A Glass Ceiling Still Exists, And That Hurts Corporate America

It’s sad that the glass ceiling still exists. Even though there has been progress, we still have a long way to go regarding women enjoying equality in important leadership positions and compensation.

Far too few capable women are offered positions with the responsibilities and influence they have earned and deserve, and far too many women are looked over for advancement opportunities. Why? There could be many reasons, but certainly two are 1) men making their own assumptions about what women can and cannot do and 2) men feeling “threatened”, maybe even subconsciously so. A friend of mine, Maria Burton Nelson, writes about this particular scenario in her book, The Stronger Women Get, The More Men Love Football.

This is neither fair to women nor to their organizations. Indeed, I believe women are naturally better than men at some of the key qualities of highly effective leadership. Generally, women are:

• Better listeners
  
• More inclusive
  
• More caring
  
• More willing to be vulnerable, to admit they can always do better
  
• More willing to ask for opinions, ideas and feedback
  

These are not minor qualities. They are integral to helping others do their best work and to the productivity of the overall organization.

In general, women are more competitive than when I entered the workforce. They are more likely to have played sports and have competed for academic standings in co-educational colleges and graduate schools. Even if they did not compete in sports, they are more likely to be active and fit. In addition, as my friend Kari Uman pointed out to me yesterday, women today have at least some role models in business. I can attest that there were few years ago.

In addition to a willingness of today’s male-dominated senior executives to give their high achieving female colleagues opportunities to reach high levels of responsibilities and authority, many women suggest that more mentoring would be enormously helpful. Such mentoring can help with:

• Confidence
  
• Can-do attitudes
  
• Executive presence
  
• Encouragement
  
• Willingness to step out of one’s comfort zone
  
• Readiness to help grow revenues with new clients
  
• Leadership roles in community activities
  
• Gaining more visibility in one’s industry
  

These are all important qualities and can help anyone advance, regardless of gender.

I have written this paper not motivated by women’s rights, although equal rights are certainly important to me. Rather, I write as a student of leadership and knowing how capable women are as leaders. I earnestly believe American business, “Corporate America”, would benefit greatly with many more capable women at her most senior levels.