By Natalie Soltys (Kansas City, Missouri)
In a competitive, fast-paced and ever-changing industry such as information technology, caring and nurturing instincts are usually seen as detrimental to success. Oftentimes, women are encouraged to suppress this natural predisposition in order to grow their careers. (For example, check out Karen Firestone’s recent Harvard Business Review piece.)
However, one executive with Cerner Corporation has found her stride by emphasizing these particular characteristics. She uses cooperation, empathy and thoughtfulness to thrive in this Kansas City-based health care information technology company.
“Building strong professional relationships is very important,” explained Tricia Geris, senior director of Corporate Meetings and Events. “I always start with the personal.”
Having built her career from an event coordinator to an executive with a continuously growing team, her approach has certainly been successful over the last 20 years.
Geris admitted that she didn’t start in 1993 with a clear, laid-out path or direction for her career. With hard work, a good attitude and the ability to model her behavior after other successful women, the “growth and recognition just happened.”
The individuals she worked for, most notably Cerner’s current Chief People Officer, had personality traits that she admired and emulated. They were honest, fair and respectful of everyone from the newest associate to the CEO. They impressed on her the importance of being a good listener and not being quick to judge. What truly helped her along were their great mentoring and coaching skills.
Hate Small Talk? Here’s How to Make It Work for You
Next LevelSmall talk can get big results — but only if you know how to use it. According to Psychology Today, up to 50 percent of the population may consist of introverts, who are often hesitant to “waste time” on what might be perceived as idle chit-chat.
But many networking experts believe in the power of small talk. Some see it as a necessary starting point to open doors to business opportunities that would otherwise remain closed.
The Glass Hammer asked a panel of expert networkers for their insights on why professional women need to engage in small talk, how to make it effective, why some people hate it, and how they can hate it less.
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Is Executive Presence Sexist?
Industry Leaders, LeadershipWhen we think of leaders, we usually have a few ideas in mind about what they look like and how they act. If you asked a random person on the street to imagine a CEO, they would probably think of a person who is male, white, tall, straight, decisive, genial, and a jumble of other traits that come together to form the CEO archetype.
Another trait most leaders share is executive presence. It’s a trait that’s difficult to define, but you either have it or you don’t, and we know it when we see it.
It is precisely that intangibility that makes feedback on executive presence so hard to process. How can people who don’t automatically conform to the leadership stereotypes above attract and maintain power? And when women receive feedback on executive presence at work, are they simply receiving advice on how to act more stereotypically male? In other words, where do the male leadership stereotypes end, and the executive leadership traits begin?
According to Lauren Leader-Chivée, Senior Vice President at the Center for Talent Innovation, it is possible to detangle executive presence from the cult of masculinity. By understanding the foundational components of executive presence, she believes, women and minorities can better navigate the often contradictory messages around what makes someone “leadership material.”
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Voice of Experience: Jing Hu, Partner, Financial Services, PwC
Voices of ExperienceBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
Jing Hu, a partner in the financial services group at PwC’s Beijing office, has seen her self-confidence grow throughout her career. When she first joined the firm, she was fresh out of college in New York City. “I think my immigrant background shadowed me. I had a lot of insecurities,” she explained.
But the support and coaching she received from partners in New York, and later in Beijing, made her realize her own strength. “My colleagues had so much confidence in me and gave me guidance and coaching. That helped me be confident in myself.”
She added, “I was lucky to have met those people – working at PwC changed me a lot.”
Currently Hu is beginning work on a new client with a challenging IPO plan. She is also working with PwC’s other Beijing partners on helping the firm distinguish itself from competitors. She explained, “In China, there are mandatory auditor rotation rules for large state-run enterprises as well as financial institutions.” As a result, many companies see auditing as more of a compliance procedure, rather than a value-adding service.
“Differentiating ourselves, and showing how we can add business value – that is something I’m working hard with my colleagues on.”
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A Career Path That Fits Like Cinderella’s Shoes
Ask A Career CoachRemember the fairy tale of Cinderella? The Fairy Godmother gave Cinderella shoes that were the perfect fit for her. Let’s imagine a fairy tale where our Fairy Godmother magically creates a career path for us that is the ideal fit. It helps us to be inspired, to grow, to make our best magic happen at work, and to shine. Here’s why we all need to make this fairy tale come true.
True story. An executive coaching client company hired me to work with a senior sales leader who was the lead candidate on the succession plan for Head of Sales. As we worked through the coaching process which included identifying her personal leadership brand and roles she would thrive in, it became clear that where she would really stand out would be a General Manager role. What did she and the organization miss? It’s what I call the missing “P” in career planning. Most organizations look at performance & potential in succession planning. What we miss is the individual’s personal leadership brand.
Our highest contributions come when we are fully engaged, experiencing growth, and leveraging our talents. Articulating our personal leadership brand and aligning this with a unique career path helps us take greater ownership of our career and engagement, and make our highest contributions.
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How Do Women Improve Board Performance? Let Us Count the Ways
Managing ChangeWe’ve heard it before. Studies show gender balanced boards (in other words, boards with women on them) perform better than those that are composed of only one gender (almost always, men). But a new study sets out to drill down a little further.
According to Miriam Schwartz-Ziv’s study “Are All Welcome A-board: Does the Gender of Directors Matter?“, diversity in the boardroom creates several positive outcomes. Not only do companies perform better financially when there are more women at the table, but boards communicate more and take more decisive action when financial results are poor. And when there are more women on a board, individual directors (both men and women) participate more actively. The result is better run companies all around.
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The Art of Taking Criticism Effectively
Next LevelNo one really “likes” receiving criticism. No matter what kind of positive spin you put on its value, the truth is, it can make us feel badly to hear negative feedback, whether from peers or superiors.
Sometimes we take criticism to heart, letting it fester and affect our performance. But this isn’t necessary. Whether criticism is given constructively or not, it can help advance your career if you know how to use it right.
“It’s important to listen to all criticism without becoming defensive, argumentative, or angry,” says Kathi Elster, co-author of Mean Girls at Work. “There is always something to learn when hearing criticism.”
To understand how to accept office criticism with grace rather than a grimace, we spoke with national corporate etiquette expert Diane Gottsman.
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Stuck in the Same Old Sector? How to Change Career and Get Ahead
Expert AnswersYou what?! You quit your job? What were you thinking? There’s got to be a better way to make a midlife career change.
It’s not uncommon for people in the same job for a couple of decades to start considering what else is out there. More often than not people tend to fall into an industry or a job, very early on in their career so it is unsurprising that mid-life career changes have become part of the mid-life changes.
If you can barely drag yourself out of bed in the morning or can’t wait for the work day to end, then maybe a midlife career change is what you need.
Sure, it sounds a little risky, maybe even scary to give up what you’ve been doing for so long and striking out to what Mark Twain called “the territory ahead.” But breaking out of your current comfort zone can be very liberating.
Believe it or not, for many people, life really does begin at 40.
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Start with the Personal: Managing and Coaching with Empathy
Mentors and SponsorsIn a competitive, fast-paced and ever-changing industry such as information technology, caring and nurturing instincts are usually seen as detrimental to success. Oftentimes, women are encouraged to suppress this natural predisposition in order to grow their careers. (For example, check out Karen Firestone’s recent Harvard Business Review piece.)
However, one executive with Cerner Corporation has found her stride by emphasizing these particular characteristics. She uses cooperation, empathy and thoughtfulness to thrive in this Kansas City-based health care information technology company.
“Building strong professional relationships is very important,” explained Tricia Geris, senior director of Corporate Meetings and Events. “I always start with the personal.”
Having built her career from an event coordinator to an executive with a continuously growing team, her approach has certainly been successful over the last 20 years.
Geris admitted that she didn’t start in 1993 with a clear, laid-out path or direction for her career. With hard work, a good attitude and the ability to model her behavior after other successful women, the “growth and recognition just happened.”
The individuals she worked for, most notably Cerner’s current Chief People Officer, had personality traits that she admired and emulated. They were honest, fair and respectful of everyone from the newest associate to the CEO. They impressed on her the importance of being a good listener and not being quick to judge. What truly helped her along were their great mentoring and coaching skills.
Read more
Working Moms Would Choose Pay Equity Over a Year Off Work
Work-LifeAccording to new research by Working Mother Magazine and Chase Card Services, working mothers say that, given the choice, they would rather have a 20 percent raise than a year’s vacation from the workforce.
Jennifer Owens, Editor at Working Mother Magazine and Director of the Working Mother Research Institute, suggested two possibilities for this. “I think that a lot of it is fueled by the economy. Many people have an incredible debt load or maybe a partner with job issues, or they’re thinking about future renovations to their home, or saving for their kids’ education.”
The other part, she continued, may have to do with the difficulties many women face getting back into the workforce after taking time out. “They’re thinking, ‘If I went away for a year and tried to get back in, that’s hard!’”
It’s also worth noting that a 20 percent raise is almost the amount it would take to bring women’s paychecks up to the same grade as their male peers. That’s right – working moms would rather achieve equal pay than get a year’s vacation. How’s that for a fair trade-off?
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Voice of Experience: Mary Strother, Managing Director, Investor Relations, Athenian Venture Partners
Voices of ExperienceMary Strother, Managing Director of Investor Relations at Athenian Venture Partners, has built a successful career out of leveraging her differences.
She explained that if your background varies somewhat from the more traditional CVs in your industry, you’ll have skills others don’t necessarily have. The key is to consider your unique qualities as assets. “I mentor some young college women from time to time, and I took one to dinner recently – she was graduating in accounting and beginning to interview for jobs, but she was worried she didn’t have the same qualifications as some of the more typical accounting grads. I felt the same way going into finance early in my career,” she explained.
“Don’t compare your insides to other people’s outsides. Be bold and focus on what it is you can do. The key is to really practice communicating why your background matters,” she added.
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