The Latest Insights from Leading NOW

Successful leaders understand that in order to improve their organization’s culture, retain employees, and ultimately, improve the company’s overall performance and profitability, they need to constantly evolve. That means keeping up with how leadership is defined in today’s post-covid world.

Nokia – All Set for Historic Culture-led Turnaround A long-term client, Nokia, a F500 telecoms and technology company famously headquartered in Finland, approached Leading NOW in early 2019 in order to accelerate their journey to being a more inclusive workplace, they asked us to customize a manager curriculum focused on bias recognition and mitigation.

This blog was written by Michelle Redfern, Strategic Partner and Senior Consultant based in Melbourne, Australia, and was originally published on her blog.

This blog on male allyship was written by Michelle Redfern, Strategic Partner and Senior Consultant based in Melbourne, Australia, and was originally published on her blog.

When I originally thought about why I wanted to write this post, my intent was to share stories from Leading Women’s “diverse” team about a micro-aggression they experienced in their career that they, as women of color, found impactful. Here I was thinking that my team would jump at the chance to “talk” about how their experiences and situations could have been handled differently. Instead, I received a well-deserved come-uppance of my own.

In celebration of Pride Month, we invited Michelle Redfern, our Senior Consultant based in Melbourne, Australia, to author this blog post. Read ON! --- I have been in a deeply committed and loving relationship with my (now) wife for nearly 20 years. Our relationship is public knowledge. However, in the early years of our relationship I wasn’t ‘out’ about my same sex relationship, particularly in my workplace. I made this choice because amongst other things, I was fearful of being judged and having my career aspirations affected because of my sexual identity. I worried about the negative consequences of being openly gay at work. LGBTIQ+ people are often not able to bring their full self to work, feel like they have to hide elements of their life and have their psychological well-being compromised by feelings of ‘otherness’. This is a significant issue that 68% of LGBTIQ+ people in America are still grappling with.

"If I'm in my office alone with a woman, she might file charges against me." "I don't dare take a protege out for lunch, she might accuse me." "Now I can't compliment a woman or shake her hand without being taken to court!" These are comments we hear when working with managers on closing the leadership gender gap. The comments are especially prevalent when we talk about the importance of mentoring women. And we aren't alone. Articles from the worlds of law, finance and beyond, publicize men's fears and the #MeToo backlash.

Happy Labor Day to all of our friends in the United States! And happy start of Fall to the rest of friends around the world. Yes, yes, I know that Fall actually begins on 23 September, but we all know in reality by tomorrow you will be back into the normal swing of things and that Summer is over. Now that you are back at your desks and starting to plan for next year, we at Leading Women would love to be there to help support your organization close the leadership gender gap. Leading Women's proprietary research creates innovative solutions that deliver unique insights, actionable tools and a business focus. Consultation, live programs, online content and virtual interventions will move your organization forward in 3 major areas:

Here's a fact about closing the leadership gender gap that might surprise you.

Women haven't wanted to talk about it... men rarely own up to it. The far too silent barrier to women's advancement is the dynamic of Non-Parental Gender-Based Role Expectations. Read about why in our second of three blogs discussing the role of managers' mindsets: