Archive | September, 2009

Positive politics for powerful female leaders

28 Sep

Since I left my job earlier this month, a lot of my contacts have asked me what they can do to help – to which my reply has been: “Please keep me in the loop with the news and key events, please keep inviting me to networking meetings and interesting events!”

And, because they are all Wonderful Women, the invitations keep arriving – and hence I am off to Cass Business School this evening for an event called “21st Century Leadership: The Evolution of Corporate Culture”, described thus:

” … we will be joined by the authors of “Why Women Mean Business”, Alison Maitland and Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, who take the economic arguments for change to the heart of the corporate world. They engage business leaders on how to drive growth by drawing on the complementary strengths of men and women.

We will also hear from Julie Gilbert, ex-Senior Vice President of Best Buy, a leading US retailer of consumer electronics and founder of WOLF, an external women’s network, through which Best Buy increased its female market share by more than $3.6bn, and the number of female managers by 40%.”

I know Alison and Avivah very well from having organised the London, New York and Toronto launches of WWMB last year and am thrilled it’s now out in paperback; and Julie is also involved with the Downing Street Project and is a wonderful speaker – so, with such a strong panel, this evening will be a terrific event.

I’ve also received an email from Women in Technology, inviting me to participate in a workship entitled “Positive politics for powerful female leaders”. This focuses on the “Rules of the Game” and how to be positively political to enhance career development and satisfaction. The (fee based) workshop will be run by Michelle Brailsford of the Jupiter Consulting Group; Michelle is also President of the London chapter of the European Professional Women’s Network, so trust me when I say she knows her stuff on this one. Reproduced with permission, here’s an overview of “The Rules” – how many hold true for you?

Rule #1. Like the lottery… you have to play to win.
Learn how to ‘re-frame’ the concepts around politics so that you feel comfortable ‘playing the game’.

Rule #2. Don’t get upset, get even.
Learn how to defuse any denial or resistance you might experience related to organisational politics.

Rule #3. Treat Stakeholders as they would like to be treated.
Understand two political power styles and how to flex your style more effectively.

Rule #4. Be yourself, but be the best self you can be.
Learn how to leverage your natural style to ensure you are ‘heard’ and supported.

Rule #5. A good idea alone is not enough.
Learn how to ‘message’ appropriately.

Rule #6. Don’t light a candle to place it under a bushel basket.
Learn how to promote yourself and your team with decent boldness.

Rule #7. Past performance predicts future behaviour… for women.
Learn how to use your track record to tell stories about credibility and trustworthiness.

Rule #8. The world isn’t fair and the sooner you realise this, the better.
Learn how to ‘level the playing field’ by spending time on ‘the right things’ instead of ‘doing things right’.

Rule #9. There are friends and there are allies.
Build your network strategically.

And finally …

Rule #10. Only powerful people can effect powerful change.

And now I am off to Cass, to try and follow the rules of #9.

Today’s quotation: very English, very northern

26 Sep

Here’s Victoria Wood, on death:

In India, if a man dies, the widow flings herself on to the funeral pyre. In this country, the woman just says: “72 baps, Connie; you slice, I’ll spread.”

Thanks to Ms Wood and also, to a lesser extent, her fellow Lancastrian, comedian Peter Kay, I can now no longer utter the name “Connie” other than in a Northern voice; it somehow sounds completely wrong in my BBC English accent.

(As did asking for an “Alfred Hitchchocolate cupcake, please” in San Francisco earlier this month … but that’s another story.)

The future’s Green, the future’s female

25 Sep

I’m still catching up on emails and news stories from earlier this month, but I was pleased to see Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas (and, upon checking out her website, I note that I’m almost in her consituency, I think) calling for equal representation between men and women at the top level of European politics.

Brave woman – she’s calling for quotas.

Writing to PM Gordon Brown, Ms Lucas insisted that equality in politics could result in more women in business jobs and other top ranking positions in society.

She said: “European policies at the highest level need to unequivocally reflect the needs and aspirations of all Europeans. The new face of the European Union must reflect the fundamental European values of justice and equality.”

The European Summit is set to be held on October 29th and 30th, with the highest positions within the European Parliament being decided at the event.

I am making a diary note …

Last night I also caught up on BBC2‘s dramatisation of “The Last Days of Lehman Brothers”, which was an excellent clip through the events of September 2008 which led to the collapse of that once mighty investment bank. As I always do, I took a quick headcount, looking for the women, and counted three: two secretaries, one (dormant) wife. Pale, male and stale? Or, put another way, a reminder of the accuracy of Nicholas Kristof’s New York Times op-ed column earlier this year:

“Wall Street is one of the most male-dominated bastions in the business world; senior staff meetings resemble a urologist’s waiting room.”

Well, quite.

Patricia Hewitt on “Sexism in the City”

24 Sep

So, I’m back from California – what a great time. Now, let the blogging re-commence.

Why does September always feel like the start of the new school year? New courses, new teachers, new pencils and pens … old habits and memories die hard. And why, I wonder, don’t we make “September Resolutions” instead of (or perhaps as well as) ones in January? Of course, there are lots of changes for me personally this September; I finished my job of eight years on 1st September, then went on holiday and am now back to face all manner of new things.

Whilst away, I had a permanent hair straightening treatment in Santa Monica – check out Jordana Lorraine’s site for details of the really quite amazing “Brazilian Blowout” (™) treatment which has, no exaggeration, changed my life 100% for the better. This may sound like a trivial thing to mention but honestly, unless you’ve suffered with unruly, frizzy hair for your whole life as I have, it’s hard to imagine how amazing now waking up Every. Single. Day. with straight hair can be. I love it and am hugely grateful to Jordana for fitting in her desperate English client on my first day in California. Here I am, looking happy with my New Hair:

Cleo with straight hair, at the Grove in LA

Anyway, moving on, as indeed I am … I struggled big time to get over the jet lag after this trip. Although I’ve travelled all over the place over the last three years, it’s been a while since I’ve had an eight hour time difference with which to contend and it’s taken me almost a week to get back on track.

One thing which was hugely helpful was absolutely HAVING to get up and get suited and booted in order to travel into central London in order to attend an event one morning earlier this week; I’m still trying to find a new pattern to my days and knowing that I had paid for my ticket was a useful motivator and gave a shape to my day. The event in question was British Telecom’s Executive Women’s Network meeting, which they had opened up to external, ticket buying guests. The meeting took the form of a “Question Time” panel event, with four panellists and a moderator doing the David Dimbleby bit.

For some reason, the not-David-Dimbleby bloke didn’t either introduce the panel or even mention their bios prior to launching in to the Q & A bit, so I’m not entirely sure of full names etc, but they were, I believe, two women from the consultancy “Everywoman”, Chris Ainslie, BT’s male, flexibly working “gender champion” and Patricia Hewitt, Labour MP, former cabinet minister and a BT non-executive director. I’d been invited to the event by my friend Pauline Crawford from Corporate Heart, so I kept her company in the front row of BT’s auditorium (and I must commend them on the seats; extremely comfortable, even for me, who usually starts to wriggle around and feel back pain in most such seating).

Most of the questions had been submitted in advance (I was too busy swishing my straight hair around in the Californian sunshine to do this) and had a common theme of examining female involvement in either the past (avoiding the credit crunch – could Lehman Sisters have had a different path?) or the future (re-building it to incorporate female strengths and talents). Patricia brought up the “sexism in the City” tagline when she argued the need for what she dubbed “cognitive diversity”, by which she meant having a variety of thoughts, strengths and skills brought to bear on a business issue, therefore leading to “less risk of things going haywire.”

She specifically cited as an example of, I assume, a lack of such cognitive diversity when referencing the “Edinburgh mafia” which, until recently, ran the Royal Bank of Scotland and brought it down so very low. I was interested to hear her mention that the major UK banks have 61 board positions between them, of which a mere FIVE are filled by women; and depressed to also learn that this is unlikely to improve anytime soon (in spite of such research as the McKinsey report on “centered leadership” which suggests that women are more likely to look at minimised loss rather than maximised gain) – due to the economic crisis causing a reduction in the range of people joining the banks’ leadership teams from non-banking backgrounds.

Pauline asked the panel for their views on the key attributes which women need to get into the boardroom, and their replies were as follows:

• You have to “really want to be there” (although I’m afraid this made me think, somewhat irreverently, of that infamous Saturday Night Live sketch from last year wherein Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin told “Hillary Clinton” that she’d nabbed the VP slot on the 2008 campaign because she “really, REALLY wanted it” – cue much grimacing from HRC).
• Ahem. Back to BT, and the panel also thought that authenticity and being yourself was vital to success –
• - as was bringing your own skills and passions to the boardroom.
• Be confident that you have the right to be there; ignore the “little voice” in the back of your head which says that perhaps you don’t (Imposter Syndrome, yes?)
• And Patricia urged us to make sure that we really “understood the finances; don’t just sit back when the numbers are being discussed”.

Other questions asked and answered were around issues of how to find (and be) a mentor, on how flexible working isn’t just a woman’s issue and how when a senior man like Chris works flexibly (he works a “compressed hours” week and hence doesn’t work on Fridays) it sends out very strong messages to both men and women as to what is both possible and acceptable within the corporate culture.

I didn’t get an opportunity to ask Patricia my own question but, with my Downing Street Project hat on, it would have been this:

“Do you foresee that the forthcoming election will see an increase in the number of female MPs from the current very low level of 19% and what will need to change for such an increase to occur?”

And I also missed out on a chance to share with Chris my own definition of a Generation Y person and how they differ from their older colleagues – but here it is.

A Generation Y person is someone who doesn’t have a landline. Think about it, and ask yourself how many 25 year olds you know who live independently (ie, not with the Bank of Mum & Dad) and have a landline. With the advent of the dongle bringing a portable and alternative way to access the Net, it’s not even needed for that anymore; plus most of the friends that I have in that bracket use their mobile/smart phones for most of their on-line access these days.

Perhaps, though, upon reflection, that wouldn’t have been a welcome nugget for a senior executive from one of the world leading telecom companies.

It’s good to be home!

Three things you can do to empower women

11 Sep

While I’ve been in California, I’ve picked up a copy of a few magazines which I don’t normally see at home, such as “More”, “Pink” and Oprah Winfrey’s “O” magazine.

I gather that Oprah in particular is lined up to be a huge supporter of Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn’s forthcoming book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide and that they’ll be appearing on her eponymous ABC show later this month to discuss their argument that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential.

September’s “O” magazine carries these three suggestions from the book as to how we can all help to empower women:

Make girls smarter. Many pregnant women living in poverty don’t get enough iodine, so their fetuses’ brains do not develop properly. Their children routinely lose 10-15 IQ points – particularly the girls, for reasons not fully understood. The solotion: iodize salt, at the cost of a few pennies per year. Contribute via Helen Keller International.

Support a women’s business. With a microloan of US$50, a woman can start a business, producing income she can use to feed her children and send them to school. To make a loan, go to Mercy Corps or BRAC – two groups helping women around the world.

Keep a girl in school. A girl who gets an education will have fewer children, earn more money and be able to help her younger siblings. One excellent support program operates in Cambodia, where uneducated girls are at great risk of being traffiked into brothels. For US$10 a month, you can keep a girl in school through American Assistance for Cambodia, or for US$13,000, you can build an entire school that will revolutionise life in a village forever.

On the flight over, I read in a British magazine (“Woman & Home”, I think) about an awareness and fundraising initiative called “Girls’ Night In” and I think I’ll organise one for when I get back to London – watch this space.

A few things I love about being in the USA

11 Sep

Old Glory

In no particular order:

- The fact that ABC’s “Good Morning America” show is co-anchored by two women: Diane Sawyer * (63) and Robin Roberts (48);
- The ready availability of cinnamon as a coffee flavouring at Starbucks;
- “More” magazine;
- The Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC – who is, of course, also a gay female counterpart to -
- Jon Stewart;
- Sushi. Yes, you can get it in London but it’s more readily available here, and cheaper;
- Sephora – closely followed by -
- Nordstrom – and;
- Steve Madden shoes – and;
- Old Navy yoga and workout kit;
- Being called “Miss” (or, occasionally, “ma’am”) in shops and restaurants.

I still don’t understand why the Labor Day holiday weekend is apparently the time to buy a mattress on sale, though. What’s all that about?

* and let us hope that Diane is replaced by a similarly strong woman when she moves on in the new year …

California dreamin’

10 Sep

Hello again – and a particular emphasis on the “again” bit to anyone who has followed me here from my former corporate blog, which I wrote for two years up until just over a week ago. I had a really rather wonderful send off last Wednesday and have since received hundreds of emails from friends and colleagues around the world. Thank you all; I will reply and your warmth and good wishes are much appreciated.

So, I’m now no longer employed! But, rather than use the somewhat negative sounding “unemployed”, I prefer to think of it as having a “sabbatical”. And I am currently starting my sabbatical by spending two weeks in California, where my husband (TLS) and I are taking a road trip from south to north. We started by flying to LA, where we relaxed in Santa Monica for four days, getting used to an eight hour time difference and appreciating the sublime people watching and eavesdropping opportunities.

All the women here are tiny! Perhaps you’re not allowed over the state line or, more accurately the Santa Monica city limits line, if your dress size is in double digits. I also noticed that there are three basic female “uniforms” in terms of clothing:

1) denim shorts (of the “Daisy Duke” variety); 2) floaty maxi dresses (of the Nicole Richie variety – headband, optional); 3) little short slip dresses made of floral fabric, usually worn with either flip-flops or, occasionally, gladiator sandals.

On the eavesdropping front, we picked up on the following in our first few days:

• “Some directors are directors who write and some are writers who direct, but he’s just a writer.”
• From the barman in our hotel: “I’m out of here on Monday, as a major studio has promised me a call-back on my script and I just KNOW that this is going to be my big chance …”
• From a waiter in a sushi restaurant: “I just love your accent! Maybe I should move to England, because the whole acting thing here just isn’t working out for me.”

OK, then. We then drove up the coast via the Pacific Highway, admiring views like this: PCH view – stopping in Santa Barbara and now, Monterey (hurrah for hotels with free wireless). Unfortunately, I woke up yesterday with a cold, which is less than fun in 80 degree heat but is, perhaps, what happens when you run like a hamster in a wheel and then, suddenly, STOP. I’m not normally ill when I travel (see earlier blog entry on “travel tips”) so I’m taking lots of vitamin C and hoping that this will be a short lasted affair.

Over the weekend we’ll be continuing north to the Sonoma and Napa county areas and I’m so looking forward to seeing and spending time with my wonderful friend Diane, who lives in a little town in Sonoma and whom I haven’t seen in person for seven years.

On the career front, my options seem to be many and still very much wide open. I’m still waiting for a formal decision and a start date from the multiple-interview-requiring investment bank. Last week (actually, at my leaving drinks party, which seemed very serendipitous) the recruiter called me with a verbal offer but it all seems to have gone a little quiet since then. Thanks to my wonderful network of friends, I’ve been invited to attend a couple of gatherings including British Telecom’s forthcoming “Question Time” event which will feature, amongst others, MP Patricia Hewitt (perhaps I will ask her what the Labour Party plan to do at the next election to increase the number of female British MPs from the current calamitous 19%) and a Cass Business School event on 21st century leadership which will include a panel discussion from the authors of “Why Women Mean Business”.

And I’ve also received an invitation from the Confederation of Indian Industry to travel to Bangalore next month and speak at the inaugural “Women Business Leaders’ Forum” conclave, which I would love to do but which gives me a classic Catch 22 dilemma: if I’m not working, I have the time to go but not the money; if I have by then joined the investment bank, I guess I’d have the money but not the diary space.

Decisions!

However, for today at least, my decisions are limited to what to have in my egg white omelette – and that suits me very well for the time being.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 34 other followers