Often I read in media "(insert female name here) breaks glass ceiling" and it makes me wonder…why is this news? Why should this be news? Women should be in boardrooms and in the C-suite, making major firm strategy decisions. This should be common.
Indra Nooyi became the CEO of PepsiCo five years ago and began the push to move PepsiCo's portfolio to include healthy alternatives. She also headed the acquisitions of Tropicana, Quakers Oats and Gatorade, and has just launched a meteor-sized television advertising campaign in the US with Coca-Cola's Santa Clause sipping on Pepsi. The girl's got game.
Today I read that of the 491 reporting companies in the 2011 Fortune 500, only 15.9% of Directors in the US are women. A worse statistic: 2.1% of Directors are African American women. I'm so confused. The most original and strongest ideas come from collaborative teams comprising people of different genders, races, cultures and opinions. Companies that embrace a collective culture, such as Proctor & Gamble, IBM and Google are the highest earning companies worldwide. A 19-year longitudinal study by Roy Adler (Pepperdine University) found a correlation between companies with a track record of women in the executive suite and profitability. Three measures of profitability were used to demonstrate that the 25 Fortune 500 firms with the best record of promoting women to high positions are between 18 and 69 percent more profitable than the median Fortune 500 firms in their industries." How is all this ignored?
Sisters have got to help sisters. Networking is such a huge part of business. I know men are out having beers after work. Are women having cocktails? Are we thinking of each other to help leverage each other to the next level? I want us to compliment each other on our shoes, then say "Hey, I know this position opening up that would be a great next step for you". I want to see women grow. From this day on I will not read another glass ceiling article published. I will instead spend this time helping another sister out, or take the time to focus my own growth.
I know of an amazing program for women to get in touch with women-in-business; it's called shesays.us.com. This is a great place for women to find mentors, jobs, workshops and events. They're scattered all over the world and there is even one for us Aussies in Sydney. Go on girl, join in.
The only glass ceiling I want to see is the one above my desk in my office on top of New York City. I can handle that.
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