The Leadership Imperative to Advancing Women and Engaging Men

Not Enough Women Are Making It To The Very Top

According to The Sponsor Effect: Breaking Through the Last Glass Ceiling published in Harvard Business Review, "Despite making gains in middle and senior management, they hold just 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEO positions. In the C-suite, they’re outnumbered four to one. They account for less than 16 percent of all corporate officers, and comprise only 7.6 percent of Fortune 500 top earner positions."

When I spoke with Jeffrey Tobias Halter, he said that "Leaders, specifically men, look around the organization and think their doing a good job promoting women because they see a lot of women in the workforce today. The challenge is, these women aren't in the right roles; they're not be promoted in equal numbers. 56% of men vs. 39% of women think women have made good progress in the last 10 years."

Male Culture Norms

According to Halter, "The male cultural norms become, by default, corporate cultural norms. A big one that's out there is something called 'Avoid all things feminine.' Feminine is soft; feminine is weak; feminine has no place in the business world."

He continued, "Well, what that looks like is, by nature, if I'm even supporting women's advancement or supporting this dialogue, I'm kind of betraying the 'man card' and the 'man code' that I carry."

That's why a lot of the coaching Jeffrey does is with men - helping them to fully understand this issues, and encouraging them to make a commitment to advancing women in the workplace.

In our interview, Jeffrey talks about ...

• How he got started in the work of being an advocate for women in the workplace, and what it means to be a gender strategist.
• His new book – WHY WOMEN, The Leadership Imperative to Advancing Women and Engaging Men, and the incredible response it’s had so far.
• Why advancing women is critical to business and the future of the US economy.
• Male gender fatigue, and male cultural norms, which by default become corporate culture norms.
• Several actionable ways men can improve women’s advancement and retention in their workplace.
• Gender pay equity and the difference in pay for women compared to pay for men.
• Fathers of daughters, and the awesome responsibility they have to become advocates for women.
• His Father of Daughter Initiative where men can pledge to demonstrate their commitment to advancing women in the workplace. It’s a simple PDF you can print, sign and display at work, to demonstrate that female colleagues can approach you as a coach, mentor, sponsor and concerned father.

Hop over to the show notes for Jeffrey's episode for links to download a free chapter of his book, his TEDx talk, his Father of Daughter Initiative, and more.

The work that Jeffrey is doing to empower and advance women is amazing. Make sure you tune in to this one.

About Jeffrey Tobias Halter

Jeffery Tobias Halter is a corporate gender strategist. The country’s leading expert on engaging men to advance women, Jeffery is the President of YWomen, a strategic consulting company. The former Director of Diversity Strategy of The Coca-Cola Company, Jeffery has worked with leading companies including McDonald’s, Deloitte, Publicis Groupe, GE and more. Jeffery’s latest book WHY WOMEN, The Leadership Imperative to Advancing Women and Engaging Men, is the first business book written by a man on how companies can advance women to enhance the company. A highly sought-after speaker, Jeffery is a TEDx speaker and frequently talks at industry and corporate events.