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News For You - September 2002We have developed this page to give our visitors the opportunity to see what's new, at a glance, in the business world and how it relates to our program. Take a moment to browse and see what's of interest to you! Shifting Gears: While the Grind Continues, Women Shift Behaviors on Way to the Top Senior executive women are becoming increasingly less assertive, more formal and more risk-averse as they climb the corporate ladder. These surprising findings are the results of a new, nationwide research study of male and female Fortune 500 and other senior executives with salaries of $150,000 and above. The study found that as women rise in the corporation, there is a dramatic and unexpected shift in their behavior as compared to their male counterparts and more junior women. The findings also lead to the significant realization that companies are losing a great deal, both financially and intellectually, in terms of talent, recruitment and retention, when it comes to women in the workplace. According to the study, while networking skills continually increase in importance for males, these skills become less important to women. Sixty-six percent of women believe networking skills to be important, while 75 percent of men believe this is a critical factor. Although 73 percent of the more junior executive females believed self promotion is a critical factor, this figure decreases to 50 percent for women in higher positions. On the flip side, self-promotion increases in importance for males as they advance. Communication style is also a key area of differentiation. The study shows that women, in general, are less assertive in meetings than men are. Women tend to temper assertiveness as they rise in the organization, believing it puts them at risk. Only 69 percent of women like to challenge thinking, compared with 82 percent of men. There is also a broad division of thinking between women and men in the area of mentors. Eighty percent of the women surveyed view the role of mentors as protectors, rather than as agents of advancement. Women tend to use their mentors passively and defensively, for protection and information, rather than for assignments and visibility, as do men. The majority of successful men - 77 percent - state that they make increasing use of their mentors to obtain plum assignments and further their careers. Additionally, women tend to become increasingly reliant on formal meetings to influence senior management, compared with their male counterparts and junior executive women, who better utilize informal interactions both on and off the job. In fact, only 15 percent of junior executive women cite formal meetings as the most effective vehicle to influence senior management, compared with 28 percent of senior executive women. Women claim that they are excluded from informal off-the-job activities, suggesting that the "old boys network" continues to be a factor. Why are female executives making such dramatic adjustments in their behavior? The findings point to a continuing double standard between men and women in the workplace, where the very behaviors that are rewarded and encouraged in men are considered as negative attributes in women. As a result, women who stay in the corporate environment are becoming conditioned through their experiences to shift their behaviors in order to sustain themselves in high level positions. Many other highly entrepreneurial, risk taking and assertive women become frustrated and leave the corporate world to start their own businesses thus creating a talent pool exodus at the highest corporate levels. This issue is critical, not just for women but for their employers as well, and needs to be on the radar screen of every enlightened CEO. Developing and retaining top executive talent is costly, and will continue to escalate as we face a talent shortage over the next few years. Firms must consider whether they want to risk losing highly talented executive women and face the added recruiting, retention and replacement costs associated with those losses. Another point for CEOs to bear in mind is a recent study indicating there is a major economic advantage to companies that have women in the upper level executive ranks. According to an article published in the Harvard Business Review in November 2001, the study, conducted at Pepperdine University in California between 1990 and 1998, found a strong correlation between a company's profits and the number of female executives in its ranks. The research, conducted at 215 Fortune 500 companies, found that organizations with the highest percentage of female executives delivered earnings far in excess of the median compared with other large firms in their industries. In terms of improving their career potential, women should not behave more like men to effectively climb the corporate ladder. On the contrary, women need to learn how to play their own game better. There are some very basic remedies female executives can employ to begin to affect change. These include:
But stemming the tide of the talent pool exodus by encouraging and supporting women executives and creating a balanced corporate environment will take effort. Corporate health is clearly dependent upon a number of diverse factors not the least of which is having in place a highly talented, effective executive team which includes women and other minorities. The value women bring to the corporate setting cannot be denied. On a broader scale, the economic power of women as corporate stakeholders cannot be ignored. Women are over 50 percent of the population and they control 80 percent of household spending, a $3.28 trillion market. Women buy 50 percent of all passenger cars and purchase 64 percent of the $184 billion in apparel each year. It is important that women be represented in corporations at the highest levels so that firms do not lose the support from the various stakeholder groups that care about these issues. Corporations and executive women working together to close the obvious gap that continues to exist in the workplace is clearly in the best interest of both parties. Only with a conscious commitment will female executives finally be in a position to contribute their true value to the companies they serve. Molly D. Shepard is Founder and Principal of The Leader's Edge, a Philadelphia-based organization promoting the leadership development and advancement of high level executive women. Reach her at 610.660.6648 or via e-mail at info@the-leaders-edge.com. Men Head Home New findings show that it is not just women who feel compelled to stay home with the children. More men are leaving their jobs and abandoning long-time careers to become full-time, stay at home fathers. A random e-mail sampling of correspondents indicated that while women "worry about the life-work balance almost from the first date, men are more often taken by surprise" by the need to balance the two. Thus men face the unanticipated need to juggle earning a living and spending time with their family in the midst of their careers. Because of the rarity of the movement, men face speculation for their departure. Men who make the decision to stay home feel that their "manhood is questioned." Because when a women leaves the workplace she only faces the stigma of being a poor employee and is not seen as less of a woman, however, men who leave their jobs face questions about their masculinity. (Source: The New York Times, June 9, 2002). Females as Nightly News Anchors In early June NBC executives named cable anchor Brian Williams as the successor to Tom Brokaw's throne at the nightly news desk. The announcement spurred gossip within the television industry as to who would succeed ABC's Peter Jennings and CBS's Dan Rather. In all the names that were bounced back and forth, none were female. Yet, women have made significant advancements in the industry heading two of the four cable news networks (Teya Ryan at CNN and Pamela Thomas-Graham at CNBC) and holding many of the top broadcast news management jobs as well as important correspondents' positions. However, "the evening news anchor remains a male bastion." Society is comfortable with the traditional nightly news correspondent; a white, male patriarchal figure who becomes "the face of a network and at crucial moments, is a kind of single combat warrior who carries his company's reputation in the steadiness of his hands and eyes, conveys strength and order and helps calm a nation." Audiences want the news from someone with experience, and "because of past prejudice, there are simply more men who qualify in that regard than women." However, network executives and younger female newscasters see a brighter future. Network execs say that "Americans' attitudes have clearly evolved and the evening news anchor will eventually reflect that." (Source: The New York Times, June 3, 2002).
First Female Athletic Director in the Ivy League JoAnn Harper became the first female athletic director at an Ivy League school this summer when Dartmouth College gave her the position. As the A.D. for Dartmouth, Harper will oversee 34 intercollegiate sports, 17 club sports, and an extensive intramural program in which three-quarters of Dartmouth's undergraduate population participates. Harper has worked at Dartmouth since 1981 as the varsity women's lacrosse coach. Harper gave up coaching in 1992 to concentrate on her administrative duties and became the senior associate director of athletics in June 1999. Harper's appointment as athletic director is a first for the Ivy League which was established in February 1954. (Source: The New York Times, Saturday, June 29, 2002). Preparing Women for the Boardroom The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University instituted a unique training program for female executives to prepare women for board of director positions. Northwestern's Center for Executive Women reports that the program has attracted executives from companies such as Microsoft, Sears, Merck, Accenture, and Household International. Kellogg initiated the program because the school was "concerned about the glacial pace at which women have entered corporate America's boardrooms, they wanted to offer seasoned businesswomen the final preparation and contacts to become board members." Currently, only 11 percent of Fortune 1000 directors are female. The most prominent reasons women cited for participating in the Kellogg program were because they "wanted to learn how to be nominated as directors" and "needed to know how to separate the good opportunities from the disasters and dead ends." The course tackles topics such as the demands of sitting on the board and how to handle corporate crises, but it also introduces the controversial topic of the perception of women as members of the board. (Source: The New York Time, August 13, 2002).
Life with Bonnie Amidst all the new television series premiering this fall is ABC's Life with Bonnie. The half-hour sitcom is based on the life and comedy of Bonnie Hunt whose acting resume includes supporting roles in Jerry McGuire and Return to Me. The premise of the new sitcom deals with the sensitive topic for women, "having it all and then some." Hunt tries to add humor to the delicate feminine issue of balancing life, family, and career. (Source: ABC.com, May 15, 2002). Who Would You Vote For? This November when Americans go to the polls they will have the best opportunity yet to elect a female to a political position. At no time in our country's history have there been more women in the political arena - a record number serving in Congress (73), as Governors (5) and in statewide offices (1755). Also an unprecedented number of women are vying for governorships in 2002 (up to 20 as of mid-May), and in some states, two women may run against each other. Traditionally, female leaders have been perceived as unable to handle a crisis situation, and "during times of economic recession, war and conflict, as a rule, we [tend to] look to men as leaders." However, this perception is gradually fading because women are already "participating in the current leadership." For example, National Security Adviser to President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Christine Todd Whitman, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) who serves as House Minority Whip. With today's apprehensive society there are some advantages for female candidates because "voters are looking for candidates who can bring people together and build strong communities - traits that favor women." According to the Gallup polls, the number of voters willing to vote for a female president has increased to 75%, up from 45% in 1960. (Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer, Parade Magazine, June 2, 2002).
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