How Women in Business Can Speak up and Break the Glass Ceiling
The gist:
While we are increasingly hearing—and seeing the proof that—diversity = dollars for Companies bottom lines, as this Real Leaders article reminds us, “There is a disparity between the expectation and the reality of having diverse candidates vying for leadership roles.”
On top of bias and the mismatch of obstacle and opportunity for diverse talent, this article cites another critical factor…
…Diversity in your organization is a chicken and the the egg situation…
Diversity, it turns out, breeds diversity.
Without diversity already in your organization, if candidates do not see themselves represented, or if diverse members of leadership aren’t in place to recruit, hire and promote diverse candidates…how can diversity even begin to take hold in your Org?
This reveals, yet again, that diversity isn’t solely an ‘HR issue,’ to solve. And that “D&I” shouldn’t just be a ‘values’ campaign in your Org., it should be a conversation and strategic initiative based on value.
Specifically the value that mountains of literature and stats continue to prove.
“Gender diversity correlates with the bottom line, and companies with a gender-balanced C-suite have a higher likelihood of achieving above-average financial results,” and that, “Research consistently demonstrates that a diverse workforce correlates with better business performance.“
One of the issues cited that stifles the growth of diversity in your Org.—if diverse members exist—is that the diverse voices, the ones that are key to be heeded in order to augment diversity—cannot be heard over the conscious and unconscious bias that exists in your Org.
And that that starts at the top.
While this article trumpets ways for womxn to be heard, we don’t think it should be solely incumbent on them to have to do so.
Being a CEO or Executive requires difficult skill sets.
Listening to your womxn executives and employees, which requires you to hear beyond un/conditional bias, should simply be one of them.
Read the article by Nick Brice, here.
