New from Catalyst

The researchers extraordinaire at Catalyst have released a new study on the heels of their summer study on women on corporate boards. The headline on the news release of its most recent reads:

Lack of Strategic Relationships Impacts Advancement of Women of Color in U.S. Securities Firms

I highlighted the mention of strategic relationships because it's an area that we emphasize in all our leadership programming. Study findings include:

"The report finds that women of color experience exclusion from key workplace relationships. They were more likely to be dissatisfied with overall managerial interaction and support, distribution of key client engagements, access to influential mentors, and access to business development opportunities. These disadvantages ultimately impact a firm’s ability to benefit from the talent that women of color bring to the work environment."

Read the release here.

The corporate boards study (about which I've reported in my newsletter) is here. Key findings:

"Findings: Our results showed that there is a clear and positive correlation between the percentage of women board directors in the past and the percentage of women corporate officers in the future. This finding holds for three different measures:

• The percentage of women on a company’s board.
• Company quartile when ranked by percentage of women board directors.
• The number of women on a company’s board.

In addition, women board directors appear to have a greater effect on increasing the percentage of line positions held by women than they do on staff positions held by women. Put simply, women board directors are a predictors of women corporate officers."