A Personal Letter from Molly D. Shepard - January 2001

Recently, I was speaking to a Chief Executive Officer of a chemical company in Pittsburgh. We were discussing his frustration with the lack of female executive talent in his organization and the efforts he had made to recruit and retain women in key roles over the years. He told me how the woman he was grooming for his Chief Operations position had unexpectedly resigned and how much faith, and training, he had placed in her success. This man sounded like one of the ãgood guysä, a CEO who genuinely wanted to diversify the talent in his executive ranks in an industry known to be replete of both females and other minorities.

His lament resonated with me because the issue of women being so poorly represented in the highest ranks of American business has concerned and challenged me for over 20 years as a consultant to men and women in leadership roles. I have become determined in both my future work and my research to uncover both the possible reasons for this phenomenon, as well as some remedies.

There is no question that women face barriers in achieving success in the executive ranks that men do not seem to experience. It is my hope that as my partners and I work on uncovering the fundamental issues that interfere with women's success, we will design new and impactful processes, tools and recommendations that can help our hardworking friends in the corporate world who wish to advance and are running into difficulties. We look forward to sharing our ideas with you through this website.

Please join us on our journey to enlightenment and success! The Leaderâs Edgeú website will be updated on a regular basis as we present advice, strategies, news, book reviews and take your questions. We look forward to getting to know you.

Molly D Shepard
Founder and CEO
The Leader's Edge™

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