A Personal Letter from Molly D. Shepard -- January 2003

As we enter our third year, I am pleased to say that we are growing and expanding, demonstrating our clients’ appreciation of the need for leadership development and training for their senior and high potential women.

In order to fully understand the issues impacting senior women and their leadership potential, The Leader’s Edge regularly conducts research studies. One issue which has been in the headlines for the past several months -- and was reflected in our third research study -- is the subject of corporate integrity.

According to the third research study by The Leader’s Edge™, stockholders and the media are not the only groups concerned about corporate integrity. It became apparent that this issue is of particular importance to the executive women we surveyed.

The study revealed that 36% believed that “integrity and trust” were important issues that contributed to their leaving their high paying, prestigious positions. The sample consisted of over 100 executive women from eighteen states with salary levels of at least $150,000.

Women were forthright in expressing their concerns about corporate ethics. For example, one woman responded, “I had always been proud to be associated with this company, but in the last year, I’ve had my doubts.” For other senior women, trust was a major issue. One woman commented, “There are so many changes in Corporate America; changes in CEOs, strategies, downsizing, etc. that companies have driven out the loyalty and trust of their employees.” Others questioned corporate principles with one woman stating, “The values of the company were not congruent with my own.”

As you may recall, Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year were three women who had been concerned enough to expose the flaws of their institutions, two of which were the corporations WorldCom and Enron and the third, the FBI. According to Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom, “I think it comes back to values and ethics that you learn through your life.”

In my experience, the key to solving the problem is communication between executive management and the company’s senior women. If women are included in the “information loop” they have more of an understanding of company issues and the reasoning behind decisions – and less of a “surprise” factor. In our research surveys women often report that information in the organization is not openly shared and that they are excluded from important meetings and pipelines of information.

This is an issue for companies to be aware of and address in order to ensure the retention of senior executive women. With Fortune 500 companies experiencing voluntary departures of women executives at a rate twice that of males, attraction and retention of talented women is clearly a serious matter.

How do you feel about this issue? As always, I welcome your comments.

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

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