And that group took me in, provided access to great leaders.
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I needed to see how professional women interacted and hear their stories. And I went outside of my company to the Women’s Foodservice Forum. So I felt a need to improve the state of things for those women. “When’s this man going to come along and start this idea.”ĬOLE: When I was a director at Hooters restaurants, (I was) the only female leader of this group, yet we employed more women as a percentage of employees than any other restaurant chain in the world. And I think the same way we set the tone in corporations, that, “Oh, this is a space reserved for men,” we do that when people are starting companies. There are a number of phenomenal women who are starting companies. KENZIE BIGGINS, founder of social media consulting form Uniquely Defined:You mentioned earlier the idea of women opting out and starting companies and becoming entrepreneurs. And is the answer maybe, as you said, the corporations leaning in and changing that dynamic? Or is it also telling young women that this is a true career path, that this is something they can achieve and will be gratifying and rewarding? And they can do it and still have a family. KILBERG: What you said just so resonates with me. And I think, too often, women lean away from helping other women. So when you have a leader that is leaning into this, all of a sudden, a lot of things start drifting away, a lot of the barriers. He literally looks at us and goes, “It’s not enough.” He is restless and relentless about changing the numbers. We do quarterly updates to him on our progress. We set very discrete goals that we are measured to. We put a women’s leadership council in place five years ago.
They are more of the college graduates now. They influence 70 percent of consumer purchases. And he looked at the data: Women control $20 trillion of spending power around the world. The urban myth is that his daughter was graduating from college and was asking him tough questions. WENDY CLARK, senior vice president at Coca-Cola Co.:When your leaders get serious about this, your organization gets serious about this.Ībout five years ago, our CEO (at Coca-Cola), Muhtar Kent, looked around the organization. Men and women have a role in providing advocacy for women who are moving up. There is an element of mentoring, connections and advocacy that women have to seek for themselves and other people. KAT COLE, president of Cinnabon: The definition of success is very personal and not every woman wants to be a CEO. If we could eliminate fear and guilt, there’d be no stopping us. We have to take fear out of the equation. Of course, I can do that.” So we have to become more risk-takers.
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They’ll think, “I don’t know how to do that. And I’m not quite ready to take that next step.” Men will take the jump, based on potential. And women say, “Well I haven’t done that yet, so I don’t know that I’m an expert in that. Women, unfortunately, are very hesitant to tout their own accomplishments. Women need sponsors - much more than mentors, but someone who will actually advocate for them within their companies - the way that informally happens naturally with a lot of men, where they get pulled up and presented. They decide - so many of them - to become entrepreneurs. They’re waiting for recognition (or) they’re not putting themselves forward, and they decide to opt out. LORI KILBERG, partner at the real estate law firm Hartman Simons & Wood:One of the studies shows there is just a huge collection of women at the upper-management level knocking on the door to the C-suite, but never making it there. What are the major obstacles women face and what are the best ways to overcome them? QUESTION: Women make up 14 percent of executive officer positions at Fortune 500 companies, even though women earn more college degrees than men, according to the most recent Catalyst study. The remarks were edited for length style. Here, they talk about barriers in the workplace. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution brought a group of high-ranking women to discuss this key issue in the wake of Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg’s new book, “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead.” The book has provoked controversy, with competing views about the challenges women face. Fewer than 25 of Fortune 500 corporations are headed by women. Yet women remain largely missing from the top echelons of corporate America. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close MenuĪmerican universities graduate more women than men, and women make up just under half the U.S.