The room was packed at the Executive Next Practices “Women’s Next Practices in Leadership” forum. The seminar, “Women’s Strategic Roles in Accelerating the Pace of Change in Today’s Disruptive Environment” examined how women drive business results, organization transformation and successful marketplace disruption.
Tuni DeJesus, regional manager, Southern California, at Catalyst, presented research showing that women who are excluded from the mainstream lose opportunities for advancement and earning power. Even when adjusted for women who wanted to participate in the workforce and didn’t have children, a gap remained between women and men.
DeJesus was followed by Jodi Duva, VP, Cox Business Orange Coast, who shared principles for success and creating leadership.
Will Marre, corporate transformation architect at Smart Power Academy, showed multiple vignettes of unknown women inventors who created practical inventions that enabled modern society. According to Marre, women are good at achieving goals, recognizing threats and opportunities and creating more status. However, groups are challenged by more educated people with needs for autonomy. Marre argued for group diversity. “If you examine the concept of ‘pink brain’, improving social learning and thinking versatility raises group intelligence. When you add more women
to a group, you get better results faster,” said Marre. “If you want to do something different you have to be something different.”
According to Margarethe Wiersema, MBA, Ph.D., UCI Dean’s Professor in Strategic Management, corporate board composition improved with professionalization of recruitment and adding women to boards by bringing wider perspective and less groupthink. For example, historically boards spent 80% of time on presentation and 20% on discussion. When women got on boards, less time was spent on PowerPoint presentations and more on questions and discussion. “Women still face huge barriers,” Wiersema said. “Search processes are still driven by who you know. Board renewal is lacking. The only place with board term limits is the U.K. In the U.K. efforts on transparency for reporting the number of women on the boards led to more women on boards. Transparency would solve a lot of the issues in the U.S. It is even worse in the tech space than overall.
According to Lola Gershfeld, Psy.D., founder and CEO of Level Five Executive, Inc., and coach for corporate boards, emotion is the key to board members bonding and working together. Acknowledging the human needs for attachment and fitting in is important for better group dynamics and decision-making.
Lunchtime discussion was followed by a panel featuring Melissa Beck, CEO, Big Brothers and Big Sisters; Rashmi Chaturvedi, CEO, Kaygen; Susan Howington, founder and CEO, Power Connections, Inc.; Scharrell Jackson, CFO/COO at CPA firm Squar Milner and founder of Leadership in Heels; Rebecca Marshall, VP, global sourcing and real estate, Ingram Micro, Inc.; and Cassandra Miller, CEO of See Jane Go, a female driven ride sharing company. The panelists advised:
  • “Know your strengths,” Beck said, “Simplify and focus on two or three things at most, and if you don’t control your life, someone else will.
  • Chaturvedi writes down her goals and the steps to get there. “90% of the time those goals are achievable,” she said.
  • “Break down barriers that hinder you from devel oping personal power and confidence,” Howington said. “Learn about conflict; how to avoid it, how to diplomatically deal with it. Emulate those you admire.”
  • “Ask for what you want,” Jackson said. “Fear has a voice but doesn’t have a vote. Qualify yourself for that which you desire. There is plenty of room at the top. Be well positioned to tell your own story and have others tell your story as well. There are demands that come with leading.”
  • “Plan your career,” Marshall said, “Plan your next steps. You are not highly likely to follow that plan, but a career roadmap serves purposes. Embrace being a square peg in a sea of round holes. Take risks with your career. Be willing to invest. Be willing to work.”
  • “Be brave enough to know your skill gaps,” Miller said. “Ask for help. Face your fear. Read books.” She recounted that when she started her company she asked for help and got feedback on her pitch, which enabled her to successfully raise money.