The Latest Insights from Leading NOW

Last year, Leading Women partnered with the data storage and protection company Veeam to launch their initiative Women in Green (WIG). WIG invests in time, resources, and networking opportunities for their female work population. Mentoring is one of the components of the WIG initiative — and, most importantly, it’s one of the elements of diversity and inclusion initiatives that actually works. Here’s the story: As a company in the technology sector, you might not expect Veeam to be extraordinarily woman-centric. After all, the industry gets a bad rap for being, as the Atlantic put it earlier this year, “awful to women.” But Veeam is striving to be a billion-dollar company — and their executives know that they can’t achieve that goal unless everyone at the company is contributing.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) released its 2017 Gender Gap Report last week, so we thought we'd take a look at the US and in some of the countries where our clients are working to close the gender gap in their companies. While progress is slow, many nations are making progress - and we are grateful for the improvements they are making in the lives of women.

Learn what women haven't been told about leadership from career-start to the corporate boardroom. Conventional wisdom about leadership will take you only so far! With the right leadership skills, the highest levels of career success are well within a your reach. But much that you've been told about leadership is outdated, incomplete and ineffective. If you rely on conventional wisdom about the career success equation it will fail you because of The Missing 33%® No Ceiling, No Walls takes a fresh, unblinking look at leadership. It identifies the vital missing piece of the leadership equation, and offers specific, actionable information not found anywhere else, including:

To prepare our presentation for the National Association of Women Lawyers General Counsel Institute, we interviewed GCs, CEOs and directors on corporate boards asking the question: "What are the most important selection and success criteria for General Counsels?" In all but one case the very first words out of their mouths emphasized the importance of being seen as a "partner in the business;" 50 percent answered with comments such as:

"Acquaintances... represent a source of social power, and the more acquaintances you have, the more powerful you are." Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point "Leaders who are good networkers... are the connectors... They master what sociologist Mark Granovetter calls the 'weak tie', a friendly yet casual social connection." Robin Gerber in Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way

Women are often told that building a strong Network is a key to moving up in their career. But what they are being told is incomplete. In our brand new infographic we examine what's wrong with what women are taught about networking and the Leading Women difference!

Mother's Day was this past weekend in the United States (and in many other countries as well) and my husband took our kids to the playground in the afternoon so I had few minutes by myself to read the paper - a luxury most parents will understand - when I stumbled upon an opinion piece in the New York Times entitled "The Gender Pay Gap Is Largely Because of Motherhood." This piece, while attempting to highlight the gender pay gap, completely missed the mark. It isn't necessarily a problem with women prioritizing family, but rather with managers' expectations that they will and companies allowing managers to create unequal pay situations. Manager's mindsets strike again!

Equal Pay Day in the United States is 4 April this year, but what does this actual mean? On the surface it means that on average woman in the United States need to work 15 months to earn the same amount that their male peers earn in 12. But this is not the full story.

March 8th is International Women's Day and in addition to the official #BeBoldForChange campaign, other groups across the United States and the world are preparing for an International Women's Strike. A "day without women" is not a new concept and has happened a number of times across the world with varying effect, most notably in recent times, Iceland's Women's Day Off on 24 October 1975. Women from all across Iceland, with different backgrounds brought the country to a screeching halt. According to the Global Nonviolent Action Database: "The striking women achieved their goal of demonstrating the importance of their work, at all levels from home to workplace, to the well being of the country. They essentially shut down most of the nation for the day. While this was their main goal... it even led to the passage of an equal rights bill..." While the bill did little to change things immediately, Iceland is now ranked #1 on the WEF's Global Gender Gap Index. While they still have a ways to go to reach true parity, they have taken steps to insure they are moving in the right direction.

Want to see Leading Women in action? Leading Women's CEO, Susan Colantuono, will be in Australia for International Women's Day. Susan and partners, Lighthouse Group, will be teaming up to present Leading Women's innovative leadership development curriculum. 7-Mar: Melbourne - Advancing Women in Leadership Masterclass 8-Mar: Melbourne - Engineers Australia International Women's Day Events 8-Mar: Melbourne - American Chamber of Commerce Afternoon High Tea 9-Mar: Sydney - American Chamber of Commerce Breakfast 9-Mar: Sydney - Engineers Australia International Women's Day Events