ESSENTIALS FOR LEADERS AND THOSE THEY LEAD

As the sun sets on the month of March—also known as Women’s History Month—it’s an opportune time to reflect on women’s contributions at work. Women are an undeniable force in the modern workplace, as the business case for gender-diverse leadership teams grows ever stronger. After pandemic-fueled burnout prompted many working mothers to leave the labor force altogether, women’s participation is now hitting all-time highs. While we know that women are just as eager to advance in their careers as men, they remain vastly underrepresented at higher levels of the organization. This week, we upend misconceptions about women at work and suggest ways in which leaders can really move the needle.

AN IDEA

Keep the pressure on

For nearly a decade, McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace research has shed light on the contradictions, challenges, and promise of being a woman in the corporate world. According to senior partners Alexis Krivkovich and Lareina Yee, the latest results help demystify four myths about women at work: that women feel less ambitious than they did before the pandemic (they aren’t), that only women care about flexible working conditions (men do, too), and that microaggressions don’t meaningfully affect women (they do). The fourth myth? Krivkovich and Yee point to the leadership pipeline. Rather than the glass ceiling, “the biggest inequity in advancement remains the broken rung—the very first step up into a manager position,” Krivkovich says. “The reason we only have 28 percent women in the C-suite is because we aren’t building that leadership path at the very beginning of [women’s] careers, to create a talent pool that would be available and ready for those opportunities when they open up.” To course correct, they recommend companies approach gender representation as they would any other business problem: dig into the data, run postmortems on who’s getting promoted, and ask tough questions about the structural biases that may be standing in women’s way.

A BIG NUMBER

9

That’s the average number of years a woman spends in poor health during her lifetime. According to McKinsey Health Institute research from senior partners Kweilin Ellingrud and Lucy Pérez and their colleagues, women are most likely to be affected by a sex-specific health condition in their working years. With the average person spending one-third of their life at work, improving employee health is critical to improving global health, both as a moral imperative and a precondition for economic prosperity. What’s at stake in addressing the health gap between women and men? Healthier women are more likely to participate in the workforce, thus more likely to improve outcomes for themselves, their families, and the economy, which stands to gain at least $1 trillion of global economic opportunity by 2040—the equivalent of 137 million women in full-time jobs—if the gap is closed.

A QUOTE

“If you need something, please ask for it. This opens discussions and can open doors.”

That’s Barbara Karuth-Zelle, COO of Allianz, on the advice she gives to both women and men for achieving gender parity at work. Nearly half of the members of Allianz’s management panel are women, including Karuth-Zelle, but she says the European insurer also focuses on the earlier stages of its talent pipeline. “To give more women a level playing field for wherever they want to go in their careers, we are asking more questions about what they need, allowing more flexible work models, and rethinking our talent models and leadership formats.”

A SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW

If careers are a journey, then Grace Puma wants women to set their own course from the start. In her new book, the former PepsiCo executive vice president and COO explains the power of  “a career-forward” mindset that helps women approach their career-related thinking with intentionality, ownership, and a long-term view. Along the way, working women are likely to encounter biases that are beyond their control. But when it comes to their advancement, women are the ultimate decision makers of which role, or which company, is best for them. “Whether you stay or go is rooted in the question of what’s most important,” Puma says. “Are you growing? Are you building capabilities that align with your aspirations? Consider the changes objectively.”

– Edited by Daniella Seiler, executive editor, Washington, DC

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