I attended an event this morning for a foundation’s 10th anniversary. Each table participated in the breakout session, assigned with a specific topic. My table’s topic was leadership. Everyone around the table was asked to share how they show and facilitate leadership and had already been asked to share something recent they are proud of. The last woman to speak at the table said she wasn’t really a leader in any way. Ironically it was she, who for me, is the one that showed the greatest leadership. The last speaker at the table shared what she was proud of, prior to sharing she wasn’t really a leader. She shared, very authentically, that she is proud of addressing the issue of caring for her mother in a manner that made her self manage her own fears, expectations and projections and come to a place of acceptance and positive forward movement, along with a positive outlook with the entire new dynamic she was facing with her mother. She perfectly articulated and is modeling every quality a good leader has. Leaders are not defined by a career path or vocation. We all know or have experienced people in management positions who are not good leaders. Leaders are those who can self manage their needs and their ego, placing the greater goal, be it professional or personal, in front of their singular vision. She is a leader.
The More Women In Leadership Roles, The Better The Company Does
I saw the following earlier today… I wondered if this was an opinion or a fact. I came across the following, Women In Leadership=Better Company Results . Within the article, I found the following most compelling, “They examined 16 different “competencies,” like taking initiative and driving for results, and found that women rated higher than men in 12 of the categories. When it came to total leadership strength, “at every level, more women were rated by their peers, their bosses, their direct reports, and their other associates as better overall leaders than their male counterparts — and the higher the level, the wider that gap grows.”” So the question is, in a world that places high value and great demand on corporate and organizational profits along with return on investment, why aren’t we hiring more women to up our game?
Are Women In Government Stuck?
In a recent article from Governing magazine, “Why Women’s Presence in Politics Has Stagnated,” I was unpleasantly surprised to see female legislators are still at the same percentage level, roughly, as they were in 1997. What an unpleasant discovery it was to read that. I believe a lot of us just assumed progress was going on. And unfortunately legislative positions do not seem to be the only areas of lag. Of the over 9,000 International City/County Management Association members only 23% are women. Even more depressing is that the percentage of women in those chief administrative positions have reminded dismally consistent at 13% since 1981. I feel I am part of the problem as without organization’s such as The Legacy Project in Illinois or other data gathering entities I would still be rolling along feeling it is all getting better. Sadly, without a conscious, focused effort and review of government culture, either as individual entities or overall, along with data mining, progress will not magically come. How do we know this? Numbers don’t lie. And just in case equity isn’t a motivator within your organization, women bring a dynamic into an organization’s culture that is often extremely conducive to increased positive customer service, increased return on investment, etc. So if you are not motivated by social progress, there is certainly enough data out there showing more women in leadership positions equate to increased profitability and in the case of government, wise use of tax payer dollars. The graph below is going on three years old, but based on the figures I’ve seen lately is a fair visual representation providing a great overview of where the U.S. stands internationally when it comes to government and non-government female management. It is an additional indicator demonstrating how far U.S. government entities have fallen behind.
“A Stalled Revolution”
The following is from and interesting article on women in the workplace. The full article can be found here. “In recent years, however, the percentage of women in top management positions and on corporate boards has stalled: As recently as 2011, their presence in top management positions in S&P 1500 companies was less than 9 percent. Although there has been a slow but steady increase, progress for women is uneven; while 19 percent of S&P 500 board directors are women, only 15 percent of directors of S&P mid-cap companies are women, compared to 12.6 percent of directors of S&P small-cap companies. Overall, just 15.8 percent of directors of S&P 1500 companies are women. Companies with female CEOs tend to have more female directors; however, as of October, 2014, there were only 67 female CEOs in the S&P 1500.”
Customer Service
The brief article, linked to below, is an interesting read regarding customer service, and includes this very valid statement, “There is only one customer, the one in front of you.” Click here to read the article.
Set Your Goal, Listen To Yourself
This TEDx video from the TEDxWomen event I organized has one of my favorite thoughts within it…Marcia, who swam the English Channel, notes when people discourage a goal, call it crazy, etc., it equates to “leveling the field” – the notion that if they can’t do what you are aiming for, then you can’t either. View Marcia’s TEDxWinnetkaWomen talk.
Ignore Them
Setting a goal is the easy part. Staying focused is when the challenges kick in. And perhaps one of the biggest distractions on the path to achieving a goal is when others question your goal. Recently I coordinated a TEDx event. One of the speakers, a successful English Channel swimmer noted the feedback she often got/gets in regards to such an accomplishment is negative feedback. You see people tend to belittle or deconstruct your goals, for reasons that have nothing to do with you. Bottom line, if you succeed in doing whatever amazing, juicy, courageous thing you’ve set out to do, it reminds others that setting and reaching goals is possible. Expect a direct correlation between the size of your goal and the negative pushback you receive, the greater the goal, the greater the pushback. Expect it, but do not accept or internalize it. Other people’s criticism most of the time, close to all of the time, has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.
What Is It Really Worth? Or, If You Aren’t Contributing Give Up Your Seat At The Table
With stats showing over 75% of the U.S. workforce is unhappy with their job(s) you have to begin to wonder why they stay. Where is the value for them in maintaining the misery, not only for themselves, but most likely, the ripple impacts their family and friends? Money and/or family, is the response I most often hear in regards to folks who consciously show up to a job they don’t like, and often full on hate. One, your family and friends want you to be happy. Two, there is most likely a job out there for you that you’d enjoy and would pay what you need to live a happy life. Three, if you are not looking for a better job, you can not find a better job. And four, perhaps there is someone out there that would really dig the job you are in. Summary: If you are at the table and not contributing, give up your seat to someone who will. You can’t find the right fit and fall into the right slot without shaking things up a bit.