Closing the Leadership Gender Gap: Susan Colantuono at TEDxBeaconStreet

Sheryl Sandberg's TEDxWomen Talk has been viewed 3 million times by those who wonder why we have too few women in leadership positions. In this talk Susan Colantuono complements advice to "lean in" as she unveils two new strategies for closing the leadership gender gap at the top of organizations. Discover the impact of The Missing 33%™, why 40 years of advice to women hasn't closed the gap, the actions women can take to create careers that soar, and steps companies must take to close the leadership gender gap.
Susan Colantuono is CEO of Leading Women, where she inspires and powers the success of women leaders in organizations and through her books and writings.

Women represent 50 percent

of middle management
and professional positions

but the percentages of women
at the top of organizations,

like Kathleen Murphy,

whom you've heard, and Gail Goodman
who's speaking later,

represent not even a third of that number.

So some people hear that statistic

and they ask, why do we have
so few women leaders?

But I look at that statistic

and if you, like me, believe
that leadership manifests at every level,

you would see that there's a tremendous,

awesome resource of leaders

who are leading in middle management,
which raises a different question:

"Why are there so many women
mired in the middle,

and what has to happen
to take them to the top?"

So some of you might be
some of those women

who are in middle management

and seeking to move
up in your organization.

Well, Tonya is a great example
of one of these women.

I met her two years ago.

She was a vice president
in a Fortune 50 company.

And she said to me
with a sense of deep frustration,

"I've worked really hard
to improve my confidence

and my assertiveness
and develop a great brand.

I get terrific performance evals
from my boss.

My 360s in the organization let me
know that my teams love working for me.

I've taken every management course
that I can here.

I'm working with a terrific mentor and yet

I've been passed over twice
for advancement opportunities,

even when my manager knows

that I'm committed to moving up and even
interested in an international assignment.

I don't understand
why I'm being passed over."

So what Tonya doesn't realize

is that there's a missing 33 percent
of the career success

equation for women,

and it's understanding
what this missing 33 percent is

that's required to close
the gender gap at the top.

So if you have listened
to Sheryl Sandberg's TED Talk,

get ready for women in leadership 2.0.

In order to move up in organizations,

you have to be known
for your leadership skills.

And this would apply to any of you,
women or men.

It means that you have to be recognized
for using the greatness in you

to achieve and sustain
extraordinary outcomes

by engaging the greatness in others.

Put in other language,

it means you have to use your skills
and talents and abilities

to help the organization achieve
its strategic financial goals

and do that by working effectively
with others,

inside of the organization and outside.

And although all three of these elements
of leadership

are important when it comes to moving up
in organizations,

they aren't equally important.

So pay attention to the green box
as I move forward.

In seeking and identifying
employees with high potential,

the potential to go to the top
of organizations,

the skills and competencies
that relate to that green box

are rated twice as heavily as those
in the other two elements of leadership.

These skills and competencies

can be summarized as business,
strategic and financial acumen.

In other words,
this skill set has to do

with understanding
where the organization is going,

what its strategy is,
what financial targets it has in place,

and understand your role
in moving the organization forward.

This is that missing 33 percent
of the career success equation for women.

Not because it's missing
in our capabilities or abilities,

but because it's missing in the advice
that we're given.

Someone's affirming that that's been
their experience.

Here's what I mean by that.

Five years ago, I was asked
to moderate a panel of executives,

and the topic for the evening was

"What do you look for in
high-potential employees?"

So think about the three elements
of leadership

as I summarize for you what they told me.

They said,

"We look for people who are smart
and hardworking and committed

and trustworthy and resilient."

So which element of leadership
does that relate to?

Personal greatness.

They said, "We look for employees
who are great with our customers,

who empower their teams,
who negotiate effectively,

who are able to manage conflict well
and are overall great communicators."

Which element of leadership
does that equate to?

Engaging the greatness in others.

And then they pretty much stopped.

So I asked, "Well, what about people
who understand your business,

where it's going, and their role
in taking it there?

And what about people who are able
to scan the external environment,

identify risks and opportunities,

make strategy or make
strategic recommendations?

And what about people who are able

to look at the financials
of your business,

understand the story
that the financials tell,

and either take appropriate action
or make appropriate recommendations?"

And to a man, they said, "That's a given."

So I turned to the audience of a 150 women

and I asked, "How many of you
have ever been told

that the door-opener for career
advancement is your business, strategic

and financial acumen,

and that all the other important stuff
is what differentiates you

in the talent pool?"

Three women raised their hand.

And I've asked this question of women
all around the globe

in the five years since

and the percentage
is never much different.

So this is obvious, right?

But how can it be?

Well, there are primarily three reasons
that there's this missing 33 percent

in the career success advice
given to women.

First of all,

when organizations direct women
toward resources

that focus on the conventional advice

that we've been hearing for over 40 years,

there's a notable absence of advice

that relates to business, strategic
and financial acumen.

Much of the advice is emphasizing
personal actions

that we need to take,
like become more assertive,

become more confident,
develop your personal brand.

Things that Tonya has been working on.

And advice about
working with other people,

things like learn to self-promote,
get a mentor, enhance your network.

And virtually nothing said

about the importance of business,
strategic and financial acumen.

This doesn't mean
that this advice is unimportant.

What it means is that this is advice
that's absolutely essential

for breaking through

from career start to middle management.

But it's not the advice
that gets women to break through

from the middle, where we're 50 percent,
to senior and executive positions.

And this is why
conventional advice to women

in 40 years hasn't closed
the gender gap at the top

and won't close it.

Now, the second reason
relates to Tonya's comments

about having had excellent
performance evals,

great feedback from her teams,

and having taken every management
training program

she can lay her hands on.

So you would think that she's getting
messages from her organization

through the talent development systems

and performance management systems
that let her know how important it is

to develop business,
strategic and financial acumen.

But here again that green square
is quite small.

On average, talent and performance
management systems in the organizations

that I've worked with

focus three to one on the other
two elements of leadership

compared to the importance of
business, strategic and financial acumen,

which is why typical talent
and performance systems

haven't closed and won't close
the gender gap at the top.

Now, Tonya also talked about
working with a mentor,

and this is really important to talk about

because if organizations' talent
and performance systems aren't giving

people in general
information about the importance

of business, strategic and financial
acumen, how are men getting to the top?

Well, there are primarily two ways.

One is because of the positions
they're guided into,

and the other is because
of informal mentoring and sponsorship.

So, what's women's experience
as it relates to mentoring?

Well, this comment from an executive
that I worked with recently

illustrates that experience.

He was very proud of the fact
that last year he had two protégés,

a man and a woman.

And he said,
"I helped the woman build confidence,

I helped the man learn the business,

and I didn't realize that I was treating
them any differently."

And he was sincere about that.

So what this illustrates
is that as managers,

whether we're women or men,

we have mindsets about women and men,
about careers in leadership,

and these unexamined mindsets
won't close the gender gap at the top.

So how do we take this idea
of the missing 33 percent

and turn it into action?

Well, for women the answer is obvious.

We have to begin to focus more
on developing and demonstrating

the skills we have that show

that we're people who understand
our businesses, where they're headed,

and our role in taking it there.

That's what enables that breakthrough
from middle management to leadership

at the top.

But you don't have to be
a middle manager to do this.

One young scientist that works
in a biotech firm

used her insight
about the missing 33 percent

to weave financial impact data

into a project update she did
and got tremendous positive feedback

from the managers in the room.

So we don't want to put 100 percent
of the responsibility

on women's shoulders,

nor would it be wise to do so,
and here's why.

In order for companies to achieve
their strategic financial goals,

executives understand
that they have to have everyone

pulling in the same direction.

In other words,
the term we use in business is

we have to have strategic alignment.

And executives know this very well,
and yet only 37 percent,

according to a recent
Conference Board report,

believe that they have
that strategic alignment in place.

So for 63 percent of organizations,

achieving their strategic financial goals
is questionable.

And if you think about
what I've just shared,

that you have situations where

at least 50 percent
of your middle managers

haven't received clear messaging
that they have to become

focused on the business,
where it's headed,

and their role in taking it there,

it's not surprising that
that percentage of executives

who are confident about alignment
is so low.

Which is why

there are other people
who have a role to play in this.

So, it's important

for directors on boards
to expect from their executives

proportional pools of women
when they sit down once a year

for their succession discussions.

Why? Because if they aren't seeing that,

it could be an indicator or a red flag

that their organization isn't as aligned
as it could potentially be.

It's important for CEOs to also expect
these proportional pools,

and if they hear comments like,

"Well, she doesn't have enough
business experience,"

ask the question,
"What are we going to do about that?"

It's important for H.R.
executives to make sure

that the missing 33 percent
is appropriately emphasized

and it's important for women and men
who are in management positions

to examine the mindsets we hold
about women and men,

about careers and success,

to make sure we're creating a level
playing field for everybody.

So let me close with the latest chapter
in Tonya's story.

Tonya emailed me two months ago
and she said that she had been interviewed

for a new position, and during
the interview they probed

about her business acumen

and her strategic insights
into the industry.

And she said that she was so happy
to report that now she has a new position

reporting directly to the chief
information officer at her company.

So for some of you, the missing 33 percent
is an idea for you to put into action,

and I hope that for all of you,
you will see it as an idea worth spreading

in order to help organizations
be more effective,

to help women create careers that soar,

and to help close
the gender gap at the top.

Thank you.