The career advice you probably didn't get | Susan Colantuono

Summary

The speaker highlights the disparity between the high percentage of women in middle management and the low representation at top organizational levels. They emphasize the missing 33% of career advice for women: business, strategic, and financial acumen. Through the story of Tonya, a capable VP overlooked for promotions, the speaker underscores the importance of understanding and demonstrating these skills for career advancement. The talk calls for systemic changes in talent management and mentoring practices to help women break through to senior leadership roles and achieve strategic alignment in organizations.

Takeaways

• 👩‍💼 Women make up 50% of middle management and professional roles, yet are significantly underrepresented at the top of organizations.
• 🤔 The focus should shift from questioning the scarcity of women leaders to understanding the barriers preventing women from advancing to top leadership positions.
• 💼 Tonya's story illustrates the frustration of being passed over for promotions despite having strong performance evaluations, a supportive team, and a commitment to growth.
• 🔑 There is a 'missing 33 percent' in the career success equation for women, which is the understanding and demonstration of business, strategic, and financial acumen.
• 📈 Leadership advancement requires not just personal and interpersonal skills, but also the ability to contribute to an organization's strategic and financial goals.
• 🌟 The skills and competencies related to business acumen are rated more heavily when identifying high-potential employees for top leadership positions.
• 💡 The conventional advice given to women often overlooks the importance of business acumen, focusing instead on personal development and interpersonal relationships.
• 📊 Organizations' talent and performance management systems tend to underemphasize the importance of business acumen compared to other leadership elements.
• 🤝 Men often receive informal mentoring that includes business acumen development, which women are less likely to receive, contributing to the gender gap.
• 🛠 Women need to focus on developing and demonstrating their business acumen to make the breakthrough to senior leadership positions.
• 🔍 All stakeholders, including board members, CEOs, HR executives, and managers, have a role in ensuring that the importance of business acumen is recognized and emphasized for career advancement.

Q & A

What is the current representation of women in middle management and professional positions?

Women represent 50 percent of middle management and professional positions, indicating a significant presence in these roles.

Why do some women struggle to advance beyond middle management despite their qualifications and efforts?

The script suggests that there is a 'missing 33 percent' in the career success equation for women, which is understanding and demonstrating business, strategic, and financial acumen.

What does the 'missing 33 percent' refer to in the context of the script?

The 'missing 33 percent' refers to the underemphasis on the importance of business, strategic, and financial acumen in the career advice given to women, which is crucial for advancement to top leadership positions.

What is the significance of business, strategic, and financial acumen in moving up in organizations?

These skills are rated twice as heavily as other leadership competencies when organizations identify employees with high potential for top leadership positions.

Why is it important for women to understand and demonstrate business, strategic, and financial acumen?

It is important because these skills are critical for achieving and sustaining extraordinary outcomes by engaging the greatness in others and effectively contributing to the organization's strategic financial goals.

What is the role of mentors in the career advancement of women?

Mentors play a crucial role, but the script points out that often they may unknowingly provide different advice to women versus men, focusing more on building confidence for women rather than teaching them the business.

What is the impact of conventional career advice on women's ability to close the gender gap at the top?

Conventional advice, which focuses more on personal actions and working with others, is essential for breaking into middle management but does not effectively help women advance to senior and executive positions.

How do talent and performance management systems contribute to the gender gap in organizations?

These systems often focus more on personal greatness and engaging the greatness in others, rather than on business acumen, thus not adequately preparing women for top leadership roles.

What actions can women take to demonstrate their business, strategic, and financial acumen?

Women can weave financial impact data into their project updates, demonstrate understanding of the organization's strategy and financial targets, and take actions or make recommendations that align with these goals.

What role do executives, HR, and board members play in addressing the 'missing 33 percent'?

They should emphasize the importance of business acumen in their talent development and performance management systems, expect proportional pools of women in succession discussions, and challenge unexamined mindsets about women in leadership.

How did Tonya's story illustrate the importance of the 'missing 33 percent'?

Tonya was able to secure a new position reporting directly to the chief information officer after she was able to demonstrate her business acumen and strategic insights during her interview.

Outlines

00:00

👩‍💼 The Underrepresentation of Women at the Top

Despite women representing 50% of middle management and professional positions, they make up less than a third of top organizational roles. This raises questions about why so many women are stuck in middle management and what can be done to elevate them. The story of Tonya, a vice president passed over for promotions despite strong qualifications and performance, illustrates a missing 33% in the career success equation for women. This gap involves the need for women to be recognized for leadership skills, particularly in business, strategic, and financial acumen, which are critical for advancement but often overlooked in advice given to women.

05:02

📈 The Importance of Business Acumen

Executives emphasize the need for employees to have business, strategic, and financial acumen, but this is often assumed as a given and not explicitly communicated to women. In a panel discussion, executives highlighted personal greatness and engaging others as important but did not stress business acumen until prompted. This oversight leads to a significant gap in the advice given to women about career advancement. Conventional advice focuses on personal and interpersonal skills, essential for reaching middle management but not sufficient for breaking through to senior positions. This missing element contributes to the persistent gender gap at the top.

10:02

🌟 The Role of Organizations and Mentors

Organizations and mentors play crucial roles in career development. Typical talent and performance management systems often undervalue the importance of business, strategic, and financial acumen. Mentors may unintentionally provide different guidance to men and women, as illustrated by an executive who unknowingly emphasized business knowledge for his male protégé while focusing on confidence for his female protégé. This discrepancy highlights the need to examine and address biases in mentoring and development practices to ensure women receive comprehensive support for advancing to top leadership roles.

Keywords

💡Middle Management

Middle management refers to the intermediate level of management in an organization, between junior management and senior management. It is crucial for the effective execution of strategies set by top management. In the video, it is mentioned that women make up 50 percent of these positions, indicating a significant presence but also highlighting the challenge of advancing further in the organizational hierarchy.

💡Leadership

Leadership is the ability to guide, influence, and inspire others towards achieving goals. The video emphasizes that leadership is not just at the top but is manifested at every level, including middle management. It also discusses the importance of recognizing and developing leadership skills to progress in an organization.

💡Gender Gap

The gender gap in the context of the video refers to the disparity between the representation of men and women in leadership or top positions within organizations. The speaker points out that while women are well-represented in middle management, they are underrepresented at the top, suggesting a need to address this imbalance.

💡Career Success Equation

This term is used metaphorically in the video to describe the factors contributing to an individual's professional advancement. The 'missing 33 percent' of this equation for women is identified as a lack of focus on business, strategic, and financial acumen, which is critical for moving up in organizations.

💡Strategic Financial Goals

Strategic financial goals are the long-term financial objectives that an organization sets to align with its overall strategy. The video argues that understanding and contributing to these goals is essential for leadership and is part of the 'missing 33 percent' that women need to focus on for career advancement.

💡Business Acumen

Business acumen is the ability to grasp and apply knowledge about business operations and strategy effectively. It is highlighted in the video as a critical skill set that women need to develop to advance in their careers, as it is often underemphasized in the advice given to them.

💡Mentor

A mentor is someone who provides guidance, support, and advice to help another person grow professionally. The video discusses the importance of mentorship but also points out that women often receive mentorship that focuses on personal development rather than business acumen, which is crucial for top leadership positions.

💡Performance Evaluations

Performance evaluations are formal assessments of an employee's job performance. In the script, it is mentioned that a character, Tonya, has excellent performance evaluations but still faces challenges in career advancement, suggesting that these evaluations may not fully capture the skills needed for leadership positions.

💡Talent Development Systems

Talent development systems are processes within an organization aimed at identifying, nurturing, and advancing employees with high potential. The video points out that these systems often do not emphasize the importance of business acumen, which is a significant factor in the 'missing 33 percent' for women's career advancement.

💡Strategic Alignment

Strategic alignment refers to the consistency and coordination of an organization's activities with its strategic goals. The video suggests that a lack of strategic alignment may be a reason why organizations struggle to achieve their financial goals and highlights the importance of everyone in the organization understanding and contributing to these goals.

💡Mentorship Bias

Mentorship bias refers to the potential for mentors to provide different types of guidance to men and women, often unconsciously. The video gives an example of a mentor helping a woman build confidence and a man learn the business, illustrating the different focuses that can contribute to the gender gap in leadership.

Highlights

Women make up 50% of middle management but less than a third at the top.

The importance of recognizing leadership at all levels and the potential of middle management women.

Tonya's story illustrates the frustration of being passed over for advancement despite qualifications.

The 'missing 33 percent' concept: A critical component for women's career success.

Leadership requires being recognized for achieving outcomes by engaging others' greatness.

Business, strategic, and financial acumen are key to moving up in organizations.

These skills are rated more heavily in identifying high-potential employees.

The common oversight in advice given to women on career advancement.

The panel of executives' insights on what they look for in high-potential employees.

The disparity in advice and actual requirements for career advancement.

The role of talent and performance management systems in reinforcing the gender gap.

Mentoring experiences and the unconscious bias in developmental advice.

The importance of women focusing on developing business acumen for career progression.

The responsibility of various organizational roles in addressing the gender gap.

Strategic alignment as a key to achieving organizational goals.

Tonya's success story after focusing on business acumen.

The call to action for spreading the idea of the 'missing 33 percent' to close the gender gap.

Transcripts

Women represent

50 percent of middle management

and professional positions,

but the percentages of women at the top of organizations

represent not even a third of that number.

So some people hear that statistic and they ask,

why do we have so few women leaders?

But I look at that statistic

and, if you, like me, believe

that leadership manifests at every level,

you would see that there's a tremendous,

awesome resource of leaders

who are leading in middle management,

which raises a different question:

Why are there so many women

mired in the middle

and what has to happen

to take them to the top?

So some of you might be some of those women

who are in middle management

and seeking to move up in your organization.

Well, Tonya is a great example of one of these women.

I met her two years ago.

She was a vice president in a Fortune 50 company,

and she said to me with a sense of deep frustration,

"I've worked really hard to improve my confidence

and my assertiveness and develop a great brand,

I get terrific performance evals from my boss,

my 360s in the organization let me know

that my teams love working for me,

I've taken every management course that I can here,

I am working with a terrific mentor,

and yet I've been passed over

twice for advancement opportunities,

even when my manager knows

that I'm committed to moving up

and even interested in an international assignment.

I don't understand why

I'm being passed over."

So what Tonya doesn't realize

is that there's a missing 33 percent

of the career success equation for women,

and it's understanding what this missing 33 percent is

that's required to close the gender gap at the top.

In order to move up in organizations,

you have to be known for your leadership skills,

and this would apply to any of you,

women or men.

It means that you have to be recognized

for using the greatness in you

to achieve and sustain extraordinary outcomes

by engaging the greatness in others.

Put in other language,

it means you have to use your skills

and talents and abilities

to help the organization achieve

its strategic financial goals

and do that by working effectively with others

inside of the organization and outside.

And although all three of these elements

of leadership are important,

when it comes to moving up in organizations,

they aren't equally important.

So pay attention to the green box

as I move forward.

In seeking and identifying

employees with high potential,

the potential to go to the top of organizations,

the skills and competencies

that relate to that green box

are rated twice as heavily

as those in the other two elements of leadership.

These skills and competencies

can be summarized as business,

strategic, and financial acumen.

In other words, this skill set has to do

with understanding where the organization is going,

what its strategy is,

what financial targets it has in place,

and understanding your role

in moving the organization forward.

This is that missing 33 percent

of the career success equation for women,

not because it's missing in our capabilities

or abilities,

but because it's missing in the advice

that we're given.

Here's what I mean by that.

Five years ago, I was asked to moderate

a panel of executives,

and the topic for the evening was

"What do you look for in high-potential employees?"

So think about the three elements of leadership

as I summarize for you what they told me.

They said, "We look for people

who are smart and hard working and committed

and trustworthy and resilient."

So which element of leadership does that relate to?

Personal greatness.

They said, "We look for employees

who are great with our customers,

who empower their teams,

who negotiate effectively,

who are able to manage conflict well,

and are overall great communicators."

Which element of leadership does that equate to?

Engaging the greatness in others.

And then they pretty much stopped.

So I asked,

"Well, what about people

who understand your business,

where it's going,

and their role in taking it there?

And what about people who are able

to scan the external environment,

identify risks and opportunities,

make strategy or make strategic recommendations?

And what about people who are able

to look at the financials of your business,

understand the story that the financials tell,

and either take appropriate action

or make appropriate recommendations?"

And to a man, they said,

"That's a given."

So I turned to the audience

of 150 women and I asked,

"How many of you have ever been told

that the door-opener for career advancement

is your business, strategic and financial acumen,

and that all the other important stuff

is what differentiates you in the talent pool?"

Three women raised their hand,

and I've asked this question of women

all around the globe in the five years since,

and the percentage is never much different.

So this is obvious, right?

But how can it be?

Well, there are primarily three reasons

that there's this missing 33 percent

in the career success advice given to women?

When organizations direct women

toward resources

that focus on the conventional advice

that we've been hearing for over 40 years,

there's a notable absence of advice that relates

to business, strategic and financial acumen.

Much of the advice is emphasizing

personal actions that we need to take,

like become more assertive, become more confident,

develop your personal brand,

things that Tonya's been working on,

and advice about working with other people,

things like learn to self-promote,

get a mentor, enhance your network,

and virtually nothing said

about the importance of business, strategic

and financial acumen.

This doesn't mean that this advice is unimportant.

What it means is that this is advice

that's absolutely essential for breaking through

from career start to middle management,

but it's not the advice

that gets women to break through

from the middle, where we're 50 percent,

to senior and executive positions.

And this is why conventional advice to women

in 40 years hasn't closed the gender gap at the top

and won't close it.

Now, the second reason

relates to Tonya's comments

about having had excellent performance evals,

great feedback from her teams,

and having taken every management training program

she can lay her hands on.

So you would think that she's getting

messages from her organization

through the talent development systems

and performance management systems

that let her know how important it is

to develop business, strategic and financial acumen,

but here again, that green square is quite small.

On average,

talent and performance management systems

in the organizations that I've worked with

focus three to one

on the other two elements of leadership

compared to the importance of business,

strategic and financial acumen,

which is why typical talent and performance systems

haven't closed and won't close

the gender gap at the top.

Now, Tonya also talked about working with a mentor,

and this is really important to talk about,

because if organizations,

talent and performance systems

aren't giving people in general

information about the importance of

business, strategic and financial acumen,

how are men getting to the top?

Well, there are primarily two ways.

One is because of the positions

they're guided into,

and the other is because of informal mentoring

and sponsorship.

So what's women's experience

as it relates to mentoring?

Well, this comment from an executive

that I worked with recently

illustrates that experience.

He was very proud of the fact that last year,

he had two protégés: a man and a woman.

And he said, "I helped the woman build confidence,

I helped the man learn the business,

and I didn't realize that I was treating them

any differently."

And he was sincere about that.

So what this illustrates is that

as managers, whether we're women or men,

we have mindsets about women and men,

about careers in leadership,

and these unexamined mindsets

won't close the gender gap at the top.

So how do we take this idea

of the missing 33 percent

and turn it into action?

Well, for women, the answer is obvious:

we have to begin to focus more

on developing and demonstrating

the skills we have

that show that we're people who understand

our businesses, where they're headed,

and our role in taking it there.

That's what enables that breakthrough

from middle management

to leadership at the top.

But you don't have to be a middle manager to do this.

One young scientist that works in a biotech firm

used her insight about the missing 33 percent

to weave financial impact data

into a project update she did

and got tremendous positive feedback

from the managers in the room.

So we don't want to put 100 percent

of the responsibility on women's shoulders,

nor would it be wise to do so, and here's why:

In order for companies to achieve

their strategic financial goals,

executives understand that they have to have

everyone pulling in the same direction.

In other words, the term we use in business is,

we have to have strategic alignment.

And executives know this very well,

and yet only 37 percent,

according to a recent Conference Board report,

believe that they have that

strategic alignment in place.

So for 63 percent of organizations,

achieving their strategic financial goals

is questionable.

And if you think about what I've just shared,

that you have situations where at least 50 percent

of your middle managers

haven't received clear messaging

that they have to become focused on the business,

where it's headed, and their role in taking it there,

it's not surprising that that percentage

of executives who are confident about alignment

is so low,

which is why there are other people

who have a role to play in this.

It's important for directors on boards

to expect from their executives

proportional pools of women when they sit down

once a year for their succession discussions.

Why? Because if they aren't seeing that,

it could be a red flag

that their organization isn't as aligned

as it could potentially be.

It's important for CEOs

to also expect these proportional pools,

and if they hear comments like,

"Well, she doesn't have enough business experience,"

ask the question,

"What are we going to do about that?"

It's important for H.R. executives

to make sure that the missing 33 percent

is appropriately emphasized,

and it's important for women and men

who are in management positions

to examine the mindsets we hold

about women and men, about careers and success,

to make sure we are creating a level playing field

for everybody.

So let me close with the latest chapter

in Tonya's story.

Tonya emailed me two months ago,

and she said that she had been interviewed for a new position,

and during the interview, they probed

about her business acumen

and her strategic insights into the industry,

and she said that she was so happy to report

that now she has a new position

reporting directly to the chief information officer

at her company.

So for some of you, the missing 33 percent

is an idea for you to put into action,

and I hope that for all of you,

you will see it as an idea worth spreading

in order to help organizations be more effective,

to help women create careers that soar,

and to help close the gender gap at the top.

Thank you.

(Applause)