More women needed on Boards

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Dr David Paul, feminine leadership, Gina Lazenby, women on boards, women's confidence

Here is the second video in the series on Feminine Leadership taken from my discussions in Sydney with Dr David Paul, a professor of, and expert in, leadership and complex change.    I’ve had really great feedback from the first one that went out last week: thank you for sharing all your positive comments with me.

This segment of our conversation is where we talk about getting more women onto company boards and later David shares some practical ways that women can have more influence in creating the change that the world needs.

Much has been written about the glass ceiling that is keeping women out of the top echelons of power in corporations.  In March this year, the UK’s Cranfield School of Management said that the percentage of women on the boards of the UK’s 100 largest-listed companies had risen over the past year to a record 15.6%, from 12.5% the year before. Numbers are inching forward it seems but still painfully low although in Germany and Australia numbers have gone down and in Italy half the companies still have no female directors at all.

I think there are many reasons why women are not there in greater numbers and it’s not just because the influential chairmen and male directors don’t invite them. Apart from the fewer opportunities, I think that there are less women ready and available at that level for selection.

In the video David talks about women not feeling confident. It’s a sentiment echoed by Financial Times columnist Heather MacGregor who wrote an article earlier this year in the FT magazine about eight women role models who successfully developed careers that have led them to Board level. Heather said that women often ask “Am I capable?” a question she says, most men wouldn’t even think of asking!  Lyn Wood, a high-flying exec in Australia was quoted in the Sunday Life news magazine as saying that “women lack the confidence to aim for the top job ….. if you don’t believe in yourself others won’t either”.

Why do we doubt ourselves? I hear it all the time when I talk with women in women’s gatherings all over the world. It’s not every woman but it seems that no matter how successful a woman can be, many still have a nagging self doubt. I think in a world where the male gender has been, and in many respects still is, more important than the female and where opportunities for women, particularly in government and corporations, are only available when men give way or allow us to rise.  This seems to gives men an in-born sense of entitlement (both conscious and unconscious) that most of us women just don’t feel. Elizabeth Broderick, Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner, talks about a “belief barrier” in Australia of deeply ingrained cultural beliefs “that a good mum should be at home with the kids, and that the ideal worker is available 24/7, has no visible caring responsibilities and is usually male”.

WATCH VIDEO:  Gina Lazenby in conversation with Dr David Paul, 2nd video in the series of seven

You read anywhere the advice given by other women about how they rose to the top and they will talk about sacrifice, difficult choices and the need to work hard and prove their competence. When you hear that you know that women are trying to fit in to a corporate world that was designed over the last century by men and for men (all of whom had the support of wives back home until the last few decades). Women may be working within that system now in huge numbers but we did not create the culture – we are simply adapting to a masculine culture which I don’t believe serves the women or the men who have to operate inside it. People seem to survive corporate life, but few really thrive in it. Time and again in our women’s circles, talented, professional women share how they opted out because they could not cope with the culture and could not align with the values. All that is bound to undermine us and dent our confidence.

I could write so much more here but right now I am really interested to hear of your experience and whether you feel confidence has ever been an issue for you? Has a lack of self-belief ever shown up in your life, and how?  It has certainly been an issue for me and during these last few years I have been exploring its roots as I have questioned what it is I am here to do. I’ve been examining how I have developed a set of soft skills which aren’t always visible and are therefore don’t seem to be valued. That makes it hard for me to fully appreciate what I am good at!

Does that resonate for you at all?

David goes on to talk about the need for women to initiate transformative conversations to accelerate change.  He shares some practical ways in which we can do that. He reinforces that necessary changes usually only take effect when initiated at the grassroots level which forces the leadership at the top to listen and follow. Right now, when the world is looking for new answers, he says the new ideas will come from women.  So there is a clear message here for us to raise our own levels of self belief and lead from our inner power. WATCH THE VIDEO

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The importance of feminine qualities in women leaders

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Dr David Paul, feminine leadership, feminine role models, Gina Lazenby, rise of the feminine

I was speaking at an event in Sydney on International Women’s Day about the Rise of the Feminine and of course Australia’s first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, was a good subject to talk about. Whether we sided with her party or not, we all expressed our  disappointment at how badly the news media treated her personally, criticising not just her policies but her hair, her voice, her clothes and even the way she walks. You never hear that about a male politician, ever. Nobody comments on a shirt or an accent or messy wind-blown hair … so why are we still subjected to such meaningless commentaries about female politicians?

My good friend Dr David Paul works closely with world leaders and leading politicians across the globe,  so I prevailed on him to talk to me on video about some of these issues that face women leaders. We had two great long conversations that were filled with rich insights about feminine leadership and the dynamics between men and women. I found it fascinating and I’m sure you will too.  I have edited our in-depth discussions and produced seven short videos which I shall release over the following weeks. I will put them on my blog once a week.

The first video focuses more on feminine leadership and we talk about:
1 how women politicians could be more successful and win more support
2 David’s advice for women today in changing the world
3 role models of women who are leading with their feminine qualities
4 why women can be more effective at changing a culture

Olympic Golden Girls & Yahoo’s Mama-to-be CEO show new role models are emerging

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Dr David Paul, feminine leadership, Gina Lazenby, Olympics women athletes news reporting

As female faces have shone out from the TV screens with one female participant referring to them as the “Girlie Games”, these 2012 Olympics are being called a real stepping stone for women’s sport. According to an editorial in the Guardian, prior to the Games just “5% of media coverage was given to women’s sports in non-Olympic years, and 0.5% of sponsorship”. With public interest in these dedicated super heroine athletes now at record levels this is surely set to change. This Olympics has been fantastic for women – every national team had female competitors and each sport had female representation. The USA team had more women than men and they even won more medals! Jessica Ennis and the British Golden girls are all fantastic role models for achievement for young girls.

an image from an article illustrating women on boards

This is certainly a shift we need. In this week’s video, my conversation with Dr David Paul highlights the lack of positive role models of women in business. We discussed how the portrayal of women in senior positions is often as surrogate men.  In a recent business magazine article about women on company boards, the illustrations show older women with white hair, playing golf and smoking big fat cigars.  In other words, they are there as women but they are doing the male thing.  This really seems to defeat the object of a woman being on a Board. It seems we cannot express our femininity and bring a woman’s feminine perspective if we are having to play the man’s game and do things the masculine way.

In addition to the Olympics, another high profile event happened this summer when a pregnant Marissa Mayer was hired as CEO of Yahoo. Now that was a bit of a game-changer. Reactions were varied but in general extremely positive.
Among the commentary about this significant appointment there does not seem to be a single other example of a major company recruiting a six months pregnant woman for the top job. A BBC report relayed that  TechCrunch says Mayer may well be “the first ever pregnant CEO of a Fortune 500 tech company” and calls the announcement “trailblazing”. Dr Fiona Moore, a senior lecturer in human resource management at the University of London, was quoted as saying Yahoo’s move is to be celebrated.  “We’re gradually getting towards the realisation that pregnancy and motherhood does not render women unable to do business.”      This is indeed a sign of an important shift !

Here is the fifth video in the series on Feminine Leadership where I am in conversation with Dr David Paul talking about role models for women. See the transcript below ………

The transcript from this interview:

* In a recent article about women on company boards, in the illustrations older women were shown with white hair, playing golf and smoking big fat cigars.  In other words, they are there as women but they are doing the male thing.  This really seems to defeat the object of a woman being on a Board. It seems we cannot express our femininity and bring a woman’s feminine perspective if we are having to play the man’s game and do things the masculine way.
* Who are the well rounded successful business women role models?   Do we have any that the media highlights?  Look at the dysfunctional successful woman in the movie ‘Devil Wears Prada’ and the sacrifices that had to be made for her to be at the top.  We lack of role models of successful women achieving success in a different way.
For example in the UK, Michelle Mone is a very successful business leader who when interviewed recently described herself as very focused and driven, and this seemed to be a key reason that her marriage foundered. It feels like we either have personal success or business success, one or the other but not both.
* Are these the only role models for young women? Girls are being given the impression that they will have to drive themselves so much that they can only have a successful career/business or marriage/life: a choice between one or the other.
* We want success but we don’t want to put the rest of our lives at risk. We need more role models of women who have achieved a better balance.
* David gives two examples of famous women who have achieved some balance.   Meryl Streep combines these 2 roles very well, and talks a lot about work-life balance. Gail Kelly of the Westpac Bank is a woman at the highest level of banking in Australia and also has a family.

* David says the problem is that women see themselves as either/or instead of both/and…  We have to break that down and change it.   We must bring other people in to our business to help us so that we don’t end up doing it all ourselves. He says that when JK Rowling worked on the Harry Potter films she brought in help for that.    The real point here is that we need to look at the models that don’t work, we can’t look at 20th-century models because they don’t work today in the new paradigms.

* It is very difficult for women when the corporate system really does not support motherhood. There are women who do want a family and also they want to express themselves outside the home and realise their potential. They are not given the working hours or ways that support them having young children. So they then make a decision for either/or – that is more the fault of the system.The system does not recognise their value as a woman.

* David says that we have to work from the top down with new policies that create work friendly organisations.   We also have to work from the bottom up and this is what women need to say…… this is what we demand.

Other conversations on video in the series can be found on these blog links:

1 The importance of feminine qualities in women leaders

2 More women needed on Boards

3 We need to change the negative news reporting of women & create clear messages

4 Women need to find their “gold” inside to drive change