In the fall of 2017, twenty senior women gathered for a weekend retreat in Manhattan to discuss their upcoming career transitions. Several had worked for the government, others were from the private sector. All had just retired or were planning to do so. Eager to put their lifetime of skills to work, they had come together for a program called Mission: Getting to Next (MGTN).
Women in the Workplace
The Organization Man and Woman
According to a survey featured recently in the Financial Times, women view workplace culture as the chief impediment to their careers. What does this mean and what can companies do in response? How do values, motivation and reward factor in?
Say it Loud
Are women hindered in advancing up the career ladder because they don’t articulate their desire and expectations for promotion? “There are guys here who have been saying ‘I’m awesome’ ever since they got here, so people start believing it’s true.”
Role Model Behavior
Role models are particularly important to women. For those who aspire to leadership positions, role models demonstrate that such aspirations are possible. Yet when women are routinely criticized for poor work-life balance decisions, this can compound the guilt they are already likely to feel.
Thinking Out Loud
A high-profile Silicon Valley sex discrimination trial hinged in part on a thorny question: What is thought leadership? I spoke with magazine editor to Joel Kurtzman, author Jim Kouzes, and professor of leadership and learning Herminia Ibarra for their thoughts on this subject.
At Most Tech Firms, the C-Suite is Still a Boy’s Club
Many organizations are devoting more resources to attracting and retaining women with leadership potential. Then why are we seeing many of these women leave prematurely, step off the leadership track, and not progress as quickly or high as was hoped?
How Women Leaders Have Transformed Management
Those in hiring positions like to see candidates with leadership experience. But there’s an important distinction between “emergent” and “traditional” leadership. Emergent leadership experience is more desirable to companies with a collaborative culture.
Feminine Values Ascending
John Gerzema and Michael D’Antonio have found that most people, worldwide, are not happy with the state of world. But why? Government, the economy and, the aggression, ambition, and analytical orientation of men. In their book “The Athena Doctrine: How Women (and the Men Who Think Like Them) Will Rule the Future” Gerzema and D’Antonio sampled 64,000 people in 13 major countries and their findings are compelling.
Claiming Visibility
I wrote last fall about how essential it is for women to claim their visibility at work. I had a lot of response from readers who thought I’d done a good job of identifying a problem, but wanted suggestions on how to overcome it. I do, and in the next few weeks I will be … Read more
Female leadership: changing business for the better
Jan 17, 2008 The Christian Science Monitor, January 17, 2008 By Sally Helgesen Chatham, N.Y. – Until a few months ago, Zoe Cruz and Sallie Krawcheck were the most powerful women on Wall Street. It was speculated that both would become CEOs of their Wall St. powerhouses – Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. Instead, in recent … Read more