progression of women to the top are deep-rooted, pernicious, and ubiquitous… and much more prevalent than we imagine and recognise.”
These include serious pay disparities on top jobs, traditional-values skewed decision making, limiting perceptions around career path, women being mentored more but sponsored less than men, for a few.
Our founder and CEO Nicki Gilmour summed up 2014 boardroom figures as “Groundhog Day”: 17.7% of board positions are held by women in the Fortune 1000, a gain of 90 board seats during 2014. The US trails Europe in female board representation in S&P companies.
A recent study shows that the reason we may feel like we’re running in circles is that the boardroom has a revolving door.
“Running in Place”
A recent study entitled “Progress on gender diversity for corporate boards: Are we running in place?” analysed field data from more than 3000 companies across 9 years and found that voluntary gender equality efforts are hampered by a tendency towards gender matching – the tendency to pick a female board member when a female board member leaves and a male board member when a male board member leaves.
This is an obvious equation for perpetuating the status quo that the researchers point out could seriously undermine voluntary goals to build gender equality over time.
“The predominance of male directors results in a self-perpetuating outcome,” the researchers wrote. “The more women on the board, the better the chance they will further increase their representation, but these estimates suggest that it is a slow process, and not a gender-neutral one.”
The researchers conducted laboratory studies to understand the field evidence, and it revealed that the gender matching dynamic operates underneath stated and articulated thought processes. Participants judge gender as an insignificant factor when directly asked about it and give different reasons for their selections. “Yet, when controlling for these other reasons,” the researchers reported, “the gender of the departing candidate still plays a powerful role of determining the gender of the candidate selected.”
The researchers also found that talking about the importance of diversity did not increase the chances a woman candidate would be selected to replace a departing male executive. What did help was increasing the ratio of women in the candidate pool, but still a strong gender-matching effect remained.
In other words, banging the diversity drum doesn’t change boardroom composition towards greater gender equality.
Changing boardroom composition does.
The researchers report, “Our results suggest that the glacial pace at which women’s participation on boards is increasing may stem from a sub-conscious heuristic that guides people’s decisions towards using the gender of the departing director as a cue to the appropriate choice of a replacement…valuing diversity may not be sufficient to increase boardroom gender diversity.”
Getting Real about Results
Quotas, which can attract highly qualified applicants, are incredibly controversial but a more restrictive word for women is status quo. We can talk our way around diversity all day, and still not hit on the unconscious and ingrained dynamics that are at play even after everybody walks away from the table nodding their head, and indeed, while at it.
Researchers struggle to see how gender equality will show any real progression at a voluntary rate without public targets. Legislation and mandatory quotas are not generally favored in the USA environment. However, some non-quota initiatives recommended to improve boardroom diversity include “short-term goal setting, targeting, and disclosure, and a long-term focus on increasing the pipeline of qualified female board candidates.”
While women-led campaigns can push for results, getting more highly qualified at executive levels and in the boardroom comes down to companies delivering by taking up those initiatives with commitment, which poses a question.
What else are corporations truly committed to achieving that they do not set tangible, measurable, and reported targets for? And if they don’t set targets, are they committed?
By Aimee Hansen
6 Ways To Refine And Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
Guest Contribution, NetworkingGuest Contribution by Jennifer Bradshaw
One way of gaining exposure when looking to advance at work is to put your back into it and drag yourself out in the open, into the spotlight.
Now, if you ask me, “how can someone hog the entire spotlight when there are already plenty of entertainers on the stage”, I would say, ‘optimize your presence’. How would I do that? Use social media like LinkedIn!
Being home to over 290 million users all over the world, LinkedIn connect individuals with the professional world, giving them a chance to embrace professional exposure and growth. Yet, according to a survey, only 50.5% of the total users make the most of LinkedIn. What about the rest? Well, the rest of the flock is still missing out on the goodies LinkedIn has to offer since they are just too lazy to optimize their profile.
LinkedIn is a pretty powerful network, but that dominance can only be leveraged to your advantage if only are you aware of its KEY hidden tricks that bring actual results. Here, I will reveal those tricks and educate you how to optimize your LinkedIn profile, aka digital resume, empowering you to make the most of this valuable professional hub.
Customize that Inappropriate Profile URL
It is important to understand that the majority of prospective recruiters, these days, use search engine in their quest to finding the right employee. However, they often fail to do so because some individuals (even well-experienced and skilled ones) totally forget or ignore to optimize their LinkedIn URL. If you don’t want to lose a lucrative opportunity, you need to replace those confusing numbers at the end of your profile URL with your name.
Replace Your Funky Display Pic with an Appropriate Image
Don’t forget that LinkedIn isn’t your social profile, but a professional portfolio. Thus, strip down that inappropriate or funky looking selfie of yours and replace it with a professional portrait. Remember that the first thing that grabs the roving eyes of the employer is your DP. If it is exuding professionalism, the employer won’t hesitate to call you for an interview that very instant. However, if it reflects otherwise, the employer won’t bother to review the rest of the profile.
Make the Best Use of the Headline
Next thing that can be said as the epicenter of your profile success is the headline, written under your original name. It is the area that gives you an opportunity to make your profile standout from the crowd. Brand that headline and make it appealing so that the prospective employer may know who he is dealing with. Make that headline descriptive and use multiple titles to cover the keyword that recruiters usually use to seek candidates.
Expand the Headline Articulately in the Summary
The summary section of your profile reflects the essence of who you are, where your skills and expertise lie and what accomplishments you have attained so far. In other words, it is an area where you stretch out and present all the information that makes you a ‘must-hire’ for a company. Hence, keep it neat, simple, clear and engaging; yet, don’t go overboard with the décor.
Amplify the Credibility of Your Profile with Endorsements
Unlike a traditional paper resume, LinkedIn allows you to not only list down all your skills but also get them endorsed by your connections and thus add credibility to your digital profile. Though it may not be much helpful when it comes to the optimization of your profile, it can certainly generate an air of integrity in your profile that employers most seek.
Take That Credibility to Even Great Heights with Recommendations
Recommendations can be considered as testimonials as well as references, either way they are valuable. It is the feedback on your character, personality, work skills and attitude by people who either know for a long time or have worked with you. Ask recommendations in your connection and don’t forget to return them the favor by recommending them.
Jenifer Bradshaw is a developer and a writer. She assists students in choosing the right career path. She also provides assignment help to students facing problems with their coding assignment. Find her on Facebook.
Guest advice and opinions are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com
Op-Ed: The female millennial: A new era of talent
Op-Ed, Thought LeadersWe believe that CEOs must be committed to driving parallel efforts that tackle enhanced leadership diversity in conjunction with systemic change efforts, targeting their workforce from day one here at PWC with the sponsorship of our Global Chairman, Dennis Nally, we are working hard to get this right.
We are focusing on developing talented junior women now, for future leadership roles, because when talent rises to the top, everyone wins
We are very passionate about this and so to mark International Women’s Day this year we are excited to launch our The female millennial: A new era of talent publication. This is a research-based report that shares the insights and desires of more than 10,000 millennials from 75 countries.
A new era of female talent
Our research tells us that when it comes to the female millennial (women born 1980–1995) we really are talking about a new era of female talent. Female millennials matter because they are more highly educated and are entering the workforce in larger numbers than any of their previous generations. They also enter the workforce with a different career mindset, they are more career-confident and ambitious than their previous generations.
Forty-nine percent of female millennial career starters (0–3 years’ work experience) feel they can rise to the very top levels with their current employers, making them more career-confident than the generations that have gone before them. Despite this, there is still a confidence gap; 71% of their male peers feel the same way. This gap is something that must be recognised, but it is important we also look beyond just the gap.
Almost half of women kick-starting their careers feel they can rise to the very top levels with their current employer. Given only 4.8% of current Fortune 500 CEOs are female – an underwhelming historic high by the way – we must acknowledge and celebrate that the needle is moving when it comes to the career-confidence of female millennials.
Our research also tells us the female millennial ranks opportunities for career progression as the most attractive employer trait. It is also the most highly ranked reason female millennials have left a former employer.
But the millennial woman is not only more career-confident and ambitious than her previous generations. She is also more financially empowered. When it comes to earning power and patterns, millennial women are trailblazers. Our research tells us 86% of female millennials in a relationship are part of a dual-career couple. Furthermore, 42% earn equal salaries to their partner/spouse and 24% are the primary earner. This means 66% of female millennials earn equal to, or more than, their spouse. The more experienced the female millennial, the higher the likelihood she will be the primary earner. Our study tells us that 31% of female millennials with nine or more years’ experience are the primary earner in their relationship, compared to 18% of millennial career starters and 24% of career developers.
The female millennial sounds pretty amazing – right? But how can organisations capitalise on these stellar traits? To achieve a sustainable talent pipeline, employers can get things right by committing to inclusive cultures and talent strategies that lean into the confidence and ambition of the female millennial.
Themes that matter
The female millennial: A new era of talent report shares five key themes that matter to the female millennial and positions the difficult questions that employers need to be cognisant of when it comes to this growing and significant portion of the global talent pool. Diversity is front of mind for the female millennial. An employer’s reputation matters, global careers are high on the agenda and the female millennial desires work–life balance and flexibility combined with a strong feedback culture.
The female millennial career stage differential
Particularly interesting in this report is that we don’t just take a holistic view of the female millennial. I was very excited as a millennial woman to lead this project, but also recognised being a 34-year-old millennial woman with 14 years’ work experience that my experience will be very different from the experience of a 22-year-old millennial woman just starting out on her career. So we have created a female millennial career stage differential to help employers learn more about the female millennial.
As millennial women progress through this career stage differential, they are more likely to be in senior positions, more likely to have completed an international assignment, more likely to be the primary earner if part of a dual-career couple and more likely to value critical feedback discussions taking place face to face. On the flip side, they are also more likely to believe employers are too male-biased in terms of attraction, promotion, development and retention, and believe that taking advantage of work–life balance and flexibility programmes has negative career consequences at their workplace. They are also less likely to believe they can reach the very top levels with their current employer.
Female millennial role models in the plenty
While our research tells us that one-quarter of female millennials said they do not feel there are senior female role models that resonate with them at their current employer, one thing is clear – there are plenty of female millennial role models out there. From Australia to Brazil, Ghana to France, Ireland to Nigeria, Malaysia to Singapore, Spain to the UK and of course the US, you’ll find fantastic voice of the female millennial profiles to motivate and inspire you in our report.
Visit www.pwc.com/femalemillennial to download the report and access further resources for, or about, the female millennial.
Career Tip of the Week
Career Tip of the Week!This Week’s Tip Is…
Negotiating isn’t just that once a year pay discussion and it is not just about money.
Read “Everyday Negotiations” by Deborah Kolb and Judith Williams to understand the power dynamics of everyday at the office.
Welcome to Career Tip of the Week. In this column we aim to provide you with a useful snippet of advice to carry with you all week as you navigate the day to day path in your career
By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist
Whitney Johnson, Managing Director, Springboard Ventures, LP, Intrepid Woman
Intrepid Women SeriesBy Nicki Gilmour
Whitney Johnson believes in disruptive innovation. As co-founder of Professor Christensen’s Boston-based investment firm Rose Park Advisors, Whitney Johnson applied the frameworks of disruptive innovation to identify and invest in disruptive companies.
“I connected with Clayton Christensen in 2003-2004, and I was privileged to have him ask me to co-found an investment firm with him in 2007. I realized in parallel that these theories of disruption not only applied to picking stocks but also to individuals. Disrupting your own status quo before you change anything else is the place to start.”
Whitney is in now in the process of launching Springboard Ventures, LP, a fund investing in women in high growth businesses that can scale in tech and life sciences from the initial pool of candidates that are the alumni of Springboard Enterprises, a non-profit accelerator.
She is inspired to help others and claims that her job is many jobs as with so many people these days. “I have a portfolio professional life of coaching, speaking, writing and investing. When I talk to women and they ask me for a single piece of advice – I say get a coach. Regardless of your talent and hard work, it is hard to navigate and a coach can help you understand the landmarks when you are in the ocean of your career.”
Walking the Talk
Whitney moved to NYC in 1989 with her husband who was getting his PhD at Columbia University. She recounts how it was a scary time in New York at that point and she realized that as a couple they had no money and she needed to get a job. She decided that Wall Street was for her, and truth be told, was motivated by Liar’s Poker, Bonfire of the Vanities, Wall Street – and, of course, Working Girl.
At Smith Barney, I looked at the bullpen of up-and-coming stockbrokers, and I thought to myself, ‘I am just as smart as they are’ and I wanted it badly so I took classes at night, accounting and finance.” She comments that having a sponsor was critical to her moving up the Wall Street food chain. “I had a boss who let me jump from being secretary to an analyst in investment banking.
Whitney talks of her career climb from music major to one of the top ranked equity research analysts, being ranked 8 consecutive years (1996- 2005) according to Institutional Investor, with her last 4 years being double ranked, her area being Emerging Markets – Latin America – Telecom and Media.
In 2005, “I disrupted myself – I didn’t even wait for another bonus – left in June that year. I was at the top of my game — number one in Media / #2 in Telecom.
In our conversation, Whitney explained why she wrote the book Dare, Dream, Do. She believe her mission is to help individuals (women, in particular) believe that we need to learn to be harbors and ships, to develop our feminine, the capacity for relatedness and love, and masculine (ability to wield power and control situations) to truly succeed.
“I feel that women have to work through the tensions of how do I tend to my dreams as well as the dreams of others who we love?
Why ‘Disruptive Innovation’ is about moving forward.
When I suggested that we do this interview for the Intrepid Women column she candidly admitted that being fearless is definitely a learned trait.
“I feel scared a lot of the time, but I think about innovation going from stuck to unstuck, about finding the problem (or a problem finding you) and solving it.”
When asked about factors that can hold women back in their careers, she states that confidence to disrupt is definitely top of the list. There are many career ‘derailers’ that can stop people from getting ahead.
Whitney talked at length about the dangers of entitlement and how we can overcome this to succeed.
“Entitlement comes in many forms, not just at the beginning of our career. Entitlement can surface as we rise through the ranks, and are literally en-titled. Regardless of rank, you battle entitlement by being willing to do the work to socialize our ideas, to not just expect that people will buy in.”
She advises people to figure out who are their stakeholders are at work stating that they can range from your boss, your peers, your coworkers to your boss’s assistant. Figure out what language your stakeholders speak, she advises and adds,
“If you are in marketing and your boss or sponsor is in finance then you have to communicate in a way with that person that will help you move up the curve to succeed.”
Not being heard? She suggests that it is possible that you need to socialize ideas more, but recognizes that it is also possible you are just not being heard. Research suggests that women needs to be two and a half times more effective than men. Whitney gives insight to what this means in real terms stating,
This shows that it may take longer for women to be successful. Be aware of this so you don’t internalize this. There is nothing wrong with you! But know that you have to have 100% domain expertise, especially because your soft skills are taken for granted as a woman.”
Finally, on the topic of being heard and gaining credibility she shares some sage wisdom,
“People can discover how smart you are by the quality of the questions you ask.”
Check out Whitney at HBR or on her website.
“Show Me how to Lead, Like a Woman”: Why Positive Gender Identity Matters in Leadership
Leadership“Show me how to run, like a girl.” On Sunday February 1st, millions of Superbowl viewers watched a 60-second ad from Procter & Gamble’s Always campaign, which powerfully demonstrated that doing something “like a girl” implies weak and wimpy performance is an association girls learn. From puberty, girls become divorced from their self-confidence and evidently self-perceived ability.
Calling the ad “groundbreaking” for its placement in the Superbowl, the Huffington Post stated it won kudos “for changing the conversation about what it means to run, throw, and do pretty much any activity ‘like a girl’.” A Washington Post blog referred to it as a “PSA for all womankind” – summing up what was revealed by how young girls behaved in response before they internalized the negative gender stereotype of weakness:
“…throwing ‘like a girl’ is the same as throwing like a person, right?”
If negative gender identification contributes to dropping a female’s self-confidence by the time she hits puberty, it’s no wonder that marrying the roles of “woman” and “leader” too often creates an identity conflict for professional women.
Leadership Stereotypes & Gender
Researchers Alice Eagly and Anne Koenig stated in a Footnote article last year that while it’s slowly changing, “the characteristics people typically associate with leadership are often stereotypically masculine” – especially when it’s men making the association. A prevalent gender stereotype, which it has been argued in the Financial Times, business schools perpetuate.
Drawing from their own and other studies, they wrote “The alignment of the stereotypical characteristics of men and the stereotypical characteristics of good leaders makes it easier for men to be perceived as successful leaders, a phenomenon known as role congruity. In contrast, women are perceived as less fit for leadership because traditionally feminine characteristics are less consistent with our perceptions of successful leaders.”
Add “perceive themselves” to that dynamic, and the case for internal conflict becomes clear – leaving women in a bind when they attempt to be a leader in a male-dominated environment where their gender is a perceived liability.
Identity Conflict
A recently published report, “Me, a woman, and a leader: Positive social identity and identity conflict” by INSEAD’s Natalia Karelia and ESMT’s Laura Guillén, explored the consequences of positive social identity for women in leadership roles, across over 600 leaders.
From the INSEAD working paper behind the report, identity conflict is when women perceive an incongruity between their gender and professional identity. The study proposed that when women leaders see the identity roles of “woman” and “leader” as holding conflicting norms, meanings, and demands, they feel at odds inside while trying to live up to the standards of each of them, and this creates the feeling of inauthenticity and internal problems.
The research found that especially in male-dominated organizations, women leaders experience significant identity conflict, which increases stress, decreases a sense of well-being, and turns leadership into a duty they have to persist with rather than a joyful and motivating role. These women felt under pressure to conform to male-associated leadership qualities and expected behaviors, at a sense of violating their female identity.
The researchers propose that women in male-dominated workplaces may struggle to integrate leader into their identity because female leadership is not being legitimized, “For women, the road of developing a self-concept as a leader may be especially bumpy in the environments where women are numerically underrepresented.”
The researchers write, “Our results indicate that in male-dominated organizations, women leaders may be more often ‘reminded’ of the incongruity between their professional and gender roles.”
Positive Gender Identity
The research found that what powerfully reduced identity conflict for women leaders is this: feeling positively about belonging to the social group of woman.
The research found, “Compared with women in more male-dominated organizations, women in organizations with proportionally more women held a more positive gender identity and experienced less identity conflict.” Working in organizations where being a woman, and evidently the associated strengths, is seen as explicitly positive left women more motivated to lead.
The researchers asserted that “holding a more positive gender identity reduces women leaders’ perceived conflict between their self-views as women and leaders. Thus, cultivating and maintaining a positive gender identity helps women leaders to improve their well-being not only directly, but also indirectly — by reducing identity conflict.”
In simplest terms, what the study found was that women that feel more positive about being a woman feel better being a leader, closing the gap between them within. A significant contributor to that is seeing females reflected in numbers around them.
Self-Affirmation
Embracing our social identity as woman can also help to free us from the confines of stereotypes and perceived incompatibilities.
Drawing from past studies, Karelia and Guillén pointed out that a positive social identity links to a stronger self-worth which can spill across roles and indirectly build self-affirmation. “Therefore, the more positive social identities woman leaders hold, the more freedom they will feel about the way they can lead, and the more likely they will be to develop their own way of leading that makes them feel comfortable and authentic.”
“Leader” and “woman” need not imply an inherent divisiveness, when women embolden themselves to find their own way.
Who defines what it means to lead “like a woman”?
Well, ultimately, you do. Lead.
How Women, an Untapped Workforce, Can Gain a Competitive Edge in Business
Guest ContributionAlthough controversial, Nadella’s comments highlight the perpetuated stereotypes of gender roles in business: men are typically accepted as more aggressive, while women are expected to be more yielding and less assertive. Despite accounting for half of the U.S. workforce and surpassing the male population in not only educational attainment, but also professional degrees and work experience, women earn 78% of the compensation received by their male counterparts.
Even though such statistics may be disconcerting, awareness can lead to empowerment, and there are certainly steps women can take in order to stand firm in their own value to the companies they advance.
Take Credit for Your Work
Too often, women let others receive the accolades that they deserve for their own work. Whether it’s a supervisor or coworker, valuable efforts and innovation by individual women are often unacknowledged due to office politics and inadequate communication to upper level management. Despite popular belief, however, it’s entirely possible to make sure that your voice is getting heard without burning the bridges of professional decorum.
After completing a great project, for example, it could be prudent to make sure that your company’s leadership recognizes your role in the undertaking. You could ask for feedback regarding the particular part of the project on which you worked and if there’s anything you can do to help further. It’s essential to make your contribution to the project clear, but deliver the message in a way that simply comes across as being professionally thorough and helpful.
Understand Your Colleagues
A lot of knowing when to take which step comes down to understanding the psychology of the people with whom you work — from the company’s CEO to your assistant. Use your intuition to read the underlying drivers behind attitudes, approaches, and situations. Observe how people like to be treated and what type of interactions they respond to best. This simple insight can give you all the clarity you need in order to say the right thing at the right time, allowing you to form rapport with both coworkers and gatekeepers — and draw attention to your value within the company.
Maximize Your Efforts
Be strategic about where to invest your energy and focus. Even though it’s important to take pride in everything you do, it’s plain that some initiatives are more important than others. It’s helpful to take an objective view of the company and its leadership in order to evaluate which goals and enterprises matter most. Fuel the projects that are important to your workplace’s gatekeepers and the ultimate success of the company; leave the rest alone, unless you have significant passion for them and are committed to seeing them through.
Women Are Still an Untapped Resource
Amazingly, half of workers are now women, but women still represent a largely untapped workforce. In fact, 56 percent of the 20 lowest-paid jobs are performed by women as opposed to just 29 percent of the highest-paid jobs. Yet, according to a report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, “Recent research has shown that women can help drive innovation and better target female customers and employees.”
Some argue that having children and raising a family is a pivotal factor that interferes with women’s careers, which is why women represent such an untapped workforce; however, we’ve found that a high percentage of moms want to be a part of the workforce and are certainly qualified to do so.
I have not found this to be the case. Zirtual, my own company, is made up of 90% female Zirtual Assistants (ZAs). It’s turned out that the majority of candidates who apply are women (about 50% are stay at home moms) and they have proven to be extremely skilled and well-suited for the position
Besides being qualified and having the right skill sets to excel as ZAs, we’ve also discovered that our female-dominated workforce demonstrates exceptional levels of engagement with work, fellow co-workers, and clients. They tend to be excited about doing their jobs well and ultimately helping other people.
Perhaps it is the flexibility that remote work affords to women that is key in allowing them to truly perform at their best and also handle their other familial responsibilities. Even within full-time corporate positions, providing the flexibility to work from home and integrating policies such as paid family leave can help to reduce barriers to women participating and thriving as much as men do in the workplace. With shared breadwinning and caregiving responsibilities increasingly crossing over gender lines, it only makes sense to grant the same program offerings, such as paternity leave, to men as to women, especially considering that more and more women are entering the workforce.
At the end of the day, there’s strength in numbers. But it’s now perhaps even more important than ever for each individual woman to value the strengths within herself in order to tap into her own competitive edge.
Guest Contribution by Maren Kate Donovan, CEO of Zirtual
Guest advice and opinions not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com