by Nancy F. Clark (Follow her on Twitter)
Named one of Forbes: Thirty Women Entrepreneurs To Follow On Twitter

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Finally, and dramatically, public perception has changed!

Five years ago, anyone could say, “ A woman or an African American man cannot be elected President,” and it would be assumed to be true. Now, even though Hillary Clinton did not win, we can picture either type of candidate having a viable chance in the future. Imagine the change: Race or gender no longer eliminates you from becoming President of the United States!

This perception is percolating down into our business world with the outstanding performance of a number of female CEO’s: Carol Bartz of Yahoo, Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo, Ellen Kullman of DuPont, Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft Foods, Ursula Burns of Xerox, as well as Angela Braly of WellPoint one of our largest Fortune 500 companies.

The Rules are Changing

You no longer have to dress like a man or act like a man to reach upper management—the level that was forbidden by the glass ceiling. You can act in a style that’s comfortable to you as long as you show others they can have confidence in you. My Business Tip of the Week shows you how to do this.

The Glass Ceiling Effect

Some of you may be wondering, “How strong was that glass ceiling?” With nearly half the U.S. workforce female, it only allowed 15% of the upper management desks to be occupied by women. So, assuming as I do, that women and men are equally competent in their abilities, we would be seeing 50% of those desks occupied by women if the glass ceiling had not existed.

This glass ceiling effect took place over and over again at review time. There’s a little bit of subjective thinking in a review, in the manager’s mind, that pushes a competent worker over the threshold into a higher level position. It goes like this, “She’s doing a good job . . . but she doesn’t look like upper management material in our company.” Well, that’s true. She probably doesn’t appear as confident or as imposing. She probably talks about her business worries—men work harder to not expose any weakness. And she probably doesn’t look like the current upper managers, 85% of whom are men.

What Must You Do?

Individually, we have to remove gender bias—along with racial and ethnic bias—from our subjective promotion criteria. I need to emphasize here that it doesn’t matter if the reviewing manager is male or female. We’ve been comparing our employees to men at the top. So, it’s up to each of us to do our part to conduct unbiased reviews—making sure the glass ceiling stays in the past.

5 Steps for Moving Up

Here’s what you can do to speed your ascent into the realm of upper management.

1. Believe that the glass ceiling is obsolete and that it won’t affect you. You know, act as if there’s no sexism left in business. Remember that others who still hold that belief are hanging onto a passé dogma.

1. Make a point of showing you’re a decision maker. You can solicit input, but assume your role as the final decision maker on projects. You must overturn that erroneous stereotype that women are indecisive. Management studies show female managers are good at making decisions.

1. Force yourself to be more of a risk taker. Women are more risk averse than men, and sometimes miss business opportunities. So, up your risk taking by 15%, 20%, or whatever takes you slightly out of your 100% safety zone.

1. Speak up when others will notice—remember, you’re now a player. Act like one.

1. Get help at home—help with the cleaning, help with the children, help with your elders—don’t assume you have to do it all. You’ll still have moments when you feel overwhelmed with your “other life duties,” but try not to complain at work. Your superiors might decide you can’t take on higher assignments.

My Business Tip of the Week asks you to join me in prodding companies to do the right thing. Here it is.

Business Tip of the Week:

See to it that the statistics for your company are published. The Internet is a good place. The purpose of these stats is to highlight your company’s positive role in shattering the glass ceiling, such as:  “Five years ago, 11% of the top 2 tiers of our company were female. This year we’ve progressed to 15% and we’re looking forward to progressing next year as well.” A public record of this is an incentive to do even better next year. And I’m all for incentives, because they work!

Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.

Now that the glass ceiling is history, make your move—with confidence.

Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.

Sign up for the WomensMedia Newsletter. We make it easy!

Website, WomensMedia, by Hilary M. Lips, Women and Leadership: The Delicate Balancing Act See solutions that smooth the way for women leaders.

Blog, Women’s Lunch Talk, by Stacey Hanke, Communication and Vocal Power —Using Your Voice to Convey Confidence or listen to it here.

Podcast (always about 5 minutes), Working in Heels, by Nancy Clark, Gender Stereotypes Hold Women Back—Those Little Put-Downs Really Do Add Up!

(Listen to it here.)

Finally, and dramatically, public perception has changed!

Five years ago, anyone could say, “ A woman or an African American man cannot be elected President,” and it would be assumed to be true. Now, even though Hillary Clinton did not win, we can picture either type of candidate having a viable chance in the future. Imagine the change: Race or gender no longer eliminates you from becoming President of the United States!

This perception is percolating down into our business world with the outstanding performance of a number of female CEO’s. We have seen that a woman can successfully grow a small company into a major player, such as Meg Whitman did with eBay. She formed a fledgling Internet idea into a company with revenue of 8.46 billion dollars a year. She now has her eye on another arena—politics.

The Rules are Changing

You no longer have to dress like a man or act like a man to reach upper management—the level that was forbidden by the glass ceiling. You can act in a style that’s comfortable to you as long as you show others they can have confidence in you. My Tip of the Week shows you how to do this.

(Listen to it here.)

Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.
Is 40 Years Too Long To Wait?

There sure aren’t many women in the corner offices, or in the next level down either.  Recent research by Catalyst shows that 84% of these offices in major U.S. companies are occupied by men. At the rate women are moving up, it will take 40 years before we see equality. That’s too long for me. Is that too long for you?

What Can We Do About It?

There are 2 things women need to do to have a CEO-ready resume—and they’re not impossible. Take a few minutes to learn what you need.

(Listen to it here.)

Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.

Perhaps you’re that rare woman who proved immune to the nature-nurture pressures to Speak Like A Girl. Chances are you succumbed and now are realizing how much you want to pull yourself up to the I Know What I’m Talking About status. These pressures show up in a variety of communication differences between men and women. Deborah Tannen in You Don’t Understand explains that men use “report talk” to give information that enhances their power while women tend to use “rapport talk” to give information that helps build relationships. Women usually come out ahead in relationship-building communication—and that’s okay. What’s not okay is how we lose out sounding like a leader or an expert. We’re giving away our power in business. Take these steps to let others know: I Know What I’m Talking About.

Women are starting businesses at twice the rate of men. Could that be true? Yep, it is. Why are they doing this? Is it the glass ceiling? What kind of businesses? Are they getting financing? What are the Good News Changes? Let’s discuss it.  

(Listen to it here.)

Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.

I’ve been receiving requests for more information on leadership styles for women. Of course, the same leadership style will work no matter if you’re a man or a woman, but the questions have been phrased to indicate many women are not comfortable with the autocratic style of leadership, where the leader dominates the team with a one-sided approach to reach an objective.

If you’re not comfortable with that style, there are other choices. Collaboration is one that many women tend toward—what I mean is they can be really, really good at it!

(Listen to it here.)

Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.

In the US there are two weekly shows competing for the popular television audience: Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle. They have a bit of something for everyone—which is what, I guess, is needed to catch people’s attention in the television market. They also have something in common—they both show executives who are women—women who can take charge.

(Listen to it here.)

Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.

I think we have a problem at work, but just in case I’m exaggerating, I’ll give you the statistics and let you decide.

In the beginning, or at least for a very long time, women have been 51% of the population. In 1950 women made up only 29% of the workforce. Today women are half our workforce (46.5% to be exact). Half of our midlevel managers are women—that sounds fair to me. But, and here’s the big but, women are only 15% of the top two tiers in the Fortune 500. So let’s do the math: Men are 85% and women are 15%. That’s a huge difference—discrepancy—handicap. At least in my mind it is. How do you feel about this? (Your comments are important to me.)

What do you surmise is the reason for the 85-15 Handicap?

“Men are accelerating the women’s revolution,
because it’s good for their daughters and good for business.”

—Nancy Clark

(Listen to it here.)

Be sure to visit our site, www.WomensMedia.com to get Expert Advice for Working Women.

I was asked recently what I thought was the major obstacle facing the working woman. There are a number of minor hurdles, but the major obstacle by far is Not Being Promoted As Fast As A Man.

What factors are causing this? Let’s take a look.