According to recent research, 29.5% of all salespeople are women, while 70.5% are men. And yet, according to a Harvard Business Review study, women are the ones who are outperforming their male counterparts – with 86% achieving quota, compared to 78% of men. So despite the statistics, how and why are women making a larger impact in the sales industry, and what can be done to … [Read more...]
How to Disrupt the Gender Inequality Discussion in 3 Steps
Though I consider myself an eternal optimist, the current research into gender inequality in the workplace is disconcerting, with the gender gap not expected to close until 2186. Still — and here's the optimist in me — this lag actually reveals opportunity. Discussions around addressing this gender gap are louder than ever, and it seems obstacles to it are more structural … [Read more...]
4 Misconceptions about Women and Leadership in Business
Women executives have often been portrayed in movies as being fearless, fierce, but also alone. However, this--among many others--has always been a common misconception about women leaders running a company or business. Here are just some of the most common misconceptions about women and leadership and the truth behind them. 1. Having kids and raising them get in the way of … [Read more...]
The Imbalance of Women in Business Leadership
The imbalance of women in business leadership positions persists despite the growing number of studies that consistently find the same thing---businesses with diverse leadership teams, which include women in executives roles, perform better than businesses that lack women at the top. The infographic at the end of this article includes a number of statistics that prove just … [Read more...]
How Motivation For Female Entrepreneurs Differs Throughout The World
Over recent years, there has been a growing trend for female entrepreneurs launching new ventures at a higher rate than men. Within the EU, 34.4% of entrepreneurs are women, and in the United States, there are more than 6.2 million privately held, female-owned companies. While these statistics are encouraging, the gender pay gap still persists (particularly in developing … [Read more...]
Working Women Make Business Happen
International Women’s Day (IWD) is on Sunday, March 8, 2015. It originates from International Working Women’s Day (IWWD), which I think is important to highlight. It is not a day where we simply celebrate being women because we think we are fabulous (well some might), but in my opinion, it is a day where we are meant to celebrate the real achievements of women worldwide (past … [Read more...]
The Day Our CEO Told The Head of HR Her Ovaries Were Shriveling
I still hear stories about male colleagues requesting meetings in gentleman’s clubs, women being laughed out of the boardroom for using the color pink in presentations, and female employees feeling uncomfortable because of their choice of attire. Little things that remind us that we don’t belong entirely in the men’s club that is corporate America. Catalyst, a U.S. … [Read more...]
No Progress for Women in Business Says 2013 Census of Fortune 500
The results of the Catalyst 2013 Census of Fortune 500 Women Board Directors and 2013 Census of Fortune 500 Women Executive Officers and Top Earners were released this month along with a clear but disturbing message, "Still no progress after years of no progress." Ilene H. Lang, President and CEO of Catalyst, responded to the findings saying, “It’s hard to believe that at … [Read more...]
71 Years to Gender Equality in Top Chicago Companies
The Chicago 50 2013 Census Report from The Chicago Network reveals that it will take 71 years for men and women to have equal representation in the boardrooms and executive positions at Chicago's 50 largest publicly-traded companies. In 2013, the census found the total number of top women executive officers fell to 74, down from its peak of 94 set in 2005. The percentage of … [Read more...]
Biases Against Women in Business in the Words of Google VP Megan Smith [Video]
At the Fortune Summit for Women 2013, Megan Smith, VP of Google[x] talked about the biases against women in business, particularly in the engineering field, in a video interview. It's worth the 3-minutes of your day to watch this video. Smith makes the case for why the gender gap persists and explains that a significant part of the problem is unconscious bias. This is … [Read more...]