The largest untapped pool of talent in business women
Transcriber: Miraya Mittal
Reviewer: Alexey S.
Businesses would female leaders are
50 percent more profitable.
Yet most companies are not tapping
into this gold mine. Why is that?
Let me share with you, why this question
gives me all sorts of feelings.
I was raised between two very
different cultures.
Both my parents had immigrated from a
bustling city in the Middle East
to a teeny tiny place here in
Austria.
When I was nine, we spent yet another
summer break visiting family abroad.
I love those times, because:
a). there was no school, and
b). every dinner we had,
it seemed like a big party.
The meal itself wasn’t my favorite
part of those family gatherings.
It was the after dinner chats.
Once everyone’s bellies were
filled with delicious food,
that was the magical time for me.
The men would like to sit in the living
room,have some tea and discuss business.
I would listen in on stories from
them, traveling to China or the US,
stories from tough negotiations
and disagreements,
but also great friendships
they made along the way.
And, of course,
their proud accomplishments,
when yet another successful deal was made.
In the meantime, every single woman in
my family was cramped in the kitchen.
They were giggling, gossiping, cleaning
dishes and making lots of jokes,
especially about the men, screwing
up some of those business deals,
because of their temper.
Icould not stop laughing,
and I could not decide, whether
to stay in the kitchen or go back
to the living room to listen in
on the business talks.
I want it to be in both rooms
at the same time.
So, from that moment on, I knew I wanted
to create a life and career,
where I can be that warm hearted person,
taking care of everyone’s belly
and, at the same time,
be a strong smart business leader.
Great career goals for nine year old,
right? I thought so, too.
You can clearly tell from
my excited face here.
So, while I got this initial spark to go
into business from the male side
of the family, the most essential business
lessons I received from the women,
the women were conscious in having
everyone’s interests in mind.
They knew how to build relationships and
make everyone feel included and valued.
In fact, they showcased,
what research finds
as good leadership qualities.
So, I never quite understood,
why they wouldn’t bring in
their insights and skills into
the conversation with the men
and make business decisions together.
To be honest, this thought
got stuck in my mind
and I’ve been dedicating my entire career
to bringing these learnings
from the dinner table
to the boardroom table.
Today, we know – gender balanced
organizations perform better.
I’m not here to argue, whether women add
value to business,
because we have the data to prove they do.
Still, only 16 percent of executive
leaders in Europe are women.
In my past 10 years of being
a business leader and running
an organization, that helps companies
find female talent,
I’ve heard many reasons,
why businesses are struggling
to set up more diverse leadership teams.
And they mostly boiled
down to three misconceptions.
So, I want to take you on a journey now
and give simple solutions to these top
three – let’s call them – obstacles.
Obstacle number one.
I’m tired of this conversation.
We already live in a gender equal
business world in Europe.
This was the assumption
of a middle aged German business leader,
who has witnessed women’s
rights and our participation
the workforce evolved
very much compared to 40-50 years ago.
It’s true that half of our working
population in Europe are women,
but it’s also true, that only six percent
of CEOs in European companies are women.
In Austria, we have more board
members named Peter,
than the total number of women represented
on boards. That’s funny, huh?
Well, this, my friends, is a so-called
gender leadership gap.
So, while Europeans perceive living
in a gender equal society,
the numbers prove –
we’re still not there yet.
In fact, we’re going backwards.
According to the World Economic Forum,
it will take us 276 years to reach parity
in women’s economic participation
across the globe.
Let that number think in for a second.
Your Grand Grand Grand Grand Grand Grand
Grand Grand granddaughter
will witness that –
eight generations from now.
This number has increased due to the
COVID 19 pandemic
by more than an entire generation. Why?
Because in times of crisis, the flaws of
our systems come out more than ever.
Our systems were not set up to support
a gender equal society.
According to the United Nations,
we still do not have gender parity
in any country of this world,
and the recent pandemic put a fine
point on what we already knew,
even when both parents are
working from home.
It’s generally the women, who take
on a disproportionate amount of
the unpaid labor, caregiving, household
tasks, homeschooling all the fun stuff.
See, the framework of our world of work
was set by Western educated men
at a time when men were the
primary providers
and had their wives stay at home. These
guys did their best. It’s not their fault.
These were simply the circumstances
back in the 19th century.
But we’re in the 21st century now.
And 80 percent of millennials live in
the partnership where both
partners are working.
Still, most companies seem
to act according to
the structure set two centuries ago.
So what can we all do about this?
First, acknowledge it, acknowledge this
gender leadership gap as an opportunity,
not a challenge.
Hillary Clinton once said:
“Women are the largest untapped reservoir
of talent in the world”.
I say, it’s about time we tap
into this pool of talent.
It’s about time we do a 21st century
update to our systems.
For me, the percentage of women in
leadership or women on boards
is an indicator for the long term
success of a business,
not because of the specific gender
of the person joining,
but because of the mix of talent
and diversity at that company.
It translates directly to a more modern
and more inclusive workplace culture,
greater innovation and better decision
making. This is not just my opinion.
This is based on a lot
of studies, I promise.
One of those studies looked at over 200
teams across completely different
companies over the course of two years.
They wanted to analyze the quality of
decision making in those teams.
Fun fact, they had not enough
all-female teams to, you know,
make statistical assumptions.
So they just looked at the difference
between all male and mixed teams.
Surprise, surprise – mixed teams
make better decisions.
73 percent of the time sounds like a
compelling business case, right?
Obstacle number two. We tried, but
couldn’t find a woman for this position.
We simply didn’t get enough applications.
Well, this can happen in certain sectors,
but in 90 percent of cases it happens,
because women are either not applying,
because you don’t seem
attractive to them
as an employer with those five guys
in a suit on the website,
or they are simply being overlooked
in the hiring process.
In the book “Invisible Women”
by Caroline Criado-Perez,
I came across a fascinating story
about the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
For most of the 20th
century this orchestra
didn’t have a single female musician.
But then all of a sudden
something changed,
and percentage of female musicians went
from statistically zero to 10 percent
within a decade, that something
was blind auditions.
The hiring committee could not see,
who is playing, only hear them.
Today, the orchestra has 50
percent female musicians.
Why am I telling you about
this musical example?
Because it’s such a simple
recruiting solution.
This is the first step in recruiting –
a diverse set of people, that is not being
judged by race, gender, ethnicity,
sexual orientation,
physical ability or age.
Let me show you some more examples.
When a European company advertised
for a technical position,
using a stock photo alongside
the copy “competitive”,
they got five percent female applicants.
Then they said, OK, huh, we need to change
something about that job ad.
So they went and replaced the picture
with a team photo and
and the word “competitive”
with “results oriented”. Boom!
40 percent female applicants.
Language and visuals matter, because
they create the image for us.
What image do you want
to portray in your job ads?
Another example from a global
tech organization,
you might have a product or two from them.
They started tying the bonus payments
of their executives
to the diversity goals they set.
Within six months, they surpassed
their initial goals.
And women and minorities made up
43 percent of new hires. See?
If it isn’t measured, it won’t get done.
By treating gender diversity goals
like any other business case,
instead of a charity project,
this company got the job done.
When it comes to diversity,
equity and inclusion,
we need to set concrete targets,
incentivize managers and measure
progress – as simple as that.
My company’s latest project was finding
women for the management team
of a fintech firm in Estonia.
According to the founders,
it’s super hard to find women in fintech
and find them in Estonia.
Well, we managed.
After two months they had
gender parity in their leadership team.
How? Because we knew from
studies that having one woman
in the shortlist of candidates
is simply not enough.
There is statistically no
chance she’ll be hired.
So, what we did is simply create a larger,
more diverse funnel of talent and add
more women to the shortlist.
Simple. That’s it.
Obstacle number three.
Women wish to concentrate on their family
and cannot pursue a leadership role.
Is this really mutually exclusive
or do we just have
an outdated idea of what
leadership entails?
There is no statistical gender difference
in the willingness to lead.
Research shows – women want to lead.
So, how about we start redefining
what leadership looks like?
When I started my career,
the definition of a leader
was the person in power or in charge.
That’s the old paradigm.
That definition doesn’t resonate with
the upcoming generation of leaders, who
seek flexibility and authenticity.
Their definition of a leader is the
person, who builds a winning team
and doesn’t lose their
authenticity along the way.
The 21st century leadership
skills are human factors,
such as collaboration and empathy.
Who of you has ever used a dating app?
Even if not, you might have heard
of Bumble.
Their CEO, Whitney Wolfe,
is today’s leader,
because she attends their IPO celebrations
at the stock market with her baby.
Redefining leadership also means making
flexible leadership models mainstream,
not just for women’s benefit,
but for everyone.
I mean, who doesn’t like flexibility in
their job? I’m currently a co-CEO.
Living a dual leadership model,
sharing this role means – we share
the responsibility of running
the business and play trust strength.
We have two sets of skills,
experiences and networks.
We also have double the energy.
And – most importantly – we have
more clarity when sparring on decisions.
I’m not telling you how you should lead.
I just want to challenge your assumptions
of what leadership looks like.
If you allow leadership
in a more flexible way,
You will automatically
become more inclusive.
My nine-year-old self wondered:
“Why the women in my family were not
taking part in the business decisions”.
Nowadays, I wonder: “How world would be,
if more women would take decisions
together with men, if their
perspectives would complement
the male perspective in our boardrooms?”
While half of the world’s
population are women,
having a female angle or approach
is still considered niche or minority.
Women in the workforce are not a minority.
Let’s stop treating
their interests like one.
Let’s get them their
deserved seat at the table.