Women in the C-suite: Perspectives on ‘Potholes’ and Pathways

Shortly after I joined ServiceNow in 2018, David Schneider, our president of Global Customer Operations, and I flew out to visit a partner. 

David and I are peers: We are both on the executive team at ServiceNow. I run strategy and a number of operations functions for the company – and strategy was one of the topics we planned to discuss with the partner. 

I love meeting with our customers and partners and learning from each other; however, when we arrived at the meeting, the partner introduced himself to David and the other men in our group, but not to me. Then he sat down to kick off the meeting. And I sat too, knowing we only had a short time together, and even perhaps assuming I should have been more assertive when I first walked in or that I didn’t choose the right spot at the table.  

Fortunately, David is an incredible ally who has made the effort to educate himself on the inequities (no matter now micro) that women may feel in the workplace and the advocacy (however seemingly small) that help all of us navigate this together. David immediately saw this behavior and interrupted to introduce me, making it a point to stress my role as the executive driving strategy at ServiceNow. On the plane ride home later that evening, David even went out of his way to comment on the partner’s behavior, apologizing that it had happened to me.   

I’m grateful to David. And I use this story to highlight an important point: Even in the C-suite, women face bias and must learn to navigate what I call ‘potholes’ in their day-to-day experiences. 

Why do ‘potholes’ happen? 

Research by Bain and LinkedIn shows that women enter the workforce with equal ambition and confidence. But after approx. two years, both drop dramatically compared to their male counterparts. This drop happens for a variety of reasons, and in my experience, one is because the further women advance in their careers, the fewer female role models they tend to see. With fewer people to learn where the ‘potholes’ are, things such as implicit bias, stereotypes and fewer sponsors to help them navigate those ‘potholes’ successfully, no wonder we see an impact on both ambition and confidence.

As a working mom, one of the ‘potholes’ that I’ve experienced is implicit judgment. When I was working in consulting, I was sharing with a senior colleague some of the struggles I was having, juggling being a new mom with the demands of my job. My male colleague’s reply? “I’m so glad my wife can stay home with our kids.”

Gut-punch. This was a trusted advisor and someone I highly respect. At that moment I felt two ‘pothole’ bumps: one from the impact of his words, and another from lacking a female sponsor (or even a male sponsor who understood the tradeoffs in a dual-income household) to help me navigate what being a working mom meant. 

Representation is business-critical

Representation isn’t just good for female employees; it is also business-critical. I just read this study from S&P Global that shows how companies with women in their C-suite out-perform market averages. Awesome! And if you ask me, not surprising. 

In my experience, increasing the number and types of voices, thoughts, and perspectives – including gender, race and ethnicity, age and more – also expands the way companies connect with their customers, anticipate needs, and innovate. Limiting representation – including within the C-suite – means companies miss out on ideas and insights that help them compete – for customers and for talent.

At ServiceNow, I’m fortunate to work with many female leaders, and 40% of our board of directors are women as well. That’s important – we serve 75% of the Fortune 500, and we need to be able to reflect that diversity within ourselves. 

It’s critical for our business.  

Recently, one of our sales teams was visiting a prospective customer. During the meeting, one of the women on the customer side was quiet; she didn’t talk at all. Before the meeting ended, our sales lead made it a point to include her and ask for her thoughts. Smart move. It turns out she was the technical lead for the customer, and her opinion would have the most influence on whether they chose ServiceNow. By making sure everyone in the room had a voice, our sales lead received valuable feedback that helped close the deal. 

C-suite pathways

I was inspired to write this article by the Women’s Forum of New York. They published a list of companies that have achieved 30% or greater female representation on their boards of directors*. 

It got me to thinking about how women in the C-suite – especially those who are moms like me – can navigate being successful on their own journeys and inspiring others on their path.  

1. Say “yes” to what matters and “no” to what doesn’t. Having my first baby led to a revelation. Until that point, I had defined work in a way that worked in a world with no boundaries. But with my first baby, I suddenly had to reteach myself how to work. I didn’t have time for everything; I needed to focus on the critical few, rather than everything that came my way. I taught myself to say “yes” to what mattered, and “no” if it didn’t. I still practice that intentionality today.

2. Create your own work-life balance. I also made it a point to manage my work schedule more, instead of letting it manage me. This took confidence in my own ability to deliver great quality work within a set of boundaries that needed respect. To make sure I was able to spend quality time with my new baby, I asked for more local clients to keep travel to a minimum. I set up office hours where I could be meeting-free and get more work done. And I made sure that my managers and my clients knew and respected the schedule boundaries my family required, so I could enjoy it uninterrupted. Helping people understand my priorities was a huge help.

3. Be an active ally against ‘potholes.’ I keep photos of my kids all over my workspace and I openly share with my team when I need to adjust my schedule to go to a field trip with my kindergarten daughter or take my eight-year-old son to a doctor's appointment. It's part of my version of "thriving" at work. And it is critical to me role modeling to my team. 

Yes, there is still work to do. It’s unfortunate that we need research to prove what most of us already know: Women in business and in the C-suite are essential to business success. But I see change happening. Not only am I encouraged by it, I’m here to help drive it. 

?*ServiceNow is listed in the “30%” group due to a difference in timing for the list and changes to our board. Four of our 10 BOD members are women.