| KEY FINDINGS |
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KEY NOTE SPEAKERS
Cindy Cox,
Partner, Yankelovich Partners
Dr. Judy Rosener,
Professor, Graduate School of Mgmt, University
of California, Irvine
Edie Weiner,
President, Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc.
Anna Quindlen,
Former New York Times Columnist and
Distinguished Author
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ROUNDTABLES
Global Branding
E-Revolution!
Power On A Pedestal
Assignment: Board Seat
Cruising At High Altitiudes
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| CLOSING
REMARKS |
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KEY NOTE SPEAKER
Cindy Cox, Partner, Yankelovich Partners |
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Generation X is
entrepreneurial. Let them be entrepreneurs
within your organization and provide opportunities
for on-the-job growth and learning. |
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Gen Xers act like
independent contractors, learning all they
can at one job to move on to the next. They're
far less committed to the success of an organization
than previous generations. |
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They are more autonomous
and likely to take charge of their careers.
Make them feel valuable to gain their loyalty. |
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Gen Xers are confident,
believing they can easily find a new job if
they want to. |
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Gen Xers crave
stability, structure, and the opportunity
to express their creativity. Let them know
where they fit in the organization. |
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Mentors are important
to Gen Xers. Support the development of mentoring
relationships. |
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Gen Xers want balance.
They enjoy their work, do it well, but it's
not their sole source of satisfaction or a
big part of their identity. |
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KEY NOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Judy Rosener, Professor,Graduate School
of Mgmnt, University of California, Irvine
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The Good News |
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The idea of work/family
has shifted to work/life, and it's no longer
an issue of balance, but of integration. This
makes work/life everyone's issue, not just
a women's issue, and that is changing the
workplace. |
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Women are gaining
greater visibility in non-traditional fields. |
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More women's retreats,
networks, alliances, and partnerships are
springing up around the world. |
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Women and increasingly
men recognize that the unique differences
and abilities women bring to the workplace
and economy are a competitive advantage. |
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It's a good time
to be a professional working women, regardless
of age, profession, or the size of organization.
It's our vision and the way we exercise power
that make us valuable. |
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The Bad News
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Tremendous pay
inequity between women and men still exists,
and it gets worse the higher up the ladder
you climb. |
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Compensation and
work practices are still based on the values
of men. |
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Some women rise
to the top and deny there is a glass ceiling
despite obstacles they may have encountered
or witnessed in their careers. |
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Fewer women are
enrolling in engineering, computer science,
and physics courses. |
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There aren't many
women in Congress. |
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Corporate flight
is on the rise. More women are leaving to
become entrepreneurs. Consequently, there
are fewer women shaping policy for big corporations. |
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Marketers are not
gender savvy. |
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KEY NOTE SPEAKER
Edie Weiner, President, Weiner, Edrich,
Brown, Inc. |
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A nanosecond -
a millionth of a second - is slow. Femto -
a billionth of a second - is the communication
speed of the future. As information bounces
around the world from satellite to satellite,
data parked in any country for as long as
a nanosecond may be subjected to the local
laws and taxes. |
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Internet companies
are the right of way companies of the next
century. Like the railroad companies, they
lay tracks and will profit by charging others
to use them. |
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Every price is
negotiable, and virtually every consumer pays
a different price for the same goods. Uniform
pricing, once the mark of an advanced economy,
is passe. |
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Every company is
in virtually every industry. Hyborgs - hybrid
organizations that continuously morph in structure
to meet market demand - are the new business
structure. |
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Economic models
are breaking down. Currency transfer - is
the new big business. |
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Leasing permits
consumers to instantly accumulate - without
much obligation - the attributes of wealth.
Everything is disposable, including spouses.
Lifelong marriage, if you look at divorce
rates and demographics, is now an alternative
lifestyle. |
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Global corporations
will be at the forefront of the humans right
and environmental movements. It is in their
best interests. The consequences of global
warming know no borders, and when consumers
are enfranchised, markets are strong. |
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Total Quality Management
no longer applies. Integrity is the new watch-word.
Work with integrity and quality is a natural
byproduct. |
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We're moving out
of the information age into the knowledge
age. Those with the intelligence to figure
out things that never existed before will
be in demand. Those who can implement solutions
to the real issues of the day will have the
power. |
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Pre-search - the
ability to anticipate what consumers want
before they have even identified the need
- will replace market research for organizations
seeking to gain a competitive edge. |
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In three out of
four households, executive women out-earn
their husbands.. In fact, many executive women
marry blue collar or self-employed men with
the job flexibility to help manage family
life. And just as executive women are turning
50 and hitting their stride, many of their
over 50 executive husbands are retiring. |
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Empowerment is
an oxymoron. If someone has given you power,
you don't actually have it. They can still
take it away. Nobody gives you power. It's
what you take. |
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KEY NOTE SPEAKER
Anna Quindlen,
Former New York Times Columnist and
Distinguished Author
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Women in executive
and leadership positions represent the greatest
social revolution of 20th Century America.
Once we wanted access and parity, which we
deserve. Now, we're smart enough to want changes
that will be better for our organizations,
our successors, and ourselves. |
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Trickle-down feminism
is so pervasive that things we considered
utopian or idealistic a scant 30 years ago
are now completely absorbed by the culture
- women police and firefighters, surgeons,
CEOs, in boardrooms, in newsrooms, and in
delivery rooms at both ends of the table.
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The women's movement has changed laws and
institutions, but we haven't changed hearts
and minds. The greatest and most necessary
change in our national climate over the
next hundred years will take place among
men, in how they see women.
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We have to be people first to be good professionals.
If the boundaries of your life are the boundaries
of your office, you probably don't know
enough about the world to represent your
product or service.
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Women in elected
office are more likely to hold open meetings,
to consider the opinions of people usually
outside the power structure, and to care more
about healthcare, child care, and education. |
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The greatest yearning
among Americans is to be seen as individuals
- as humans - again. People feel that they
are condescended to by big business, newspapers,
doctors, and attorneys. We've become a nation
long on experts and short on empathy. |
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Rape, domestic
violence, and stalking laws must be changed.
A woman's view for saying no to sex is quite
different from a man's. The law must, therefore,
demand that men conform to women-based norms
concerning sex and violence. |
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If you're trying
to sell your product to families with a working
father, at home mother, and two kids, you're
after about seven percent of households, and
that's no ones idea of a target market. |
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America is an adolescent
nation, which means we're part thinking adult
and part toddler in a tantrum, seeing everything
in black and white, instead of shades of gray.
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ROUNDTABLE
Global Branding |
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International implies
a difference in the way you position and market
your brand from country to country. Global
means applying solutions across the marketplace. |
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If your positioning
does not fit in a market, you don't belong
in that market. You can make adaptations for
each market, but you never change your positioning. |
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Learn the local
language. Literal translations of brand positionings
and advertising lines do not work. |
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Do your homework.
Before launching in any country, do a thorough
market analysis, covering every possible point-of-view:
trademark and tax laws, religious and cultural
mores, government and regulatory, and business
operations, ethics, and practices. |
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Globalization demands
skilled people who understand quality of execution.
Most U.S. professionals have no experience
in other countries. Train and train some more.
Find strong talent - local market and US -
that understands how to operate across borders.
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Leverage the size
of your company to negotiate better pricing
and quality. Develop a global purchasing and
manufacturing structure. |
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Protect your brand
from the gray market. |
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If acquiring a
local brand in a local market, maintain the
attributes that made it successful locally
while overlaying your global brand and message.
Customize a global brand for each marketplace
and create the brand locally. |
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The Internet allows
companies of all sizes to gain global reach
quickly and relatively inexpensively. |
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ROUNDTABLE
E-Revolution! |
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The Internet is
an enabling technology that allows businesses
to do business better. |
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The rules and laws
are different in the e-commerce world - and
not everyone plays by the rules. Businesses
change quickly and regulators can barely keep
pace. A global website, for example, has to
operate according to the rules of all the
countries in which it does business. |
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Smart marketers
recognize that the Internet is less of a channel
and more of a lifestyle change. |
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Personalization
is possible over the Internet. Companies that
turn consumer data into knowledge can provide
a higher level of personalized service and
successfully differentiate themselves. |
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The telecommunications
companies are the railroad companies of today's
era. They are selling right of way to Internet
Service Providers and enabling e-commerce.
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The Internet is
an opportunity to broaden a brand. However,
building and protecting brand equity is an
issue on the Internet. |
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Going online can
weaken traditional business channels, particularly
if you're a service provider with third-party
partners. It's easy to cannibalize existing
business. |
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People may visit
your website once, but the challenge is to
get them coming back and buying time and again. |
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Internet companies
aren't like traditional companies. Work environments
are open. Organizations are flat. |
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Women - even older
women - are leading Internet companies because
they are traditionally good team-builders,
flexible, able to deal with uncertainty, share
power, entrepreneurial, able to get employees
and investors excited about their vision,
and comfortable with diversity. Middle-aged
men are lost in this kind of environment.
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ROUNDTABLE
Power On A Pedestal |
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Think of power
not as an end but as a means to how you can
do better. |
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• Women are much more interested
in personal power. Men tend to be interested
in structural power - or the status symbols
of powers. Few women-run companies have
CEO parking, company cars, etc. Male-run
companies do.
• Women managers who need to speak
with employees go to their offices. Men
call the employee to their office.
• Men manage their bosses to derive
power. Women manage their people to get
outstanding results and thereby gain power.
• Women are comfortable sharing power,
largely because we've never had it. Men
are not.
• Women believe the more power you
give away, the more you get in return.
Men believe if you give away power, you
lose it.
• Men embrace the one up/one down
model, but thrive in the female, power-sharing
model.
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Power is financial.
Men don't want women to have power because
they're concerned that they'll make decisions
- unlike those typically made by the old boys'
network - that put less money into men's pockets.
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Not all women do share power, and, since
there are so few women at the top, they
are very visible.
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Power relationships
are learned at home. Children who see parents
sharing powers grow up better equipped for
the workplace and more respectful of differences.
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The best leaders set performance standards
that apply to everyone in their organization,
communicate those standards across the culture,
and make it clear that everyone can attain
this standard..
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Women in power
have an obligation to redirect the capital
stream so that women and minorities can participate
in the capital stream and culture in the same
way that men participate. |
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To succeed, women
must learn to manage up and down. |
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Power is excellence without politics. It's
allowing all employees to be as good as
they can be and to realize their dreams.
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ROUNDTABLE
Assignment: Board Seat |
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It's okay to resign
or reject a board appointment if it's not
the right fit. This will not preclude you
from membership on other boards. |
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Serve on a board
as long as you add value and your membership
makes sense in terms of the composition of
the board. If you've been on a board for eight
or ten years, you've probably given them your
best. |
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CEOs should not
serve for life. It's smart to raise the issue
of replacing the CEO at the board's annual
review. |
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If you resign,
find a female successor and keep your resignation
positive. You have an obligation to the financial
community. |
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Report conflicts
of interest to the chairman of the audit committee.
Raise questions of policy and liability to
deflect the issue from the individuals involved. |
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It's not easy to
say no to the CEO, particularly with regard
to compensation, but you must if it's the
right thing to do. If necessary, deal through
the back channels. |
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If you're an inside
board member or an employee of the company,
decide whether to cast your lot with the CEO
or to be a dissenting voice. Pick and choose
your fights carefully. |
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Avoid raising surprise
issues. Give members 24-48 hours to consider
your point. If you don't want to vote on a
surprise issue, say that you need time to
do your homework. |
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Speak up when discussions
do not include women and minorities. Succession
planning is key. If there are no women or
minorities in place to succeed in key roles,
ask why not and offer some recommendations. |
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If you're not
on a committee and want to be on one, tell
the chairman on which committee you want to
serve. |
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ROUNDTABLE
Cruising At High Altitudes |
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A title is one
reward and one element of a top job. Titles
can be a trap. A top job takes a lot of time.
If you don't love it, and it's not fun any
more, it's time to move on. |
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Success at the
top requires you to have passion for what
you do, have heart, to find a mentor who is
blind to gender and willing to knock down
walls for you, and develop a track record
of strong line responsibility. |
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Always have outside
interests so that when it's time to leave
a job - voluntarily or not - you have something
to fall back on. |
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There are no logical
or predetermined paths to career advancement.
Sometimes you're just working for the wrong
person. |
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Women do well in
meritocracies. However, in any organization,
gender bias is a factor once you start moving
up the ranks - particularly in industries
that are consolidating. |
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Identify and groom
successors. Be a supporter and a cheerleader.
Give talented people the opportunities to
learn. |
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If
you're downsized in a merger, think like a
GenXer. Don't take it personally. Too many
people at the top are overly focused on holding
on to what they have as opposed to moving
to a new challenge. Power can be a trap. |
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| CLOSING REMARKS |
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Blinders are no
substitute for vision. |
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If everything is
going so well for women, why are there still
so few women CEOs. |
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Responsibility
is taken not given. If we take the responsibility
for our own advancement, we can change the
corporate landscape. |
