By GiGi DeVault (Munich)
Build a better Executive MBA (EMBA) program, and they will come. But who benefits most—university coffers or women executives with newly minted EMBAs? EMBA programs now offer women’s support networks, clubs, and mentoring. Some even offer symposiums on work/life balance. Della Bradshaw from the Financial Times described an EMBA as the “Gucci handbag of the business school world.” Glitter and attract, they must—competition is keen. But have universities really just constructed better mousetraps for snapping up tuition?
The challenges women and men face in business are not identical, and the value they place on their MBA degrees reflect this difference. According to the 2005 MBA Alumni Perspective Survey of 2,209 graduates, including EMBAs, men are more likely than women to rate successful MBA program outcomes in terms of their increased knowledge base and their ability to score an international assignment. Women tend to look at whether they are more respected or gain more recognition at work, and if they experienced an increase in self-confidence.
After graduation, like a professional baseball player returning from spring training, an EMBA may still play the same position and, if things are going well, still be on the same team. But now they are expected to play better.
Voice Of Experience: Carla Harris, Managing Director of the Strategic Client Group and the Head of the Emerging Managers Platform, Morgan Stanley
Voices of ExperienceBy Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)
Carla Harris is legendary on Wall Street for her tenacity, her ability, and her talent in business. She was ranked as one of Fortune Magazine’s 50 Most Powerful Black Executives in Corporate America for 2005 and has previously been recognized by Fortune as well as by Ebony, Essence and the Harvard University Black Men’s Forum for her leadership in the corporate sphere.
But Ms. Harris’ talents reach beyond the walls of Morgan Stanley, where she serves as the Managing Director of the Strategic Client Group and the head of the Emerging Managers Platform. A quick search of Amazon.com will reveal that she is also a published author—her book Expect to Win: Proven Strategies for Success from a Wall Street Vet has made her a popular interview subject and coveted speaker—as well as a recording artist who has sold out Carnegie Hall. Her albums “Carla’s First Christmas” and “Joy is Waiting” are filled with music to uplift the spirit.
Indeed, Ms. Harris combines the joy within her with her extensive business experience to help those striving to succeed. She is conscious of the burden of being an advisor. Her book Expect to Win is filled with, in her words, “everything I wish I’d known walking into my career, things that might have made my career markedly different. Not that I haven’t had a great career but boy, would it have been even better!”
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Inspiration at the Annual Women in the City Awards 2009
Pipeline, What's OnThe fall-out of the financial events in 2009 has moved the argument for diversity beyond the HR department and firmly into the boardroom. So the 350 women who attended this year’s Third Annual Women in the City Awards lunch in London on Friday had plenty to debate, from diversity’s role in the reduction of risk to how companies can retain and develop female talent.
The opulent surroundings of the Plaisterers Hall provided a contrasting but welcome backdrop to shared experiences of pay cuts, zero bonuses and canceled Christmas parties. But the overall mood was of celebration and recognition of tangible examples of how individuals can make a difference in professional organisations.
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The Great Divide: Study Reveals a Growing Disconnect Between Employers and Employees
NewsBy Cheryl Santa Maria
(Toronto)
The unstable workforce hasn’t seriously influenced employees’ career expectations, according to a recent report. Spherion’s 2009 Emerging Workforce Study reveals that employers need to do more to retain human capital during a downturn or they run the risk losing staff in droves once the economy heals.
An overwhelming degree of employee dissatisfaction has been growing steadily for the past twelve years, largely due to lack of communication between management and general staff. Of the 2,519 participants in the study, only 24 percent of respondents report being “very satisfied” with the career development offered by their employer and only 27 percent are satisfied with overall compensation.
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Are Executive MBAs Worth it?
Back to School, PipelineBy GiGi DeVault (Munich)
Build a better Executive MBA (EMBA) program, and they will come. But who benefits most—university coffers or women executives with newly minted EMBAs? EMBA programs now offer women’s support networks, clubs, and mentoring. Some even offer symposiums on work/life balance. Della Bradshaw from the Financial Times described an EMBA as the “Gucci handbag of the business school world.” Glitter and attract, they must—competition is keen. But have universities really just constructed better mousetraps for snapping up tuition?
The challenges women and men face in business are not identical, and the value they place on their MBA degrees reflect this difference. According to the 2005 MBA Alumni Perspective Survey of 2,209 graduates, including EMBAs, men are more likely than women to rate successful MBA program outcomes in terms of their increased knowledge base and their ability to score an international assignment. Women tend to look at whether they are more respected or gain more recognition at work, and if they experienced an increase in self-confidence.
After graduation, like a professional baseball player returning from spring training, an EMBA may still play the same position and, if things are going well, still be on the same team. But now they are expected to play better.
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Attracting and Retaining Women at Boston Consulting Group
Industry Leaders, LeadershipBy Liz O’Donnell (Boston)
Something is working. The number of women at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has doubled over the last five years and now three women sit on the firm’s 13 member Executive Committee, up from none in about the same time frame. Women represent 33 percent of the firm’s approximate 4,300 consultants. These numbers are inching towards the kind of critical mass a company needs to realize the benefits of gender diversity.
How is Boston Consulting Group, a business built on the grueling model of consulting and billable hours, able to not just attract and retain, but also promote women? How does it make the Fortune magazine list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” and the Working Mother magazine “Best Company for Working Mothers” lists?
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Voice of Experience: Vanna Krantz, Chief Financial Officer for the Media Division of Thomson Reuters
Voices of ExperienceVanna Krantz grew up on Ottawa, Canada. As a child of Indian parents “who would prefer their children to become doctors, lawyers or accountants,” Krantz said she was “probably brainwashed at very young age that college was extremely important and a formal education was an absolutely necessity.”
Armed with a dual degree in accounting and mathematics from the highly regarded University of Waterloo, Krantz intended to become a chartered accountant. But, she laughed, “Did I know what it meant to be an accountant? Absolutely not. But I knew it was a professional standing and there was value to that.”
Now the Chief Financial Officer for the Media Division of Thomson Reuters, and the moderator of the recent FWA Event, Krantz has settled into her best role yet. “Thomson Reuters is a good fit for me because the Finance organization is highly valued (obviously something important to me), with tremendous talent/leaders. But it is also an organization where people skills matter quite a bit.”
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In Case You Missed It: Business News Round-up
NewsContributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group.
The U.K. revised initial figures for the third quarter from a gross domestic product fall of 0.4% to a fall of 0.3%. Cadbury may receive an offer from Hershey. China issued its first 50 year government bond. These are but a few highlights of important market events that we’ve gathered to help you start the week well informed.
Economic Backdrop
Mergers and Acquisitions
Financial Institutions
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Happy Thanksgiving!
NewsFor those of you in the U.S., have a great Thanksgiving! And for those readers around the globe, have a very happy Thursday. (Hang in there – only one more day until the weekend!)
Avenues to Advancement: Ms. JD’s 3rd Annual Women in Law Conference
Pipeline, What's OnBy Jessica Titlebaum (Chicago)
“Roll up your sleeves!”
This is the advice Karen Lockwood, of the Lockwood Group, told the audience at Northwestern University at Ms. JD’s 3rd Annual Women in Law Conference on Friday, November 20th. “Exposing your wrist bone,” she explained, “exudes confidence and makes you look taller.“
The advice was symbolic as the day unfolded. The women ‘rolled up their sleeves’ and participated in intense workshops and break-out sessions. It was the second time Linda Bray Chanow from the Center for Women in Law at University of Texas Law School organized this conference focused on communication, networking and self-promotion.
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National Association of Women Lawyers’ Fourth Annual National Survey On Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms
NewsThe National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) recently released their Report of The Fourth Annual National Survey On Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms. The survey program, which began in 2006, is, according to the report, “the only national study that annually tracks the professional progress of women in the nation’s 200 largest law firms by providing a comparative view of the careers and compensation of men and women lawyers at all levels of private practice, including senior roles as equity partners and law firm leaders, and data about the factors that influence career progression.”
Stephanie Scharf, founder of the Survey and President of the NAWL Foundation which co-sponsors the Survey with NAWL, explained its genesis: “The old saying is that if you want to change something, first you have to measure it. An important purpose of the survey is to provide baseline benchmarks for how a typical law firm is performing. People can assess a firm against those benchmarks and determine where women in private practice stand.” Scharf was quick to state that the NAWL doesn’t publish firm-by-firm data—“we want answers without fear”—and instead, publishes findings based on objective measures like retention and promotion.
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