Leading to a world of equal opportunities for our daughters
I recently did something that terrifies every father: I dropped my daughter off at college for the first time. I had thought about this moment for months (probably years if I’m honest), as had my wife. Our daughter was leaving home and going out into the big world.
As I think about my daughter’s future, I want to make sure she has the same opportunities I had, and that my sons will have. But sadly, the grim statistics about women in business tell me that may not be the case. In fact, women account for just 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs and a tragic 0.3% of FTSE 250 CEOs. In 2013, the number of women in senior management roles, globally, was just 18.5%. These numbers, unfortunately, haven’t moved much in the last 30 years, so why should I expect them to improve during my daughter’s career?
The path to leadership for women is difficult and far from certain, even as we approach International Women’s Day 2015. In fact, just a few months ago, the World Economic Forum issued research projecting that it will take until 2095 to achieve gender parity in the workplace. 2095!
This is even more confounding given reams of undisputed research demonstrating that business outcomes improve when women are present in leadership. In a recent EY study, for example, 64% of high-performing companies reported that men and women have equal influence on strategy in their organizations, compared with only 43% of the lower-performing companies. Many other well-known global organizations have issued studies showing similar outcomes—including increased profitability, ROI and innovation—when women are counted among senior leadership.
Women are half of our population; at EY they are half of our workforce. With so much to gain, why are gender-balanced teams, in leadership and throughout every organization, still the exception rather than the norm?
We wouldn’t wait 80 years to implement any other business imperative offering so much upside, so why are we waiting on this one?
It is clear to me that in the world of business CEOs and other top executives will have to play a significant role in accelerating the pace of change to gender parity.
It’s important to have women ‘leaning in’ but we must also have companies supporting and sponsoring them to do so. We must work to make the path to leadership clear to women. Organizations need to pro-actively address unconscious bias, making it clear that such bias is unacceptable. And this can’t just be an initiative; it has to be a culture change driven by progressive corporate policies, such as more flexible working for both men and women.
EY is on our own journey closing our gender gap. We’re making progress. Half of the college graduates we hire are women – but only 18% of our partners are women. We are improving—last year 26% of our new partners were women—and we have much more work to do.
So we will continue on this journey not just because it is the right thing to do, but also because it will lead to a more effective, satisfied and productive organization. . At the heart of EY’s business strategy are high-performing teams. Those teams have to be diverse and inclusive. Our leadership and our people know this is at the core of our values and are acting upon it.
I often tell my kids: the world will find your limitations; only you will find your opportunities. My commitment on this International Women’s Day is to do what I can as a CEO and as a father to help more women find their opportunities. I hope you will join me.
You can share your thoughts at #womenfastforward, our Women.Fast forward page on LinkedIn or ey.com/womenfastforward.
A version of this blog was previously published on The Huffington Post on March 5, 2015
Advocate and connector of entrepreneurs, innovators and business leaders who are changing the world I Global Entrepreneurship Lead at EY I EY World Entrepreneur Of The Yearâ„¢ I YPO Global One
7yBrava! #WomenFastForward
Accounting Manager/Business Analyst
9yThank you for the big heart you have for women...
Director and ex EY with a passion for talent development, strategic resource management, consensus building and DEI
9yJackie Devitt Great information !
Business & Digital Transformation | Artificial Intelligence & Automation | Portfolio Management
9ySheryl Sandberg's book "Lean In" is a good one to read on this topic.
Strategy | Portfolio Management | Change & Transformation | Stakeholder Engagement | Risk Management
9yMark, thank you for sharing your story and the facts from EY's recent study. As an EY Australia alum, my career spanned 19 years, commencing as an Executive Assistant (EA) and departing as an Associate Director. During this time I was offered many opportunities and exciting experiences. I'm now in my 7th year post EY. In my 5th year at EY I started working as EA to an inspirational Partner who saw potential in me and encouraged this. He was the Managing Partner of the Northern Region, led an extremely complex business turnaround, and included me throughout (so began my change management apprenticeship). He is now your Vice-Chair of Business Enablement Shared Services and Talent Hubs. He was promoted to National Managing Partner Transaction Advisory Services (TAS), and offered me the role to support him (endorsed by the CEO) until such time as an opportunity came to expand into a Markets role. This started a 5 year transition from EA to Associate Director commencing with a move from Brisbane to Melbourne as Manager, TAS to focus on the restructure and subsequent post-merger integration of Andersen Australia. EY sponsored me into the MBA at Melbourne Business School, completing this whilst working full-time and being a mother. I was promoted half-way through it to National Accounts Manager, Client Service & Accounts, implementing the global growth strategy across Australia, and then to Associate Director, Organisational Development. The culmination of my learning, experiences and effort was recognised in the 2008 EY Global rebranding campaign for the work undertaken on the leadership transformation program. Because of the type and complexity of the work I had been involved in, I was keen to transfer from internal consulting to external consulting. Whilst several of my MBA cohort with less experience (all male) secured roles with the consulting practice, I was advised 'through the grapevine' that the doors were closed for internal candidates. With no further possibility of progressing within the firm, I felt I had hit the proverbial 'glass ceiling'. The then CEO suggested that I might need to leave and come back into the firm to achieve my career aspirations. So I left in late 2008, started my external consulting career, and in my own practice since 2010. I had to do this due to my daughter finishing high school with a heavy performing arts curriculum and my husband heading off on a three year fly-in, fly-out project. With my daughter now settled in university I can get my career back on track in the Big 4 or corporate again - herein lies the challenge. I'm in my mid-late 40's and fully ready to commit a good 10-15 years or so. The hiring and recruitment team’s focus is to bring people in at a younger age and organically grow them through the organisation ... which is fantastic, don't get me wrong … but there is a disconnect. There is a large group of high skilled and experienced women with the same challenge. Recently, I met with the Chair of Australia's largest insurance company (long-time mentor). He too raised this issue becoming more prevalent and noticed it’s those who have stepped out from large organisations to take a "Career Break" or do something to further their career, then finding the doors closed when coming back in. So what are the takeaways? • EY has taken significant steps over many years to improve the opportunities for women in the workplace. Whilst there were barriers for me then, those same barriers would not be there now. There is still a way to go, and, as in every organisation - progress needs to be recognised. • My fast track career progression would not have happened without the encouragement of a strong, internal sponsor. • Reducing the time from 80 years will happen by enabling and encouraging the men - not criticising those who are out there trying to breakdown the barriers to systems, processes and cultures that have evolved over generations. • A rethink of hiring strategies for this significant group of 40+ age group to be undertaken. A significant opportunity for organisations is being missed here. • In working with the top 20% of the Australian partnership, the barriers and enablers to change identified, which from my consulting work are consistent with other major organisations, are communication, remuneration, resourcing and infrastructure. If we then overlay this with a cultural and sub-cultural lens, we can identify what's really happening and why, start to support enablers, remove obstacles, replicate success stories and encourage and reward the right behaviours. • It takes time - the first step is to acknowledge and recognise the reality, then for heads and hearts to connect ... and finally to take action and keep up the momentum. Thank you Mark for sharing your story.