Where the Female Executives Are–Country by Country
Overall the numbers of senior executives dipped in the last two years according to research from the Grant Thorton International Business Report, an annual survery of the views of senior executives of privately held companies by the accounting and risk management firm of the same name. The percentage of female senior managers dipped from 24% tin 2009 to 20% in 2011.
Thailand led with 45% of senior management positions held by women, followed by Georgia (40%) Russia (36%) Hong Kong and the Phillipines (tied at 35% )
The data revealed the countries of the G7 lagged behind Asia/Pacific. Great Britain(23%) and the United States(15%). Stil the United States did better than Germany (11%) and Japan (9%). What can we learn from the Pacific Rim?
Lessons in Shattering the Glass Ceiling
Attention recently turned to corporate boards in Europe again after a report commissioned by the British government said women should comprise at least a quarter of the boards of the largest British companies by 2015. The report stopped short of the mandate that’s existed in Norway since 2005. There 40% of corporate boards are required to be women by law. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Amalia Miller, corporate boards, female executives, Frank Matsa, glass ceiling, leadership, management, mentoring, networking, stock prices
The Price of a Non-Linear Career
For those contemplating a little time off, perhaps to care for a newborn or toddler, an elderly parent or even to take a sabbatical between jobs, may to well to consider the findings of Sylvia Ann Hewlett, President of the Center for Work-Life Policy and one of the authors of a recent study about the effects of leaving the workforce and then attempting to re-enter it.
With less than two years out of the workplace and Dr. Hewlett found earnings take a 15% hit. Stay out three to four years, get into the swing of volunteering and feeling you are doing good work and expect to see your financial penalties zoom up to as much as 40% of previous earnings. And that’s not counting opportunity costs of missed promotions or what Dr. Hewlett calls stretch assignments.
If you’re female and think this can’t happen to you, think again. Her data shows that fully two-thirds of women have non-linear career paths. Many of the paths were designed by the women themselves because until recently, corporations were letting women quit rather than making accommodations to a career that doesn’t go in a lock step.
Now that’s changing. Dr. Hewlett reeled off several initiatives from Cisco, Ernest and Young and others that pay more than lip service to modified work arrangements. Still, in many other companies the going is uphill.
There is good news when corporations are left out of the picture and employees rely on their own initiative. According to Dr. Hewlett when Lehman Brothers collapsed the women themselves came together, some 600, to network with one another and provide support, encouragement and job leads. That’s an upside to the financial meltdown. “Ten years ago you wouldn’t have seen that cooperation at that level,” she said.
Women who make it back into the workplace after children, face prospects of facing a second off ramp if elder care responsibilities fall to them.
It’s probably not a coincidence that there is still a high rate of childlessness among female executives. Turns out you can have it all if you are willing to see your earnings tank, or rely for a time on a spouse, which may turn out to be a bad bet in this uncertain economy.
Tags: career choice, female executives, time off
Combining Great and Leadership
On Saturday, I traveled 100 miles round trip the original Hall of Fame of Great Americans on the Bronx Community College campus that once belonged to New York University.
The 630 foot sweeping colonnade punctuated by busts of famous Americans was designed by Stanford White at the turn of the last century.
The “greats” were clustered by categories—statesmen, inventors, authors. Still, many of the names that might be synonymous with commerce seemed in short supply. As an example, George Westinghouse was primarily known as an inventor.
The only clearly recognizable business bust was that of Andrew Carnegie, as well known as a philanthropist as he was an investor. Even he was a fairly late arrival, added some three quarters of a century after the Hall was inaugurated.
Only the day before a newly released book from Random House arrived. Entitled When Remarkable Women Lead, it was written by two McKinsey consultants. McKinsey appears to gain traction when the economy goes into the reverse. They have recently been in the news for their recommendations for streamlining Conde Nast.
The first two chapters seem like a direct descendant of the book The Managerial Woman by Margaret Hennig and Anne Jardim which coincidentally came out in 1976, the year that Andrew Carnegie’s bust was added to the Hall of Fame. The authors promote the idea of “Centered Leadership.” I’m interested to see how they develop their theme.
Tags: consultants, female executives, leadership
