Although the idea of a meritocracy sounds logical, even reasonable, it unfortunately doesn’t correspond with the realities of the business world. And the notion that women would get further ahead if only they tried harder ignores plenty of research and evidence indicating otherwise.
The excitement surrounding women launching their own businesses feels contagious, even on paper. But when my last paycheck came in I started to seriously question my sanity. For those considering the professional equivalent of jumping out of a plane, it’s worthwhile to listen to the women who already made the leap.
Being nice is great when going through school or getting together with friends, but the quality should be used carefully in business, especially when coming from a woman. Here’s how to manage that characteristic.
To start, simply talking about what women need to attain director roles and asking those who made it up the ranks will better illuminate the process. By lifting the veil on what it takes to rise to the board level, more women may learn to tailor their career choices early on.
To ease the transition from domestic to professional work, parents must start coming forward and talking about the skills gleaned at home and how they apply to the workplace. Only then will the role of parenting and “time off” to raise children be viewed as a benefit rather than a black mark on your resume. Corporate employers look favorably on veterans and athletes, so why not stay-at-home mothers?
Women and men alike often generalize about skills associated with specific genders but to what degree do these compliments hold women back from real positions of power?
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Although still in its early days, there appears to be an appetite among some men to enter the conversation about gender in the workplace on their own terms.
The data surrounding the number of female entrepreneurs who secure venture capital can be depressing. One recent study, conducted by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire, shows that only 12 percent of startups that pitched to U.S. angel investors during the first two quarters of 2011 were women-led and of those 12 percent, only 26 percent secured funding. But if you count the number of old and new firms, both for and not-for profit that support female-owned enterprises, it tells a different story.
The career swooning of women, like the canary, may not really be about women but be about more pervasive threats. For every woman who decides to throw in the towel, there are likely more than a few guys lined up behind her, hoping her exit might pave the way for change they will benefit from.
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The global drum beat of impatience about the lack of female representation on boards seems to be getting louder, which makes me wonder why so little progress has been made, with the exception of countries that legislated quotas.
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