Tag Archive for: Managing Change

Change Leader: Deborah Lorenzen, Managing Director, Head of Enterprise Data Governance, State Street

Deb LorenzenDeborah Lorenzen is the head of Enterprise Data Governance at State Street. We caught up with her to discuss what is energizing her as we enter 2020 and what she hopes to achieve for herself and for others as a change leader for women in the workplace.

Nicki from theglasshammer (NG): Deb, we have profiled you before and you have attended as a panelist some of our career events over the years. I have always held you in high esteem as someone who walks the talk when it comes to helping other women and as a change leader for systemic issues. What lessons have you learned from 2019 and this decade generally to take into 2020 and the next decade?

Deb Lorenzen (DL): If you really want it you have to keep after it, even when it is hard. You just have to keep turning up for the fight. That said, if you are not having fun anymore, quit. That might sound blunt, but honestly, if you aren’t finding joy in what you spend much of your life doing you won’t be successful. So stop, regroup, and find the thing that gives you joy.

From a job title perspective my career path looks non-linear. I’ve always been curious about the next challenge. The strong thread that has held it together is executing on strategic change programs, whether that was acquisition or divestiture, global operating model changes, launching a new product or service into the market or closing down something that wasn’t successful, as well as the inevitable regulatory change. Diving into these change opportunities has provided the chance for me to live and work around the world, provided value to the firms and people who have been part of these efforts, and fed my own leadership journey into how operating models and organizations work.

NG: What excites you about 2020?

DL: In January 2020 I will begin teaching my first MBA course, an elective titled Executing Strategic Change at Providence College. Having spent much of my career driving major change programs it is exciting to pull all of those examples back out to consider what made them successful, and what I would do differently in hindsight. I’m looking forward to the exchange of ideas with a group of future thought leaders. Preparing the course has also been a good reminder of how much has been accomplished during my career.

NG: What trends in your industry are of particular interest to you?

DL: Right now, my focus is on Data Governance and how we help long-standing firms make the shift from application-oriented architecture to properly data-driven architecture. This is the classic example of a strategic change program where we are trying to change the engine and the tires of the bus while still driving down the highway. Fortunately, we have a fantastic team who are all focused on getting this done, and we have leadership in place who both understand what we need to do and are driving resources into place to support our goals.

NG: What is the one thing you know now that you wish you had known when you were first starting your career?

DL: There are so many things I wish I had known. Having grown up in a rural environment with more cows than people, there were very few accessible role models for working in the global financial markets so I couldn’t even have articulated that was what I wanted to do. In hindsight, I wish I had known all of this existed much earlier than I did. These days I spend as much time as I can mentoring new entrants to the financial world on how things work – how you manage salary and benefit negotiations, which lines of business or functional roles give you the most opportunity, how you find out what they are saying about you when you are not in the room so you can do something about the perception. There is no rocket science inherent to these lessons for readers of Glass Hammer, just value in remembering to ‘each one – reach one’ whenever we have the chance.

NG: What, if any, are the main barriers to success and/or challenges for women in your industry?

DL: I used to say that in New York there is so much competition they will take you out for any excuse they can find. I still believe that is true today, and not just in New York. The thing we have to keep working at diligently is making sure the successful excuses aren’t based in gender bias. Ensuring leadership understands inclusion also helps; tying compensation to actual progress is useful but imperfect. Putting daylight on hiring practices, promotion processes and open opportunities is useful as it forces leaders to think through their decisions in a different way.

NG: What advice would you give to young women in the industry or thinking about entering the industry?

DL: For new entrants I would tell them to just go for it. They shouldn’t listen too long to the stories from my generation because the rules ARE actually different now and they shouldn’t get bogged down in our histories. Newer entrants should use the network available – those of us who have been at it for 20+ years – as for the most part we’ll tell you anything you want to know about how the industry works. If we were to change anything we should simply dedicate more support to the next generation. We’re standing on the shoulders of giants ourselves, and we should give the next generation a hand up.

NG: What bright spots are there for gender equity at work?

DL: Working in the finance I learned long ago to ‘follow the money.’ On that front, the movement of institutional money toward Environment Social Governance (ESG) over the past few years is hugely gratifying. The impact is being seen right now in movement toward gender inclusion on Boards as well as investment in firms that reflect ESG goals and inclusive teams. The leverage available by focusing Institutional funds – pension plans in particular – toward ‘good’ goals is helping to make meaningful improvements in the marketplace.. At State Street we are helping to lead the move toward ESG by providing knowledge and infrastructure.

More locally, State Street has a group of ‘Leading Women’ made up of Executive Vice Presidents. They have been doing a great job of being visible and offering their wisdom and experience through lunches and speakers series. They represent a fantastic group of role models and the activities they are driving are helping to inspire a new generation of leaders.

NG: Outside of work, what is ‘sparking joy’?

DL: One of my joys is sitting on the Advisory Board for Global Female Leaders, an annual economic summit in Berlin where we join leading women from around the world representing politics, business and philanthropy to discuss the geo-political landscape and economic trends. Not only do I get to spend one long weekend each year surrounded by some of the most amazing women I’ve ever met, but I’ve also developed relationships that have provided insight and opportunity, as well as the confidence, to extend my life’s work in new directions.

On the personal front, our house is incredibly active right now, with three school-age children and all of the activities that brings, feet in two countries (my husband is Danish and I’m from California), and a full-time career. Teaching in the Providence MBA program will keep my mind active in the Spring. Beyond that I’m coaching 5th grade travel basketball as well as sitting on the Board of the travel program, and I’m co-leader of a Junior Girl Scout Troop. We are, at the behest of my eldest, fostering dogs for a rescue program here in Massachusetts, and have three puppies we began fostering at 7 days old thriving in the corner of her bedroom.

My hopes for the coming decade are to watch my children’s generation finish their education and enter a workforce that is more inclusive than we have today, with a set of clear rules for the game that are the same for everyone – a big ask, I know. For my part, my shoulder will still be on the wheel, mentoring, teaching, working, speaking truth to power about how it still is and what needs to change. And if culture can be defined as ‘how you get things done around here,’ I’ll continue driving for the continuous improvement of an inclusive culture.

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Recovering from a Mistake at Work

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Sad businesswoman

By Cindy Krischer Goodman

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada studied gender differences in apology behavior of men and women ages 18 to 44 and found women apologized more and felt they had caused offense more.

To recover from a mistake, career experts advise walking the line between apologizing and expressing confidence you can handle tough situations going forward.  Even if handled well, there could be lasting repercussions or lingering distrust. The more glaring and costly the mistake, the more it could affect your job security. It is important to acknowledge you recognize the mistake’s seriousness and are prepared to accept the punishment management doles out without complaining, including being taken off a client’s account or moved to another department. The next step is working hard to rebuild trust.

“It’s going to sting for a while,” said Leadership Coach Monique Catoggio. “But we have to be really aware of how we’re behaving and make sure others are seeing we understand the mistake, are making positive changes, and are dedicated to not making the same mistake again.”

Catoggio, founder of Illumined Life Leadership in Miami, said part of being a leader is role modeling for team members how to bounce back gracefully from a slip-up and learn from what went wrong.

In real life

A marketing director at a Miami accounting firm read a news article about her firm’s acquisition, she realized she had made a mistake. She had misspelled the name of the acquired firm in the press release that went out to hundreds of news outlets. She knew she quickly needed to fix the situation and prepared a new press release to distribute, labeling it “correct version.” Next, she went to her boss with an explanation, and the details of how she corrected her mistake.

At some point, everyone inevitably makes a mistake at work. Sometimes the slip up is small, such as sending an email out addressed to the wrong person. Sometimes it is big, with the potential to be costly for the organization.

Reacting timely and honestly to a costly error can make a difference. You don’t want your boss to learn about the mistake from a co-worker in another department, or worse, a customer. Admitting to a mistake, rather than allowing others to come to their own conclusions, helps assure your boss or client can trust you to be upfront and honest. Career experts advise against fessing up by email, insisting it’s better to have a verbal dialogue in which emotions can be conveyed. As a manager, you may need to take responsibility for an error someone below you made. In doing so, you will need to commit to finding out how the blunder happened, putting in new protocol, and monitoring your team closely so it doesn’t happen again.

In seeking out the root cause of the mistake, you will need to dig deep to understand if you need to be more patient, less distracted, ask more questions or double check facts. You want to discover any fundamental flaws in processes and uncover the actions over which you had control. Your goal should be to make sure you and your team learn from the mistake to ensure it never happens again.  Most important, approach your boss or your customer with proposed solutions for how to make things right.

Learning from mistakes

As many people have discovered, mistakes that initially seem costly, have potential to be opportunities. Paul Schoemaker, entrepreneur, consultant and educator who has taught at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, believes success is the sum-total of many mistakes. As the author of  “Brilliant Mistakes: Finding Success on the Far Side of Failure,” he has said, “If you want your team to get better, first, teach them to frame any mistake as a learning opportunity.”

Schoemaker believes sometimes making mistakes can be the quickest way to discover a problem’s solution. For example, a mistake that initially seems costly based on previous operation methods could end up saving a company money in a changing business environment. In developing a mechanism to prevent re-occurrences, you could discover a more efficient way of getting work done. And, by working hard to remedy the situation with the customer, you could build a stronger relationship.

Success in learning from a mistake may require involvement from another person, someone objective who can give advice, identify training or help with solutions. They may know of someone that has bounced back from a similar mistake and a way to deal with the situation that you don’t.

Going forward, you will need to re-prove yourself on each new assignment and possibly even in your daily activity. Meanwhile, expect to be treated as if on probation; you will need to get past self-doubts, take every measure to ensure the mistake isn’t repeated, and show you are doing your best work. It may take time, but the goal is to prove to management, your colleagues and yourself that you are still trustworthy in your role.

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Pack your Bags: Why you might want to get ahead by going abroad

Woman travelling - airportAccording to research by Mercer, the majority of companies worldwide were expected to increase both long and short-term international assignments. The research also told us that men have typically fulfilled these assignments. Global HR consultants Caroline Kersten and Sapna Welsh, the authors of Worldly Women—The New Leadership Profile, affirmed that the need for women to fulfill international assignments still persists in a recent interview with the Society for Human Resource Management. In addition, they say that men are still the first ones put on the list to be considered for overseas work opportunities.

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Have You Been Told You’re Overqualified? Here are some Tactics to Help You Get Your Foot in the Door

People waiting for an interview“You’re overqualified” is probably the most dreaded compliment in the history of hiring. This assertion is usually accompanied with remarks such as: “What sort of position do you really want?” or “Don’t you think this position would be a step down?” According to a Career Transitions post in Psychology Today by Katharine Brooks, Ed.D, accomplished female professionals have been turned away from lucrative opportunities because of being perceived as a hiring risk. From an employer’s perspective “overqualified” professionals are those who ‘won’t fit in, will cost too much, or won’t keep up with trends.’ Brooks explains that interviewers use this unappealing commendation to mask their apprehension and avoid hiring an employee who they feel may will “get bored and leave the job as soon as something better comes along.”

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Real Midlife Crisis

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women stressedOn both sides of the Atlantic, middle aged women have disproportionately suffered job loss in the years since the great recession began in 2008. Back in 2012, The Guardian reported on data from the UK’s Office for National Statistics and told us that “unemployment among women aged 50 to 64 has risen by 39% in the last two years, compared with an overall rise of 5% among over-16s.” A recent article in the New York Times, based on information from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, tells another troubling story: “Since the start of the recession, the number of working women 45 to 54 has dropped more than 3.5 percent.”

In the UK, the dramatic increase in unemployment and decrease in labor force participation in women over 50 is being attributed to two factors: downsizing in the public sector and elder care. In the US, it is assumed that middle aged women are dropping out of the workforce mostly to care for their aging parents. Elder care is a very real issue, but it isn’t the only one. Since this trend accelerated during the recession, there must have been important factors related to the economic downturn, as well. Have late-career women continued to drop—or be pushed—out of the labor force in the new economy, and what is going on beneath the surface?

Following Up

The UK Since 2012

According to 2014 data from the Office for National Statistics in the UK, the unemployment rate for women between 50 and 64 has decreased by 12% since that 2012 article was written, however, the decrease in unemployment for men in the same age range has been much higher: 31%. Based on data from the same source, it appears that British women in the last third of their careers were still struggling in 2014. It is likely that the decrease in the number of public sector jobs, where British women are overrepresented, has indeed played an important role in this. It seems that unemployed women who previously worked for the government may be having trouble finding new jobs.

The US in Perspective

The US statistics on labor force participation show that middle-aged men and women took a similar, recession-related hit. The reason why unemployment among later-career women stands out is because it’s in contrast to much more static levels of employment among younger women. In the US, the recession hit men aged 20 to 34 harder than women in the same age range, but mature women were hit as hard or harder than men of the same age. Since young women tend to be the lowest paid employees, this might reflect a purge of workers who have traditionally earned more: men and higher level employees of both sexes. It’s also related to the fact that young men are overrepresented in construction and manufacturing, which are especially sensitive to economic troubles. That said, the diminishing role of US women in their prime earning years is a cause for concern. Most of the experienced leaders who hold top positions in business and finance are 40 and up.

Changes in Midlife

Some late-career women who have dropped out of the workforce have done so because of job loss. Others quit their jobs to care for aging parents or to change tracks. The problem is, both voluntary and involuntary job loss in the middle years can be devastating to future earning potential. The dynamics of unemployment in the last 15 or 20 years of a woman’s work life are complex and are affected by both age and gender. Since the recession, many late-career professionals who lost their jobs have been forced into lower paying and lower status work. Faced with that eventuality, some women are doubtless choosing to abandon the search for work if they can afford to. Nobody wants a reduction in status and a cut in pay.

Entrepreneurship

Perhaps some middle aged women are fed up with glass ceilings, realize that they’ll never be as successful as they’d hoped, and are leaving large corporations at the height of their careers. But are they dropping out of the labor force permanently? Some are taking the time they need to refocus and begin new projects. In the US, women are the majority of entrepreneurs and in the UK, the number of women starting their own businesses is increasing steadily. Many women who have not been handed leadership positions in larger organizations are starting their own companies, where they can take the lead much more decisively, guiding the culture and direction of an enterprise.

Frustrated in the Final Third?

There’s no denying that many women who should be at the height of their power in business and the professions—women in the final third of their work lives—are feeling frustrated, especially if they have not yet been able to meet their professional goals and are feeling stuck. However, the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side. Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, elder care is incredibly demanding both physically and emotionally, and simply not working? Many find that it isn’t as nice as it sounds. Family is important, but in most cases, there is a way to stay close to aging parents without sacrificing everything else.

When we’re faced with a late career challenge, there are so many answers other than dropping out or accepting defeat: transfers, job switches, entrepreneurship… and sometimes the answer is simply to call on other family members and professionals for help with aging parents, or to restructure our thinking about work after a period of unemployment.

By Deidre Miller

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Managing Difficult Conversations for Career Advancement

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Nervous Business WomanMary Barra knows something about difficult conversations — and the high price of avoiding them. Not long after she became chief executive officer of General Motors in January, the U.S. automobile giant began recalling millions of cars in response to allegations that the company had failed to correct a defect tied to at least 13 deaths and scores of accidents.

Some GM employees had long been aware of the potential seriousness of the engineering fault. What did executives and board members know and when did they know it?

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Why Real Progress Doesn’t Have a Face

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woman typing on a laptopWhen it comes to women in top executive positions, nothing causes more upheaval than the threat of quotas that could push more women in. But the real threat is the quota that is already in place and not talked about – the quota that allows one woman in but is locking women in general out.

A new study by Cristian Dezső from the Robert H. Smith School of Business and two co-authors David Gaddis Ross and Jose Uribe from Columbia Business School found evidence of a hidden quota at work at the top inside of companies:

If a woman holds one of the top five executive positions at a company, the chances of a second woman joining the top executive ranks falls by 51%.

The culprit behind this hidden quota? The study, to be published in the Strategic Management Journal, could not discern whether this was conscious discrimination or unconscious bias at play. What’s clear however, is the outcome.

Lone Woman Up a Ladder

The researchers looked at the top five executive roles by compensation across 1,500 S&P firms over twenty years from 1991 to 2011, where top management positions held by women rose from 1.6% in 1992 to 5.8% in 2000 to a slower yet incline of 8.7% in 2011.

The authors found that when one woman had been promoted to the top executive ranks, she was not a key opening up executive offices for more women but more like a lock on the door.

The report states that “women in top management face an implicit quota, whereby a firm’s leadership makes an effort to have a small number of women on the top management team but makes less effort to have, or even resists having, larger numbers of women.”

The study conducted a simulated distribution analysis and compared it to actual distribution of top company executives. If one female executive opened the path for more, there would be lots of clustering. If she had no impact on other female appointments, there would be random distribution. Nope, neither were true.

What the researchers found was a “negative spillover” – the actual distribution of female top executives was isolated, repelling one another. In other words, most companies had only one, resulting in a fragmented female executive population.

As co-author Ross shared with The Huffington Post, “It’s like someone really carefully went around and put one woman on one top management team, and another woman on another, and another woman on another.”

Dezső implies that one woman leads to a pat on the back and now let’s all move on. “Once they had appointed one woman, the men seem to have said, ‘We have done our job.’”

Left of Power Center

The research also implies that the quota seems to not only to limit numbers of women, but their influence – because many companies satisfy the hidden quota by promoting a woman to a professional position, such as head of human resources, rather than (or to keep them out of) a line position. 47% of first-time CEOS came from a line position in the survey, whereas only 4% came from a professional position.

The researchers noted, “The strongest spillovers are associated with professional positions, which are generally more supporting, lower in status, and less integral to a firm’s operations than line officer or CEO positions. We argue that a firm’s managers have greater latitude to use professional positions to satisfy an implicit quota on women in top management.”

Lower Return on Gender Equality Investment?

The study found that efforts to promote women into executive roles after one woman was in place become lower or even in opposition. Getting the second women promoted into the top ranks is a far more challenging feat than the first.

Observing company dynamics, Ross told Business Insider that after one appointment, “They orient their efforts away from promoting women, perhaps to the point of resistance.”

The authors speculate that this could be down to “diminishing returns” for companies on the gender equality scoreboard. While companies gain legitimacy, media, and a representative “face” for change when one woman is hired into a top executive position – and even hold an advantage to peer companieswho have zero -the marginal “value” declines with additional hires, while the cost to the status quo becomes higher.

One woman is enough to stave off internal and external pressure for gender equality but not enough for real change. Stopping at hiring one woman into a top executive position is kind of like crossing the starting line, but then prematurely taking a break to rest securely upon your laurels.

No, It’s Not Queen Bee Syndrome

Maybe those queen bee women are keeping other women out, protecting their coveted positions of power by pushing other women down? No.

The researchers found that the lowest negative spillovers actually occurred in companies with a woman CEO – a female CEO went some way towards mitigating the implicit quota. If a woman CEO was in place, there was a greater chance of further female top executive presence.

Maybe it’s about time that we stop suspecting the lone woman on the ladder in the crowd of men as the one that’s rigging the rungs.

Protected Territory At the Top

Many studies have shown that women create a positive spill-over for each other, such as decreased discrimination and increased pay, at other management levels.

“However,” the researchers state, “we obtained qualitatively different results among top managers, perhaps because men’s willingness to work towards the betterment of women within their organizations is lower in top management, where each job is so valuable both to the individual who holds it and to the dominant male coalition inside the organization.”

At the top it would seem, male managers are protecting the most valuable turf.

We Must Disassociate “One” With Progress

Gender diversity isn’t about show. It’s about change and influence – and as long as changes are made to show gender diversity, they won’t really be made for gender diversity.

It’s well-documented that women in top management bring serious benefits to organizations. It’s well-documented that real progress happens when gender diversity goes beyond tokenism to meet a critical mass.

Whether a board member, an investor, or any champion for diversity within a company, Dezső advises that when you see one woman at the top, it’s best to “keep up the pressure or even apply more pressure” to avoid a plateau.

Today women in top executive positions remain an isolated and fragmented minority. One women among top executives is not a sign of real progress at a systemic level. She’s a sign of more work to be done, and if not recognized as such, a decoy for the changes that aren’t being made.

Real progress doesn’t have a face. It has so many that no one person becomes exemplary of it.

By Aimee Hansen

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Why Women Can’t Stand Alone as Gender Diversity Champions

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female leaderIt’s not just because women hold less formal power at the top (only 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women and 1% in finance) that they can’t shoulder gender diversity alone. Even when they arrive at executive level, disadvantages in informal power and legitimacy are at odds against women’s efficacy in gender championship.

According to qualitative research on champions of gender equality by Jennifer Anne de Vries, University of Melbourne, one thing remains unavoidable: “Executive level champions are part of the organizational gendering processes they seek to change.”

De Vries’ qualitative research on gender diversity champions in a university and a police force highlights that the champion role is intertwined with sex, gender, and (gendered) power, all at play within a (gendered) organization. Women are inherently disadvantaged as champions of gender diversity in a male-dominated culture. Even at equal rank, a male and female executive stand on a “very different launching pad for their champion behavior.”

Consider this conundrum: Is it possible that when it comes to leading corporate change initiatives correlated with strong business advantages, anything a male leader can do a female leader could do too – except lead the game change on gender diversity?

Women are Outsiders to the Culture, Insiders to the Cause

A woman that holds a position of senior power in a highly male-dominated management culture becomes a symbol of gender diversity by default. Her journey was likely different to her male counterparts. She holds the potential (and pressure) to be a role model as a woman leader within the organization.

But in the champion role (which she’s likely expected to take up), that same dynamic of being an outsider in a male-dominated management culture, but perceived as an insider to gender-equality, spells out lower informal power and lower legitimacy.

De Vries found that senior male executives expressed women can be accused of “self-serving” when championing gender diversity – “looking after the sisterhood – women looking after women.”

And research out of the University of Colorado studying 362 senior executives demonstrated that diversity efforts on behalf of women (and minority) leaders can be negatively viewed as self-serving their own social group. “Nonwhite and women leaders who engage in diversity-increasing behaviors in the highest organizational ranks are systematically penalized with lower performance ratings for doing so,” the researchers wrote.

Specifically, women, held to higher standards of warmth than men, who engage in diversity-increasing behavior “will tend to be viewed as less warm and receive lower performance ratings than their equally diversity-valuing male leader counterparts.”

In fact, diversity-valuing behavior negatively impacted evaluations only for female and minority leaders – “leaders who are thought to have the greatest potential to dismantle the glass ceiling.”

Co-author Hekman noted, “executives who are women or ethnic minorities are penalized every day for doing what everyone says they ought to be doing – helping other members of their groups fulfill their management potential. It is a revealing sign that the supposed death of longstanding biases has been greatly exaggerated.”

In regards to informal power, De Vries research also noted that women in highly masculine contexts may also not have the same security in relationships at a senior level, are likely under more scrutiny in “proving” themselves as a leader (highly engaged in “gender work” of their own), and may not be taken seriously when they “position gender equity as a strategic issue.”

In other words, while their leadership challenges the status quo, senior executive women may not be as well positioned to overtly drive a mindset change among men in the organization.

Men are Insiders to the Culture, Outsiders to the Cause

Men are in the opposite position. Being an insider to the male-dominated management culture but perceived as an outsider to the gender-equality cause, gives male champions more informal power and more legitimacy.

De Vries notes, “Men’s power to challenge the status quo derives from their membership of, and acceptance within, the male establishment.”

Men in a senior executive role don’t have to do “gender work” as leaders (they represent the default stereotype in their environment), likely have more secure relationships as part of the insider club, and are more legitimate in championing gender diversity as a strategic issue because there’s no perceived component of self-interest – although they can actually benefit from it.

The University of Colorado researchers found that when it came to senior white male executives, “valuing diversity gave a significant boost to ratings for warmth and performance” by their bosses. De Vries also found that it led to strong appreciation within the company. And Bainhas found that (mostly male) CEO led gender diversity-increasing action and behaviors converts more employees to company “promoters”.

Indeed, not all male champions are equally effective. De Vries found a male champion is powerful when he’s perceived as really choosing to practice and visibly and consistently embody the role through his actions, not just preach. And resistant, low visibility CEO male championing can actually be ultimately damaging.

Another gender advantage is that a top executive male perceived as having chosen to personally own the gender equality initiative can give it a sense of importance, gravitas, and credibility. Whereas with a female executive, expectations seem to diminish the bonus points in credibility.

Championship – Can We Get More Men to Step Up?

There may be no escaping what De Vries calls a “clearly gendered nature of leadership when championing a gender cause.”

Despite the strong business case for gender equality as a corporate initiative, senior women are too often expected to carry the torch on gender diversity (often predominantly), marginalizing the issue and absolving senior men from being highly involved despite the importance of their power and agency.

We need more men actively onboard at the top senior levels genuinely daring to challenge the system that has benefited them. Should women leaders bow out and just let men take the reins? No. Men and women have the potential to complement each other in bringing change forward. Gender equity requires bravery and business sense on behalf of both men and women in senior executive roles.

Maybe it’s time we saw that there’s more than one way for a woman to be a role model for gender diversity. And equally, it’s about time we saw more top male leaders displaying bravery, rather than delegating it to women, when it comes to leading the charge on making gender diversity change a corporate priority.

By Aimee Hansen

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Women Take the Lead in Scottish Politics; What About Business?

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group of business women - career-adviceEdinburgh is Scotland’s financial and political capital, and everyone who has been following Scottish politics has no doubt noticed the central role that women have recently been playing in the spotlight of the Scottish independence referendum.

Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP — the Scottish National Party — is Scotland’s First Minister and leader of the Scottish Parliament. She has recently announced that 50 percent of her cabinet appointees will be women. Johann Lamont recently resigned as the leader of the Scottish Labour Party. Ruth Davidson leads Scotland’s Tories. Maggie Chapman is co-convener of the Greens in Scotland, though Patrick Harvie is generally considered the party leader.

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Three Critical Factors for Career Advancement in Technology

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People around a laptopRecently, The Glass Hammer hosted its Third Annual Women in Technology networking event, sponsored by American Express. Our panelists discussed how they advanced through the ranks to become senior leaders within their organizations.

Moderator Jennifer Christie, Chief Diversity Officer at American Express, noted that while each woman had a very different career path, there were some identifiable threads of similarity – specifically, recognizing male sponsors, taking risks, and leveraging problem solving skills.

Our panelists included Hanna Derry, Managing Director Technology, Blackrock Investment Management; Avis Yates Rivers, CEO, Technology Concepts; Joyce Ulrich, CIO, Legg Mason Global Asset Management; and Gabrielle Vitale, SVP and Chief Information Security Officer, American Express.

Christie also commented that a big trait each of the panelists displayed was a desire for growth. Throughout their careers, the women identified their next step, made it known what they wanted, and then set out to achieve it. “As they made that next move, it was something they saw out there and went for it – they decided ‘this is what I want and I’m going to go for it.’”

1. Finding Male Champions

It can be difficult for women in technology to find their niche and break through to leadership in the male dominated technology workspace. Yates Rivers believes a big part of this comes down to confidence. “On the company side and on the customer side, most of the people I interact with are men. But I have noticed that women will tend to doubt themselves and won’t take as many risks in general,” she explained. “Or they won’t give themselves individual contributor credit. They’ll say, ‘the team did this,’ whereas men will say, ‘I did this.’”

A big factor in developing breakthrough confidence comes from gaining the support of coworkers and superiors. In fact, in recent years, sponsorship has been increasingly recognized as one of those game-changing factors for advancement. Sponsors are senior, influential people who champion the individuals they believe in. They may put them up for promotions or suggest them for stretch assignments. In return, protégées support them and come through on the assignments they’ve been sponsored into.

The event’s keynote speaker Catherine Ashcraft, Head of Research at the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT), gave a presentation on forthcoming research on the subject of male champions. “Men are often the leaders and gatekeepers in the technology environment. It’s important to understand men’s experiences and what motivates them,” she explained, specifically when it comes to championing women and diversity on their teams.

Ashcraft said prime candidates for male gender champions are men who have had female mentors, who have daughters or working wives, who have noticed inequities on their own teams and worked to correct them, or who see themselves as a minority as well.

She encouraged women to feel free to tell their own stories about what it is like to be a woman working in technology. “We want to help men who want to be advocates but are not sure how.”

Several of the panelists also discussed men who championed their advancement. Ulrich explained how she chose her first job out of college based on which boss she felt would be the best champion. She said, “I recognized that this was a guy who seemed to really care about people in that company – now I know that he was a sponsor.” Similarly, Derry broke into the tech space when a male champion who interviewed her for a job took a chance on her. She recalled, “He said, ‘you have none of the skills we need right now, but I see potential in you. I’d like to hire you and we’ll find you something to do.’”

2. Taking Risks

Yates Rivers, who founded her own company after working for Exxon for many years, said that an appetite for risk is a critical part of being an entrepreneur. She explained, “I just felt internally that I needed to direct my own path. Starting out in Corporate America is great. But if you have an inner desire or an innate desire to be your own boss in technology, then there is that possibility.”

Now, she is driven by the ability to develop solutions for her clients. “Being a sales person has taught me a lot about how to negotiate and ask for what you want.”

Similarly, Vitale’s own reinvention brought her into the technology field. After working in CFO roles for a time, she was offered the role of Chief Information Security Officer at American Express by one of the company’s presidents she had gotten to know well and who trusted her (sponsorship again). She accepted the stretch role because of his support. “I’ve thrived here,” she said, “because I’m so fascinated. I’ve forced myself into very uncomfortable positions to keep learning.”

Ulrich also took a big risk when advocating for transformational change at Legg Mason – and wound up with a new and exciting role. The company was in the process of dismantling its centralized technology division, but she saw an opportunity and made the case to senior management to transform what was essentially a “keep the lights on” model into a “grow the business” model. She convinced them to explore outsourcing the technology functions that were really commodities, and “take the budget headroom that outsourcing would create and spend on innovation,” she recalled. “I said if you think that this approach makes sense, then I’ll throw my hat into the ring for CIO.” And that’s exactly what happened.

3. Leveraging Your Problem Solving Skills

Both Vitale and Derry discussed how they leveraged their personal skills to help them advance. Vitale, who has spent her entire career at American Express, said the early skills she developed as a college student working in customer service for the company have benefited her throughout every stage of her advancement. “I learned to listen and understand people, which helps when you are doing problem solving. And problem solving really helped me understand how to navigate.” She continued, “Don’t underestimate some of those early job skills. You learn something with every experience and carry it forth.”

Derry began her career in technology without having a traditional technical background, but when she started working in the space, she managed to catch up through a lot of studying and hard work, she recalled. She explained that her skills as a problem solver also helped her advance to leadership. “One thing I’ve learned is that when you raise your hand and say I don’t understand this, more people are willing to say so too. I think that helps you because then you are fixing things from a consensus-driven standpoint.”

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

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