Three Intentional Ways to Fix the Leadership Pipeline

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As a woman of color and a disruptive leader, I am passionate about creating an inclusive workplace.?

It’s my job — and every leader’s responsibility — to bring out the best in everyone, including other women.

But if we’re leaving out women, a significant portion of the workforce, and neglecting to develop their talent, we’re missing the opportunity to increase their potential and make our organizations rise to their greatest potential.

So, in honor of , I’m sharing where we’re at in terms of including women in the workplace, plus some concrete actions we can take to make even more progress.

Let’s start with what the data tells us.

Progress but not perfection

From 2019 to 2023, we saw a significant increase in the percentage of men who believe women have an equal shot at leadership positions. Today, 68% of men believe women can be CEO, 70% believe women can be CIO, and 74% believe women can hold any senior VP position.

On paper, this looks great. But there’s something troubling hidden in the data: Women aren’t progressing into leadership positions.

Globally, the percentage of women that hold a junior position is about 40%. And the percentage of women at the very top of the organization – in the C-suite and on the board – is now at 12% for each. But the percentage of women in leadership positions in the middle of the organization is falling. There are lots of reasons for this (the pandemic, flexibility, etc.), but we can clearly see that women, especially women of color, are not being promoted at the same rate as white men and men of color. In fact, women of color are 25% less likely to be promoted at the very first level of management.?

Here’s what that looks like. In the chart below, I took the percentages of people segmented by race and gender at each leadership stage and expressed it as a ratio to their entry level percentages. If there was gender and race parity, meaning people were promoted at the same rate, this index would remain at 1.00 at each. But at the very first level of leadership – the promotion to Manager – white men go from being 33% of entry level positions to 41% of managers (an index of 1.24). In contrast, women of color go from being 19% of entry level positions to only 14% of managers (an index of .74).?

What’s clear to me is that, yes, there’s been a change in attitudes, but the pipeline has also shifted. And the first rung of the ladder is broken. I focus on this so much because the leadership pipeline is in direct control of each organization. If promotions were fair and equitable, if we hired people with the belief that they all have an equal shot at the top, then this chart would look very different.??

How do we fix it? How do we ensure we aren’t losing women in the messy middle of the workforce?

Measure your data.

You need to understand what your leadership pipeline looks like and ensure it’s transparent across the entire organization.

How are you promoting people? How are you promoting women? And people of color? Where are they falling out of the pipeline?

Track this information over time — and be honest about the results. If you see women starting to drop off in certain areas, ask why. Decide you’re not going to accept it and make a plan for addressing the challenges in your leadership pipeline. It might mean assessing internal structures holding women back or resolving unconscious biases.

But you have to understand your leadership pipeline statistics before you can make a concrete plan. Remember: You can't manage what you don't measure, and you measure what you want to manage.

Address unconscious biases.?

Yes, our beliefs are changing. We’re more optimistic about women’s opportunities in the workplace andour beliefs of what women can achieve has improved significantly overthe last five years.

But our behaviors haven’t changed. And if we want to unfreeze this messy middle, we need to dig into the unconscious biases we all have.?

One way to is create more experiential learning opportunities through shadowing, one-on-one coaching, or reverse mentoring. Give people a chance to walk in someone else’s shoes and see how bias shows up in the workplace — sometimes in incredibly subtle ways.

If we want to truly address equity in the workplace, we have to understand each other’s backgrounds and practice more empathy. We need to understand what people are going through, what’s holding them back, and — critically — what they need to move forward.

That’s what it takes to change people’s behavior.

Rethink role design.

We’re holding men and women to different leadership standards. We want our women leaders to have a strategic vision, to be open and transparent communicators, and to be courageous, inspirational, optimistic, and empathetic. For men, the key leadership attributes include innovative, creative, analytical, logical, strong, ethical, and honest.?

If we want to promote women, we need to break the mold. We need to challenge the perception of what makes a good leader.?

Ask yourself what a good CIO or CEO looks like regardless of gender. To help you rethink how you design the top roles within your organization, take a close look at your job requirements. We usually have a long list of criteria, but it’s highly unlikely one person can check all those boxes. Instead, identify the top five or six criteria for the role and ensure they’re gender and race neutral — and are truly core requirements.?

Changing your approach to look for someone who fits 80% of the attributes significantly increases your candidate pool — and opens the door for more women and women of color.

There’s a lot at stake here. But we believe that equity and parity are possible. So let’s align our beliefs with our behaviors. Let’s make big, disruptive changes and create concrete plans. We have a lot of work to do, but we can drive change if we’re intentional.?

One place we’ve definitely made progress? Generative AI! Join me next week for a discussion about AI tools, especially ChatGPT — and the implications of this technology. I’ll see you on Tuesday, March 14 at 9 am PT!

Your Turn

How are you celebrating International Women's Day? How do you celebrate the women in your life, workplace, and society? I’d love to hear what you’re doing — and how you think we can increase the potential for women. I look forward to reading your thoughts!