International Women's Day + 7 : So who are you fighting for?

With over 1+ Million hits on LinkedIn and 9+ Million on Google, International Women’s Day 2020 received a lot of attention and well-deserved accolades of professionals across industries and the globe! Now a distant memory (I can’t believe it was just 7 days ago), folks have moved on to other challenges, not the least getting businesses ready to navigate the virus pandemic. That can’t be the outcome of the day, a distant memory? 

So… what are you going to do now? How are you going to change your leadership approach, talent development, personal advocacy? 

I find it works best to take one or two ideas you’ve seen and make them part of your personal operating model over the next year. Bring rigor to change vs. anecdotal / ad-hoc approaches. By no means an expert, I find it works best to talk with talent on your team, peers, and even leaders I’ve worked for to understand what will make the biggest difference for them, in our organization, etc. 

Here are a few ideas that could make a difference for your personal leadership success and organization:

1.      Bring Women to the Table – I was just in an industry meeting last week and a woman came and sat down in the second row instead of at the table. I stopped the meeting, gave her my seat and moved another seat up to the table that I then took. “To the Table” could mean on the working team, leadership team, executive presentation, on stage in organization meetings, a visible lunch in the cafeteria, and so on.

2.      Take a leadership role in Women Development Programs – I was a strong advocate for, invested my time, and coached / mentored many as part of P&G’s “Women of IT” program. I learned and grew as much from the experience as I potentially provided! Now as a strategic advisor to startups, I’m helping to set up similar programs as we identify top talents and needs for supporting their incredible growth targets. There is no such thing as too big or too small of an organization!

3.      Challenge thinking on leadership style, promotions, and candidates for key roles – Beyond looking at disparity in salaries, bonuses, etc., go further to look at who are the candidates for key roles and promotions. Ask the tough questions and truly lean forward!

a.      In a recent head hunter search, I not only provided the name of a top talent woman for Asian CIO of a Fortune 100 company (after meeting with her as a mentor), but advocated that she would be the top candidate they would see bar none and not to get trapped by a resume or LinkedIn that was not over-selling her capabilities. They met with her and offered her the role 3 weeks later!

b.      In a recent Fortune 100 CIO search (a company very close to me), I reached out to the CEO and CHRO recommending that they look at a top talent woman leader already in their company… I named names and challenged their thinking. They did not listen, but I will continue to do the same. They will likely lose more top talent!

c.      At one point in my career, we had a talent review where multiple folks complained, “every project we gave this leader she killed due to lack of value.” Where they saw leadership as keeping things moving forward (even if it did not make sense), I saw this leader displaying incredible leadership of doing the harder right for our business. Instead of rating her low, I promoted her and made her my project portfolio leader!

4.      Help on their Career Journey in a way they want, not what you think alone – Now as a Board Member and Strategic Advisor, one of the core pillars of my business is to help people on their journey. I charge nothing for this part of AJW-Advisory! If someone feels like they need to pay me for my time (some people go to the gym to workout and some people need skin in the game and pay a trainer to help them workout), I have them make a donation to the Ovarian Cancer Alliance of Greater Cincinnati. 

I now get to be an advocate and coach/advisor for top talent woman who are looking to join boards or establish advisory businesses (I was privileged to work with some of the top CIO’s in the industry and now other leading CxO’s), still seeking to be a CxO, or in some cases, just starting their careers looking for their first internship or role!

Over 10 years ago, one of the top advocates for my career sat down with me at lunch, just a few years after she retired, and I was promoted to Vice President at P&G. She shared her advocacy for my career with incredible stories of her fighting for me in talent reviews, role decisions, and more. It made be incredibly proud and honored! 

Then she turned on a dime and asked, so who are you doing that for now? Who are you fighting for? It was like a punch to the stomach as I knew I was not doing enough. Over the last 10 years (7 at P&G and now 3 at AJW-Advisory), I made many of these systemic changes to my leadership approach and hope I’m living up to her expectations. Thanks Trish.

So, who are you fighting for?

AJW