Newsroom
What's a Woman to Do? WSJ Answers the Call
by Wunderman
[Editor's note: Nancy Maffucci, EVP, Global Communications, represented Wunderman on the WSJ Women in the Economy Task Force. Below she recounts the experience.]
At the recent WSJ Women in the Economy Task Force meeting in April, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, told a crowd of 200 attendees that despite her accomplishments at Stanford University Law School (she graduated among the top of her class), no law firm in California would hire her because she was a woman. In fact, she went on to say, one partner in a firm told her “‘our clients wouldn’t stand for it.’” That was in 1952 and luckily much progress was made (there are now three women justices on the U.S. Supreme Court), but there’s more work to be done.
Justice O’Connor was among the leaders from government, business and academia that discussed the tremendous strides women have made in the workforce, their contributions to the economy and the viability of companies since the 1950s, as well as the disturbing evidence that progress for women in the workforce has stalled. McKinsey & Company also presented the findings from its most recent report Unlocking the Full Potential of Women in the U.S. Economy.
Women Warriors
Not surprising, the stories from Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo), Sallie Krawcheck (BofA), Marissa Mayer (Google), and others, were inspiring for both men and women to hear.
As Wunderman’s representative at the meeting, I believe one of the most stirring stories was from Dr. Sandra Witelson, the neuroscientist who analyzed Albert Einstein’s brain and found distinct differences between his brain and that of the rest of the population. Dr. Witelson has the largest collection of human brains in the world, so she used that as the control group to compare Einstein’s brain with the rest. She spoke so clearly about this massively complicated, not to mention intimidating, subject that all in the audience, including Justice O’Connor who was seated to my left, was whispering how amazing the research and her findings were.
Sallie Krawcheck, president of Global Wealth Management, Bank of America, was emphatic in her belief that “Nothing beats hard work. If you put your clients and customers at the center, you [will] come up with the right solution.” She also stressed it was very important to meet as many people as possible along the way. “The more people you can meet in person, the better off you are because it personalizes the relationship they have with you.”
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi recommended women volunteer for spearheading the hardest business challenge or the most difficult turnaround assignments. She said “volunteer to do it because it will count three times the value of other assignments.”
Task Force Recommendations
Throughout the day and a half meeting speakers intermingled with attendees on industry and work level working groups. At the meeting’s conclusion, the Task Force provided recommendations to address some of the most important issues key to further women’s progress, including:
Increasing opportunities for women with P&L responsibilities;
Requiring greater accountability from the C-Suite for hiring women in the top jobs;
Committing to promote women on “potential” vs. “performance”; (see McKinsey research results which found men are more likely to be promoted on potential);
Developing more industry-wide and company-specific mentor and sponsor programs; and,
Augmenting talent management programs to broaden the channels and networks from which to draw top women.
One of the most telling findings from the Task Force and the McKinsey Report (attached) is the common thread among these most successful women that active involvement of men in the mentoring process was integral to their success. It’s not only about women mentoring women. What’s important is for men to mentor and sponsor women as well.
Want to Know More?
The complete 12-page JOURNAL REPORT is in the hardcopy of today’s WSJ. You may also link to it online here.
Wunderman was among the advertising agencies represented at the meeting. For a complete list of Task Force members, click here.
If you’d like more information about the conference, just let me know directly nancy.maffucci(at)wunderman(dot)com.
