The Wall Street Journal is all abuzz about Barbara Desoer who has recently been asked by Ken Lewis, Bank of America’s CEO, to take over its troubled mortgage business.  Not only is the mortgage lending business generally in trouble due to the state of the US economy but Bank of America’s mortgage business has the added burden of trying to swallow the problems of the recently acquired Countrywide Financial.  Carol Hymowitz’s Front Line blog asks readers to comment on their experiences regarding taking on high risk roles that have afforded them an opportunity to advance. 

One woman’s story (see the comment by risk taker)  reminded me about the glass cliff research I wrote about  a couple of weeks ago in conjunction with a post about Erin Callan.  While she writes that she did the right thing for herself and that it was worth it, she also describes her boss as “difficult”, noting, “when things went right he tended to take the credit”.   She also is very clear that there was a high personal cost. (more…)

TAGS: corner office, new to the job, playing to win, Risk-taking, The Wall Street Journal, women and careers, Women at Work, women leaders, women role models

Erin Callan, the highest ranking and most visible woman on Wall Street, lost her job as chief financial officer at Lehman Brothers last week.  Suddenly.  The New York Times reported, “On Monday, Ms. Callan ended her call with analysts by saying, “I’m going to be happy to be back here talking to you again next week,’ she said.  On Thursday morning, however, Ms. Callan gathered belongings from her office and drove to her house in East Hampton on Long Island…”

Whether she was removed as reported by the Times or she voluntarily stepped down as the Wall Street Journal states, it is clear that she didn’t last long in the role.  Callan, a former tax lawyer and investment banker took the CFO job in December, 2007.  In an article for the Wall Street Journal last month, Suzanne Craig quoted Joseph Gregory, her mentor (who also lost his job as Lehman’s #2) as saying the company made a “leap” when it gave her the CFO job but that it wanted someone who could “really explain Lehman’s story.”

Have you heard of the glass cliff research?  It’s about the phenomenon that women are more likely to be appointed to leadership roles that carry a great deal of risk of failure.  It seems pretty clear that Lehman had some problems in December when Callan took the CFO role; the Lehman story she had to tell wasn’t very pretty. 

So what can we learn from this story? 

1. Don’t be too quick to say “yes” when an opportunity comes long.  Take some time to assess the situation carefully.
2. Don’t be seduced by the title or the trappings of the job. Ask plenty of questions including: “Why me?” and ”Why now?”
3. Think about the potential challenges you will face if you do take the job and figure out what you wlll need to mitigate the risk you face.  Then negotiate for that support and those resources.

It may be that Erin Callan knew exactly how steep the glass cliff was but the fall must still hurt.

TAGS: corner office, managing your career, Negotiation, new to the job, playing to win, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, women and careers, Women at Work, women leaders

The Pink May/June issue includes the results of a poll the magazine did of more than 2500 women who attended a series of conferences in six cities during 2007. Among the findings is that 98% of those polled believed that they have a responsibility to help other women.

So, if you too feel a responsibility to make the workplace a better place for other women, don’t just think about it, take action.

• If your company has a formal mentoring program, consider participating in it. If it doesn’t, think about starting one. Or at least mentor another woman on an informal basis.
• If your company has a women’s affinity group, join it. Volunteer to help in whatever capacity you can.
• If you lead people, be sure you offer the same opportunities to the women on your team as you do to the men. Don’t be blindsided by the gender schemas that affect both men and women.

What other suggestions do you have? What kinds of help have you given to other woman? Let’s make each other’s day!

TAGS: competition, Cultural diversity, look and sound of leadership, servant leadership, Volunteering at work, Women at Work, Women In the Professions, women leaders, women not trusting women, women role models, women working for women

As usual, over the weekend, I had the chance to catch up on some reading - the April 21 issue of New York Magazine was one of the things I read. Amanda Fortini’s article, The Feminist Reawakening, published before the Pennsylvania primary, makes the point that the media treatment of Hillary Clinton not only reminds some women that we still have a long way to come but has had the unintended benefit of making other (younger) women aware of just how thin that pink line really is.

However things turn out for Senator Clinton’s candidacy, this is a good thing. 

TAGS: Feminism, Hillary Clinton, Political skills, Politics, politics at work, power, women leaders, women's equality

But you’ve got to say “no” sometimes and accept that the other person isn’t going to be happy.  I had to do it twice last week — and I did not enjoy it.  Nonetheless, I realized that my interests would not be met if I said yes.

One of the ways women can get in our own way is to try to make others happy at our own expense. Way too often we are so focused on building relationships with others that we forget that we too should expect — and get — consideration. (more…)

TAGS: Building workplace relationships, communication, Communication Skills, negotiation skills, Political skills, Risk-taking, ways to work healthy, women, women and power, Women at Work, Women In the Professions, women leaders

Last week, I gave a talk at the Atlanta Women’s Network Women Up 2008 event. The timing was in conjunction with International Women’s Day (March 8). They asked me to provide 3 key words about
negotiation that would coordinate with their principles:

“I am able.”

For this, I suggested the word, “authenticity”.

When you negotiate with people with whom you have an ongoing relationship, be authentic.  Be real.  Be yourself.

Authenticity makes you able.

“I have the tools.”

Here, the word is “preparation”.  Successful negotiators spend time planning.  They just don’t to wing it. The right  preparation makes all the difference between success and failure.

“I will shape the future.”

For this most important principle, I offered the word “proactive” .  You must proactively negotiate for what you want; you can’t just hope for it.

You will shape the future, not only for yourself but for others as well when you negotiate what you want and deserve.

TAGS: negotiating pay, Self-trust, women and power, women leaders

I sent out a message this weekend to friends and colleagues announcing The Thin Pink Line. I expected to get some “congrats” messages but I did not expect to receive as many messages as I did cheering us on!

One client (now a friend) wrote me mentioning that a very senior woman at her organization has just “opted out” to stay home with her three young children.  While the company is known as a leader vis-à-vis supporting women, this woman, at the pinnacle of her career,  made a different choice - for now. My friend wrote, “I, on the other hand, am still barreling down the corporate freeway while trying to raise two teenagers. The raising teenagers part is way more complicated then the corporate freeway, in my opinion.”

Oh yes!

In the next paragraph, she writes of the moment she was able to pin the Eagle Scout medal on her son’s chest, culminating years of work on his part to earn Scouting’s highest honor (and undoubtedly years of driving on her part to support him).  She described it as “beating any promotion she has ever received, by far!” 

The choices women have to make - whether they involve children or not - can be very difficult.  What I have learned at this point is that there is no right answer for all of us — only a right answer for each of us.  And whatever answer is right for you, don’t apologize for it. 

TAGS: career goals, Women at Work, women leaders

You’re right about the need for women leaders, Lois. Absolutely! And keep wearing that cap! Most women want a woman to be president someday and Hillary is as close as we’ll come for a very long time. Even if people don’t like her or prefer Obama, the attacks on her by the media are familiar to women. Young, nonthreatening women experience these less. But their day will come. As we’ve seen in the Democratic nomination process, it’s considered acceptable to berate women for what they wear, a hairstyle, their body size, body shape, and so on. I used to teach with Betty Friedan. She’d be up in arms right now with how far back women have been slapped by the current Democratic race. And what has Howard Dean had to say about it. Nothing! How about the other supposedly admirable Democrats? Quiet as church mice. Why? Because it’s working for them.

I’ve written in my books that we’re all at least 75% responsible for how people treat us. If we let ourselves be overlooked, patronized, dismissed, interrupted, and so on, we’re telling people it’s fine to keep doing so.

Is it fine for men to interrupt and talk over women, as Tim Russert and Brian Williams did repeatedly to Hillary Clinton the other night during the “debate”? In fact, research indicates that women are interrupted far more often. If women don’t decry such actions, we’ll all be seeing a lot more of them.

Barack Obama is an impressive man. But he is getting a free ride compared to Hillary Clinton. And many of us have seen that far too often to not recognize it. We won’t have enough women leaders until women as a group insist that we be criticized on substantive issues — the same ones used when judging men. When smirking and laughing together as Obama, Williams and Russert did when Hillary refused to be silenced wasn’t met with the same reactions when Barack went on and on, there’s a double standard. The longer that continues, the fewer women we’ll see in high places. Men will take these affronts as green lights to do the same at work. And of this I’m sure: Insults that come around and go unchallenged, come around again.

TAGS: Barack Obama, Betty Friedan, debate, Hillary Clinton, Tim Russert, women leaders

An author’s blog, www.basilandspice.com asked me to write a posting related to women and leadership.  Of course I couldn’t resist the opportunity to get the word out that I believe we live in a time when women’s leadership is not just needed, it’s essential if we want to save the world from war, famine, random acts of violence, corporate greed, etc.  But an interesting thing happened as I was writing it.  I found myself becoming angrier and angrier at just how hard it really is to get women’s voices to the leadership table.  Polls conducted last year indicated that America was more ready for an African American president than a woman.  If you take a look at the polls today it seems they were right.  Only 33% of men voted for Hillary in the primaries.  Then I thought about the Supreme Court, founded in 1790.  That’s 218 years and we can’t do better than one woman and one person of color on a court that decides which laws apply to a mult-cultural society? I won’t even quote the numbers of women on corporate boards and in CEO positions — we all know how lousy those figures are.  What’s a woman to do?  She’s to make her voice heard by courageously challenging the status quo.  If we aren’t part of the solution, we’re part of the problem.  I’m not suggesting that we make better leaders than men, but I do know we make different leaders.  For too long we’ve bought into the nonsense that what makes us different makes us less effectual in leadership roles.  Oh yeah?  Tell that to Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, Meg Whitman, Indira Gandhi, Wilma Mankiller, and Rosa Parks.  Just remember this — every time you back down because someone suggests you’re being too emotional, too aggressive, not aggressive enough, or not qualified because you’re a woman you collude with a system that wants to maintain status quo (that’s what a system is — something that perpetuates itself).  The only possible reason why people would want to hold you back or keep you quiet is because you’re right — and baby, that means you’re powerful.  It’s like I told the guy on line behind me in Trader Joe’s the other day who was making nasty remarks about my Hillary for President cap (it was a bad hair day):  I don’t care if Hillary or Obama wins the election — anyone but another old white man. 

TAGS: Hillary Clinton, Supreme Court, women and power, women leaders