The Hidden Half by ctof magazine

I BELIEVE

THOUGHT LEADERS

VIEWPOINT

Plan, Manage, Execute Pg 06

Managing Social Media Risks Pg 70

The Growth of Data Growth Pg 72

T R A C K T E C H N O LO G Y

B U I LD B USI N ESS

Volume 01 Issue 02 February 2012 150

SHAPE SELF

The

Hidden

Half A perceptive look at why the world's women remain hidden and how they can shine Page 38

A special section on leadership designed keeping in mind the evolving information needs of CIOs Page 23 to 37

A 9.9 Media Publication

IMAGING BY ANIL T

COVER STORY | WOMEN LEADERSHIP

February 2012

WOMEN LEADERSHIP | COVER STORY

Their Rightful Place

Under the Sun...

Organisations have begun to adapt their work ethos for women but more light needs to be shone on multiple issues By Anuradha Das Mathur

nytime is the right time to talk about ‘women

and leadership’. But the fact that this month marks Women’s Day, makes it all the more fitting that we dedicate this issue of CIO&Leader to the rise of women...and more often, the lack of it. My gut tells me that we are closing in on the “tipping point” on this one. The attitude of women has been among the most dramatic changes of the past decade. How they think — about work, family, motherhood, success, work-life balance, division of roles and much more — has undergone a shift so fundamental that almost nothing else has kept pace. Neither men nor the social fabric; neither infrastructure nor corporate structures; neither families nor other support systems. Everyone is struggling to make sense of the change. The simple fact is this: women make up half the world’s population. And despite huge strides, they are still way behind in contributing to wealth creation in the traditional economic sense of the word. Simplistically, more often than not, this is on account of choices they have to make between motherhood and work, family and career, etc. Several of the successful women one interviews on this issue say that they have never looked for “special” treatment as women. They do what everyone else does and get their due. My question is with regard to “what everyone else does”— the current norm of work ethos. It is designed to respond to men and their situations. If we are committed to promoting the deserved participation of women at work, acceptable terms of work ethos need to alter or expand. Working from home, flexi-hours, crèches — they need to be viewed as important tools for a balanced work environment, not as “favourable” to women. And their impact needs to be measured to see if they need to be supplemented or replaced by other approaches.

My favourite example to explain what I mean is around western/European menu cards. As an Asian vegetarian, till 10-12 years ago, I had to find some way to carve out a meal for myself from a menu that was decidedly nonvegetarian and suited to the European palate. As Asia and its needs have been recognised, and its importance appreciated, menu cards the world over have vegetarian and Asian options. Not equal, but certainly a start. Women don’t need to try and fit the age-old work norm. We need to define an extended ethos that works as well for women as it does for men. Only then will corporations and the world be able to benefit from the latent but obvious potential of women. Fortunately, the conversation has changed to reflect this. I was chosen a couple of years ago to go to the US on a programme for 25 emerging women leaders under 40. I met a large number of women in politics, government and business and was struck by the fact that the issue of women in the workforce has taken centre-stage, and conversation is around ‘How do we leverage the strengths that evident differences between men and women bring to the table’? How do we facilitate ‘equality of options’ and not equality interpreted as ‘sameness’? How do we enhance the menu options for women to get to leadership positions but not necessarily in the same way as men? The collection of articles in our cover story hopes to capture facts and opinion in equal measure. We intend that it brings the issue onto your radar — it is as much for men as for women to think about and action. Would you make a start, as you read this, by examining how your organisation scores on diversity — women colleagues, women in top management, women on your Board? Only then will the ‘woman half’ of the world find its rightful place under the sun...

February 2012

Women Leaders:

Why So Few? A significant number of women achieve academic success but very few get to the point of realising their full potential. Why? By Sanjay Gupta

henever one thinks of women leaders, a handful of names come to the mind: Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Meg Whitman, Indra Nooyi, Carly Fiorina, Sonia Gandhi, among others. The names vary, depending on the context in which they are taken and the perspective of the person doing the recall. But the point worth noting is that, despite the fact that examples of brilliant women leaders have existed throughout recorded history, they are way too few compared to instances of men leaders. And this observation is true irrespective of the field chosen – be it politics, business, or indeed technology. A world that has been primarily ruled and dominated by men (despite women being one half of the population) may not see anything wrong with that. But a modern, globalised society that upholds the ideals of equality and fairness knows this is not right, just not right. The disproporCOMPANIES IN INDIA tionately low representation of women is REPORTED UTILISATION no longer acceptable – not only to women OF TELECOMMUTING themselves but an increasing number of PROGRAMME IN A men as well. At least that is what has come CATALYST SURVEY across consistently in our interaction with leaders across segments in India, most notably in business and technology. In our view, this is one of the most glaring issues in leadership and, therefore, we at CIO&Leader chose to do a cover story on women and leadership in

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one of our inaugural issues. Now, we can either talk about the symptoms or try and find the cause. We have tried to take the latter approach, as we believe that sustainable solutions will come only when we address the cause. So, why do we see only a few women leaders around us when there is an ocean of talented women out there? Is it because of education? Is it because of the environment at the workplace? Is it really true that women prefer to give up careers in favour of family as they go up the corporate ladder? Or, are there other factors, perhaps a combination of factors, leading to the situation? Let us examine these questions in a little more detail before we dare to take any overarching view on the question of women and leadership.

Getting educated The beginnings of recorded human history were marked by the single biggest factor of brute force. Those with the muscle and the power to fight won battles and reigned over the goods – cattle, farms, precious metals... Even in agrarian and industrial societies, the power-driven paradigm – attributed to and demonstrated mostly by men rather than women – carried on the male momentum. However, in a post-agricultural and post-industrial world that is increasingly dependent on information, and communication and managerial skills, the balance has begun to tilt. More and more women are getting educated and acquiring the requisite skills for employment beyond the 'muscular' work that dominated the past. As a result, the gap between the number of men and women in educational institutions is reducing – stunningly, in some cases, to the extent where women students outnumber men. According to an article published in The Atlantic, for instance, for every two men in the US who got a college degree in 2010, three women did the same. The situation is certainly not as optimistic in all countries, but there are encouraging signs — at least in most developed and several developing nations. With education as a focus area, the Indian government, too, has been trying to improve women's enrolment at

WOMEN LEADERSHIP | COVER STORY

various levels. As per data from the Department of School Education & Literacy, from 13.8 million boys and 5.4 million girls enrolled at the primary level in 1950-51, the number rose to 69.7 million boys and 61.1 million girls in 2004-05. In upper primary, the enrolment increased from 2.6 million boys and 0.5 million girls to 28.5 million boys and 22.7 million girls – which means, of the total, 44 percent of girls were enrolled in upper primary. Curiously, this proportion of girls in education is either maintained at the same level or even improves when we go to the higher levels of education. So, in 2009-10 the percentage of female undergraduates in science was 41 percent of the total enrolment. This figure for postgraduates in science was slightly better, at 45 percent for girls, in the same year. These statistics imply that when it comes to different levels of education, females are just about to catch up with their male counterparts. Most of us can recall the headlines from newspapers after school board exams: 'Girls perform better than boys yet again.' Or, 'Girls outdo boys in Maths and Science in Class XII.' But what happens thereafter?

Entering the workforce When it comes to the workforce, however, the picture begins to change drastically. Participation of women in the labour force in India stands at a lowly 34 percent – the lowest among the so-called BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies. A UN report says that in 2010, women’s labour force participation rates remained below 30 percent in Northern Africa and Western Asia; below 40 percent in Southern Asia; and below 50 percent in the Caribbean and Central America. The gap between participation rates of women and men has narrowed slightly in the last 20 years but remains considerable. Obviously, this gap comes in the way of women's visibility in the workplace even at initial levels. This is particularly acute in a field such as technology which, traditionally, fewer women have opted as their chosen domain of work — despite improving enrolments in science courses and several scientific studies disproving the myth of women not 'suited to' maths and science.

Career growth There are no easily available statistics available on the proportion of middle-level women employees and managers in Indian organisations. But the proportion of women who join various organisations comes down as they move to middle, senior and board positions. There are several — and, often, complex — reasons for this. One of the commonly cited points is that women in India tend to give up their jobs and careers much more readily and in greater proportion to, say, women in the US or advanced economies. But is it really true? And even if it were true, the root causes remain to be determined: Is it the traditional mindset or are there other factors?

What is not under debate, however, is that women have to do much more work than men. According to a UN report titled The World's Women 2010, the total work burden — considering paid as well as unpaid work — is higher for women than men in all regions of the world. In many countries, employed women spend an inordinate amount of time on this “double burden,” as they typically continue to assume most of the responsibility for domestic work. Certainly, this factor impedes women's career growth in varying measures.

Reaching the top But the contrast in men and women in the context of the organisation becomes most visible when we look at top management and leadership positions. Globally, women occupy just 17 percent of the positions when it comes to representation in parliaments or ministries. Among the CEOs of the top 500 corporations in the world, only 13 are women. The situation is even more stark in India. Data from Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a pro-democracy organisation, reveals that India ranks 98th in the world in representation of women in government. According to a joint corporate survey by the Forum for Women in Leadership (WILL Forum India) and consulting firm KPMG, as of 2009, women in India accounted for a mere 4.8 percent of the total population of directors and 2.5 percent of the total segment of independent directors among the companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Again, there's no specific data on the number of senior women executives in the technology function in India. But in our experience at CIO&Leader, what is unambiguous is that while there are some obvious names or visible women CEOs and CIOs, the number is not reflective of the women talent that exists across the hierarchy in most organisations.

Dwindling numbers Clearly, the proportion of women making it as leaders in government, business and technology is much, much lower in the context of either their education levels or the initial number of women entering the workforce. In the corporate environment, it is not that companies do not realise the importance or need to include more women at middle and senior levels, but somehow the results are not showing. According to a report by Catalyst, a nonprofit that aims to expand opportunities for women and business, 68 percent of companies in India have formal strategies for women’s advancement in place—yet these programmes lack elements crucial to their success, including metrics and indicators to measure their impact, hold managers accountable, and engage men in advancing women to leadership. In a press statement on the report, Nancy Carter, senior VP of research at Catalyst and a visiting scholar

February 2012

COVER STORY | WOMEN LEADERSHIP

at INSEAD, notes, “Programmes and policies alone are not enough—accountability matters too. For these programmes to be effective, it’s necessary to connect goals with results.” For instance, while three-fourths of the companies surveyed by Catalyst had flexible work programmes, only 11 percent among them reported greater than 25 percent utilisation of telecommuting. And only 7 percent reported greater than 25 percent utilisation of reduced work/part-time work programmes. Clearly, a gap between intent and results. The WILL Forum-KPMG survey also throws some light on why fewer women make it to the top. Only 43 percent of the respondents strongly agreed with the view that men and women actually have equal opportunities to grow in their careers and/or rise to positions of top leadership in the corporate sector. It is also quite possible that a vicious cycle of old attitudes and fixed mindsets impedes women's chances of playing leading roles in business or technology. This is what psychologists call 'the stereotype threat.' If women

Consider some key findings of a study, Off-ramps and On-ramps: Keeping Women on the Road to Success, released jointly by the Center for Work-Life Policy (CWLP) and Harvard Business Review in 2005 (off-ramp implies a break in work). According to Sylvia Ann Hewlett, President of CWLP and a co-author of the report, “Many talented, committed women take off-ramps but an overwhelming majority [93 percent] can’t wait to get back in.” However, according to the report, many find this more difficult than they anticipated. Only 74 percent succeed in rejoining the workforce and only 40 percent return to full-time jobs. But there's a more telling aspect of the report that sheds light on the women-friendly policies and culture (or lack of them) at organisations: 95 percent of the offrampers would not consider going back to their previous employers. One of the key reasons why many women who take a break to look after children or elders choose not to return to work even if given a chance is the lack of an institutional support infrastructure – especially in a country such as India where nuclear families and dualearning households are new (but rapidly growing) phenomena.

Many women take off-ramps but an overwhelming majority can’t wait to get back in are traditionally perceived as 'weak in maths and science' or 'lacking business acumen,' – even though scientific studies may have discredited such perceptions or shining examples may exist of inspiring businesswomen and scientists/technologists – it creates a negative and persistent downward spiral for them. Another reason often given for few women middle managers moving on to executive positions is the discouraging odds in their performance appraisals. A Wall Street Journal blog quotes Vikram Malhotra, McKinsey's chairman of the Americas, as saying: “Middle-management women get promoted on performance, while middlemanagement men get promoted on potential.” This implies that some women may have to work even harder than their male counterparts to get promoted to the same positions. But that's just one aspect of promotions. It is believed that most women themselves opt out of promotions and stick to middle management in order to achieve better work-life balance. Or they take a mid-career break so as to spend more time with their family. However, there are many complex factors at play here and some of the old popular perceptions are giving way to on-ground research and new thinking.

February 2012

Extent, not intent

Several organisations across the world are demonstrating and focusing on women's contribution to all hues of society, including growth, development and wealth creation (see snapshot on Page 66). So even though a number of factors are holding women back from realising their full potential as leaders, things are bound to change for the better. Signs of these changes are already visible – one of the most prominent being the rising levels of overall education and the growing acceptance of women at the workplace. In fact, there are organisations that are following global best practices in hiring and nurturing a diversified workforce (including a higher proportion of women) or going a step ahead and introducing pioneering employeefriendly policies. IBM, for instance, goes beyond hiring and retaining women talent and professes to extend efforts “to building the women leadership pipeline.” (The company recently appointed a woman, Virginia Rometty, as the CEO.) Consulting firm Deloitte is said to have initiated a programme, called Mass Career Customisation, which allows employees to adjust their hours depending on their life stage. Such initiatives, coupled with women's own resolve to keep the transformation, is undoubtedly a change for the better. It's not a question of if, but when; not intent, but extent.

Fixing the

Real Issues

The time is ripe to address the core issues affecting women's leadership growth — rather than worry about 'fixing the women'

vivah Wittenberg-Cox is CEO 20-first, a con-

sultancy that works with progressive companies interested in diversifying their leadership teams and optimising both halves of the talent pool and both halves of the market — the female and male halves. 20-first works with CEOs, executive committees and managers to build gender ‘bilingual’ organisations. The firm’s renowned Building Gender Balanced Businesses programmes and suite of online tools help companies harness the talent and market opportunities of the 21st century. Avivah is also author of the best selling books How Women Mean Business: A Step by Step Guide to Profiting from Gender Balanced Business [Wiley 2010] and Why Women Mean Business: Understanding the Emergence of Our Next Economic Revolution [Wiley 2008, co-authored with Alison Maitland]. Here we present a selection of Avivah's blogs that talk about why we must change the old question of 'fixing the women' to one that deals with fixing the companies that fail to adapt to women's styles; the need to make executive committees more gender balanced; and her impressions of what Indian organisations are doing to promote women leaders.

FROM 'FIXING WOMEN' TO 21ST CENTURY COMPANIES

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox CEO, 20-first

All around the world, companies are launching gender initiatives. But the attempts of many of these firms are well-meaning, but inefficient. Our own report, the 20-first Womenomics 101 Survey, showed that almost 70 percent of the top companies in Europe don’t have any women on their Executive Committee. The reason for this glacial pace of change is that they are trying to apply a band-aid to an issue that calls for a systemic review of the business model.

February 2012

COVER STORY | WOMEN LEADERSHIP

The problem is with the single-model career path and relentless up-or-out cultures that are common in many highly homogeneous business models. These companies won’t become more gender balanced until their model evolves into something more gender bilingual. The problem is that the people at the top, who have risen through the old system, have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. They have absolutely no incentive to change the system. The idea of adapting the model that has benefited them to accommodate a greater number of women is laughable. At least while they can still find men (and a minority of women who adapt to the masculine norms) ready to do what they did, they see no reason to change things.

We are “prisoners of a paradigm” All this, however, is unconscious. We are all, for the moment, what Professor Gary Hamel calls the “unwitting prisoners of a paradigm.” Most of these senior managers may truly believe that women aren’t making it to the top because of something they lack such as time, competence, and style. They are still asking a 20th century question: “What is wrong with these women that they are not making it to the top?” We would suggest that the 21st century question is: “What is wrong with this company if we are not able to promote the majority of our high-potential talent to the key positions and what is that doing to the quality of our talent?” These two questions yield very different answers – and lead to very different solutions.

‘Fixing the women’ The first step most companies take, even before thinking about the issue, is to look at what other companies are doing, and then craft ‘action plans’ to do at least as much. This trend is exacerbated by rating agencies and various accreditation or award bodies who evaluate these initiatives based on a list of criteria that usually involve a list of what they like to call ‘best practices.’ In the past decade in North America, and now rolling around the world in an American-led wave, you can see the results. Company after company and almost all the professional services firms are creating women’s networks, mentoring programmes for women, and coaching and leadership training for women. All are fine programmes, and the delight of consulting firms like mine. They are popular with most women, happy to have some developmental focus. Having run many of these for a number of years myself, I COMPANIES IN ASIA AND know just how empowering and energis68 PERCENT IN EUROPE ing they can be. HAVE NO WOMEN AT ALL The only problem is that I’m not at all ON THEIR EXECUTIVE convinced they work. Or at least not in COMMITTEES isolation. The focus on women in compa-

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February 2012

nies leads to a host of unintended consequences. And the intended consequences (usually more women in leadership) have not been proven. These ‘fix the women’ strategies unconsciously encourage women to conform more closely to the dominant masculine norm and culture. Women are very ready to agree that they don’t do enough networking and self-marketing. And the senior men who are invited to introduce these sessions as ‘supporters’ and ‘champions’ are perfectly content to acknowledge that women need a little extra help in order to be truly ready in some distant future for leadership roles. That way, companies discover, everyone is happy. The women are happy as they have a sense that they are overcoming handicaps. The men are happy because it confirms that women have handicaps.

Questions to ask I would pose some other questions to the leaders of the companies launching these approaches. Here are a few: Do you really want to encourage half your workforce to spend time learning and adopting the communication styles preferred by men? Have you carried out client and customer satisfaction surveys to see how appreciated are the different talent on your staffs? Are you promoting to the top positions the people that your customers and peers evaluate as top performers or those that today’s managers prefer for their availability and expressed ambition? All the literature on career management is still about managing in a traditional, 20th century pyramid-style organisation, with everything it implies about the unwritten rules of the game, and the predominance of ambition and internal competition. Before we transform the new, still-different culture of female talent into pseudo-male behaviours, it might be worth understanding the consequences of our actions.

Time is running out We are at precisely the point in history where companies are dreaming of new leadership competencies, new collaborative cultures and newly innovative minds. But the lag time in embedding these new ideas into the corporate DNA risks costing us the opportunity of a whole half of the talent pool whose authentic styles seem naturally aligned with these new needs. In the course of researching for my new book, How Women Mean Business: A Step by Step Guide to Profiting from Gender Balanced Business (Wiley, Spring 2010), I have interviewed many progressive male CEOs who have started transforming their companies in order to attract and retain the best talent, female and male. For example, Damien O’Brien, CEO of the executive search firm Egon Zehnder International, is clear about

WOMEN LEADERSHIP | COVER STORY

the importance of gender balance. “More and more clients around the world just expect us to field gender balanced teams,” he says. “If they look at our website and see a lot of grey-haired, white males, a lot of them would not find that very exciting on many dimensions.” However, such leaders who are clear about the need for change are rare. The critical challenge for the majority of companies is to refrain from ‘fix the women’ policies and to start embracing their differences. With their different and complementary skills and perspectives, women may be the solution to companies adapting to 21st century talent and market realities.

Introducing 20-first's Womenomics 101 Survey That is why we have launched a new annual report: 20-first’s Womenomics 101 Survey. To get down to basics.

GETTING REAL ABOUT GENDER BALANCE

The core metric: Executive Committee gender balance

Potential vs Reality

Business leaders, economists and the media are contributing to a growing chorus: acknowledging the economic opportunities in improving the gender balance in business. But there remains a wide gap between recognising the benefits and actually implementing the reality.

Potential first

Not yet, is the short answer. Products and services still don’t fully understand or respond to the women that women have become. And employers have not adapted their cultures and systems to the massive arrival of women in their talent pools. There has been a lot of attention over the past 5 years on the gender balance of corporate boards. It’s time to move beyond this level. The real indicator is the gender balance on the Executive Committee – the core metric of competitiveness.

Every year, this will list the top 101 Fortune Global Companies in each key region and reveal the gender balance of their top teams, providing a crucial snapshot of their true success in this area.

“The critical challenge for companies is to refrain from ‘fix the women’ policies and to start embracing their differences”

Recently, the argument that women represent a huge business opportunity in terms of talent and markets is heating up. Newsweek ran a cover story (Sept 21, 2009) called The Real Emerging Market that states that “in the last few months, economists, consultants, and other business types have begun to track the rise of a new emerging market, one that may end up being the largest and most powerful of all: women.” Goldman Sachs published a report in August 2009 called The Power of the Purse. It says that “over the next five years, the combined impact of growing gender equality and the emerging middle class will be seen most clearly in China and Russia, and to a lesser extent in Vietnam, Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia.” Then Harvard Business Review chimes in with a feature on The Female Economy reminding us, in case we haven’t heard it enough, that “women now drive the female economy… control about $20 trillion in annual consumer spending, and that figure could climb as high as $28 trillion in the next five years. In aggregate, women represent a growth market bigger than China and India combined — more than twice as big, in fact.”

Now, the reality (and how to measure it) So have companies acknowledged this shift… and its implications for their customers, products, services and images?

Why this metric? The focus on the boardroom has been helpful in raising the visibility of the gender issue. It was an easy-to-understand and easy-to-measure reading of gender balance (or the lack thereof) in business. Yet it is not the best indicator of how gender balanced a company actually is in 2009. Nor of how gender balanced they will manage to become tomorrow. As companies have discovered, it is much easier to appoint a woman or two onto a corporate board than it is to actually groom a woman for power and have her progress through the traditional, internal route to the Executive Committee. Boards are oversight bodies. They do not actually run companies. So getting more gender balance at board level does not have a very direct impact on the gender balance of the organization as a whole. It’s time to look deeper into companies, and find metrics that distinguish those serious about gender balance from the rest. That’s what Womenomics 101 proposes to do every year from now on.

February 2012

COVER STORY | WOMEN LEADERSHIP

How Women Mean Business

Key findings US Leads: The US is ahead, with just over half of the companies surveyed having one or two women at this level. The American companies with the highest number of women on their executive boards are: Kraft Foods, WellPoint, Macy’s, Allstate, Pfizer, and Wells Fargo. Europe and Asia Lag: Both Europe and Asia have barely embarked on the gender journey. 82 percent of companies in Asia and 68 percent of companies in Europe have no women at all on their Executive Committees. Women promote women: Only a dozen companies out of 303 achieved a critical mass percentage of 30 percent women on their Executive Committees, which studies have shown is significant if companies want to create more effective leadership teams. They are all US-based and three of them are run by women CEOs – WellPoint, Kraft Foods, and Archer Daniels Midland. Lack of Women in Operational Roles: The majority of women promoted to the Executive Committees of the surveyed companies are in support roles (76 percent in the US).

WHERE THE WORLD'S TOP COMPANIES STAND

20-first's Global Gender Balance Scorecard 2011 In this 3rd annual survey, the 20-first Global Gender Balance Scorecard looks at a single measure of progress:

February 2012

the gender balance of the Executive Committees of the TOP 100 companies in three key regions of the globe. Most of the world’s top companies have embraced the idea that corporate governance through all-male boards is a thing of the past. Our 2011 survey finds that 74 percent of companies in the US and 68 percent in Europe now have at least two women at board level, as many have progressed beyond the token “one.” However, as 20-first has long argued, boards are not the best metric for evaluating the actual gender balance inside companies. Instead, the gender balance of the Executive Committee is a much better indicator of progress, as it looks at the executive team actually running the business. If we look at Executive Committees of these top companies, the data shows that companies have not achieved the same progress as they have in balancing their boards. 59 percent of US companies have at least two women on their Executive Committee. Europe is far behind with 20 percent and Asia lags with only 4 percent. Globally, 90 percent of Executive Committee positions in our survey sample are filled by men, with only 10 percent by women. * Our 2011 Global Gender Balance Scorecard evaluates where companies are in balancing their Executive Committees. The scorecard segments companies into one of 6 categories: Asleep, Token, Starting Smart, Progressing, Critical Mass,and Balanced. The full report below describes what the top companies have achieved to date on their gender balance journey.

WOMEN LEADERSHIP | COVER STORY

Key findings US Leads. The US leads the way with 59 percent of companies having at least two women on their Executive Committees. However, upon closer inspection the picture is not quite so rosy. Of the 1,227 Executive Committee members of America’s Top 100 companies, only 205 (or 17 percent)are women and 1022 (or 83 percent) are men. The majority of these female Executive Committee members are in staff or support positions (145, or 12 percent of total)such as HR, Communications or Legal, whereas only 60 women (or 5 percent of total) are in line or operational roles. Europe Struggles. With only 20 percent of companies having at least two women on their Executive Committees, the overall picture shows that European companies are still struggling to make progress in gender balancing their top teams. Of the 938 Executive Committee members of Europe’s Top 100 companies, only 78 (or 8 percent) are women and 860 (or 92 percent) are men. Again most of these women (56, or 6 percent of total) are in staff or support roles. Only 22 women (or 2 percent of total) are in line or operational roles. Asia Lags. With only 4 percent of companies having at least two women on their Executive Committee, the overall picture is one of significant imbalance. Indeed,compared to the 926 men (98 percent) on Executive Committees in Asia, there are only 14 women in staff roles (1.5 percent of total) and a mere 6 women in line or operational roles (0,6 percent of total).

INDIAN WOMEN MEAN BUSINESS

“India has the chance to learn from what other companies in the West have done on gender balance” inspiring sight. Cherie Blair’s graciousness, goodwill and modesty (‘this is the first conference I’ve ever organised!’) as well as her connections drew a stellar programme of major Indian role models: a huge cross-section of people from corporate leaders and movie stars to the sheriff as well as the mayor of Mumbai (both women).

Traffic, Mumbai-style It is appropriate to end 2009’s blogs with a look at India. A huge and rising power, India is a record-breaker across the board, and the global crisis has only accelerated the shift eastwards. India’s size and the speed of its economic growth are breathtaking. The pace of change can –- literally –- be heard via the incessant car horns that blast throughout the day and night here in Mumbai. Loud and chaotic, the traffic is a visual symbol of the story. From carts to Rolls-Royces, a dozen epochs are trying to negotiate the run-down roads all together. Noticeable to a gender balance obsessive like me, is the relative absence of women at the wheel. But judging by the conference I just attended here, this will change as fast as the rest. Participating in the launch of a conference called Women Mean Business, the brainchild of The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, was a myriad of contrasting personalities. The appetite and energy unleashed by one of the first such conferences in India was palpable. A huge yet bursting ballroom packed with several hundred women (and hundreds more who had to be turned away for lack of room) listening and sharing is a hugely

Kiran Bedi, police officer and former head of India’s largest prison Kiran Bedi, police officer and former head of Mumbai’s largest prison, set the tone. A tiny woman with immense energy and charisma, she is India’s first and highest ranking female police officer (and a former tennis champion). A believer in ‘positive aggression’, she exhorted the crowd to decide what they wanted and to go after it. ‘Change the status quo of what is irrelevant.’ She herself had transformed Indiai’s largest prison, with no money and no resources -– just a massive shift in approach, highly emblematic of the kind of paradigm shifts that women often bring to their leadership roles. She knew she would never be able to manage 10,000 violent male criminals on her own. So she opened her jail to a myriad of NGOs with whom she partnered, enrolled the detainees in a transformative vision of rehabilitation and got them all to…meditate! The turnaround has been phenomenal. ‘A believer in “positive aggression”, Kiran Bedi exhorted the crowd to decide what they wanted and to go after it. “Change the status quo of what is irrelevant.”

February 2012

COVER STORY | WOMEN LEADERSHIP

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Managing Director of Biocon Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the Managing Director of Biocon, also illustrates this shift to new management approaches. She founded one of India’s first biotech companies back in the 70’s, long before the industry became fashionable. She had wanted to be a brewer like her father, but after studying in Australia, she found that women were not welcomed into management in the brewing industry in India. So she turned an obstacle into opportunity, and set off into the uncharted territory of biotech. She started off with a team of 80 percent women scientists who were attracted to her as a female role model, while most men were not convinced that biotech was a safe career bet. Some 30 years later, she runs one of the world’s big biotech companies with 4,000 employees, 40 percent of them women, and some $500 million in turnover. ‘I went from using yeast in beer, to yeast in insulin,’ she laughs. ‘My vision was to keep Indian scientific expertise in India, and to move the country from imitation to innovation. I’ve accomplished both.’ I had the pleasure of chairing a panel discussion that included several other powerhouse women:

educating its daughters, the elite offer them top-flight global education.

Meritocracy at ICICI But there are signs of change. Except on the crowded roads, things are moving fast in India, and this conference begins the laudable effort of showcasing what is working. KV Kamath, the Chairman of the Board of ICICI, says he has simply ‘unshackled’ women, removing all the obstacles that are in their way. As for the rest, he says, ‘they take care of themselves.’ He has 12 women on the 20-person board that he chairs. ‘I don’t see them as women,’ he insists, ‘I see them as talented executives.’ Balanced recruitment for men and women at Britannia Vinita Bali at Britannia has done a bit more. While swearing that she is simply being gender neutral, she has clearly and unequivocally introduced a mandatory 50/50 male/female candidate slate for every job. That makes the choice, she says, truly gender neutral. She says she communicates a lot, explaining the rules of the game, and standing firm. She says once the rules are clear, they don’t cause dissent. What she really seeks to establish is a ‘clear, transparent meritocracy’ where everyone knows the rules of the game –- and the playing field becomes truly level for all.

Naina Lal Kidwai, the head of HSBC in India One of the many women who happen to work in finance in India. (The conference was opened by Chanda Kochhar, the head of ICICI, India’s second largest bank).

Vinita Bali, the CEO of Britannia One of India’s leading food companies, she successfully steered the company into a health and nutrition strategy, adding vitamin elements to its products, pushing the company to its highest ever growth rate (22 percent).

Nandita Gurjar, the head of HR for Infosys

50%

OF ALL JOB ROLES IN BRITANNIA INDUSTIRES ARE MANDATED TO BE FILLED BY WOMEN

Infosys has now partnered with Cherie Blair’s Foundation to do more, muchneeded research on women in business in India.

India’s gender balance record

Corporate India has been more traditional in terms of gender balance than one would have thought given women’s long-standing role in Indian politics. Yet Grant Thornton has done research showing that 15 percent of the country’s senior executives are women, not far from the US figure of 20 percent. Many of the country’s leading businesswomen are the daughters or wives in large family business empires. And while the country as a whole may not be good at

February 2012

India can leapfrog ahead in gender balance The challenge is to bring the men along too, convinced and convincing about the need for change in this area. Above all, they need to be convinced of the business benefit of gender balance; and the quicker the better. Very few men were present at the conference in Mumbai. But let’s not wait to get the guys to see the light. India has the chance to learn from what other companies in the West have done on gender balance and avoid costly and less than effective ‘fix the women’ programmes. In doing so, it could jump straight to management gender bilingualism focused on the economic opportunities of balance. Given the level of energy and ideas unleashed by this first women’s conference, India would have a lot to gain. The playing field, like the roads in India, will need a few more conferences like this one. The transformation ahead is a massive one.

—For more information about Avivah Wittenberg-Cox and 20-first, visit 20-first.com and WHYandHOWWomenMeanBusiness.com.

WOMEN LEADERSHIP | COVER STORY

A Huge Untapped

Potential Companies around the world are recognising the true value of including, mentoring and promoting more women By Ester Martinez & Gyanendra Kashyap

he working-age population in the 15 to 64

age group in India is expected to reach 915 million by 2020 and to a staggering 1 billion by 2030. More importantly, half of them would still be under the age of 28 in 2030. This broadly constitutes India’s much trumpeted demographic dividend, which is often lauded as its competitive advantage over the long run. The demographic dividend story may be a good selling point for investments, but seen through statistics and the reality of women at work, it paints a contrasting picture. Statistics from the National Sample Survey Organisation show that while labour force participation rates have fallen for both men and women, the decline in the rate is much sharper for women in the 15 to 59 age group. In the five years up to 2010, the work participation rate of women has been on a decline, coming down by 6 percent since 2004-05. Interestingly, in the decade from 2000 to 2010, the population of women aged 15 years or more increased by 86.5 million but only 8.9 percent of them joined the labour force. It is ironic that during a period of economic growth, the dependency ratio has increased instead of decreasing. Women form close to one-half of the human resources of the country and the sheer decline in their work participation undermines India’s demographic dividend theory. Most organisations in India are under-utilising and, in some cases, downright ignoring the other half of the talent pool: women make up 42 percent of college graduates in India; Census 2011 pegs the effective literacy rate for

females at 65 percent. As talent becomes the most valuable resource for businesses, it makes sense to invest in women and leverage on the “gender dividend.” With less than 25 percent of women in India as a part of the workforce (compared to 50 percent of men), they represent a huge untapped potential. Reports from research bodies and media corroborate that women representation in the IT/ITeS workforce ranges from 24 to 26 percent at entry levels and gradually declines as one moves to middle, senior and board levels. For new-age private-sector banks, women at the entry level form roughly 20 percent of the workforce. As per a UN report, India’s annual GDP growth could jump 4 percent if women participation rates were raised to 70 percent, closer to that in many developed nations. Efforts by companies in attracting and retaining women take a beating when one looks at the recent NSSO figures that point to the declining participation ratio of women. While the data can be looked at from a positive perspective to conclude that the decline in women's participation in the workforce is primarily due to women choosing to educate themselves for longer periods instead of joining the workforce at the very first opportunity, other corollaries can neither be overlooked nor ignored. In India, it is quite intriguing that despite increasing levels of higher education in women and the talent crunch across industries, the women participation ratio in total workforce has declined. A number of socio-cultural and labour market factors could also be responsible for the decline in women's participation. Organisations have begun building a business case for ‘gender dividend’ by creating equal opportunities by widening the talent pool. The last generation of workplace innovations introduced policies to support women with young children, internal networks to help women navigate their careers, and flexible work options which broke down structural barriers holding women back from entering the workforce. While these must continue, a flexible and innovative workplace which appreciates the needs of women employees would go a long way in creating a nurturing ecosystem—in which talent can thrive and the organisation can reap the benefits of demographic as well as gender dividend.

Most organisations in India are under-utilising or downright ignoring the other half of the talent pool

—Ester Martinez is Managing Editor at People Matters. She can be reached at ester.martinez@peoplematters.in. Gyanendra Kashyap is Research Editor at People Matters. The complete article is available at www.peoplematters.in.

February 2012

How Talented

Women Thrive A new approach to leadership can help women become more self-confident and effective business leaders By Joanna Barsh, Susie Cranston, and Rebecca A. Craske

omen start careers in business and other professions with the same level of intelligence, education, and commitment as men. Yet comparatively few reach the top echelons. This gap matters not only because the familiar glass ceiling is unfair, but also because the world has an increasingly urgent need for more leaders. All men and women with the brains, the desire, and the perseverance to lead should be encouraged to fulfill their potential and leave their mark. With all this in mind, the McKinsey Leadership Project — an initiative to help professional women at McKinsey and elsewhere — set out four years ago to learn what drives MCKINSEY LEADERSHIP MODEL COMPRISING FIVE BROAD AND INTERRELATED DIMENSIONS

PRECONDITIONS: Intelligence Tolerance for change Desire to lead Communication skills

MEANING Happiness signature strengths purpose

ENGAGING Voice Onership Risk Taking Adactability

MANAGING ENERGY

YOUR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT

CONNECTING Network Design Sponsership Reciprocity Inclusiveness

February 2012

Minimising Depletion Restoration

POSITIVE FRAMING Self-awareness Learned Optmism Moving On

IMPACT Presence Resilience Belonging

and sustains successful female leaders. We wanted to help younger women navigate the paths to leadership and, at the same time, to learn how organisations could get the best out of this talented group. To that end, we interviewed more than 85 women globally (and a few good men) who are successful in diverse fields. Some lead 10,000 people or more, others 5 or even fewer. While the specifics of their lives vary, each one shares the goal of making a difference in the wider world. All were willing to discuss their personal experiences and to provide insights into what it takes to stay the leadership course. We have also studied the academic literature; consulted experts in leadership, psychology, organisational behaviour, and biology; and sifted through the experiences of hundreds of colleagues at McKinsey. From the interviews and other research, we have distilled a leadership model comprising five broad and interrelated dimensions (exhibit): meaning, or finding your strengths and putting them to work in the service of an inspiring purpose; managing energy, or knowing where your energy comes from, where it goes, and what you can do to manage it; positive framing, or adopting a more constructive way to view your world, expand your horizons, and gain the resilience to move ahead even when bad things happen; connecting, or identifying who can help you grow, building stronger relationships, and increasing your sense of belonging; and engaging, or finding your voice, becoming self-reliant and confident by accepting opportunities, and collaborating with others We call this model centered leadership. As the name implies, it’s about having a well of physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual strength that drives personal achievement and, in turn, inspires others to follow. Centered leadership also works for men, though we have found that the model resonates particularly well with women because we have built it on a foundation of research into their specific needs and experiences. Centered leadership emphasises the role of positive emo-

WOMEN LEADERSHIP | COVER STORY

tions. A few characteristics particularly distinguish women from their male counterparts in the workplace. First, women can more often opt out of it than men can. Second, their double burden — motherhood and management — drains energy in a particularly challenging way. Third, they tend to experience emotional ups and downs more often and more intensely than most men do. Given these potentially negative emotions, centered leadership consciously draws on positive psychology, a discipline that seeks to identify what makes healthy people thrive.

Meaning ‘To love what you do and feel that it matters—how could anything be more fun?’ Meaning is the motivation that moves us. Without meaning, work is a slog between weekends. With meaning, any job can become a calling. It starts with happiness. Positive psychologists (including Tal Ben-Shahar, Jonathan Haidt, and Martin Seligman) have defined a progression of happiness that leads from pleasure to engagement to meaning. Katharine Graham, the first female CEO of a Fortune 500 enterprise (the Washington Post Company), said, “To love what you do and feel that it matters — how could anything be more fun?” Why is meaning important for leaders? Studies have shown that among professionals, it translates into greater job satisfaction, higher productivity, lower turnover, and increased loyalty. The benefits also include feelings of transcendence — in other words, contributing to something bigger than yourself generates a deeper sense of meaning, thereby creating a virtuous cycle. Shelly Lazarus, the chairman and CEO of the advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, described how she “just followed [her] heart, doing the things that [she] loved to do.” This sense of meaning inspired her, early in her career, to jump from Clairol to Ogilvy. Lazarus commented that everyone she knew thought that her decision to go from the client side to the agency side was a strategic move. But “it wasn’t really like that,” she says. “I just loved the interaction with the agency because that was the moment I could see where the ideas came to life.” People seeking to define what is meaningful can start, as one interviewee put it, by “being honest with yourself about what you’re good at and what you enjoy doing.” Building these signature strengths into everyday activities at work makes you happier, in part by making these activities more meaningful. Although there is no simple formula for matching your strengths to any single function, you can look for patterns in jobs that have and haven’t worked out and talk with others about your experiences. The connection between signature strengths and work can change because priorities do; sometimes, for example,

a job is better than a calling, especially for young mothers. Our interviews show that this ebb and flow is natural and that the key to success is being aware of the shifts — and making conscious choices about them — in the context of bigger goals, personal or professional.

Managing energy Actively managing energy levels is crucial to leaders. Today’s executives work hard: 60 percent of the senior executives toil more than 50 hours a week, and 10 percent more than 80 hours a week. What’s more, many women come home from work only to sign onto a “second shift” — 92 percent of them still manage all household tasks, such as meal preparation and child care. We’ve found that work–life balance is a myth—so the only hope women have is to balance their energy flows. This means basing your priorities on the activities that energise you, both at work and at home, and actively managing your resources to avoid dipping into reserves. Burnout is a reality for men and women alike, but for women who can opt out, so too is throwing in the towel.

Centered leadership draws on positive psychology, a discipline that seeks to identify what makes healthy people thrive But work doesn’t have to be exhausting. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, a founder of positive psychology, studied thousands of people, from sculptors to factory workers. He found that those who frequently experienced what he called “flow”— a sense of being so engaged by activities that you don’t notice the passage of time — were more productive and derived greater satisfaction from their work than those who did not. Further, it energised them. Zia Mody, a top litigator in India, described how she gained energy from a life that most people would see as exhausting. Even when her three daughters were young, she put in 16-hour days to prepare her cases. A woman among thousands of men at court, she lit up as she told us, “I love it! I love winning. I love being in court. . . . It excites me — I cannot tell you how much.” One useful tactic is to identify the conditions and situations that replenish your energy and those that sap it. Self-awareness lets you deliberately incorporate restorative elements into your day. It can also help you to space out your energy-sapping tasks throughout the day, instead of bundling them all into a single morning or afternoon. A particularly useful tip, we have found, is to give yourself

February 2012

COVER STORY | WOMEN LEADERSHIP

time during the day to focus without distractions such as blinking lights and buzzing phones. Your productivity will benefit several times over.

should also undertake some activity that will restore both your energy and your faith in yourself.

Connecting Positive framing The frames people use to view the world and process experiences can make a critical difference to professional outcomes. Many studies suggest that optimists see life more realistically than pessimists do, a frame of mind that can be crucial to making the right business decisions. That insight may be particularly critical for women, who are twice as likely to become depressed, according to one study. Optimists, research shows, are not afraid to frame the world as it actually is — they are confident that they can manage its challenges and move their teams quickly to action. By contrast, pessimists are more likely to feel helpless and to get stuck in downward spirals that lead to energy-depleting rumination. Martin Seligman, a psychologist who was an early proponent of positive psychology, found, for example, that optimists are better able to deal with the news that they have cancer. Confident that they can handle the prognosis, they immediately start to gather facts and dive into treatment plans; pessimists, on the other hand, become paralysed with fear. Seligman also shows optimism can be learned, an insight that underlies positive framing. Positive framing and positive thinking, we would emphasise, are two different notions. The latter tries to replace adversity with positive beliefs. The former accepts the facts of adversity and counters them with action. Talking yourself into a view contrary to the facts has a temporary effect at best. The experience of Andrea Jung, the chairman and CEO of Avon, suggests how useful positive framing can be. In late 2005, Jung recalls, she found her company in a decline that temporary factors could not explain. Recognising that she was the leader who had created the strategies and the team responsible for the downturn, she listened to the counsel of her executive coach and promptly “fired herself” on a Friday night. The following Monday, Andrea showed up at work as the “new” turnaround CEO. She proved herself to be a “glass half full” optimist, and the recovery plan her management OR FEWER team adopted after a quick diagnoADMINISTRATORS AND sis led to a steady improvement and MANAGERS IN INDIA a return to growth. ARE WOMEN If a meeting goes badly, for example, you should limit your thoughts about it to its temporary and specific impact and keep them impersonal. It helps to talk with trusted colleagues about the reasons for the poor meeting and ways to do better next time. These discussions should take place quickly enough for you to make a specific plan and act on it. You

03%

February 2012

People with strong networks and good mentors enjoy more promotions, higher pay, and greater career satisfaction. They feel a sense of belonging, which makes their lives meaningful. As Mark Hunter and Herminia Ibarra have noted in the Harvard Business Review, what differentiates a leader from a manager “is the ability to figure out where to go and to enlist the people and groups necessary to get there.” Yet not all networks are equal. Roy Baumeister, a social psychologist who studies social belonging and rejection, believes that men tend to build broader, shallower networks than women do and that the networks of men give them a wider range of resources for gaining knowledge and professional opportunities. This theory is a matter of substantial debate among academics. Our experience with hundreds of women at McKinsey, however, offers additional evidence that women’s networks tend to be narrower but deeper than men’s. The experience of Dame Stella Rimington, who in the late 1960s joined MI5, the UK’s domestic intelligence organisation, offers an example of the power of broad networks to get things done. Rimington, later the agency’s director general, says “women were definitely second-class citizens” in those days. They weren’t allowed to do fieldwork, for example, yet “many of the women were completely indistinguishable from the men: they had the same kind of education.” She continues: “So we women — there were quite a few of us by then — we sort of ganged up and did a kind of round-robin thing and said, ‘Why is it that we have a completely different career than men who are exactly like us?’ And for the first time, the powers that be started to scratch their heads because they suddenly had to find an answer. . . . And in the end, of course, they decided that they would have to promote a few women.” She later concluded that “no one of us would have asked that question on her own. We were supporting each other, and there was power in the many.” The leaders we interviewed also talked about the importance of having individual relationships with senior colleagues willing to go beyond the role of mentor —someone willing to stick out his or her own neck to create opportunity for a protégée. Such a person is what Ruth Porat, a vice chairwoman at Morgan Stanley, called a “sponsor.” A number of studies have shown women who promote their own interests vigorously are seen as aggressive, uncooperative, and selfish. An equal number of studies show the failure of women to promote their own interests results in a lack of female leaders. Until one of these conditions changes, sponsors, we believe, are the key to helping women gain access to opportunities they merit and need to develop. Porat explained how a managing director took a chance on her when she was a second-year associate, asking her to present to a client’s board of directors. “The consumer client

WOMEN LEADERSHIP | COVER STORY

A number of studies have shown women who promote their own interests vigorously are seen as aggressive, uncooperative, and selfish wanted a woman to be present. I had never been in a boardroom, let alone presented in a boardroom. ‘Sink or swim,’ he told me. ‘You’re in.’ I still remember to this day a mistake I made and that it was, overall, a good presentation. He took a real chance on me.” One surprising thing we learned as a result of talking with female leaders was that they often fail to reciprocate and find expectations that they should do so distasteful. A senior partner at McKinsey noted men naturally understand that you must “give before you get,” but women don’t. This tendency combined with the sometimes awkward sexual politics, real or perceived, between senior men and younger women, makes it harder for women to find sponsors. Yet women can learn reciprocity. To start, it’s important to assess your comfort level with the people you know through work, as well as how influential they are professionally. Most women we’ve worked with typically find that the colleagues they are close to are not influential—and vice versa. Explicit planning and some risk taking are needed to change this. One approach is to provide and ask for help on a regular basis. Finding ways to forge connections through interests outside of work is another. Over and over, we heard, “Make it personal,” in the sense that others will get along with you more easily if they see your human side. You can express this in all kinds of ways at work, without inappropriately blending your professional and personal lives. The female leaders we interviewed acted on this insight both to find sponsors and to build networks.

Engaging Many people think that hard work will eventually be noticed and rewarded. That can indeed happen—but usually doesn’t. Women, our interviewees repeatedly told us, need to “create their own luck.” To engage with opportunities by taking ownership of them, you must first find your own voice, literally. Julie Daum, a prominent Spencer Stuart recruiter who specialises in board placements, told us that even senior women on boards still lose out by not speaking up: they hang back if they think that they have nothing new to say or that their ideas fall short of profound. One senior woman we interviewed told us how she learned to join in: “Every Monday, we had a senior-management meeting. In the beginning, I just listened. I learned from the guys because they were all there. And after a while I started to speak up. You did the work, so you’ve got to talk about it. And I did.”

Women who want to grow as leaders should also take ownership of their professional development. Mary Ma, Lenovo’s former CFO, said she drew inspiration from using the Japanese auto industry as a metaphor, reshaping herself to become more competitive by identifying what she had to change and then actually changing it. As Ma noted, she didn’t complain to her boss or to her colleagues but rather looked inward to see how she could be a more effective leader. Instead of waiting for someone to tell her what to do, she took a systematic approach to self-improvement. Engagement is equally about risk taking. The women we interviewed accept risk as a part of opportunity. Some have the confidence and courage to dive in; others use analytic problem solving to assess risks and then proceed to action. Shona Brown, Google’s senior vice president of business operations, described how she handles opportunities and the risks that accompany them. “I’ll use a skiing analogy because I like to jump off cliffs,” she says. “But I generally jump off cliffs from which I’m relatively confident I’m going to land—or if I don’t, it’s not dangerous.” Brown said she enjoys risk. “I like to be at that point where you’re about to jump. Your stomach is kind of going ‘woo’! It’s not so simple that you’re sure you’ll succeed. But you’re not in a life-threatening situation.” Our interviews have shown us that to embrace opportunity, people must often take sharp detours and that the risks of unexpected changes commonly seem more obvious than the benefits. Reaching out to others — not to avoid making decisions yourself but to learn the best outcome from change can often help you see opportunities in the right frame and decide whether to go for them. Within McKinsey and in the corporate world, our work on centered leadership continues. To understand how men and women practice it across tenures, industries, and regions, we are interviewing and launching large-scale surveys — again, with female and male respondents. Our research is exploring the hypothesis that today’s leaders can become even more effective through the model of centered leadership: a shared purpose with deep meaning for the people involved, explicit awareness and management of energy, positive framing, strong informal and formal networks, and the collaborative creation of opportunities. In time, we hope to help increase the number of female leaders significantly by giving them the tools to build leadership skills for any playing field.

February 2012

COVER STORY | WOMEN LEADERSHIP

Straight Talk Candid views from four top corporate women on issues related to leadership Whether men or women, there are good as well as bad professionals – just as there are brilliant ones on both sides. In my own experience I have not felt any difference between men and women leaders in terms of professional competence. However, women tend to have a higher priority for the family as they usually have more caring responsibilities. And contrary to what many people believe, as children grow up they need you even more. How women are able to balance the two also depends on the kind of organisation they work for. Fortunately, men are now increasingly supportive – and there may come a time when women won't have to give up their careers because of work-life issues and we'll see more women leaders emerge.

Preet Dhupar, CFO, BBC Worldwide

When it comes to women leaders, I feel they are more honest and have the capability to handle multiple tasks. This trait to handle multiple things is not limited to Indian women. Even in other countries where it is not the primary responsibility of women to manage home, they are able to balance both home and office. These traits come naturally to women. Besides, women are more articulate than men, a characteristic which is very important in the field of IT.

Vandana Avantsa, CIO, Motherson Sumi

The biggest challenge and difference between men and women leaders is that women have to create acceptance within the organisation. There could be cases wherein subordinates don’t take women in leadership positions seriously. To manage this issue, women need to be both aggressive and understanding at the same time. Aggressive so that their peers and team members don’t take them for granted and understanding so that they are able to relate to the issues of their colleagues. Women leaders are also different from men leaders when it comes to balancing the roles at home and office. While at office, a woman could be strong and dynamic but at home she has to bow down as she transforms into a wife, daughter or mother.

Puneet Kaur Kohli, Director - IT, Infrastructure & Service Operations, Motricity

February 2012

I think the key differentiators for women leaders include soft skills, an inclusive leadership style, higher EQ, steady performance, ethical conduct and corporate governance practices. As a woman leader, I personally face no challenges but, generally speaking, women have to face the challenges of traditional mindsets and resistance to change, besides social and cultural biases in some industries. The view of most women leaders is that the business case for women in leadership is not recognised and therefore there is a lack of proactive action for their professional development. Also, there is a need to have more women in senior leadership positions at board and CEO levels to drive change. Mentoring for women professionals by top executives and diversity programmes initiated by organisations would go a long way in bridging the leadership gap for women.

Urmil Khurana, Regional Director – Finance, South Asia, Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts

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Making a

Difference

We present a few organisations that are doing their bit in driving positive change for women in various ways

e at CIO&Leader believe that creating an ecosystem or environment where women can realise their full potential – on a global scale and in a significant measure – is a huge undertaking. One that requires the dedicated efforts of a number of individuals and organisations rather than any single entity. There are hundreds or, perhaps, thousands, of others all over the world. So this selection is certainly not exhaustive – but it is our sincere hope that the stories you see here will encourage you and your organisation to BYOD – Bring Your Own 'Device' – for unleashing the connected, collective power of women Goldman Sachs: With the belief that investing in education for women has a significant multiplier effect, leading to more productive workers, healthier and better-educated families, and ultimately to more prosperous communities, the leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm kick-started 10,000 Women. It is a five-year initiative to provide a business and management education to underserved female entrepreneurs in developing and emerging markets. The program is designed to drive greater shared economic growth, leading to stronger healthcare, education and greater prosperity in the communities where it operates.

February 2012

The Center for Talent Innovation: A non-profit "think tank" based in New York City, has emerged as a thought leader in diversity and talent management, driving ground breaking research and seeding programs and practices that attract, retain and accelerate the new streams of talent around the world. CTI's flagship project is the Task Force for Talent Innovation (formerly the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force) -- a private sector task force focused on helping corporations leverage their talent across the divides of gender, generation and culture. The 71 global corporations and organisations that constitute the Task Force-representing 4 million employees and operating in 190 countries around the world--are united by understanding that the full utilisation of the talent pool is at the heart of competitive advantage and economic success. The think tank’s founding president is Sylvia Ann Hewlett. She is the author of nine Harvard Business Review articles and 11 critically acclaimed nonfiction books including OffRamps and On-Ramps.

WOMEN LEADERSHIP | COVER STORY

The Cherie Blair Foundation: The Foundation was set up in September 2008 in response to Cherie’s experiences meeting women around the world and the realisation that, with the right support, women can overcome the challenges they face and play an important part in the economies and societies in which they work and live. The foundation feels women who are financially independent have greater control over their own and their children’s lives. Economic security gives women a more influential voice in tackling injustice and discrimination in their communities and wider society. Yet women entrepreneurs around the world still lack the business skills, technology, networks and access to finance they need to be successful in the long term. The Foundation provides support in these four key areas so that women can grow their businesses and create employment opportunities. Working in partnership with local organisations, the Foundation develops programmes that build confidence, capability and capital in women. Given that women tend to invest 90 percent of their income back into their families, investing in women isn’t just good ethics, it’s sound economics.

20-first: One of the world’s leading gender consultancies, 20-first works with organisations that seek to move from 20th century mindsets, management styles and marketing approaches into more progressive 21st century forms – and to stay first at the game. Thus it’s name. 20-first works with progressive global companies around the world interested in responding to both halves of the market and optimising both halves of the talent pool – the male and female halves. 20-first works with CEOs, executive committees and managers to build gender ‘bilingual’ organisations. The firm’s renowned ‘Building Gender Balanced Businesses’ programmes and suite of online tools help companies harness the talent and market opportunities of the 21st century. Avivah WittenbergCox is CEO of the consultancy 20-first. She is author of HOW Women Mean Business, A Step by Step Guide to Profiting from Gender Balanced Business and co-author of WHY Women Mean Business: Understanding the Emergence of Our Next Economic Revolution.

Catalyst: Founded in 1962, Catalyst is the leading nonprofit membership organization expanding opportunities for women and business. With offices in the US, Canada, Europe, and India, we count as members more than 500 companies, firms, business schools, and associations from around the world, employing millions of women. Our global lens and regional reach allow us to provide our members, the media, and the public with information and counsel on creating workplaces that enable women and their employers to succeed. Catalyst’s work is rooted in its research. It studies women and men across levels, functions, and geographies to learn about women’s experiences in business, barriers to their career advancement, and individual and organisational strategies leading to success. Its reports, often cited in international media, reveal the challenges and opportunities for organisations and women at work globally. It has an extensive compendium of diversity and inclusion practices that provides models for change.

Women in Technology International: Carolyn Leighton founded Women in Technology International (WITI) to help women advance by providing access to - and support from - other professional women working in all sectors of technology. WITI started in 1989 as The International Network of Women in Technology and, in 2001, evolved into The WITI Professional Association, the world's leading trade association for tech-savvy women. Today, WITI is the premier global organisation empowering women in business and technology to achieve unimagined possibilities. With a global network of smart, talented women and a market reach exceeding two million, WITI has powerful programmes and partnerships that provide connections, resources, opportunities and a supportive environment of women committed to helping each other. Along with its professional association of networks throughout the US and worldwide, including Hong Kong, Great Britain, Australia, and Mexico, WITI delivers value for individuals that work for a company, the government or academia, as well as small business owners.

February 2012