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Women represent
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50 percent of middle management
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and professional positions,
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but the percentages of women
at the top of organizations
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represent not even a third of that number.
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So some people hear that statistic and they ask,
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why do we have so few women leaders?
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But I look at that statistic
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and, if you, like me, believe
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that leadership manifests at every level,
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you would see that there's a tremendous,
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awesome resource of leaders
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who are leading in middle management,
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which raises a different question:
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why are there so many women
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mired in the middle
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and what has to happen
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to take them to the top?
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So some of you might be some of those women
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who are in middle management
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and seeking to move up in your organization.
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Well, Tonya is a great example
of one of these women.
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I met her two years ago.
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She was a vice president in a Fortune 50 company,
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and she said to me with a sense of deep frustration,
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"I've worked really hard to improve my confidence
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and my assertiveness and develop a great brand,
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I get terrific performance evals from my boss,
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my 360s in the organization let me know
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that my teams love working for me,
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I've taken every management course that I can here,
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I am working with a terrific mentor,
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and yet I've been passed over
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twice for advancement opportunities,
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even when my manager knows
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that I'm committed to moving up
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and even interested in an international assignment.
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I don't understand why
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I'm being passed over."
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So what Tonya doesn't realize
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is that there's a missing 33 percent
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of the career success equation for women,
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and it's understanding what this missing 33 percent is
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that's required to close the gender gap at the top.
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In order to move up in organizations,
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you have to be known for your leadership skills,
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and this would apply to any of you women
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or men.
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It means that you have to be recognized
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for using the greatness in you
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to achieve and sustain extraordinary outcomes
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by engaging the greatness in others.
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Put in other language,
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it means you have to use your skills
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and talents and abilities
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to help the organization achieve
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its strategic financial goals
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and do that by working effectively with others
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inside of the organization and outside.
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And although all three of these elements
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of leadership are important,
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when it comes to moving up in organizations,
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they aren't equally important.
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So pay attention to the green box
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as I move forward.
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In seeking and identifying
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employees with high potential,
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the potential to go to the top of organizations,
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the skills and competencies
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that relate to that green box
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are rated twice as heavily
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as those in the other two elements of leadership.
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These skills and competencies
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can be summarized as business,
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strategic, and financial acumen.
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In other words, this skill set has to do
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with understanding where the organization is going,
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what its strategy is,
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what financial targets it has in place,
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and understanding your role
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in moving the organization forward.
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This is that missing 33 percent
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of the career success equation for women,
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not because it's missing in our capabilities
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or abilities,
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but because it's missing in the advice
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that we're given.
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Here's what I mean by that:
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five years ago, I was asked to moderate
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a panel of executives,
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and the topic for the evening was
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"What do you look for in high potential employees?"
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So think about the three elements of leadership
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as I summarize for you what they told me.
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They said, "We look for people
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who are smart and hard-working and committed
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and trustworthy and resilient."
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So which element of leadership does that relate to?
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Personal greatness.
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They said, "We look for employees
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who are great with our customers,
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who empower their teams,
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who negotiate effectively,
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who are able to manage conflict well,
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and are overall great communicators."
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Which element of leadership does that equate to?
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Engaging the greatness in others.
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And then they pretty much stopped.
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So I asked,
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"Well, what about people
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who understand your business,
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where it's going,
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and their role in taking it there?
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And what about people who are able
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to scan the external environment,
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identify risks and opportunities,
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make strategy or make strategic recommendations?
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And what about people who are able
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to look at the financials of your business,
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understanding the story that the financials tell,
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and either take appropriate action
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or make appropriate recommendations?"
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And to a man, they said,
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"That's a given."
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So I turned to the audience
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of 150 women, and I asked,
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"How many of you have ever been told
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that the door-opener for career advancement
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is your business, strategic, and financial acumen,
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and that all the other important stuff
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is what differentiates you in the talent pool?"
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Three women raised their hand,
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and I've asked this question of women
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all around the globe in the five years since,
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and the percentage is never much different.
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So this is obvious, right?
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But how can it be?
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Well, there are primarily three reasons
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that there's this missing 33 percent
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in the career success advice given to women?
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When organizations direct women
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toward resources
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that focus on the conventional advice
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that we've been hearing for over 40 years,
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there's a notable absence of advice that relates
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to business, strategic, and financial acumen.
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Much of the advice is emphasizing
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personal actions that we need to take,
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like become more assertive, become more confident,
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develop your personal brand,
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things that Tonya's been working on,
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and advice about working with other people,
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things like learn to self-promote,
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get a mentor, enhance your network,
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and virtually nothing said
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about the importance of business, strategic,
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and financial acumen.
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This doesn't mean that this advice is unimportant.
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What it means is that this is advice
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that's absolutely essential for breaking through
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from career start to middle management,
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but it's not the advice
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that gets women to break through
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from the middle, where we're 50 percent,
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to senior and executive positions.
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And this is why conventional advice to women
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in 40 years hasn't closed the gender gap at the top
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and won't close it.
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Now, the second reason
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relates to Tonya's comments
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about having had excellent performance evals,
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great feedback from her teams,
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and having taken every management training program
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she can lay her hands on.
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So you would think that she's getting
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messages from her organization
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through the talent development systems
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and performance management systems
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that let her know how important it is
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to develop business, strategic, and financial acumen,
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but here again, that green square is quite small.
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On average,
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talent and performance management systems
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in the organizations that I've worked with
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focus three to one
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on the other two elements of leadership
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compared to the importance of business,
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strategic, and financial acumen,
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which is why typical talent and performance systems
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haven't closed and won't close
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the gender gap at the top.
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Now, Tonya also talked about working with a mentor,
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and this is really important to talk about,
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because if organizations,
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talent, and performance systems
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aren't giving people in general
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information about the importance of
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business, strategic, and financial acumen,
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how are men getting to the top?
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Well, there are primarily two ways.
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One is because of the positions
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they're guided into,
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and the other is because of informal mentoring
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and sponsorship.
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So what's women's experience
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as it relates to mentoring?
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Well, this comment from an executive
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that I worked with recently
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illustrates that experience.
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He was very proud of the fact that last year,
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he had two proteges: a man and a woman.
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And he said, "I helped the woman build confidence,
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I helped the man learn the business,
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and I didn't realize that I was treating them
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any differently."
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And he was sincere about that.
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So what this illustrates is that
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as managers, whether we're women or men,
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we have mindsets about women and men,
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about careers in leadership,
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and these unexamined mindsets
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won't close the gender gap at the top.
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So how do we take this idea
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of the missing 33 percent
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and turn it into action?
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Well, for women, the answer is obvious:
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we have to begin to focus more
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on developing and demonstrating
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the skills we have
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that show that we're people who understand
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our businesses, where they're headed,
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and our role in taking it there.
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That's what enables that breakthrough
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from middle management
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to leadership at the top.
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But you don't have to be a middle manager to do this.
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One young scientist that works in a biotech firm
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used her insight about the missing 33 percent
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to weave financial impact data
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into a project update she did
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and got tremendous positive feedback
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from the managers in the room.
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So we don't want to put a hundred percent
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of the responsibility on women's shoulders,
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nor would it be wise to do so, and here's why:
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in order for companies to achieve
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their strategic financial goals,
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executives understand that they have to have
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everyone pulling in the same direction.
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In other words, the term we use in business is,
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we have to have strategic alignment.
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And executives know this very well,
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and yet only 37 percent,
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according to a recent conference board report,
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believe that they have that
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strategic alignment in place.
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So for 63 percent of organizations,
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achieving their strategic financial goals
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is questionable.
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And if you think about what I've just shared,
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that you have situations where at least 50 percent
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of your middle managers
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haven't received clear messaging
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that they have to become focused on the business,
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where it's headed, and their role in taking it there,
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it's not surprising that that percentage
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of executives who are confident about alignment
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is so low,
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which is why there are other people
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who have a role to play in this.
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It's important for directors on boards
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to expect from their executives
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proportional pools of women when they sit down
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once a year for their succession discussions.
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Why? Because if they aren't seeing that,
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it could be a red flag
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that their organization isn't as aligned
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as it could potentially be.
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It's important for CEOs
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to also expect these proportional pools,
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and if they hear comments like,
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"Well, she doesn't have
enough business experience,"
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ask the question:
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"What are we going to do about that?"
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It's important for H.R. executives
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to make sure that the missing 33 percent
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is appropriately emphasized,
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and it's important for women and men
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who are in management positions
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to examine the mindsets we hold
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about women and men, about careers and success,
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to make sure we are creating a level playing field
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for everybody.
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So let me close with the latest chapter
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in Tonya's story:
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Tonya emailed me two months ago,
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and she said that she had been
interviewed for a new position,
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and during the interview, they probed
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about her business acumen
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and her strategic insights into the industry,
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and she said that she was so happy to report
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that now she has a new position
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reporting directly to the Chief Information Officer
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at her company.
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So for some of you, the missing 33 percent
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is an idea for you to put into action,
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and I hope that for all of you,
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you will see it as an idea worth spreading
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in order to help organizations be more effective,
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to help women create careers that soar,
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and to help close the gender gap at the top.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)