By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
“There are 600 million young women between the ages of 13 and 19,” said Louise Guido, president and CEO of the Foundation for Social Change. The organization works to unite leaders from non-profits, governments, and companies, to share best practices and collaborate in their efforts toward improving environmental and social issues.
Guido continued, “Helping a few thousand people is great, and it’s necessary, but if you really want to change the world, it takes a lot of resources.”
“We really need to share the cost and the outlay. And what we’ve been trying to do seems like it’s working,” she added.
The Foundation is currently launching a program designed to provide job training and education for young women around the globe. But unlike most corporate philanthropy efforts, in which one company “owns” the project and might contract with local non-profits, Guido’s project is bigger.
“We are getting as many corporations involved as possible.” The network includes a major technology company, financial corporations, and hopefully telcoms – and more. Through a “shared enterprise platform,” Guido said, the program will be able to reach more girls, provide more resources, and create better programming.
The initiative will involve several programs around the globe, featuring learning and development modules around business and life skills, as appropriate to each individual culture. These programs will enable the participants to improve their job prospects, and hopefully become the next generation workforce for companies sponsoring the program. “So there’s an HR sustainability component as well,” Guido explained.
This Year’s UN Report on the World’s Women: The Rundown
NewsLast Wednesday, in recognition of World Statistics Day, the UN released The World’s Women 2010. The report covers a broad range of data and trends on women around the globe – 284 pages of data, in fact – so we’ve put together a review of the most salient information to be useful and easily accessible for you, our readers.
In his opening letter, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon writes, “The World’s Women 2010 is intended to contribute to the stocktaking being done to mark the fifteenth anniversary of the Beijing Conference. …It finds that progress in ensuring the equal status of women and men has been made in many areas, including school enrolment, health and economic participation.”
But, he continued, “At the same time, it makes clear that much more needs to be done, in particular to close the gender gap in public life and to prevent the many forms of violence to which women are subjected.”
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Pooling Corporate Philanthropy Efforts for Real Progress
Women and Philanthropy“There are 600 million young women between the ages of 13 and 19,” said Louise Guido, president and CEO of the Foundation for Social Change. The organization works to unite leaders from non-profits, governments, and companies, to share best practices and collaborate in their efforts toward improving environmental and social issues.
Guido continued, “Helping a few thousand people is great, and it’s necessary, but if you really want to change the world, it takes a lot of resources.”
“We really need to share the cost and the outlay. And what we’ve been trying to do seems like it’s working,” she added.
The Foundation is currently launching a program designed to provide job training and education for young women around the globe. But unlike most corporate philanthropy efforts, in which one company “owns” the project and might contract with local non-profits, Guido’s project is bigger.
“We are getting as many corporations involved as possible.” The network includes a major technology company, financial corporations, and hopefully telcoms – and more. Through a “shared enterprise platform,” Guido said, the program will be able to reach more girls, provide more resources, and create better programming.
The initiative will involve several programs around the globe, featuring learning and development modules around business and life skills, as appropriate to each individual culture. These programs will enable the participants to improve their job prospects, and hopefully become the next generation workforce for companies sponsoring the program. “So there’s an HR sustainability component as well,” Guido explained.
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The Value of Networking – Beyond the Quota
NetworkingWhile visiting Norway last month, it became obvious that the country’s push for gender equality is about more than regulation, like quotas or parental leave legislation. In fact, various organizations outside the government work hard, with both women and men, to improve gender parity.
For example, in order to better prepare women for leadership positions in the financial services, one organization, Futura, has created a unique networking-mentoring program to guide women as they build their leadership skills. The organization believes that putting women in the leadership pipeline is just as important as the law requiring women to fill 40% of board positions in publicly traded companies – and will ultimately improve business performance in the future.
Formed in 2006, Futura pairs high performing women (“Talents”) in Norway’s financial services industry with senior leaders (“Agents”) in the field (not necessarily at their own company), based on interviews and psychological surveys. The women work closely with the Agents to solve problems and gain leadership skills, and benefit from the networking opportunities afforded by “being taken under someone’s wing.”
And it seems to be working. According to the program, “34% have gained positions at a higher organizational level, 53% have more responsibility for personnel, 45% have more budget responsibility, and 50% have greater operational responsibilities than before entering the program.” Keep in mind, the program is only 4 years old – for roughly half of these women to have been promoted already speaks to the value of organized networking – and the give and take relationships fostered by the program.
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Wake Up: We Need to Fix the Business Case for Women in Leadership
Featured, Managing ChangeFifteen percent. That’s how many women make up executive committees of American’s top companies. In Europe it’s only 7%. And in Asia – only 3%. That’s what 20-First revealed in this year’s WOMENOMICS 101 Survey.
And while these are all more than… say… zero percent, it’s nowhere near the 30% critical mass so many female leaders have called for, nor the company-specific gender balance approach advocated for by 20-First’s Founder and CEO Avivah Wittenberg-Cox.
What can we do to correct the imbalance? Wittenberg-Cox says it comes down to the framing of the issue. “When women consider themselves ‘diverse’ they are keeping themselves in the minority.” In actuality, women are not in the minority at all. For example, she continued, women make up 60% of Europe’s university graduates and 80% of consumers – both of which are clearly majority percentages. “Until women understand this, we will not convince the guys that gender is a strategic business issue,” she said.
Similarly, a recent survey of board directors [PDF] showed that the business case for women in corporate leadership is failing.
The study, by Heidrick and Struggles, WomenCorporateDirectors, and Dr. Boris Groysberg of Harvard Business School, showed that “More women directors than men felt that three ore more women on a board made it more effective (51% vs. 12%) and that women brought unique attributes to the board (90% vs. 56%).”
The 20-First analysis of Executive Committee gender balance and the Heidrick and Struggles study on board directors show one thing – we’re not getting anywhere fast when it comes to achieving gender parity at the highest levels.
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Voice of Experience: Theresa S. Wilson, CIO/Operations and EVP Technical Services, Wells Fargo
Voices of Experience“Make sure you’re in front of the right leadership, that you’re sharing about the type of work you do,” advised Theresa S. Wilson, CIO of Operations and EVP of Technical Services at Wells Fargo. She continued, “You have to be vocal.”
Wilson, who has been with her company for 34 years, through several mergers and acquisitions, emphasized the importance of portraying one’s skills. She said, “It’s always good to step outside [your area] and help another group, so you can show your leadership style to others and build a wide breadth of your network.”
She continued, “Volunteer to do extra work. Demonstrate your leadership.”
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Eliminating Unconscious Bias, for a More Productive Workplace
Expert AnswersIs unconscious bias impacting business performance? The UK consultancy Beyond’s recent Unconscious Bias survey results reveal 1 in 3 believe consciously or unconsciously that a woman’s place is at home and not work.
67% of those surveyed have a low or no bias at all. At first glance this appears to be good news. On close scrutiny 1 in 4 of this group when placed under pressure emotionally or cognitively and their biases too will surface. The same applies to the 26% with a moderate bias. We’ve all been there, unrealistic deadlines, last minute requests in the inbox, difficult colleagues, meetings that are time wasting, unachievable targets, budgets being squeezed, clients delaying decisions and on and on.
Everyone has pre-existing concepts surrounding particular groups. These concepts can form at an early age from personal experiences, what we see in the media and moral guidelines for example parental influence and education. The internal perceptions we have of certain groups lead to prejudgements that take place automatically, at high velocity, and are not privy to conscious manipulation. Through bringing the concept of unconscious bias into individual awareness, we begin a process that can regulate the resulting behaviours and eventually effect the beliefs that exist.
Is unconscious bias impacting your business performance? Are there challenges in attracting, retaining and developing top female and diverse talent?
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Boardroom Diversity is Public Issue – Here’s Why
Breaking the Glass CeilingWhen you bring up the need to get more women in the boardroom, you’re bound to encounter some push-back. You might hear, “Why should companies be told what the gender-makeup of their boardroom should be? Since companies are in the business of making money, won’t they automatically choose the right person for the job, regardless of gender, to maximize their revenues?”
No matter how many studies come out that say leadership diversity is good for business, most people, in the US at least, are still opposed to companies being required to fill a certain percentage of board seats with women. Most people feel it’s just none of our business, really, or the government’s, to meddle in the affairs of our largest corporations.
But, the people running our largest corporations are subject to public, cultural assumptions – which are preventing women from achieving their highest potential. The shareholders of these corporations – the public – are too. If the public is convinced that boardroom diversity is good for business, won’t shareholders influence companies to hire more women for their boardrooms?
But are shareholders convinced that women business leaders make just as good decisions as men? A new study says no. And that certainly is the public’s business.
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Voice of Experience: Camille Mirshokrai, Senior Executive and Director of Global Leadership Development, Accenture
Voices of Experience“We all have different definitions of success,” said Camille Mirshokrai, Director of Global Leadership Development at Accenture. She continued, “The only way we can define it so to truly know ourselves.”
After almost 17 years at Accenture, the majority of them working in leadership development and succession planning, Mirshokrai has helped design the fabric of the company’s leadership culture. She said, “We have to manage our career instead of the organization managing our career. Be in control of your destiny.”
Mirshokrai said, “It’s important to me, [when working with] groups of women, to urge them to be supportive networks to each other. We have to help the women in generations that come after us. Someone helped us climb the ladder, and we have to help them climb the ladder.
She continued, “The best way to retain women is to take on roles with responsibility for the next generation.”
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Corporate Philanthropy: Touching Lives and Filling the Career Pipeline Too
Women and PhilanthropyOn The Glass Hammer, we’ve covered a number of corporate philanthropy and development programs. Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot about the importance of making sure those programs are sustainable in the long term, and measuring success over time.
But by maintaining a large-scale, institutional focus (as important as it may be for strategic planning and benchmarking success), it can be easy to lose sight of the individuals whose lives are touched by volunteers and scholarship programs every day.
Recently we had the opportunity to speak with a remarkable young woman, Sophie Kirby, who is one of those people. After growing up in California’s foster care system, Kirby, who was married and a new mom at 21, and then divorced and single mother 4 years ago, is working to finish college and enter the financial services industry. She’s faced down lifelong challenges, and with the help of mentors and sponsors, and a scholarship from Mass Mutual‘s general agency, Sapient Financial Group, she is well on her way to entering the leadership pipeline. Here is her story.
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Voice of Experience: Anne Erni, Head of Leadership, Learning and Diversity, Bloomberg LP
Voices of Experience“As my career on the trading floor progressed, I began noticing women disappearing all around me,” said Anne Erni, head of diversity at Bloomberg. Before moving to Bloomberg, Erni was one of the founders of WILL, Lehman Brothers‘ women’s network. After founding WILL, she said, “I really began to understand the importance of sisterhood in the workplace.”
Erni, who described her career as “non-linear,” began her career on the trading floor, eventually becoming SVP, Prime Brokerage at Lehman, before taking on the Chief Diversity Officer role there.
“I want to drive people to contribute their very best, so they can make the most of their careers,” she explained. “I am passionate about people feeling passionate about coming to work.”
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