Hello Everyone:
Thank you to all who attended EWN's Kickoff event last Thursday, January 21st at IBM Corporation in Oak Brook Terrace, IL. It was simply amazing!!! We had the pleasure of hearing Vickie Austin (Founder of CHOICES Worldwide, Inc.) talk on the topic of Effective Self Promotion in the 21st Century as we networked and met new contacts and enjoyed the company of those we've known awhile!
Vickie shared stories, tips and ideas and stressed the importance of staying connected/relevant and being relentless in our strategy for self promotion. One of the things she talked about was the importance of having your own "posse". Or what I would call your own "strategic advisory board". It seems women tend to work alone more often? Or feel they can get it done better, their way?
We may have many contacts but do we strategically think through how to take advantage of those all important relationships! Do we have a key group of individuals that we consider our posse? Those people we could call with a question, strategic idea or simply to talk?
As you prepare for 2010....I hope one of your goals is build your own strong advisory board!
All the best, See you next week at EWN's February 4th Luncheon Event! www.empoweringwomen.net for more info and to register, Georgia Dudley, EWN Founder!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
EWN Kick's Off the New Year - January 21st
Hello Everyone:
A new year is upon us and there is so much activity here at EWN Central in Chicago, Illinois I can barely contain myself! This week our Level II Professional Development for Business Women starts up with a new 6 month program and next week we Kick Off the year with an all member event titled:
Effective Self Promotion in the 21st Century....our speaker for the evening is Vickie Austin, Founder CHOICES Worldwide, Inc. The sponsor is IBM Corporation and we expect a wonderful group of professional women in attendance.
If connecting is one of your goals for 2010 and I can't imagine why it wouldn't be we hope you take a moment to "check us out"....Women ROCK and the Women of Empowering Women Network are simply amazing!
Georgia Dudley, Founder Empowering Women Network!
A new year is upon us and there is so much activity here at EWN Central in Chicago, Illinois I can barely contain myself! This week our Level II Professional Development for Business Women starts up with a new 6 month program and next week we Kick Off the year with an all member event titled:
Effective Self Promotion in the 21st Century....our speaker for the evening is Vickie Austin, Founder CHOICES Worldwide, Inc. The sponsor is IBM Corporation and we expect a wonderful group of professional women in attendance.
If connecting is one of your goals for 2010 and I can't imagine why it wouldn't be we hope you take a moment to "check us out"....Women ROCK and the Women of Empowering Women Network are simply amazing!
Georgia Dudley, Founder Empowering Women Network!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Where are the Women?
Hello Everyone:
Recently in doing research on Women in Business in preparation for an Empowering Women Network (Professional Development Session), I was drawn again to www.catalyst.org.. Catalyst is a not for profit research organization on women in business, diversity and inclusion. Over the years I have "quoted" Catalyst and the statistics on women in the work place they have publshed. One of those statistics truly intrigues me: Simply stated, research shows that corporations who have women and diversity on their boards make more money! The article gives some of the reasons why:
Where are the Women: U.S. Boardrooms May be Missing the BoatIlene H. Lang
President and CEO, Catalyst
The results of the 2009 Catalyst Census of women in leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies are in - and they aren't pretty.
(In 2009, a year when America endured the worst recession in sixty years, women held just 15.2 percent of board seats. Again. The level has been essentially flat since 2003. The percentage of women in executive office positions also remained low this year, at 13.5 percent, and women held only 6.3 percent of top-earner positions. What's stunning is that almost 30 percent of companies had no women executive officers at all. This means the pool of women who would be considered obvious candidates for corporate board seats is small and not increasing.
Moreover, in our recent study of women and men MBA graduates during this recession, we found that women in senior leadership positions are losing their jobs at three times the rate of men, potentially perpetuating a gender gap in the future. Younger women coming enthusiastically into the workplace are likely to be less engaged when they see the number of women in top leadership decreasing.
One way to break this cycle and close the gender gap is to start at the top. In short, the glass ceiling can be broken from the top down by appointing more women to boards of directors.
Our research shows a predictive link between women board directors and corporate officers: companies with more women on their boards, on average, will have more women corporate officers five years later. The effect is even more pronounced when you look at women in line positions, rather than the staff roles women have traditionally held .
Other countries are already doing this. In Norway, it's legally mandated that women hold 40 percent of the seats on the boards of public companies. Spain has a similar quota that is being phased in over several years. Canada and Italy are considering similar legislation. And earlier this month, French lawmakers introduced a bill that would require that women hold 50 percent of board seats. Such a law, the majority party leader explained, would provide "a much-needed electro-shock" to male-dominated French businesses.
So what's holding us up? We're not Norway or France, of course, but corporate America could use a jolt too. "Give it time." has run its course. The theory that the percentage of women in leadership roles would eventually rise to reflect women's clout in the marketplace and large numbers in the work force hasn't panned out.
One bright spot in our analysis this year is that the number of companies with three or more women on their boards continued on a steady uptick. Since 2003, the number of companies with three or more women on their boards has risen 42.6%. Catalyst research shows that companies with more women in leadership, on average, outperform those with fewer women, and those with three or more women board directors do even better. It may be that when these companies add more women directors to their board, they also experience the fresh perspectives, creativity, and independent thought that diversity can bring to corporate governance.
With the growing consensus that companies need to increase the number of women on their boards and in top leadership, U.S. companies need to act now or risk losing ground to global competitors that are adding a critical mass of women to their boards right now. Recognition isn't enough.
Clearly, you can't be a global leader without women in your leadership. Companies based in the U.S. shouldn't need the jolt of legal mandates to move forward and add women to their top ranks).
I hope you have found the article as important and interesting as I do!
Georgia Dudley, Founder Empowering Women Network, Inc.
Recently in doing research on Women in Business in preparation for an Empowering Women Network (Professional Development Session), I was drawn again to www.catalyst.org.. Catalyst is a not for profit research organization on women in business, diversity and inclusion. Over the years I have "quoted" Catalyst and the statistics on women in the work place they have publshed. One of those statistics truly intrigues me: Simply stated, research shows that corporations who have women and diversity on their boards make more money! The article gives some of the reasons why:
Where are the Women: U.S. Boardrooms May be Missing the BoatIlene H. Lang
President and CEO, Catalyst
The results of the 2009 Catalyst Census of women in leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies are in - and they aren't pretty.
(In 2009, a year when America endured the worst recession in sixty years, women held just 15.2 percent of board seats. Again. The level has been essentially flat since 2003. The percentage of women in executive office positions also remained low this year, at 13.5 percent, and women held only 6.3 percent of top-earner positions. What's stunning is that almost 30 percent of companies had no women executive officers at all. This means the pool of women who would be considered obvious candidates for corporate board seats is small and not increasing.
Moreover, in our recent study of women and men MBA graduates during this recession, we found that women in senior leadership positions are losing their jobs at three times the rate of men, potentially perpetuating a gender gap in the future. Younger women coming enthusiastically into the workplace are likely to be less engaged when they see the number of women in top leadership decreasing.
One way to break this cycle and close the gender gap is to start at the top. In short, the glass ceiling can be broken from the top down by appointing more women to boards of directors.
Our research shows a predictive link between women board directors and corporate officers: companies with more women on their boards, on average, will have more women corporate officers five years later. The effect is even more pronounced when you look at women in line positions, rather than the staff roles women have traditionally held .
Other countries are already doing this. In Norway, it's legally mandated that women hold 40 percent of the seats on the boards of public companies. Spain has a similar quota that is being phased in over several years. Canada and Italy are considering similar legislation. And earlier this month, French lawmakers introduced a bill that would require that women hold 50 percent of board seats. Such a law, the majority party leader explained, would provide "a much-needed electro-shock" to male-dominated French businesses.
So what's holding us up? We're not Norway or France, of course, but corporate America could use a jolt too. "Give it time." has run its course. The theory that the percentage of women in leadership roles would eventually rise to reflect women's clout in the marketplace and large numbers in the work force hasn't panned out.
One bright spot in our analysis this year is that the number of companies with three or more women on their boards continued on a steady uptick. Since 2003, the number of companies with three or more women on their boards has risen 42.6%. Catalyst research shows that companies with more women in leadership, on average, outperform those with fewer women, and those with three or more women board directors do even better. It may be that when these companies add more women directors to their board, they also experience the fresh perspectives, creativity, and independent thought that diversity can bring to corporate governance.
With the growing consensus that companies need to increase the number of women on their boards and in top leadership, U.S. companies need to act now or risk losing ground to global competitors that are adding a critical mass of women to their boards right now. Recognition isn't enough.
Clearly, you can't be a global leader without women in your leadership. Companies based in the U.S. shouldn't need the jolt of legal mandates to move forward and add women to their top ranks).
I hope you have found the article as important and interesting as I do!
Georgia Dudley, Founder Empowering Women Network, Inc.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
The rich world's quiet revolution: women are gradually taking over the workplace
Hello Everyone - Happy New Year!
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15174489
A special friend sent me this link yesterday to an amazing article about women in the workplace. A paragraph from the article:
"Women’s economic empowerment is arguably the biggest social change of our times. Just a generation ago, women were largely confined to repetitive, menial jobs. They were routinely subjected to casual sexism and were expected to abandon their careers when they married and had children. Today they are running some of the organisations that once treated them as second-class citizens. Millions of women have been given more control over their own lives. And millions of brains have been put to more productive use. Societies that try to resist this trend—most notably the Arab countries, but also Japan and some southern European countries—will pay a heavy price in the form of wasted talent and frustrated citizens."
All the best,
Georgia Dudley, Founder Empowering Women Network
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15174489
A special friend sent me this link yesterday to an amazing article about women in the workplace. A paragraph from the article:
"Women’s economic empowerment is arguably the biggest social change of our times. Just a generation ago, women were largely confined to repetitive, menial jobs. They were routinely subjected to casual sexism and were expected to abandon their careers when they married and had children. Today they are running some of the organisations that once treated them as second-class citizens. Millions of women have been given more control over their own lives. And millions of brains have been put to more productive use. Societies that try to resist this trend—most notably the Arab countries, but also Japan and some southern European countries—will pay a heavy price in the form of wasted talent and frustrated citizens."
All the best,
Georgia Dudley, Founder Empowering Women Network
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
