From Plodding Progress to Quantum Leap
When I was a young girl, I didn’t dream of becoming a nurse or a teacher. Both are honorable professions, but they’re weren’t in my wheelhouse. I wanted to be in business. And not just in the rank and file — I wanted to be a CEO. I didn’t have female CEO role models, though, because there were so few. There still are far too few. Even as our societal demographics continue to shift, the seats of power within global companies have remained stuck decades in the past.
Now that I’m a CEO, I can look back on the road traveled. And I’m determined to be one of the executives who smooths the road for the women who come after me.
If progress in the CEO ranks has been slower than desired, progress for women at the board level has also been sketchy. Recent numbers for the Fortune 500 show a trend — the same small group of women are being tapped for multiple boards. Seven women serve on four Fortune 500 boards. Thirty-four women serve on three.
Coming Nov. 4-5: Top Women in Hardware & Building Supply in Chicago. Click for more info.
Boards want C-suite experience. Yet women comprise only 6.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs. And my organization’s research shows a female leadership crisis: Senior women are heading for the exits at a far higher rate than men. Female higher-level managers, executives and C-suite members leave their jobs nearly four times as often as men — 26.9% versus 7.3%.
So it becomes a chicken-and-egg conundrum. California took the lead to legislate greater equality on boards, which should help get more qualified women into C-suite positions. Board-equality legislation is also moving through the legislature in my home state of Illinois, and being considered in New Jersey as well as a few other states. But I have to be honest: I’m always disappointed when it takes a law to force companies to do what’s good, right and just plain smart.
From my own experience, there are potholes in the road to the executive suite. NEW research shows that a few issues across the board cause women to leave companies in droves. Just a few key actions could help them stay:
Offering transition support/career pathing. When females report on the support that they receive from those above them in the corporate hierarchy, only half say that they receive support when they accept a new challenge or job. Men’s perception of support from peers and their managers ranks higher, at 63%. And while six out of 10 women say that their supervisor entrusts them with a range of assignments that help prepare them for their next role, the remaining 40% aren’t receiving the corporate stretch roles and breadth of experience necessary to place them in contention for positions of higher responsibility and authority. This leaves women either stagnating in their current roles, feeling passed over, or promoted without sufficient development or support through the transition. None of these situations bodes well for women reaching the C-suite successfully.
Modernizing work schedules. While the world has changed dramatically from the years when men worked and women stayed at home to take care of children and domestic duties, work schedules haven’t, to the particular detriment of women with children. As Melinda Gates wrote, “We’re sending our daughters into a workplace designed for our dads.”
Confronting bias. Combine a lack of female role models in executive management with the sense of isolation that can come from being the only woman in the room — add in a lack of sponsorship — and you have a recipe for female leaders heading to the exits. Only 36% of women surveyed agree that there’s minimal favoritism within their company. The similar-to-me bias, unless addressed head-on within corporate culture, means that many executives will hire and promote candidates with similar interests, backgrounds and experience to them.
As institutional investors push for greater diversity on boards and C-suites because of the business case for it, I think that we’ll see more progress. And I do think we’ll reach the tipping point sooner rather than later, where plodding progress becomes a quantum leap.
Sarah Alter is president and CEO of the Network of Executive Women, a learning and leadership community representing 12,400 members in 22 regional groups in the United States and Canada. Learn more at newonline.org.
Now that I’m a CEO, I can look back on the road traveled. And I’m determined to be one of the executives who smooths the road for the women who come after me.
If progress in the CEO ranks has been slower than desired, progress for women at the board level has also been sketchy. Recent numbers for the Fortune 500 show a trend — the same small group of women are being tapped for multiple boards. Seven women serve on four Fortune 500 boards. Thirty-four women serve on three.
Coming Nov. 4-5: Top Women in Hardware & Building Supply in Chicago. Click for more info.Boards want C-suite experience. Yet women comprise only 6.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs. And my organization’s research shows a female leadership crisis: Senior women are heading for the exits at a far higher rate than men. Female higher-level managers, executives and C-suite members leave their jobs nearly four times as often as men — 26.9% versus 7.3%.
So it becomes a chicken-and-egg conundrum. California took the lead to legislate greater equality on boards, which should help get more qualified women into C-suite positions. Board-equality legislation is also moving through the legislature in my home state of Illinois, and being considered in New Jersey as well as a few other states. But I have to be honest: I’m always disappointed when it takes a law to force companies to do what’s good, right and just plain smart.
From my own experience, there are potholes in the road to the executive suite. NEW research shows that a few issues across the board cause women to leave companies in droves. Just a few key actions could help them stay:
Offering transition support/career pathing. When females report on the support that they receive from those above them in the corporate hierarchy, only half say that they receive support when they accept a new challenge or job. Men’s perception of support from peers and their managers ranks higher, at 63%. And while six out of 10 women say that their supervisor entrusts them with a range of assignments that help prepare them for their next role, the remaining 40% aren’t receiving the corporate stretch roles and breadth of experience necessary to place them in contention for positions of higher responsibility and authority. This leaves women either stagnating in their current roles, feeling passed over, or promoted without sufficient development or support through the transition. None of these situations bodes well for women reaching the C-suite successfully.
Modernizing work schedules. While the world has changed dramatically from the years when men worked and women stayed at home to take care of children and domestic duties, work schedules haven’t, to the particular detriment of women with children. As Melinda Gates wrote, “We’re sending our daughters into a workplace designed for our dads.”
Confronting bias. Combine a lack of female role models in executive management with the sense of isolation that can come from being the only woman in the room — add in a lack of sponsorship — and you have a recipe for female leaders heading to the exits. Only 36% of women surveyed agree that there’s minimal favoritism within their company. The similar-to-me bias, unless addressed head-on within corporate culture, means that many executives will hire and promote candidates with similar interests, backgrounds and experience to them.
As institutional investors push for greater diversity on boards and C-suites because of the business case for it, I think that we’ll see more progress. And I do think we’ll reach the tipping point sooner rather than later, where plodding progress becomes a quantum leap.
Sarah Alter is president and CEO of the Network of Executive Women, a learning and leadership community representing 12,400 members in 22 regional groups in the United States and Canada. Learn more at newonline.org.