Women represent 50 percent of middle management and professional positions, but the percentages of women at the top of organizations 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?
Žene čine 50 procenata šefova odseka i radnih mesta, ali udeo žena na vrhu organizacija nije ni trećina te brojke. Kada se pogleda ta statistika, neko bi pitao zašto je tako malo žena koje vode? Ako se slažete sa mnom da vođa ima na svim nivoima kompanije, kada se pogledaju brojke, vidi se da na srednjem nivou postoji ogroman broj vođa, te se nameće pitanje: zašto je toliko žena zastalo na sredini i šta mora da se uradi da bi stigle do vrha?
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 am 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."
Među vama možda ima baš tih žena koje su šefovi odseka i žele da napreduju. Tonja je odličan primer ovoga. Upoznale smo se pre dve godine. Radi kao podpredsednik u jednoj od 50 najjačih kompanija i požalila mi se: ,,Dosta sam radila na samopouzdanju i isticanju i razvila sam dobar brend, šef je odlično ocenio moj rad, iz organizacije su mi javili da timovi uživaju da rade sa mnom, pohađala sam sve moguće kurseve menadžmenta, radim sa odličnim mentorom, a opet su me dvaput preskočili pri unapređenju, iako šef zna da želim da napredujem, čak i da radim u inostranstvu. Ne razumem zbog čega me preskaču.''
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.
Tonja ne shvata da u jednačini za uspeh kod žena fali jedna trećina, a da bismo izjednačili polove na vrhu moramo da razumemo tu trećinu.
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.
Morate da važite za dobrog vođu kako biste napredovali u organizacijama, i to se odnosi i na muškarce i na žene. To znači da morate da koristite sopstvenu veličinu i da probudite veličinu u drugima kako bi došlo do izuzetnih rezultata. Drugim rečima, morate da koristite svoje veštine, talente i sposobnosti kako bi organizaciji pomogli da ostvari svoje strateške i finansijske ciljeve, putem efektivne saradnje sa ljudima unutar i van organizacije. Iako su sva ova tri elementa vođstva važna za napredovanje, nisu svi podjednako važni. Zato dok budem pričala obratite pažnju na zeleni pravougaonik.
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 understanding 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.
Kad kompanije traže radnike koji imaju visok potencijal za napredovanje, veštine koje se nalaze u tom zelenom pravougaoniku se dvostruko više vrednuju od onih u okviru druga dva elementa. Ove veštine i sposobnosti se odnose na poznavanje posla, strategije i finansija. Drugim rečima, odnose se na razumevanje pravca u kom se kompanija kreće, njene strategije i finansijskih ciljeva, kao i spostvenog doprinosa njenom napretku. To je trećina koja nedostaje u jednačini uspeha za žene, ne zato što nismo u mogućnosti da to postignemo, već zato što nas niko nije posavetovao u tom pravcu.
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.
Pod tim mislim na sledeće. Pre pet godina sam bila voditelj diskusije među direktorima, a tema večeri je bila: ,,Šta mora da ima zaposleni sa visokim potencijalom?'' Dok vam pričam kako su odgovorili, razmislite o tri elementa vođstva.
They said, "We look for people who are smart and hard working and committed and trustworthy and resilient." So which element of leadership does that relate to? Personal greatness.
Rekli su: ,,Tražimo pametne, vredne, posvećene, pouzdane, i otporne ljude.'' Na koji se onda element to odnosi? Sopstvenu veličinu.
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.
Rekli su: ,,Tražimo zaposlene koji dobro umeju sa mušterijama, koji izvlače najbolje iz svog tima, koji uspešno pregovaraju, koji dobro izlaze na kraj sa konfliktima, i uopšte dobro komuniciraju.'' Koji element vođstva to čini? Buđenje veličine u drugima.
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?"
I tu su otprilike stali. Onda sam pitala: ,,A šta je sa ljudima koji razumeju poslovanje, u kom pravcu ide i svoju ulogu u njemu? I šta je sa onima koji umeju da opažaju okolinu, da prepoznaju rizike i prilike, da osmisle i predlože strategiju? I šta je sa onima koji pogledaju finansije i razumeju šta one znače i u skladu sa tim mogu da delaju ili daju predloge?''
And to a man, they said, "That's a given."
I svi do jednog su rekli: ,,To se podrazumeva.''
So I turned to the audience of 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.
Okrenula sam se ka 150 žena u publici i pitala: ,,Kome od vas su rekli da je za napredovanje u karijeri neophodno poznavanje posla, strategije i finansija, a da sve ovo ostalo služi da se istaknete?'' Tri su podigle ruku, i u narednih pet godina sam isto pitala žene širom sveta i procenat se ne razlikuje mnogo.
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? 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's 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.
Znači da je u pitanju očita stvar? Ali, kako je to moguće? Postoje tri osnovna razloga zbog kojih fali ova trećina saveta za uspešnu karijeru kod žena. Kad organizacije ženama ukažu na knjige koje izlažu savete koje slušamo već 40 godina, primeti se da u njima nema saveta vezanih za poznavanje posla, strategije i finansija. Dobar deo saveta se odnosi na to kako treba da postupamo, na primer da se istaknemo, budemo samopouzdanije, da razvijemo svoj brend, sve što je Tonja radila, kao i na to kako da radimo sa drugima, kako da istaknemo svoj doprinos, da nađemo mentora, povećamo mrežu kontakata, a gotovo da nema pomena o razumevanju posla, strategije i finansija. To ne znači da takvi saveti nisu važni. To su saveti koji su nam neophodni kako bi sa samog početka karijere stigle do srednjeg nivoa, ali ti saveti nam neće pomoći da sa srednjeg nivoa, gde nas ima 50 posto pređemo na mesta direktora. Zbog toga već 40 godina uobičajeni saveti ne uspevaju da izjednače polove na vrhu, niti će uspeti.
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.
Drugi razlog se odnosi na to što je Tonja pomenula, kako je njen rad dobro ocenjen, da je dobila pohvale od timova i da je pohađala sve kurseve menadžmenta koje je uspela da nađe. Pomislili bi da joj kroz program za razvoj talenata organizacija daje do znanja koliko je zapravo bitno poznavati posao, strategiju i finansije ali i tu je zeleni pravugaonik prilično mali. Programi za razvoj talenata u organizacijama sa kojima sam radila se uglavnom tri puta više fokusiraju na druge elemente vođstva u odnosu na poznavanje posla, strategije i finansija, i zbog toga i nisu niti će uspeti da uklone razliku među polovima na vrhu.
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.
Tonja je pominjala i rad sa mentorom, i o tome je bitno pričati, jer kako muškarci uspevaju da stignu do vrha ako uzmemo da programi za razvoj talenata ne daju ljudima informacije o važnosti poznavanja poslovanja, strategije i finansija? Postoje dva glavna načina. Jedan je to što ih vode do tog položaja, a drugi se neformalni mentori i sponzori.
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.
Kakvo iskustvo žene imaju sa mentorima? Ono se oslikava u priči o direktoru sa kojim sam nedavno radila. Bio je veoma ponosan na to što je prethodne godina imao i muškog i ženskog štićenika. Rekao je: ,,Ženi sam pomogao sa samopouzdanjem, a muškarca sam učio zanatu, a nisam ni shvatio da sam napravio razliku.'' I to je ozbiljno mislio.
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.
To nam govori da bez obzira da li smo muškarci ili žene, kao menadžeri imamo različite stavove o muškarcima i ženama, o karijeri i vođstvu, i ovi stavovi neće izjednačiti polove na vrhu ako ih ne preispitamo. Kako onda da to što znamo o trećini koja nedostaje pretvorimo u delo? Ženama je to očito: moramo više da obratimo pažnju na razvijanje i pokazivanje veština i da pokažemo kako razumemo posao, kako se razvija i kako možemo da doprinesemo. To će nam omogućiti da sa srednjeg nivoa pređemo na vrh. Ali to se ne odnosi samo na šefove odseka. Jedna devojka koja radi kao naučnik u biotehnološkoj firmi je iskoristila poznavanje te trećine kako bi u projekat na kom je radila ubacila podatke o finansijama, i svi menadžeri su to izuzetno pozitivno ocenili.
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. 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 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 are creating a level playing field for everybody.
Ne želimo da sva odgovornost leži na ramenima žena, niti bi to bilo pametno, zbog sledećeg: direktori znaju da je neophodno da svi rade ka istoj stvari kako bi kompanija postigla strateške i finansijske ciljeve. Poslovnim rečnikom, treba da budu strateški usaglašeni. Iako direktori to dobro znaju, prema izveštaju organizacije "Conference Board", svega 37% smatra da kod njih postoji takva usaglašenost. Znači da je za 63% organizacija postizanje strateških i finansijskih ciljeva pod znakom pitanja. Ako uzmete u obzir to što sam rekla: da bar 50% šefova odseka nije primilo k znanju da treba da se usredsrede na posao, pravac njegovog razvitka i sopstveni doprinos; onda ne iznenađuje da tako malo direktora veruje da je postiglo usaglašenost i zbog toga i drugi treba da se priključe. Bitno je da članovi upravnog odbora pri godišnjoj oceni kadrova od direktora očekuju srazmeran broj ženskih kandidata. Zašto? Ako to ne očekuju, to možda ukazuje da organizacija nije u potpunosti usaglašena. Bitno je i da izvršni direktori očekuju takvu ravnopravnost među kandidatima, a ako bude komentara poput: ,,Ona nema dovoljno iskustva u poslu.'' da pitaju: ,,Kako ćemo to da rešimo?'' Bitno je da se članovi kadrovske službe potrude i naglase tu trećinu koja nedostaje, a važno je i da menadžeri, i muškarci i žene, preispitaju stavove o ženama i muškarcima, o karijeri i uspehu, kako bi bili sigurni da svi imaju ravnopravnu šansu.
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.
Završila bih poslednjim vestima o Tonji. U imejlu od pre dva meseca je rekla da je bila na razgovoru za novu poziciju i da su joj tokom razgovora postavili pitanja vezana za poznavanje posla i njen pogled na industriju i radovalo je što može da kaže da je sad na novom radnom mestu gde joj je pretpostavljeni šef odseka za informacije. Neki od vas će znanje o trećini koja nedostaje da pretvore u delo, a nadam se da svi shvataju da tu ideju treba širiti kako bi organizacije bile uspešnije, kako bi žene razvile uspešne karijere i kako bismo uklonili razliku među polovima na vrhu.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)