Beyond Women's Day: Celebrating the Other 364 Days

Mar 6

Like Alice celebrating her unbirthday in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, we decided to honor Women’s Day this year by celebrating the other 364 days a year of leadership our founder provides. Alison Eyring has supported and championed women leaders and women’s issues for more than 30 years. So, we decided to ask her about the progress that has been made, and the gaps that still need to be closed.

Interviewer:

Your first job after earning your Ph.D. was in academia where you conducted applied research on diversity and cross-cultural leadership. Based on your research, you estimated that at the current rate of change, it would take over 450 years for women to break the glass ceiling and reach parity with men in senior roles. What progress have we made?

Alison:

More recent estimates show that it will take around 200-250 years to close the gap and gain parity. So, we have caught up more quickly than originally projected! However, at this pace, my daughters and their children will not see fairness, which makes me sad. Research also suggests new problems such as the Glass Cliff, where poor-performing companies name women into senior leadership roles in the hopes that the women CEOs can turn the business around. This sets these senior women leaders up for failure.

Interviewer:

You have started two companies. You started Organisation Solutions in 2000 and Produgie, a tech start-up, in 2022. What challenges did you face as a women entrepreneur? How did you overcome these?

Alison:

I should start by restating your question to ‘What challenges do you currently face?’! When I started Organisation Solutions, we never sought external investment and our workforce and our clients spanned genders. We funded our growth and were able to create a great place to work for everyone. I was especially happy that our working parents were able to bring their kids to work when needed and lactating moms were welcome to store their breast milk in the refrigerator during the day. At Organisation Solutions, I always felt that I belonged and felt valued by our clients. I never felt disadvantaged.

But, my experience starting a technology firm (which we incubated and spun out of Organisation Solutions) has been different. Tech firms typically need funding to grow and less than 2% of VC funds go to women founders. Over the last year, this has decreased and is now less than 1% of funding. While I have raised capital, I've also faced overt prejudice to my face & behind my back, and more subtle biases from investors and advisors to start-ups. If I attend a tech event for founders I am invariably one of a small handful of women. I am routinely questioned about my capabilities. It is hard to feel like you belong in this type of environment.

Interviewer:

You speak to many women who are highly successful in their chosen careers and organisations. Are there any common themes in what they do differently that help explain their success?

Alison:

In large companies, many women in senior leadership roles are either single or have a non-working spouse/partner. They have more family support in place, just like men in senior leader roles. Clearly, this is not the case for all women, but successful women tend to work long hours.

One common theme I see for successful women is their ability to stay focused and say ‘no’. Many women support others at home, at work, or in their social and philanthropic endeavors. This can result in stretching the person too thin to have impact. Women who have become successful senior leaders are more willing to say ‘no’ and to focus on key priorities that will have impact. I will note that career is not the only measure of success! Women can and should define success more broadly than just work and career. Regardless of how they define success, focusing and saying ‘no’ to less important priorities will help them achieve their goals.

Interviewer:

What advice do you have for companies today to accelerate their efforts to identify, develop, and retain great women leaders?

Alison:

First and foremost, companies need to implement fair practices. They need to stop pretending that manager nominations to high-potential pools are fair and that performance ratings are fair. They are not. Manager nominations are unreliable, and research shows that women have to work harder to be rated at the same level as their male counterparts. We need to start doing things that are fair.

Interviewer:

What can companies do to be more fair?

Alison:

First, they need to realize that some of their efforts don’t work. Research shows that training managers not to be biased does not work. Instead, companies need to use objective and valid assessments of performance and capabilities.

Second, companies should stop trying to fix women. Instead, companies should focus on changing their leadership models that often reward people who network and present well over people who are humble and perform.

Third, companies should be less proud of their representation of women. One global MNC I know was ecstatic about the work they did to get 20% of women in their senior leadership roles. However, these women were mostly in support roles such as HR, Legal, and Communications. Most CEOs come from commercial roles. Companies should be focused more on moving women into challenging commercial roles to stretch and develop them for larger commercial roles.

Finally, companies should be wary of one-off executive education programs for women. Leaders enjoy these programs, but companies need to provide more personalized leadership development support to women leaders when they need it. I have seen too many women leaders fired within a year of being hired or promoted into a large new role. Companies should continue to take risks on women leaders but also need to support them to ensure they are successful.

Interviewer:

You have two daughters in university now. What advice do you have for them as women as they enter the working world?

Alison:

I always encourage my daughters to never be afraid to ask. Ask for opportunities, ask for a pay increase if they feel they deserve it or ask for better working conditions. I want them and all women to feel worthy to ask, to be heard, to be considered, and to be given a fair chance.