If glass ceilings keep women from moving up, glass walls can keep them from moving to the side. This metaphor describes the harsh realities of coaching college and university sports teams in the United States. A little over 40% of women’s athletics teams are coached by women, while fewer than 1% of men’s teams are coached by women. Read more to learn how to improve these stats…
The Mayo Clinic has six strategies they consider essential for their continued success — six strategies which constitute the spirit of the Clinic. As you read them, ask what they could mean for your organization.
One of the most fundamental challenges for university presidents, deans, department chairs, and research group leaders is to make the best environment for research. Everything else a university does builds on success in doing science.
The “obvious” tension between diversity and quality leapt onto the front page this week through a debate at Smith College. And just in case you’re unsure, the putatively obvious connection is that increasing diversity decreases quality.
The debate at Smith presents a new twist on this issue, and it offers at least two lessons to university leaders everywhere. Click here to read these lessons…
Women matter. Women in leadership matter. Women in leadership make companies better. And it isn’t that hard to get more women into leadership positions.
These statements convey the core message of four reports, all called Women matter, that were produced by McKinsey & co. between 2007 and 2010. These reports have become extremely influential, providing basic research for pushing the discussion about gender balance forward. The research results in Woman matter help us argue that creating the circumstances for women to advance is not just right, it’s also smart.
Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, has become one of the clearest and most articulate voices on corporate gender diversity.Yet her facts, arguments, and eloquence, haven’t reached Sandberg’s closest colleague. It seems that even a woman at the top can’t convince the man she works side-by-side with.
How many women has Mark Zuckerberg put on Facebook’s board?
There are none. Facebook is run by white men. This shows both a lack of confidence in Sandberg and an apparent disinterest in the relevant research. Sheryl Sandberg now has the opportunity to call him on it.
When members of underrepresented groups start their careers, they see themselves as outsiders and therefore need role models who still look like outsiders. Early career women do need female role models, but it’s more nuanced than that. They need female role models they can identify with.
What can you do to provide your young colleagues with mentors who look like them?
It’s true in higher education, it’s true in law firms, it’s true in hospitals (it’s even true in monarchies!): women can get far, but they can’t get all the way to the top.
There are only three possible explanations for the lower numbers of women at the top level of these organizations.
