Contributed by Jeffrey Cohn and Jay Moran
Many women today worry about what it takes to reach the top. They want to know what they can do to become better leaders.
The old paradigm said that they should adopt a traditionally “masculine” style or set of traits. Very few experts believe that now. In fact, when it comes to important leadership attributes, recent research shows that women have a natural advantage. Where they still suffer (like men) is in trying to understand the source of this power. Now as much as ever, both genders need help with their leadership development efforts.
Just as important – albeit less discussed – is knowing how to choose better leaders. In a way, not having the answer to this question produces the same effect as not knowing how to leverage one’s personal abilities. After all, when we do a poor job of selecting leaders, it stunts our own careers. When a board of directors hires the wrong CEO to run an organization, and that individual fails, it reflects negatively on everyone. When a division president picks a less-than-stellar candidate to manage one of her teams, she will be held to account for that group’s subsequent lack of performance.
Yet, most people don’t focus on this side of the issue. As a result, even today’s best organizations commit some serious errors when it comes to important leadership selection decisions.
The first mistake stems from not knowing what qualities to seek in potential leaders. For decades we have been told that a magnetic personality, or Ivy-League education, or certain style, make all the difference. They don’t. None of these factors is a reliable predictor of leadership success.
Other times we focus on qualities that do matter, but we don’t go far enough to seek a healthy balance. For example, we gravitate toward individuals who possess enormous passion and vision, but who are lacking in good judgment. Or we promote individuals with enormous cognitive skills, but who lack enough empathy to handle sticky social situations.
The second big mistake we make when trying to judge leadership potential is the use of insufficient assessment techniques. In other words, even when we know what to look for, we don’t know how to look. We rely on backward-looking interview questions, or inappropriate personality tests, or letters of reference from those who simply cannot predict how a person will perform in a fundamentally new position. Even the perennial favorite among promotion criteria – prior performance – is not a good indicator of future leadership success. At best, it tells only half the story. A solid manager with ten years of experience in marketing, for example, might be poorly suited for a generalist role that will require her to lead an entire division.
In our book Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders? the two of us answer these crucial “what” and “how” questions. Based on more than fifteen years of experience working with premiere executive education programs and some of the best organizations in the world, we explain how to identify the very best leaders. Here are some highlights that will help your company do a better job in this area…
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Changing Families, Changing Workplace Needs
Work-LifeIn June, PwC hosted its Diversity Leadership Forum, entitled “Business works when life works: Flexibility in a hyper-connected world,” in Washington DC. The Forum was a day-long conference intended to amount to a graduate course in diversity leadership, remarked Reggie Butler, Managing Director, PwC’s US Office of National HR Operations – Transformation.
Jennifer Allyn, Managing Director, Office of Diversity, PwC, asked, “How can we as leaders support the needs of our people and really get that competitive edge?”
One of the biggest ways workplaces are changing is to better support the needs of today’s families. Not only is the definition of family evolving, but as more women enter the workforce and achieve top roles, so are the responsibilities of family members. PwC’s panel on “Meeting the Needs of Modern Families” set out to determine how today’s employees’ needs are changing as more voices come to the work/life conversation.
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Happy Independence Day!
NewsHere in the US, The Glass Hammer is taking a publishing holiday. It’s the Fourth of July, and we got the memo to barbecue!
Reflecting on 2011 so far, we’ve profiled almost fifty successful women – and we’ll continue to do so, with some really inspiring women coming up in the next few weeks. We’ve got more informative and empowering content ahead for this summer and fall as well, plus some very exciting events in store. And we’re also excited about launching our first white paper later this year on women in technology.
But mainly, we’re your community, and we want to hear more from you. What are your career goals for the rest of 2011? Be sure to join our social network and subscribe to our weekly newsletter to ensure you stay connected and join in the conversation!
Also, we are delighted to welcome our dynamic new team member Jewells Chambers, an engineering graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an AmeriCorps alumna. Jewells is taking on the role of Community Manager and Events Coordinator.
Finally, we’re looking for contributors to our Intrepid Woman article series. The series chronicles the stories of professional women stepping out of their comfort zones passionately and courageously. How have you challenged yourself physically or emotionally lately? What was the outcome? What has your adventuresome, limit-pushing experience taught you about yourself, and how has it helped you professionally? Tell us your story! Get in touch with our editor Melissa Anderson at melissa@theglasshammer.com to learn more.
We look forward to seeing you all soon!
10 Time-Saving Apps and Web Sites for Working Moms
Work-LifeIt seems like working moms have to make dinner appear like magic, save the day like super heroes, and multitask like they’re more than one person. Now, to aid in accomplishing these feats is their magic wand and super tool: the smartphone. Whether it’s an iPhone or an Android, these fantastic treasures of technology can use apps or the internet to help you decide on dinner, make a list, find a gift, get in a workout, make sure you’re paying the lowest price, or even watch your favorite show on the go. Below we detail 5 apps and 5 web sites that can help busy working moms manage their lives.
Apps
1. Epicurious
“Feed us, feeeeeed us!” No, that’s not the call of zombies, but rather of your hungry family. Everyday they have to eat, but some days it’s easier to come up with a recipe than others. Get the Epicurious app (for iPhone, iPad, Android, and Nook) for ideas for what you (or your kids, or your better half) can make for dinner. From the simple and quick meal, to the complex and time demanding dinner. Need to pick up a few things to accomplish your culinary masterpiece? The Epicurious app also contains a shopping list function.
2. Netflix
For those pockets of time that crop up when you’re on the go (waiting at the DMV, picking up your daughter from soccer practice, taking the subway to work), catch up on your favorite shows (including every episode of Grey’s Anatomy) and movies through the Netflix app (available for iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Android). It’s also a nice option for entertaining the the kids while you grocery shop or run errands in the car.
3. Remember the Milk
To-do lists, grocery lists, sports schedules, music schedules, and more. You’ve got a lot to keep track of, and a lot to check off, and the Remember the Milk app is here to help. It offers the option to send yourself reminders by email, text message, or instant messenger. Use it on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone.
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Ms. JD Celebrates Education and Empowerment
Women and PhilanthropyAs the light faded outside the offices which overlooked the Statue of Liberty last week, a team of professionals gathered at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP to celebrate women’s successes. The event honored Ms. JD’s New York City chapter and its new Global Education Fund, founded last year to assist women in developing countries in becoming lawyers.
In its first year, the Fund highlighted their support of two women, Joaninne Nanyange and Monica Athieno, as they attended law school in Uganda. In a video comprised of interviews over Skype, the women described the challenges they overcame and their single-minded devotion to achieving their goal of making a life for themselves in law. Nanyange hopes to leverage her hard-won education to become a human-rights activist, while Athieno wants to become a judge.
In a country where only 45% of women have access to any type of schooling, and men are more than twice as likely to have an opportunity to attend any type of higher education, these successes change the landscape of a developing nation like Uganda.
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What Should You Look for in Your Mentor?
Mentors and SponsorsWe’ve all heard it before: Mentoring is crucial for business success and dramatically increases one’s own chance for success. Having a mentor can lead to valuable business contacts and contribute to conceptual and technical knowledge, but why then do so few women actually get mentored? The National Survey on Women and Work, commissioned by Marie Claire and Everywoman, found that 66 percent of the study’s 3,000 UK female respondents believe that mentoring and networking are important for furthering their career, though a whopping 72 percent had never been mentored.
Marie Royce is co-founder of GenderStrategy, a communication training program that assists workplaces with diversity training. Early on in Royce’s business career, she wasn’t lucky enough to have a mentor. She did, however, have a high-ranking female boss that told her she could accomplish anything. Just knowing that someone believed in her was a tremendous motivator. So much in fact, that when Royce noticed that women and minorities were not getting promoted as quickly as they should have, she started a mentoring program in the company to help her associates connect with those who could provide them with the tools they needed to excel.
“Mentoring didn’t happen early on in my career, so I had to make it happen for others,” Royce said. “Mentors are crucial because they can give you insight and be your biggest champion when you’re not around. It’s a person who’s always looking out for you and looking to help you. They can help position you and give you a heads up when new positions are opening up or new divisions are under development.”
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Succession Planning: Why Companies Are So Bad at Picking Good Leaders
Men Who "Get It"Many women today worry about what it takes to reach the top. They want to know what they can do to become better leaders.
The old paradigm said that they should adopt a traditionally “masculine” style or set of traits. Very few experts believe that now. In fact, when it comes to important leadership attributes, recent research shows that women have a natural advantage. Where they still suffer (like men) is in trying to understand the source of this power. Now as much as ever, both genders need help with their leadership development efforts.
Just as important – albeit less discussed – is knowing how to choose better leaders. In a way, not having the answer to this question produces the same effect as not knowing how to leverage one’s personal abilities. After all, when we do a poor job of selecting leaders, it stunts our own careers. When a board of directors hires the wrong CEO to run an organization, and that individual fails, it reflects negatively on everyone. When a division president picks a less-than-stellar candidate to manage one of her teams, she will be held to account for that group’s subsequent lack of performance.
Yet, most people don’t focus on this side of the issue. As a result, even today’s best organizations commit some serious errors when it comes to important leadership selection decisions.
The first mistake stems from not knowing what qualities to seek in potential leaders. For decades we have been told that a magnetic personality, or Ivy-League education, or certain style, make all the difference. They don’t. None of these factors is a reliable predictor of leadership success.
Other times we focus on qualities that do matter, but we don’t go far enough to seek a healthy balance. For example, we gravitate toward individuals who possess enormous passion and vision, but who are lacking in good judgment. Or we promote individuals with enormous cognitive skills, but who lack enough empathy to handle sticky social situations.
The second big mistake we make when trying to judge leadership potential is the use of insufficient assessment techniques. In other words, even when we know what to look for, we don’t know how to look. We rely on backward-looking interview questions, or inappropriate personality tests, or letters of reference from those who simply cannot predict how a person will perform in a fundamentally new position. Even the perennial favorite among promotion criteria – prior performance – is not a good indicator of future leadership success. At best, it tells only half the story. A solid manager with ten years of experience in marketing, for example, might be poorly suited for a generalist role that will require her to lead an entire division.
In our book Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders? the two of us answer these crucial “what” and “how” questions. Based on more than fifteen years of experience working with premiere executive education programs and some of the best organizations in the world, we explain how to identify the very best leaders. Here are some highlights that will help your company do a better job in this area…
Read more
Movers and Shakers: Jacqueline Allen, Senior Vice President, Finance, Equity Reporting, North America, Citi
Movers and ShakersJacqueline Allen, SVP of Finance, Equities Reporting, North America at Citi, said the achievement she is most proud of is going back to school for her MBA. She explained, “I finally took the leap after having breakfast with the CEO of Equities at Citi. It was three years ago, when Citi was entering the most tumultuous time of the downturn. The message I took away was that I needed to be the best I could be to propel my career. So I took inventory of myself and realized that to compete in the changing environment, I needed more education.”
Now that Allen has completed her MBA, she is looking for the next opportunity on the horizon.
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Closet-Cultures Mean Costly Flight Risk for Employers
Featured, Managing ChangeLast week the Center for Work Life Policy released a long-awaited report entitled “The Power of Out,” a report that details the cost of the closet. Based on the results of a CWLP survey, out of the estimated seven million LGBT employees in the US workforce, 48% are closeted. And according to the report by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Karen Sumberg, that closet costs companies big time.
Sumberg said, “What surprised me most about the research is that so many people are still in the closet at work, and really the effect of someone’s engagement at work is profound.”
The report says, “Among those LGBTs who feel isolated at work, closeted employees are nearly three-quarters (73%) more likely to say they plan to leave their companies within three years.” Not just that, write Hewlett and Sumberg, but when employees are out, they are more productive and build stronger relationships with co-workers and clients.
Based on the CWLP’s numbers, that means almost two and a half million LGBT employees in the US are looking for a new job, simply because their company’s culture prevents them from being themselves at work.
Attrition is expensive. If simply doing what is right (providing a workplace that’s open to people of all stripes) isn’t good enough to encourage employers to build inclusive workplaces, doesn’t the cost of potential attrition show it’s time for companies to address the issue of the closet culture?
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35 Under 35: Sarah Odell, Manager, Talent & Organization Performance, Accenture
35 Under 35British born Sarah Odell began her career in the USA thanks to her youthful prowess with a lacrosse stick. Whilst at school in Surrey, she played for the English youth lacrosse team, was spotted by a US college recruiter, and won a sports scholarship to Vanderbilt University in Tennessee where she studied Human and Organizational Development. This was followed by an MSc from Capella University in Minnesota which in turn enabled her to stay on and work in the US.
“I was very lucky! I started in the US in the telecommunications industry in learning and development, spending seven years with Sprint Nextel, primarily working to develop Learning & Development capabilities in its contact centres and delivering training to its employees all over the country.
“In 2007, I moved back to the UK with Accenture, and I now provide Learning & Development consultancy for clients in the fast-moving consumer goods industry. It’s the full cycle of consultancy, from building relationships with current and existing clients through to delivering strategic and operational services.”
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What’s Your Leadership Practice?
Ask A Career CoachIf you want to be a better golfer what do you do? Practice. How about if you want to be a better musician? Practice. If you want to be a better leader, what do you do? You get the picture. So what’s your daily leadership practice?
To improve our leadership, we read leadership books, attend seminars, observe famous leaders, even look at our bosses and swear we will never be like them. But do we have a conscious leadership discipline that we practice every day? Based on my observations (including exhaustive research on myself), most leadership is fairly unconscious, so here are three tips to come up with your very own leadership practice.
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