Through the Glass Ceiling: 5, Actually, 7 Strategies for Women
Issue 280 — November 18, 2024
How often do you click on an article because the title promises you’re going to learn something new or fix a problem you’ve been struggling with — and it turns out to do neither?
I clicked on this one because the title grabbed me: “Through the Glass Ceiling: 5 Strategies for Women.”
In this moment when many are seeking answers as to why for the second time in less than a decade, a highly qualified female leader didn’t break through what Hillary Clinton dubbed the “highest and hardest glass ceiling,” you might be among the many asking “Why?”
The next question typically is: “When will the country be ready for a female president?”
It’s important to celebrate achievements. I had the pleasure of attending Golden Seeds’ 20th anniversary celebration in New York. The left graphic illustrates positive financial impact of women in leadership. To the right, an inspiring panel of entrepreneurs moderated by ForbesWoman editor and ForbesTV anchor Maggie McGrath.
After the election in which Harris did not prevail, former President Bill Clinton said he thought there would be a woman president soon and predicted it would be “easier” for a conservative Republican to win — a view I have personally held since the 1990’s when I started, but never finished, writing a novel with that story line.
Image courtesy of CBS News
The unexpected strategy or person can often break boundaries that others cannot.
I compared this to Republican President Richard Nixon going to Communist China in 1972 ending 25 years of no official US — China relations. Or, Southern Democratic President Lyndon Johnson becoming the leader who was able to push through the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Comparing this to business, examples abound, such as Netflix: the brand name in DVD rentals that transformed the entertainment industry by taking a chance on pivoting to streaming well before the technology was readily available to most households.
I share these examples because my research led me to create a women’s leadership development program that you might think is counterintuitive because it addresses mindset before skillset and provides tools that remove the barriers in our minds before we can deal effectively with external barriers of bias and policy that remain in the way of women reaching the highest levels of leadership.
The proof of this approach is that an external evaluation found that within six months, 40% of the participants had achieved a significant advance in leadership, 90% felt more powerful, and 77% had higher levels of leadership intention.
Fast Company reports that “Leadership development is a $77.9 billion industry, offering more options for training than ever before. However, only 23% of leaders rate their leadership development as high quality, and 77% of businesses report they struggle to find and develop leaders. There’s a disconnect, in other words, between organizations’ demand for high-quality leaders and what current training programs deliver.”
These representative comments from participants of our programs paint an entirely different picture:
● “I’ve done a lot of programs and they can be inspiring but then quickly leave you once you return to normal life. The tools, the women, and the authentic support network generated from this program… continue to feed me.”
● “I’ve made more progress on my goals than I had in my previous five years.”
● “I have stepped up my game.”
The “5 Strategies” article certainly validates many of the ways Take The Lead helps women successfully advance in leadership. And many other leadership initiatives and programs designed to advance women have some or all of these components.
However, the missing element in this list, the element I found in my research and that has been validated by that external evaluation, is this unique linchpin of the 9 Leadership Power Tools program: we delve into the nature of power and change the paradigm from one that women rightly are ambivalent about to one women embrace with confidence and authenticity.
Changing the narrative from oppressive power over to generative power TO frees women (and could free men also, but that’s a whole other conversation) to clarify their highest intentions, learn the tools to achieve them, and put that together into an accountable plan, bolstered by forming a supportive community and learning how to thrive in the world as it is while changing the systems that aren’t working.
There is no “one thing” that will alone achieve gender parity in leadership.
There aren’t even just five things as this article asserts. There are at least seven.
Because of the deep-seated cultural learnings, there are both internal and external barriers to be broken. For women in particular, any successful program has to be comprehensive and to start with delving into ideas about and relationships with power.
If it fails to teach that shift in the power paradigm within a comprehensive program, the initiative becomes just one more of many that don’t move the dial. Contact me to improve the results of your women’s leadership programs.
GLORIA FELDT is the Cofounder and President of Take The Lead, a motivational speaker, a global expert in women’s leadership development and DEI for individuals and companies that want to build gender balance. She is a bestselling author of five books, most recently Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) Good. Honored as Forbes 50 Over 50, and Former President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, she is a frequent media commentator. Learn more at www.gloriafeldt.com and www.taketheleadwomen.com. Find her @GloriaFeldt on all social media.