Category Archives: Uncategorized
20 Reasons Why We Still Need The “F” Word
In our privileged world “Feminism” has become a dirty word. For most western young women, to be called a Feminist is an insult.
My son and his girlfriends associate Feminism with anti-men and women who wear unattractive clothes. To them the “F” word is, at best, dated and no longer relevant.
If we could perhaps change the [...]
Gender Stereotypes- Not Just A Woman’s Issue
Not enough women in senior leadership roles is often blamed on gender stereotyping.
Gender stereotypes are widely shared views on what is considered appropriate and effective behavior for men and women.
To “fit in” and be socially accepted, men are told explicitly and implicitly to be:
Primary breadwinners
Emotionally and physically tough
Competitive
Decisive
Assertive
Men know they need to avoid all things [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged gender, leadership, stereotypes, women, women and leadership 4 Comments
Women’s Networks Not Enough – Get a Sponsor!
There’s no doubt that female networks connect women, nourish career advancement, provide learning opportunities, boost confidence and generally provide much needed support and encouragement.
But then what?
We need more women in positions of senior leadership to work collaboratively with men, influence strategy and make important decisions. Networking with other women isn’t enough to achieve this.
What works [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged leadership, networking, networks, sex role stereotypes, women 2 Comments
Men Who Get It
Since Unwritten Rules was published earlier this year I have been speaking at conferences, corporations and on panels. All of these events have had one thing in common – the audience has been almost exclusively women.
Given the book provides pragmatic professional development for women leaders, this isn’t surprising. But to achieve gender balanced leadership in [...]
Rethink Networking
Why you should view networking as an essential leadership competency
Many of my coaching clients either say they don’t like networking, or they simply don’t have the time for it. They say things like:
“People who network contact me only when they want something.”
“Networking events are awful. They are full of people thrusting business cards into [...]
50-50. Do we need quotas to guarantee balanced leadership?
Are legislated quotas the only way, within our lifetime, to see a balance of women and men leading governments and organizations?
There are two sides to this hotly debated issue.
First, the naysayers point out that quotas are a form of reverse discrimination – the group now discriminated against (men) are previously the ones that [...]
Worlds Biggest Employers Still Losing Out On Female Talent.
The World Economic Forum has just published its 2010 Corporate Gender Gap Report. It surveys 600 leading companies across 16 industries in 20 countries and explores women’s participation in business and companies’ adherence to gender equality policies.
The survey also asked respondents to identify the biggest barriers to women’s leadership and their opinion on the probable [...]
If Women Ruled The World
There have been several recent articles extolling the virtues of women and fantasizing about how great the world would be if only we replaced male leaders with women.
In a scathing piece entitled A Nope for Pope, acid-tongued New York Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd suggests replacing the Pope with a nun, thus producing a “Nope.” [...]
More Women Leaders – Time For A Different Approach