Women Leading the Future

One of the major obstacles for women who want to break through the glass ceiling is the lack of opportunity to gain wisdom and understanding from those who have already done it. They are out there, though not in the numbers at the top that we would  like to see.

That road for women is not travelled easily. In fact women have to be twice as good as men to get there. Many more obstacles are put in their way.

So when they finally arrive and can sit on the same "stage" with their male colleague CEOs, are they going to want to talk about the struggle they had to get there. Of course not! They would be treated with derision.

It's only when these women leaders are given the opportunity to talk on a platform that is created by other women that they dare to share part of their story of struggle.

I heard Janet Dore, CEO of the Traffic Accident Commission in Victoria, and a woman who has broken through many glass ceilings in her professional life, say recently that she had to meticulously watch everything she did in her work and be excellent at it. This was from the way she acted and responded to the way she dressed because she was scrutinised in a way that her male colleagues weren't.

This is a teleseminar I am conducting in early November, 2008.

I have been asked this question so often by women: How do I learn to say "no"? I remember a woman being very critical of me on an evaluation form after an assertiveness workshop because I hadn't taught her how to say "no". 

When we focus on that ability (or inability) it doesn't do us justice, as women. It raises the question that if we can't even say "no", how could we make the hard decisions that women need to make to lead and manage an organisation.

This is a teleseminar I'm conducting for women in October, 2008.

As women we are considered to have good soft skills. These are the people skills, interpersonal and communication skills that are seen to be increasingly important to people who want to grow and advance their careers.

In fact, some male managers and CEOs think we have them in abundance. That's why we often get promoted to leadership roles in soft skills areas like human resources, marketing or public relations. Have you ever stopped to wonder why women are rarely appointed to hard skills areas like finance, building and maintenance or corporate governance?

Yet, in spite of our supposedly strong affinity with soft skills, many women find them very hard to use to advance their careers. In fact, the way we use them often has the opposite effect - it damages our careers.

Time is a precious commodity, isn't it? Taking a whole day from work to attend professional development - even something we would passionately like to attend - is often a challenge. We think of what's going to be there for us tomorrow when we get back to our desk. Not to mention the emails.

Then there's the cost. Am I going to gain enough from the day to warrant spending so much of my professional development budget on one day workshop?

Of course, there's also the logistics of getting there - the travel, the parking. the organisation of children because you won't be home at the normal time.

This is why teleseminars are just so good.

I came across this website for Women CEOs in Australia (see below) and thought I'd share it with you in case you were not aware of it. It is an organisation called "Chief Executive Women" and was established in 1985. It currently has 152 members who are women leaders from corporate Australia, the professions, academia, the public and not fot profit sectors.

"CEW's purpose", says the home page, "is to promote the development and effective use of Australia's leadership talent. We believe the whole community benefits if the talentts of women are fully utilised. CEW aims to accelerate talented women into senior leadership through:

• Influencing CEOs, Boards and Senior Executives,
• Fostering the development of talented women, and
• Building a supportive and collegial environment for CEW members"

There are resources on the site; especially worth noting is the kit they have developed for Women CEOs and the training that goes with the use of that kit.

So go have a look at http://www.cew.org.au

So many of us have asked the question: "How did he ever get that job? I have much more experience than he has. He's only been here five minutes anyway! I know I interviewed well and I had to interview better than him. He does not communicate well at all. It is felt by many people around here, not just me."

And if you are reflective you will go on: "What more do I have to do to be able to advance my career in this place? Or do I have to leave and try somewhere else? But then would it be any different? Is this about me or is it about the system in which we, as women, are trying to grow our careers?"

Good question, and far from feeling empowered in our workplaces, we begin to feel so disempowered. I'm always trying to find answers to these dilemmas. In fact, this is what this blog is about. So, when surfing the net one day, I came across this great organisation - Catalyst - I had to tell all of you about it. It's a good one to bookmark. I'll put the link on the bottom.

Just this morning I heard about this new directory that is being established by Heidi Richards (Founder of The Women in E-Commerce Association International) and her team at "WE Magazine For Women". I've just added my name to the directory.

It's called the "Who's Who of Women in E-Commerce Directory". It will list women who have an online presence either with a website or business blog and who either promote a product or service via them.

The Basic Listing includes Name, Company Name, Company Slogan or tagline, website (or Blog) URL. That is free.

The Enhanced Listing costs $25 USD and can be paid with PayPal. This allows expanded contact information, address and phone number, your logo and one additional URL.

Heidi can be contacted at heidi@wecai.org.

For more information go to the following address;

http://wemagazineforwomen.com/whos-who-directory-of-women-deadline-extended/