Grow Your Business by Hiring Nurturing Leaders

Many of us unconsciously believe that women in leadership roles should be like men – whether we will admit this or not. When looking to hire women for leadership positions, the conclusion for those in the public or private sector (whether driven by our own gut instincts or by social psychological research) is that to be perceived as competent, women in authority have to be assertive, perhaps even ruthless in their decisions, and autocratic in their style. Otherwise no one will listen.


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About the Author

Dr. Linda E. WeinbergerDr. Shoba SreenivasanDr. Shoba Sreenivasan and Dr. Linda E. Weinberger are psychology professors at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. Their new book is called Psychological Nutrition. Learn more at www.psychologicalnutrition.com.

CEOs Reveal The Top 3 Strategies For Women To Excel As Leaders

If you knew you could improve your company’s revenue with one single strategy, would you do it? If you heard there was a way to enhance your business profits, would you want to know what it is?

The New AdvantageMost leaders would likely answer “yes.” Yet every day in corporate America, business leaders neglect to take the steps that would give them a competitive edge.

One of the quickest ways, and in many ways the easiest to implement, is to balance their teams by including more women in positions of leadership. For the teams that find that balance, these are three common results they can expect:


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About the Authors

Howard J. Morgan and Joelle K. Jay, PhD, of the Leadership Research Institute (LRI) are co-authors of The New Advantage: How Women in Leadership Can Create Win-Wins for Their Companies and Themselves (Praeger / 2016). LRI is a global consulting firm specializing in leadership and organizational development. Morgan has worked with over 1,000 CEO and executive team members of the world’s largest organizations on improving corporate and executive performance. Jay is an executive coach and keynote speaker, and specializes in the advancement of executive women. For more information please visit www.TheNewAdvantageBook.com.

Women and the economy: an opportunity for growth

One of the most strategic challenges remains inexplicably a black hole. It is time to unveil some figures and share thoughts on this hidden treasure: women.

As Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund states: if women were employed at the same rate as men, GDP would increase by 5 percent in the United States, by 9 percent in Japan and by 27 percent in India.

Gender inequality is a reality


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Martine LiautaudMartine Liautaud is the author of Breaking Through: Stories and Best Practices From Companies That Help Women Succeed (Wiley, April 2016). Martine is also founder the Women Initiative Foundation (WIF), in coordination with global energy player and expert operator ENGIE. WIF seeks to improve the place of women in business and increase their presence in universities around the world through active mentorship, sponsorship support and training programs.

The Diversity Dividend: How Balancing Your Leadership Team Can Pay Off

The call for greater diversity at senior leadership levels is not new, although it has itself become more inclusive, extending beyond gender, race and ethnicity, to encompass age, education, socioeconomic background and sexual orientation, as well as experience, skills and talent.

It is also not news that diversifying leadership teams can pay financial dividends for corporations. As early as 2004, research by Catalyst, Inc. showed a significant positive correlation between financial performance and female representation at the executive leveli with female Board representation having an even stronger effect.

Most recently, a new international study by McKinsey & Co.ii showed that companies with gender diverse leadership are 15% more likely to report financial returns above their national industry median, while those with ethnically diverse leadership were 35% more likely to have financial returns that outpace their industry. Sadly, none of the 366 public companies surveyed stood out as leaders on both gender and ethnic diversity axis together.

In spite of the long-established case for balancing executive teams, the C-Suite has remained stubbornly homogeneous. Only 4.6% of chief executives of S&P 500 companies are women, and there are just six black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies currently.iii Progress has been made, but slowly and inconsistently. In their recent study mentioned above, for example, McKinsey & Co. notes that women now represent about 16% of executive teams in U.S. companies overall, calling that “measurable progress” but acknowledging that women remain underrepresented at senior levels globally.


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About the Author

Kim VilleneuveDr. Kim Villeneuve is CEO of Centerstone Executive Search and Consulting, a nationally retained firm serving the consumer sector. Centerstone specializes in executive search and leadership consulting concentrated at the Board Director and Executive Officer level. Kim is also a coach for elite executives, an adjunct professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business, and guest lecturer at The George Washington University, from which she holds a doctorate in Human and Organizational Learning. Contact Kim at [email protected] or at 425-836-8445.

References

i. “The Bottom Line: Connecting Corporate Performance and Gender Diversity” January 15, 2004 Catalyst, Inc.
ii. “Why Diversity Matters” By Vivian Hunt, Dennis Layton, and Sara Prince McKinsey, & Co. January 2015
iii. “Is there a diversity dividend?” Linda Yueh, Chief Business Correspondent, BBC News January 25, 2015 http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30973184
iv. World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, January 2015 http://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2015/sessions/diversity-dividend

6 Fundamentals That Underpin Engagement – authentic organizations are high-performing organizations.

We began our research by asking people to describe their dream organization—one that feels authentic and within which it is possible for one’s best self to emerge. We’ve synthesized these ideal organizational qualities and have shown how some workplaces are making the elements of the dream real, inspiring the rest of us in the process.

Put together these multiple benefits – commitment, creativity, understanding, personal development, trust, purpose, and freedom—and you have created the fundamentals that underpin engagement at work. And we know that engagement is correlated with performance.

Why Should Anyone Work Here?The dream organization, then, is also the high-performing organization.


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About the Authors

Rob Goffee is Emeritus Professor of Organizational Behavior at London Business School, where he teaches in the world-renowned Senior Executive Programme.

Gareth Jones is a Fellow of the Centre for Management Development at London Business School and a visiting professor at Spain’s IE Business School in Madrid.

Rob and Gareth consult to the boards of several global companies and are coauthors of Why Should Anyone Be Led by You? and Clever, both published by Harvard Business Review Press.