Newsweek's Shame and FORTUNE's Fame

On the one hand, Newsweek paints powerful, ambitious and successful women as "bitches". It has chosen 11 of the most powerful women who are also noted for not being so very nice. As a matter of fact, they pitch "11 Powerful Women Who Make Men--and Other Women--Squirm."

Have they ever described powerful men as those who make women and other men squirm? Not likely!

On the other hand Newsweek tells us that we are our own glass ceiling and advises that if we want to get ahead we have to stop being the "good girl". This is actually a very good article and I recommend that you read it. Love this point made by the author, Jessica Bennett:

"Part of (women's inability to self-promote) comes from a lifetime of mixed messages about what it means to be strong. We've grown up watching the Hillary Clintons of the world vilified for being pushy, while our soft-spoken colleagues struggle to rise up the corporate ladder. Society, pop culture and the media all encourage us to be tough but sexy in the process. In a way, we're hybrids of the 1950s woman, who was forced to conform, the 1970s woman who refused to, with a bit of 21st-century porn culture thrown in. We live with outdated expectations about what's acceptable, while pressuring ourselves to achieve it all."

Don't they see how they're playing into the nation's ambivalence about women? Shame on that 11 powerful women feature.

On the other hand, I eagerly wait for FORTUNE's 50 Most Powerful Women every year. Among this year's list are the F500 women CEOs (all of whom act as virtual mentors in my new book).

Lead ON!
Susan
Susan Colantuono is CEO of Leading Women and author of No Ceiling, No Walls (Dec 2009). She blogs on networking for PINK Magazine. Follow her on Twitter.

F500 Women CEOs Earnings News

It was a profit, albeit a small one (2%), that Patricia Woertz, CEO reported for Archer Daniels Midland's third quarter. Reported by Tess Stynes @ the WSJ

Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Kraft (pictured above) reported a 10% jump in profit. Details reported by Kerry E. Grace of the WSJ:

"...Organic revenue, which excludes divestitures, acquisitions and the impact of foreign-currency fluctuations, rose 2.3% on higher prices. The company said it had better-than-expected volume and mix but didn't provide a total figure.

Gross margin rose to 34.7% from 32.9%.

North American profit was up 16% as organic revenue increased 1.3%, led by sales growth in the company's convenience meals. In Europe, organic sales fell 3.3% on unfavorable volume and mix. In developing markets, organic sales rose 12% on solid gains in each region. Latin America was helped by higher prices and strength in powdered beverages, while Asia Pacific grew on gains in several key brands..."

Lead ON!
Susan
Susan Colantuono is CEO of Leading Women. She blogs on networking for PINK Magazine. Follow her on Twitter.

PS Thanks to @WSJ for the headline tweets.

Women CFO's a Boon?

I frequently joke that when it comes to the "personal excellence" aspect of leadership that what women need is to develop leadership presence and what men need to develop is ethics. Is this why Wall Street seems to prefer moves made by companies with women CFOs?

In an unpublished study from Boston College reports:

...the stock market reacts more favorably to both acquisition announcements and secondary equity offerings made by companies whose finance function is run by women...

Specifically, the stock-price reaction to acquisitions was approximately 2 percent better when women were running the finance department.

The authors also say women seemed to have an edge when it came to making secondary equity offerings. There, too, the market reaction was about 2 percent better for companies where a woman was in charge of finance...

when a large company (all of those in the studied samples had book assets greater than $500 million) gets a 2 percent better equity return on an acquisition or stock issuance, "we're talking about a substantial amount of dollars," Kisgen pointed out. "The evidence suggests that female CFOs on average do make decisions which are better for overall shareholder value,"...

On another note, how hard is it to get to the CFO seat? From the same article:

"Meanwhile, even if women are better at maximizing shareholder value, they have some challenges to overcome in getting to the CFO seat. In a June 2006 survey of 363 executives by CFO magazine, 83 percent of men said there was no glass ceiling for women in corporate finance — but only 44 percent of women agreed.

Also, 51 percent of men said that no positions would be harder for a woman to obtain, an assertion with which only 37 percent of women agreed. About 14 percent of survey respondents said CFO is the hardest corporate job for women to reach."

Lead ON!
Susan
Susan Colantuono is CEO of Leading Women. She blogs on networking for PINK Magazine. Follow her on Twitter.

Heading up B Schools

BusinessWeek reports on the increasing numbers of women heading up American business schools. Now up to 17% from 11% in 2002. Way to go!

Speaking of BusinessWeek, I'm preparing for a global presentation on women's history month and came across a story about Brownie Wise, the first women to ever make the cover of BusinessWeek. Without her, Tupperware would probably be another failed invention. She died in obscurity, but a recent book, Tupperware Unsealed, tells her story. Read about her here. Buy the book here.

Lead On!
Susan
Susan Colantuono is CEO of Leading Women. She blogs on networking for PINK Magazine. Follow her on Twitter.

Leadership Lessons from Flight 1549

The landing of Flight 1549 in the Hudson River is a fitting metaphor for leading in turbulent times. Here's what we can learn from the actions of pilot Chesley Sullenberger and crew:

• Don't look for the hero, look for the heroic in everyone. As products of America's individualistic culture, we look for personal qualities that define leadership, but other cultures often view leadership as something that is pulled out of the time and circumstances. As Sullenberger said, "Circumstance determined that it was this experienced crew that was scheduled to fly on that particular flight on that particular day, but I know I can speak for the entire crew when I tell you we were simply doing the jobs we were trained to do."
• Give credit to the entire team. While the media extolled the pilot's actions in the stories immediately following the landing, Sullenberger speaks of and for the entire crew.
  
• When the (economic) engine fails there's still energy for a safe landing. Smart decisions, expertise and teamwork turned what could have been a crash landing (think Lehman Brothers) into a safe landing (think FedEx - I hope).
  
• Don't bail on those who depend on you. I have nothing good to say about executives who lay off employees who make a meager percentile of what they make while taking no cut in salary. Sullenberger, at great peril to himself, walked the aisle twice to make sure everyone is safe. What are you doing to make sure your "passengers" are safe?
• Stay calm in the face of adversity. Emulate the professional demeanor and calm exhibited by the pilot and the air traffic controller as they considered alternatives and settled on "the Hudson".
• Get everyone on the same page. "I made the brace for impact announcement in the cabin and immediately, through the hardened cockpit door, I heard the flight attendants begin shouting their commands in response to my command to brace. 'Heads down. Stay down.' I could hear them clearly. They were chanting it in unison over and over again to the passengers, to warn them and instruct them. And I felt very comforted by that. I knew immediately that they were on the same page. That if I could land the airplane, that they could get them out safely," (e.a.)

And, what do women CEOs and presidents have to say about leading in tough times. Here a 3 gems from a gathering of 20 of the most senior women in business and government in my state.

• "You can't shrink your way to greatness." Balance attention on tactical survival activities and strategic growth positioning.
• Craft tough messages with a helping of hope. Not all executives know how to do this; learn and teach your team to do it well. Another way of saying this is to use the Stockdale Paradox - "confront the most brutal facts of your current reality no matter what they may be AND at the same time retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties.” (see also prior blog on Executive Lessons from the Inaugural Address).
  
• Find your customers' new needs and create a new value proposition for them. Customers lead, they own your brand. Get out and get in touch.
  

Lead On!
Susan
Susan Colantuono is CEO of Leading Women. She blogs on networking for PINK Magazine. Follow her on Twitter.

Another Superwoman to the Rescue

Carol Bartz' appointment as CEO of Yahoo! garnered national and international coverage (inside and outside the industry) with universally positive articles in:

Forbes excellent article by Carol Hymowitz
Times of London here
LA Times here
InformationWeek here
BBC here
and BetaNews, Wired, and PC World among others.

As yet another woman brought in as CEO of a company near disaster (think Anne Mulcahy at Xerox and Carly Fiorina at HP), Carol faces a daunting task. All indications are she's fully up to it.

As to why I highlight and honor the success of women leaders? Because women promote women. Take a look at this article from WOMEN-omics. Scroll down to the list of women-led companies and take a look at the numbers of their women executive officers and women on their boards.

Lead On!
Susan Colantuono, CEO & Founder Leading Women
Check out my blog on networking at: PINK Magazine
Follow me on Twitter

Sources of Inspiration

In school we learn reading, wRiting and 'rithmetic, but what do we learn about resilience? Not much. And in today's economy, resilience is more important than ever.

Here's an inspirational primer of role models - some of America's most powerful women. They've bounced back from retirement, demotions and job loss, health challenges and business challenges. They've tapped courage to take big jobs within and outside of their fields of expertise. Hats off to you all!

Brenda Barnes "retired" from Pepsi to spend more time with her children. She was subsequently chosen to become and is currently, CEO of Sara Lee.

Carol Bartz retired from Autodesk in 2006, and was recently named CEO of Yahoo! While at Autodesk, she bounced back from breast cancer (she learned her diagnosis shortly after becoming CEO) and a radical mastectomy. She also successfully navigated Autodesk through the dotcom boom and bust. Read more of Carol Hymowitz's excellent profile here.

Carly Fiorina, who was fired by the HP board and has created life as an advisor, director, author and speaker outside of corporate employment.

Reported on by the Barbara Haislin for the Wall Street Journal:

Erin Callan, demoted in June as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s chief financial officer, joined Credit Suisse Group to lead its investment bank's global hedge-fund business. Ms. Callan is a Credit Suisse managing director.

Mary Minnick, a Coca-Cola Co. veteran, left in February 2007 after being passed over for the company's No. 2 job. Ms. Minnick, who was president of marketing, strategy and innovation at Coca-Cola, is a partner at Lion Capital LLP, based in London. She became a partner in May 2007. Lion Capital is a private-equity firm focusing on investing in consumer businesses.

Read more here.

And tapping courage to make big moves are:

Kathy Murphy, who was the CEO of U.S. Wealth Management at ING just joined Fidelity Investments. She’s the new president of personal investments at Ned Johnson’s ever-so-secretive empire.

Paula Reynolds, the CEO of Safeco who sold her company to Liberty Mutual for $6.2 billion earlier this year, is now vice chairman and chief restructuring officer at AIG (AIG).

Lorraine Bolsinger is the new president and CEO of GE Aviation Systems. Bolsinger led General Electric’s (GE) Ecoimagination initiative these past three years. So now, are green avionics on the way?

Cece Sutton, who headed retail and small business banking at Wachovia until Wells Fargo’s (WFC) recent buyout, moved to Morgan Stanley (MS). Sutton is aiming to build Morgan’s retail operation as the investment bank morphs into a commercial bank.

The Fortune 500, meanwhile, has a new female CEO: Laura Sen, president and COO of BJ’s Wholesale Clubs (BJ), will become CEO on Feb. 1. BJ’s stock, btw, has outperformed not only the S&P but Target and Wal-Mart (WMT) too over the past five years. That’s a feat!

One more big appointment announced just yesterday: Karen Mills is President-elect Obama’s choice to head the Small Business Administration.

Thanks to Patricia Sellers, editor at large, for publicizing these moves on her FORTUNE blog here.

UPDATE: also from Patricia Sellers blog. Now up to 14! "The Fortune 500, meanwhile, has a new female CEO: Laura Sen, president and COO of BJ’s Wholesale Clubs (BJ), will become CEO on Feb. 1. BJ’s stock, btw, has outperformed not only the S&P but Target and Wal-Mart (WMT) too over the past five years. That’s a feat!"

Posted by: Susan Colantuono
To view Leading Women's career resources, go here.

Do You Have Extraordinary Talent?

Patricia Sellers of Fortune asked a number of their 50 Most Powerful Women how they identify extraordinary talent. I particularly like Susan Arnold's (see photo above) answer because it tracks substantially with my definition of leadership.

“How do you define extraordinary talent?”

Susan Arnold, president of global business units at Procter & Gamble (PG) and No. 7 on Fortune’s 2008 Most Powerful Women list, said: ”They’re owners. They treat the business like they own it. They’re leaders. They create a vision and lead people in that direction. They consistently deliver above expectations. They deliver. They deliver. They deliver. They create great organization that can deliver without them.”

Ursula Burns, president of Xerox (XRX) and No. 10 on Fortune’s list, said: ”They’re people who can learn and have flexibility. They’re fearless. They make a decision, and when they find out it’s not right, they change and get on with it. They pick great people. They’re patient. They realize that the problems of today weren’t created today and won’t be necessarily solved today. Among those four characteristics, the one I look for most of all is fearlessness.”

It would be helpful for you to know how the executives in your company answer this question, but if you don't, take the tips from the women above.

Will the Glass Ceiling Thicken?

from Management Issues

"An analysis of assessments and psychometric testing of more than 65,000 people by management consultancy Hudson has concluded that the innate ability of many women to be altruistic, people-oriented, co-operative and open lends themselves much better to leading modern-day organisations.

Yet it is these very traits that stop many women progressing within their organisations.

As a result, many women end up adopting or mimicking "male" leadership traits in an effort to break into senior leadership positions.

And with more organisations promoting traditionally "male" traits of decisiveness, persuasiveness and leadership in order to survive the downturn, women are going to find it even harder to make an impact at high levels.

Karen Scott, managing director of Hudson UK, said: "We are concerned that companies might adopt a short-term view that reinforces the hierarchy of men over women in their efforts to succeed during a recession."

50 Women to Watch from the WSJ

I love these issues...So many inspiring women. So many different paths. Such diversity! See them all here.

Related WSJ article: I DO Know How She Does It (juggling career and family)

"According to a study conducted by the Families and Work Institute a nonprofit research organization that addresses the changing nature of work and family life. And Catalyst a nonprofit organization that works to expand opportunities for women in business, 65% of women executives have children compared with 90% of male executives...The study also challenged conventional wisdom that executive women in high-status jobs tend to give up their personal lives. In fact, 70% of women who reported directly to the CEO or reported to someone who reported to the CEO had children."

Dismal News from DownUnder

This post is an update to an earlier posting.

This year's Australian Census on Women in Leadership shows a decline in the numbers of women at the top of organizations there. (This is a similar trend that's been reported here in the U.S.) As reported by news.com.au:

"In two years, the proportion of women executive managers in the biggest 200 public companies has fallen from 12 per cent to 10.7 per cent...Women hold a mere 8.3 per cent of board directorships, down from 8.7 per cent in 2006...Only 5.9 per cent of these senior line management roles are held by women, down from 7.4 per cent in 2006."

Behind Every Successful Woman...

...you might find a supportive husband.

"The in-depth analysis of 20 senior women workers is published in the latest Journal of Family Issues.

Authors Souha Ezzedeen and Kristen Grossnickle Ritchey said research generally showed women executives did not get as much support from their husbands as men get from their wives.

However, this study shows some women advance because of supportive husbands. They reported six main areas where husbands helped: emotional support, household help, help with family members, esteem support, career support and choosing supportive career and lifestyles."

Read the posting here.

Read the abstract here.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

In HuffPost, Jacki Zehner, alum of Goldman Sachs, writes an excellent analysis of Bloomberg's feature on Goldman Sachs and its lack of featured women.

"The lesson here? Our society does not merely fail to develop, reward, retain, and lift up women leaders, we have done the opposite. We perpetuate their invisibility. As Marie Wilson has said over and over again, "You cannot be what you cannot see" and we do not see women leaders, especially on Wall Street."

Worth noting are the accomplishments of two of the alum she highlights (but who are uncovered in the Bloomberg article):

"Where on the Bloomberg list is Ann Kaplan? Ann left in 2002 and created Circle Financial Group, an innovative, peer-to-peer wealth management group that umbrellas more assets than some of the hedge funds listed. She also created the Financial Education Program at Smith College, teaches wealth management at Columbia Business School (for no charge), serves on two corporate boards and multiple non-profit boards including Columbia, Smith College, the American Red Cross and the Museum of Arts and Design. She would have reflected at least four of those categories - Fundraisers, Nonprofits, Bankers, Insurers. She even deserves her own category - has the most powerful network of women on the planet. Shouldn't Lloyd be interested in staying connected with her?

And how about Connie Duckworth? Duckworth is now President and Chairman of Arzu Inc., a non-profit she founded after being called to Afghanistan to try to help women out of poverty. What she is doing is so incredible that the Skoll Foundation honored Arzu with the prestigious 2008 Skoll Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurship. She is also a director of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, DNP Select Fund, and Russell Investment Group. She would also reflect multiple categories and she too could even add a new one - Social Entrepreneurs. Shouldn't Lloyd want to have regular dialogue with a woman who is part of the solution for peace in Afghanistan? The category of Sportsmen exists, but not Social Entrepreneurs."

Kudos to Ann and Connie. Two women I'd love to meet...along with Jacki herself!

This and That

Revisiting old news.

What would you think if you read this title: "Best-paid executives: the gender gap exaggerated"? Well, if you were a normal reader of English, you'd think that the gender gap between the best-paid men and best-paid women was smaller than thought.

Funny, the accompanying article (accompanying the 2007 Fortune most powerful women in business) reported this:

"Altogether, the top 25 highest-paid men made $1.3 billion in 2006, 4.35 times more than the top 25 best-paid women. And no woman cracked the ranks of top 25 highest-paid executives overall -- 25th on that list was Alan Schwartz, president and co-COO of Bear Stearns, who earned $37.3 million last year.

Indeed, Cruz, the top-earning woman, made just 22 percent of what the No. 1-ranked male executive, Nardelli, earned - a far greater discrepancy than the 75 percent managers and professionals overall experience.

"Women don't seem to be able to get on that same bandwagon," said Vicky Lovell, director of employment and work life programs at the Institute for Women's Policy Research in D.C.

"Women at (the highest) level face the same kinds of obstacles that women do throughout the workforce but there may be a more cumulative effect," Lovell explained.

That's due, in part, from the compounded impact of being offered less in compensation and not being given same opportunities over the course of a long corporate career, she said."

Makes me wonder what the editor was thinking with that headline!

Glass Cliff Writ Large

Dubbed the "glass cliff", the tendency for corporations to appoint women as CEOs when they are in grave circumstances. The first example on the national US stage was Carly Fiorina when she became CEO of HP, Anne Mulcahy the turn-around maven of Xerox is another. Now, with financial companies in decline globally, Iceland has appointed two women to bail them out. From the Financial Times:

"...Iceland has just appointed two women executives to rebuild its financial system (“Iceland calls in women bankers to clean up ‘young men’s mess’ ”, October 14). Elín Sigfúsdóttir and Birna Einarsdóttir are the new chief executives of New Landsbanki and New Glitnir respectively, the two new Icelandic banks. Is a new culture emerging within the banking system? Possibly; both women are impressive home-grown talent and I hope they are given full rein and time to exercise their experience."

Numbers in Decline: Australia

UPDATE to original post:
From Australia's Courier Mail

"According to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency, the number of female executive managers has fallen to 10.7 per cent, a drop of 2 per cent compared with 2006. The number of surveyed companies with no women executives has risen to 45.5 per cent, up from 39.5 per cent in the previous survey."

From the Herald Sun in their own words:

WOMEN are virtually locked out of Australia's most powerful corporate boardrooms, new research shows.

There is just one Australian female corporate board chief for every 49 males, the latest Australian Census of Women in Leadership says.

And just 2 per cent of the CEOs of an ASX200 company are female, figures show.

The census results show women's progress is sliding backwards compared with five years ago.

From the Sydney Morning Herald in their own words:

"The 2008 census on women in leadership, to be published today, shows Australia has gone backwards in the promotion of women to executive management positions in top corporations and to boards.

The number of women coming through the pipeline in "feeder line" management positions is back to pre-2004 levels. Women who make it to senior roles are clustered in human resources and legal services rather than in operations, sales or finance, the usual routes to the top.

Where Australia once ranked second behind the United States in the number of top companies with a woman senior executive, it now ranks last in a list of comparable countries, including New Zealand, Britain, South Africa and Canada."

"Centered Leadership"

I am sick and tired of leadership defined by all kinds of qualifiers. Before a recent speech I searched Amazon for books about leadership and got 188,170 returns. Among the first 10 pages were these titles:
Facilitative Leader (Schwarz)
Authentic Leadership
Visionary Leadership
Integrated Leadership
Principle Centered Leadership (Covey)
Spiritual Leadership (Sanders)
Resonant Leadership (McKee woman co-author)
Servant Leadership (Greenleaf)
Courageous Leadership (Hybels)
Heroic Leadership (Lowney)
Quiet Leadership (Rock)
Emotionally Intelligent Leadership (Feldman)
Results-Based Leadership (Ulrich et. al)
Quantum Leadership (Studer)
No Excuse Leadership (Barber)
Enlightened Leadership (Oakley)

Now we have a research project from McKinsey calling for women to develop "centered leadership". The McKinsey study points out key messages for women, but like too many formulas for success it over-focuses on personal attributes and interpersonal skills and under-focuses on business and strategic acumen.

"...we have distilled a leadership model comprising five broad and interrelated dimensions:

--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.

--Engaging, or finding your voice, becoming self-reliant and confident by accepting opportunities and the inherent risks they bring 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. What's particularly exciting is that we are starting to discover ways women can actively build the skills to become more self-confident and effective leaders. 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."

We need to cut to the chase...here's the truth. Leadership is leadership. Great leaders at all levels draw on a range of personal attributes, they achieve key organizational outcomes and do it by engaging the best in others. The McKinsey model (summarized here) says nothing about organizational outcomes. Like so many others, it is of limited help to women.

Feminist Mistake?

In Forbes.com, Elisabeth Eaves discusses the notion being put forth by some that because Sarah Palin is a woman, she will by virtue of her gender be a better leader. That women are inherently better leaders is an idea that's found traction over the years.

Elisabeth's bottom line (with which I agree) "Women do not make categorically better leaders, and it's no favor to them to suggest that they do. By all means, let's elect smart, judicious leaders who happen to be female--but don't expect them to do a better job than the men by reason of estrogen alone. As New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia noted, "There is no Democrat or Republican way to pick up garbage." For the vast majority of functions of leadership, there's no male or female way to do it either."