By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
Recently the Women’s Media Center released its latest report, and whether or not you work in the media, the report’s data is alarming.
The study, “The Status of Women in the US Media 2012,” refers to a number of studies, revealing how few stories are being told about women in the news, and how few women are being positioned as experts.
For example, it mention’s last year’s Media and Gender Monitor study, which says only 24% of news stories are about women. And it discusses American University School of Public Affairs Women and Politics Institute statistics that say women were only one-fifth (21.7%) of guests on Sunday morning talk shows. Women were only 26% of sources at National Public Radio, which is considered an “industry leader in engaging female correspondents and hosts.”
Who we see and hear from in the news goes a long way in shaping our view, as a society, of whose voice matters. As the report says, “By deciding who gets to talk, what shapes the debate, who writes, and what is important enough to report, media shape our understanding of who we are and what we can be.”
The dearth of women in the news can influence opinions about what an expert or leader looks like – which can impact women’s career advancement and opportunities as well. Fortunately, this situation can be changed.
Jamia Wilson, Vice President of Programs at the Women’s Media Center, leads training programs for women and girls, so they can be prepared to speak publicly to the media. She said, “It’s very important for women to amplify their voices to change the volume in the media. Right now our voices are underrepresented.”
And she says, preparing to speak out as a thought leader can change the conversation on the air and at the table of power in your own organization.
Voice of Experience: Libby Cantrill, Senior Vice President, PIMCO
Voices of Experience“Don’t be afraid to ask and don’t be afraid of your own voice,” said Libby Cantrill, Senior Vice President at PIMCO. “A lot of times, women don’t think they deserve to be in the room, to have a seat at the table. They do.”
One of the key lessons she has learned throughout her career is the importance of asking for the career opportunities you want. “Women are often afraid to ask for things and put themselves out there. But all of the most interesting things and opportunities that I have experienced in my own career are the result of asking for them,” she said.
She continued, “The other thing I’ve learned is that no one will manage your career for you. I would advise women to be proactive and strategic when thinking about the next steps in their career advancement.”
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Breathe. Meditate. Lead.: Ten Ways A Mindfulness Practice can Make Us Better Leaders
Ask A Career CoachTrue story. It was 6AM. There were about 12 of us who had been meditating for an hour when I had an epiphany. It’s really hard to empty your mind when your stomach is completely empty and loudly declaring its discontent! This was about five years ago when, on a dare by my best friend, I decided to go to India to spend ten days at an ashram to learn how to meditate.
The actual course was 21 days but as a self-proclaimed over-achiever I figured I could nail it in ten. Like anything else up to this point in my highly productive, efficient, and fast-paced life, I had specific goals in mind for the ten days at the ashram. First, learn how to empty my mind. Second, attain a permanent stress-free state. Third (and this was my Big Hairy Audacious Goal) was to achieve enlightenment. So, you can imagine my frustration on Day Nine as my stomach was growling with hunger and I had still not learned how to empty my mind.
Fast forward five years, and I find myself fascinated by what neuroscience is discovering about the benefits of meditation… something discovered thousands of years ago by the Buddhists. My goal here is to share the benefits of mindfulness I have personally experienced – more as a student and practitioner of the topic, rather than an expert.
First, a brief definition of mindfulness. According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness is simple awareness of the present moment. The Chinese calligraphy character is literally translated as “present heart.” It is the practice of paying careful attention to what is happening in the now, whether it be a sight, a sound, a taste, a smell, a sensation in the body, a thought, or an emotion. It is observation without attachment.
Here are ten ways a leadership practice in mindfulness has helped me and can help you too.
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Is Sponsorship the New Mentorship?
NewsAt The Glass Hammer, we report frequently on mentorship and sponsorship. Yet we still find there’s quite a bit of confusion among women about the distinction between these types of roles and programs. In honor of Women’s History Month, we wanted to provide fresh insights and clarification from corporate diversity leaders about mentoring and sponsoring.
Some thought leaders argue that sponsorship is more of a semantic difference than a practical one when compared with traditional mentorship. Yet many diversity experts emphasize that the roles are quite different from one another, and that it’s important for women to strive to develop both types of relationships.
New or Just Different?
When asked whether she views sponsorship as the new mentorship, Maria Castañón Moats, chief diversity officer of PwC, responds that she believes sponsors and mentors are different, and both are important. “In my experience, mentors provide advice and emotional support,” says Moats. “They are people you look up to no matter what their role might be in the organization. A sponsor, in contrast, must be senior and influential. Sponsors are effective because they spend their political capital on your behalf. Sponsors go far beyond offering advice and offer opportunity!”
Having moved at PwC from senior manager, to partner, to C-level executive, Moats is in the unique position of having had mentors and sponsors who have helped her along the way, as well as mentoring and sponsoring others herself. When it comes to sponsors, Moats explains how her advocates went beyond simply giving advice:
“From my first day at the firm, I’ve had formative relationships with key sponsors—men and women who helped me grow, challenged me to take on tough assignments, and ultimately shaped the professional I’ve become,” says Moats. “They guided me toward new opportunities and helped expand my professional network by introducing me to key people both inside and outside the firm.”
Moats says she is also proud of currently serving as a sponsor. “I have several female protégés at the moment,” says Moats. “I see my role as providing candid feedback in real time and fighting to get my people the right opportunities at the right time.”
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Voice of Experience: Liz Bingham, Managing Partner, People and Talent, UK and Ireland, Ernst & Young
Voices of Experience“In order to attract and retain the best people, we have to make sure that we are looking at talent through a diversity and inclusion lens,” said Liz Bingham, Managing Partner of People and Talent for the UK and Ireland at Ernst & Young. “This is an area I am completely passionate about. As a school leaver (non graduate), a woman, and also an out lesbian, I tick quite a few gender diversity boxes.”
Bingham rose through the ranks at Ernst & Young as a member of the firm’s restructuring business, eventually becoming managing partner of the $150 million practice. Last year, she decided she was ready for a new challenge, and was appointed to the UK firm’s leadership team as Managing Partner for People and Talent. Now she is keenly focused on taking learning and development, diversity and inclusion, and employee engagement to the next level.
“I want to be sure talent in every shape and form is nurtured, to create a more meaningful experience for every individual who works for the firm for however long they stay with us,” she said.
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Co-Producing Success: How Mentoring Encourages Developing Leaders
Mentors and SponsorsWhat would happen if we linked generations by co-producing scenarios of success? What if corporate training programs developed blemish free and customized curriculums? These are just some of the questions that come up as part of a discussion with colleagues while talking about our career hopes and dreams.
We all agreed there was something simply unaccommodating about the workforce we belong to. Something doesn’t quite “click.” Most of our coworkers are already comfortably reaching retirement. We were still “finding ourselves” and deciding what way to go.
As Generation Y, subject matter experts with social media presence, we represent a new phenotype of employee with markedly different goals. This sample of employees will become 2020’s leading men and women. We will need guidance to get there.
Enter mentorship. But how can we ensure it is truly effective?
As noted by Helen Colley in her thought provoking paper, “Exploring Myths of Mentor,” most mentoring proposals have become a response to young people who feel excluded in the workplace. Her appraisal (much like a mentoring exposé) finds any discovery purely anecdotal, calling mentoring yet another training and development typology in a sea of solution surplus. Others of course, find great value in having a VIP pass to an experienced person’s range of wisdom. But despite the debates, open mentoring programs can target younger employees’ needs by connecting them with seasoned veterans. Who can argue with that?
In my experience, mentors are not self-proclaimed messiahs. In fact, they’re more like compelling and talented individuals with volumes of information to learn from. Therefore, mentors are much more like co-producers of success. Can you think of something more memorable or powerful than having someone directly, and positively, impacting your career?
Here are 5 abiding principles aspiring mentors and mentees should make good use of in their pursuit of affirmative impact in the workplace.
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Navigating Your Career: Proven Strategies for Ambitious Women
Career Management, Featured, Industry Leaders, LeadershipSteer was speaking at The Glass Hammer’s latest career management event “Navigating, Negotiating, and Building Your Strategic Network” last week. Our panelists shared their advice and wisdom (based on their combined “150 years of experience” said moderator Kathleen McQuiggan, President of Catalina Leadership) on how to get to the next level in the investment management industry.
In addition to Steer, our panelists included Nicole Arnaboldi, Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Alternative Investments, Credit Suisse; Nanette Buziak, Managing Director, Head of Equity Trading, ING Investment Management; Ingrid Dyott, Managing Director and Associate Portfolio Manager, Neuberger Berman; and Paula L. Rogers, President, Institutional Capital.
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He Said, She Said: Recalculating the Gender Wage Gap
Money TalksThere is a 23 percent wage gap between men and women in the US – women working full time still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. For years now we’ve been told that the gap narrowed considerably in the 1980’s due largely to women’s progress in education and workforce participation and that progress has since stalled, but a new study from the University of Georgia’s Jeremy Reynolds and Jeffrey Wenger has revealed some shocking results.
While writing a paper about how couples deal with health insurance arrangements when sick, Reynolds came across an interesting fact: when a spouse reports on the health of their husband, they tend to say their husband is less healthy than their husband believes himself to be and the same is true for husbands reporting on the health of their wives. This unexplainable quirk got the professors wondering about what other issues self-reporting affected.
As it turns out, it’s made much of the data about the gender wage gap seem unreliable at best.
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Voice of Experience: Kelly Williams, Group Head and Managing Director, Customized Fund Investment Group, Asset Management Division, Credit Suisse
Voices of ExperienceKelly Williams, Group Head and Managing Director of Credit Suisse’s Customized Fund Investment Group, believes that networking is critical in the private equity business – especially for women.
“Too many people focus solely on doing deals, and not as much on being part of firm building,” she said. “Networking and relationship development with both entrepreneurs and investors are equally important for building a sustainable career. That’s where women need help in this industry.”
Williams, whose group manages over $28 billion of assets on behalf of clients globally, is the founding chair of the Private Equity Women Investor Network, and believes that by playing a bigger role in generating business, women can raise their profile across the industry.
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Pursuing an MBA: When it’s Appropriate and When It’s a Pass
Back to School, PipelineI can’t really remember when I decided that I wanted a MBA. In college, I believed that it was the next step after my first five years of work. However, my career progressed because of what I achieved. My salary was quite high without the degree. I could not see how derailing up to two years of work experience plus the investment of a small house could lead to career advancement. When I heard the word “MBA,” I saw professionals that were overpriced, inexperienced, and ungrounded.
With the onset of the financial crisis, my career stalled at the Vice President level. Although times were difficult, there were meaningful roles to which I was being passed up for. I lost track of the number of times in which I was told “But you don’t have a MBA.” I examined the biographies of over 500 CIO’s, and of all the leaders that I admired; all had earned an MBA or JD from a leading institution. “Could there be something to this?” I thought. I gave in, applied, and enrolled.
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Own Your Thought Leadership to Advance Your Career
Next LevelRecently the Women’s Media Center released its latest report, and whether or not you work in the media, the report’s data is alarming.
The study, “The Status of Women in the US Media 2012,” refers to a number of studies, revealing how few stories are being told about women in the news, and how few women are being positioned as experts.
For example, it mention’s last year’s Media and Gender Monitor study, which says only 24% of news stories are about women. And it discusses American University School of Public Affairs Women and Politics Institute statistics that say women were only one-fifth (21.7%) of guests on Sunday morning talk shows. Women were only 26% of sources at National Public Radio, which is considered an “industry leader in engaging female correspondents and hosts.”
Who we see and hear from in the news goes a long way in shaping our view, as a society, of whose voice matters. As the report says, “By deciding who gets to talk, what shapes the debate, who writes, and what is important enough to report, media shape our understanding of who we are and what we can be.”
The dearth of women in the news can influence opinions about what an expert or leader looks like – which can impact women’s career advancement and opportunities as well. Fortunately, this situation can be changed.
Jamia Wilson, Vice President of Programs at the Women’s Media Center, leads training programs for women and girls, so they can be prepared to speak publicly to the media. She said, “It’s very important for women to amplify their voices to change the volume in the media. Right now our voices are underrepresented.”
And she says, preparing to speak out as a thought leader can change the conversation on the air and at the table of power in your own organization.
Read more