Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Lynn Cronin (New York, NY) is a veteran consultant for many Fortune 500 companies who has also held numerous high-level corporate positions, including vice president of management development with Sony Music Entertainment Co., consultant and account manager for Watson Wyatt Worldwide (a global human resources consulting firm), and partner with Hewitt Associates (the leading global human resources consultancy).

Howard Fine (New York, NY) has a wealth of high-level managerial experience, including Senior Managing Director of the Human Capital Management Solutions division of Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS), Executive Managing Director of Buck Consultants, Managing Director at Watson Wyatt Worldwide, and partner with Hewitt Associates.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Damned If She Does, Damned If She Doesn't

Prometheus Books

Contents

Acknowledgments............................................................9Introduction...............................................................11Chapter 1: Still Stuck on an Unlevel Playing Field.........................17Chapter 2: Solving the Wrong Problem.......................................41Chapter 3: Caught on a Male Proving Ground.................................65Chapter 4: Paradox #1: The Team Player.....................................83Chapter 5: Paradox #2: Mentors and Advocates...............................107Chapter 6: Paradox #3: Commitment to the Job...............................133Chapter 7: Paradox #4: Bonding with Co-workers.............................159Chapter 8: Paradox #5: Challenging the Power Structure.....................183Chapter 9: The Coed Company................................................207Notes......................................................................237Bibliography...............................................................245Index......................................................................257

Chapter One

DISJOINTED IMAGES

The restaurant was humming with conversation. Men and women from the halls of corporate America were engaged in a hallowed ritual: the business lunch-a time when deals are advanced, successes are celebrated, networks are built, and, sometimes, unguarded opinions are shared. At one table Howard sat with two other men, Robert, a tall, dark-haired asset manager, and Stephan, a trim, graying senior human resources (HR) executive. While the predefined purpose for their meeting was to discuss how Robert's new investment fund could be marketed to employee 401(k) plans, the conversation took an interesting twist.

"By the way, how's your son doing? Didn't he graduate from college last year?" Stephan asked Robert, intermingling the personal with the professional in the time-honored tradition of business bonding.

"Yeah, he graduated. But he's having a tough time finding a good job. It's very competitive out there now. Frankly, I think he'd be having an easier time of it if he was female," replied Robert.

"Why do you say that?" inquired Howard.

"Well, I think women have an advantage nowadays. The talented women are courted and treated with kid gloves. My son was a strong student, but guys like him don't get anything special."

"You know, I can understand how you feel," Stephan, the HR professional, thoughtfully concurred. "In my company, we go out of our way to recruit women with high potential and go to great lengths to celebrate their promotions. Can't say we do that for men."

Three blocks up Sixth Avenue, while Robert, Stephan, and Howard were enjoying their dessert, Lynn was sitting in a diversity training class led by Marilyn, a middle-aged woman with a grandmotherly manner. The session was a required course in the management development program of the entertainment company Lynn was working for. Marilyn, a consultant with a renowned human resources firm, was recognized as an expert on corporate diversity and was frequently quoted in the press as a pioneer in the field. Standing in front of the seventeen managers from a cross-section of departments, Marilyn began with a sobering question: "How many of you believe that men have an advantage over women at work?" Every woman in the room hesitantly raised her hand. Marilyn continued, "I have been getting the same response from women for decades." The women in the group nodded knowingly in agreement.

These are two perspectives from what purportedly is the same world. One portrays a work environment where the pendulum has swung too far, where women's fight for equality has resulted in a reverse sense of inequity. The other shows a degree of frustration, a weary resignation that after years of effort the fight is far from over. This contrast raises questions about the true state of gender equity in business and whether the sexes will ever agree.

Entering a local Barnes & Noble bookstore, we were confronted with more disjointed images. In the periodical section, a photograph of the stunning, dark-haired beauty Gina Bianchini graced the cover of Fast Company next to the heading "This CEO Has Silicon Valley Buzzing." Her youth and T-shirted casualness attested to the power and triumph of today's businesswoman. Annually, Fortune trumpets the "The Power 50: 50 Most Powerful Women in Business"; the magazine stated in 2007 that "ten editions of the Most Powerful Women list prove it: Women have come a long way (don't say "baby")-and they're not slowing down." Moving down the aisle to the management section, we found book after self-help book on what women need to do differently to succeed in business. The message hasn't changed much in thirty years. Both in the recently published books and in those from the 1970s, women are seen as outsiders trying to break into the world of business. But in order to succeed, they simply need to be smarter and wiser in the way they work. The undeviating, not-so-subtle message is that if women would just learn to do what men do, the problems of today's businesswomen would disappear.

But if the solution is so simple, why do working women continue to need so much coaching? Instead of being inspired, why do most women roll their eyes at photographs of female executives who have reached the top rung of the corporate ladder? And why do most businesswomen continue to feel a keen sense of inequity, while so many businessmen feel that the playing field has not only been leveled but may be tilting in favor of women? The polarity of these points of view makes us wonder: just where are we today?

DAY-TO-DAY INEQUITIES

While business magazine covers showing high-flying female executives paint a vivid image of women's success in the workplace today, it's the everyday anecdotal experiences of working women that provide a truer picture. Individual stories like Kim's are parables for what women encounter throughout corporate America.

Craig, a St. Louis office manager, wanted to fire Kim. "She is so hard to work with," he thought. "Always challenging, excessively vocal. Ever since the merger last year, she has been just a pain." Though he couldn't dispute her talent and commitment-she had a proven, twenty-year track record with clients-he, along with several other senior leaders, accused Kim of having a negative attitude and being a primary contributor to the recent dysfunction in the office.

"This doesn't seem right," lamented Kim to the regional manager, Craig's boss, when he was visiting their office and sharing with her the feedback from her peers. "I'm a senior person here and I care about what's happening. When poor decisions are made, decisions I'm expected to live by, shouldn't I speak up? Haven't I earned the right to express my opinion? Sure, I may have lost my cool a couple times, but who hasn't around here lately? Things are so tense. Why am I being singled out?"

After listening to Kim, the regional manager intervened and stopped Craig from firing her that day. But though her job was saved, her career at that...