Formidable Females
BAWP October 2011
Mind Associates Ltd
Mary Keightley
www.mindassociates.com
Performance is born in the mind
TM
70 years to achieve genderbalanced boardrooms in the
UK’s largest 100 companies
Equality and Human Rights
Commission (2008)
70 %— say they don’t have
a strategy for developing
women leaders,
Mercer.
Picture courtesy of Thad Zajdowicz
Where we are....
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190 Heads of State
Seats in Parliament
around the world.
Corporate jobs USA
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2002 -15% women
2011- ?
STILL 15%
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24% women
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Full professors USA
9 are women
13% women
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Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Australia She is a lawyer, and the 27th PM of Australia.
President Mary McAleese, Ireland She is Ireland's second female president. She is the country's
first president to come from Belfast. McAleese is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders,
"an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission
is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical
importance to women and equitable development."
President Tarja Halonen, Finland She is the country's 11th president and first female to hold this
office. Throughout her political career, Halonen has described herself as supporter of international
solidarity
Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany She is the first female Chancellor of Germany. In 2007 she
became the second woman to chair the G8, after Margaret Thatcher. From 2006 to 2009, Forbes
Magazine has named her the most powerful woman in the world
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf , Liberia She is the first and currently the only elected female
head of state in Africa. In 2010, Newsweek listed her as one of the ten best leaders in the world,
while Time counted her among the top ten female leaders.
President Pratibha Patil, India She is the 12th and current President of the Republic of India as
well as the first woman to hold the office. She was sworn in as President of India on 25 July 2007
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Argentina She is Argentina's first elected female
president. She is an advocate for human rights, poverty awareness and health improvement.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, Bangladesh She has been the President of the Awami
League, a major political party, since 1981 and is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders,
Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, Iceland After divorcing her husband, she joined in a
civil union with Jónína Leósdóttir in 2002. In 2010, when same-sex marriage was legalized in Iceland,
Jóhanna and Jónína changed their civil union into a marriage, thus becoming one of the first samesex married couples in Iceland. In 2009, Forbes listed her among the 100 Most Powerful Women in
the world
And the Mercer Survey Says...
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43%
23%
19%
5%
4%
NO ACTIVITIES
SOME ACTIVITIES
TRACK AND MONITOR ONLY
ROBUST PROGRAMME
PLAN TO ADD IN FUTURE
What is the Problem?
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1.
2.
3.
Top three factors “preventing women in their
organizations’ leadership talent pools from
advancing to the next level.” The leading
response, from among 13 choices,
Lack of an executive sponsor (43 percent),
Insufficient breadth of experience (36 percent)
Work-life balance (21 percent).
Leading the Change...
Question 1: Can you change?
Question 2: Do you want to change?
Question 3: How quickly can you change
Affluence, Technology, Globilization
Conceptual Age
Creators and Empathizers
Information Age
Knowledge workers
Industrial Age
Factory workers
Agricultural Age
farmers
18th Century
19th Century
20th Century
21st Century
“The peril is that our world moves at a furious
pace. Computers and networks grow faster and
more interconnected each day. China and India are
becoming economic behemoths. Material
abundance in the advanced world continues to
grow. That means that the greatest rewards go to
those that move fast. The first group of people who
develop a whole new mind, who master highconcept and high touch abilities, will do extremely
well. The rest-those who move slowly or not at allmay miss out or worse suffer”
Dan Pink
Ask Yourself............
are you committed to making
change.....
......or just interested in talking
about change?
MUST HAVES....
1. High tolerance for change
2. Desire to Lead
3. Talent
“Dinnertime was touch-point at the end of each day. Perhaps it was at
the dinner table that Michelle honed her undeniable talent for discussing
and debating and ultimately persuading others to move to her side of an
argument”
It was this powerful skill that led her husband to nickname her “the
closer” on the campaign trail.
When asked “how does your husband get ready for important TV
debates?” her reply “he hangs out with me, that’s how he gets ready”
extract from the First Lady of Hope, Elizabeth Lightfoot.
So what are you
brilliant at?
MAKING SURE THEY KNOW YOUR
GOOD!!
Male Behaviour
Female Behaviour
Critical Question
Use I more....
Use we more....
Do you camouflage your
achievements?
Let problems happen
then set out to solve
them.
Prevent them from
happening
Does you boss know
your worth?
Will not openly admit that
they don’t know giving
the
ritual appearance of
competence
Will openly admit they
don’t know and ask a
question giving the ritual
appearance of
incompetence
Are you communicating
an appearance of
incompetence?
Critical Question?
What do you do to make sure you are recognised?
The Formidable Female....
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Know who they are, what they value and
they make decisions accordingly
They know their core strengths and they
turn them into capabilities.
They do their homework, take their time
and are prepared so they can seize
opportunity when it happens.
What were you thinking?
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I
I
I
I
I
I
am alone
feel scared
feel isolated/Outnumbered
feel uncomfortable
feel anxiety
wish I was white
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I am different
I feel excited
I am unique
I feel comfortable
I feel excited
They wish they
were pink!
Delphic Oracle gave the advice to “know thyself” thousands of years
ago
Formidable Females must have high levels of Self Awareness which
means having a deep understanding of one’s emotions, strengths,
weaknesses, needs and drives.
3 key promotion criteria
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1. High Level of Competence
2. Decisiveness
3. Ability to Lead
If it is men or mostly men making the decision about
promotion they may misinterpret women’s way of talking as
showing indecisiveness, inability to assume authority and
even incompetence.
Be careful how you make decisions.
How you see it isn’t how they (males)
see it!
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ACTION: You ask the opinions of others around you before
making a decision
REASON
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You want to preserve and protect relationships
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Do not want to appear bossy and arrogant.
INTERPRETATION: Your male boss or male colleague
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You don’t know what to do.
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You are trying to get others to make the decision for
you
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Your not smart enough.
“I am still surprised that there are people who make decisions because
they’re afraid of what might not work”
“My mother raised us not to make decisions on what could go wrong or
we’d never go forward”.
“Growing up, my mother always taught me to work hard to achieve my
dreams and to never let anyone tell me that I couldn’t do something. It’s
definitely the most valuable lesson I’ve learned”
“The challenge for us is to ask, “What are we ready for?” This one is on
us see-, we like to talk about change, but we don’t really like change, we
want easy change, we want change that will make us feel comfortable,
but that’s not how change happens, its not something that’s just going to
come to you passively.
Five Dimensions of Centred Leadership
PreConditions
Talent
Desire to Lead
Tolerance for
Change
FRAMING
CONNECTING
Self-awareness
Learning
Optimism
Moving on
Adaptability
MEANING
Happiness
Core Strengths
Purpose
Inclusiveness
Reciprocity
Network Design
Sponsorship
Your
personal
and
professional
...context
ENERGISING
Sources and Uses
Recovery
Flow
Breakthrough Model
How Remarkable Women Lead
Joanna Barsh, Susie Cranston, Geoffrey Lewis, McKinsey and Co
ENGAGING
Voice
Ownership
Opportunities, risks and
..Fears
Outcomes
Impact
Renewal
Joy
Meaning
Happiness
Core Strengths
Purpose
A defining trait among leaders
1. Meaning is the motivation in your
life, profound belief in what you
are doing, feeds commitment and
gives you the courage no matter
what the odds.
2. Know who they are, what they
value and they make decisions
accordingly
3. They know their core strengths
and they turn them into
capabilities.
Framing
Self-awareness
Learned Optimism
Moving on
Adaptability
Male or Female, all leaders must
be optimists
1. Positive Framing gives you a strength
and clarity to keep moving ahead no
matter what obstacles.
2. Optimism correlates with success
3. Women who have positive frames
also have flexible mindsets, they
believe they can control their futures
and that they can influence the
outcome
4. Pessimists will always assume the
worst and take it personally,
Optimists look for solutions and
laugh
Connecting
Inclusiveness
Reciprocity
Network Design
Sponsorship
Influence flows along the lines of
Affiliation and contact!
1. In a team or group the person who is
first to report the findings will get
most of the credit for the ideas.
2. The one who eats lunch with the
boss may be doing more to get
ahead than the one who sits in the
office working!
3. Do you work on high profile projects
that may make you visible to people
in power.
4. Does anyone know you do a brilliant
job...
LADIES WHO LUNCH.....
CHANGE YOUR EATING HABITS..!
Male Behaviour
Female Behaviour
Critical Question
Men will eat lunch with
the highest ranking
individual they can find.
Women tend to eat lunch
with their friends
How are you increasing
your visibility?
GET YOURSELF A MENTOR.....
PAY ATTENTION TO THE DIFFERENCES IN
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN MEN AND
WOMEN
IT IS DANGEROUS TO COPY MALE TACTICS IN THE
WORKPLACE, OBSERVE THEM BUT UNDERSTAND THE
RULES FOR WOMEN DIFFER AND UNDERSTANDING
CONTEXT IS VITAL. THIS IS PRECISELY WHY A MALE ROLE
MODEL MAY NOT WORK IN A MENTORING ROLE FOR AN
ASPIRING FEMALE LEADER.
Engaging
Voice
Ownership
Opportunities,
risks and fears
Formidable Females have
Verbal Charisma
1. Leading ladies have clarity and confidence
in their own capabilities which mitigates
risk.
2. The ability to intellectually assassinate is
comforting when in difficult
conversations.
3. Stand up, Speak up. Leading Ladies have
presence.
4. Leading ladies have courage
5. They are good at listening as well as
talking
BEHAVIOURAL RITUALS
Female Behaviour
Interpretation.
Critical Question
Saying sorry when you
are not.
You are putting yourself
Do men ever say to you
down,
to stop apologising or
You are taking the blame, your always apologising.
You are trying to restore
balance to a conversation
Funeral is ok
Important if....
You apologise a lot and if others don’t.
You are the only female in a meeting
•You will create an impression of low confidence
•You weaken your power
•Research even shows you may even reduce your chances of
promotion!
“We judge others not only on
how they speak, but also by
how they are spoken to”
We must manage how we
are perceived...
Energising
Sources and Uses
Recovery
Flow
To keep the lamp burning you must
put oil in it.
Mother Theresa
1. Know what makes you Stop and Go
2. Physical: How much energy do you
have right now?
3. Cognitive: How easy is it for you to
stay focused?
4. Psychological: What sparks anxiety?
What makes you want to dance?
5. Social: Who drains you? Who lifts
you?
The Women on Boards debate will continue....
A woman's presence on a company board might make meetings
"prettier and more colorful" (this comment sent his personal
stock plummeting)
Deutsche Bank boss Josef Ackermann
"The financial crisis may have turned out differently if there had
been more Lehman sisters instead of brothers,"
EU Justice Commissioner Reding.
The Reality....
"In these difficult economic times, the case for getting more
women on company boards has never been stronger. We
need to use all human capital available to restore Europe's
competitiveness at a global level. We cannot afford to leave
out 50% of our population.“
Women on boards Report Feb 2011, Lord Davies of Abersoch, CBE
final thoughts....
Women almost never make one decision to leave the workforce. It doesn't happen
that way. They make small little decisions along the way that eventually lead them
there. Maybe it's the last year of med school when they say, I'll take a slightly less
interesting specialty because I'm going to want more balance one day. Maybe it's
the fifth year in a law firm when they say, I'm not even sure I should go for partner,
because I know I'm going to want kids eventually. These women don't even have
relationships, and already they're finding balance, balance for responsibilities they
don't yet have. And from that moment, they start quietly leaning back... So, my
heartfelt message to all of you is, and start thinking about this now,
Do not leave before you leave. Do not lean back; lean in. Put your foot on that gas
pedal and keep it there until the day you have to make a decision, and then make a
decision. That's the only way, when that day comes, you'll even have a decision to
make.
Sheryl Sandberg
“Every woman
in public Life
needs to
develop skin
as tough as
rhinoceros
hide”
Eleanor Roosevelt
Be careful what you
accept...........
70 or should that be
7 years to achieve
gender-balanced
boardrooms in the
UK’s largest 100
companies?
70 or should that be
7 %— say they don’t
have a strategy for
developing women
leaders?