Entries from July 2009
Forbes Article
“…found that members of a social majority are more likely to voice unique perspectives and critically review task-relevant information when there is more social diversity present than when there is not. Moreover, this is true even when the people who are “different” don’t express any unique perspectives themselves. Our research suggests that the mere presence of social diversity makes people with independent points of view more willing to voice those points of view, and others more willing to listen.”
Hmm. Interesting. I wish that I could provide some perspective here, but considering that I always provide an element of diversity to the discussion I am involved in, it is difficult to know if this is true. In engineering I have found that I am typically the only female (or maybe there are one or two of us) in a room full of white men. I am curious what others think about the findings of the article. Does having a person of different race, color, creed or gender participating change the dynamic?
Categories: Corporate Strategy
Tagged: Diversity, Women in Business
Recently I had the opportunity to reflect back upon all of the training I’ve received in order to become the leader that I am today. In my career I was extremely fortunate that I received a significant amount of management training before I was even considered for promotion into the role. I find the coaching of potential, junior, and mid-level managers to be critical to longer term success. Even as a senior manager I believe that it is important to continue learning, and to not always fall back on previous experiences.
Early in my career I worked for a company that had a mandatory training and assessment course for all potential managers. It identified if someone was ready to manage people, and the areas in which they were weak and strong. This was a course that could be failed and a person wouldn’t be promoted to a management position if it was. I remember this class as being very stressful. There were timed prioritization of work assignments, interviews, and video taped role playing exercises in which instructors acted as difficult subordinates and customers. This course started my foray into management.
I’ve also had some training that wouldn’t be classified as management training, but it helped me become a much better manager. One form of this type of training that I received is often dismissed by staff as being irrelevant – and that is diversity training. I found it helped me understand how to be sensitive to race, religion, and gender as well as realizing that different people have different motivations for what they do. Engineers may seem to all be very similar but in fact they are not. You can’t expect someone to want to do the same things that you want to do for all the same reasons. Some people care about money, some about life balance, and some about challenging work or career development. I find this to be key to being a good manager because by understanding what a person’s motivations are, you can assign them work that they can be successful at. This training course also was very clear about what is and what is not appropriate in a work environment. In a similar vein, I also took a class that included the Meyers-Briggs Inventory. This was an eye opener for me because it showed how much diversity there is in the various personality types and how the different types are perceived. It also provided suggestions for how to deal with the different types. In engineering there are a few common ones, but there are always some people that are different and harder to read and work with. I happen to be an INTJ in case you are familiar with this method of personality evaluation.
As my career progressed, I signed up for more intensive training courses that spanned longer periods of time. Another company that I worked for footed the bill for a year long class that required me to travel to San Francisco monthly. This program was designed for high potential women managers with a minimum of 7 years of supervisory experience who were being groomed for senior management positions. The program and others like it are run by an organization called Women Unlimited. If you are a woman manager or if you have one reporting to you, I’d suggest investigating this. I found it to be one of the most useful training programs that I ever attended.
Once I got to Director and VP level positions my training focus changed. Now I find it to be a lot more self-directed and individualized. I continue to read books and articles voraciously to learn about new trends and ideas. For the last few years at my last company I met weekly with a psychologist who works with leadership teams at small companies as a career coach. He taught me to depend not only on my analytical capabilities but also on my intuitive abilities. He also taught the leadership team as a whole to be more focused and to use empathy in dealing with one another as a way to speed resolution of issues. This was invaluable. A lot of times in business we focus solely on the analytic and reasoning aspects of our work and little on the people and relationship issues.
These days I also enjoy sharing the knowledge that I have accumulated. As those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know, last year I presented at the IGDA Leadership Forum. I enjoyed preparing my presentation and sharing my management experiences so much that it compelled me to start this blog and become more active in the Web2.0 world. There are a number of pages on this website that give management instruction through examples. I also frequently post and comment upon interesting articles and topics that are personal growth, business, and management related. I am experimenting with the use of twitter to share additional articles that I find interesting that I don’t necessarily feel the need to comment about. I have a regular following on both of these mediums, and it is growing. This is really cool.
Keep on learning. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like you have enough time or that it is worth the effort involved. Do it, you never know when what you’ve learned might come in handy.
Categories: Leadership · Personal
Tagged: Diversity, Leadership, Learning, Motivation, Personality Types, Stress, Women in Business
“Best advice I ever got” from Fortune Magazine
“In a world of uncertainty, we could all use a little advice. So we asked a host of influential leaders to share with us the wise words that changed their lives forever.”
Thanks to my friend Richard for pointing out this article to me. Lately I’ve been struggling a little bit with what to write about as I have been spending a lot of time on my job search and I really don’t want to write about that ad nauseam. This article made me reflect back on my career to see what advice really sticks out for me.
I remember many years ago when a promotion opportunity didn’t go well for me. I was extremely upset about it and I was having a tough time getting back into my existing role. I think part of the problem is that my career up until that point had been very successful. I hadn’t gotten much strong push back or negative feedback about my work. This time I received a bit – and it wasn’t information that could easily be dismissed because it clearly impacted my future career growth. I was crushed.
My poor manager at the time – who wasn’t the bearer of the bad news had to deal with me in my distress. Thankfully he finally hit upon the one phrase that put what happened into perspective – “Get Over It!” It doesn’t sound like much, but it was what flipped the switch for me. This is the key bit of advice that I’ve taken to heart. Everyone has problems both big and small. Their impact on you depends on how well you are able to learn from them and “get over it”. Resiliency is the key to future success!
“I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
- Thomas Edison, Inventor
Categories: Personal
Tagged: Resilience, Taking Responsibility
One of the lessons that I have learned in my career is that if you want to move into more senior roles, you need to look the part in order for people to take you seriously. This clearly is different depending on the industry that you are in, but I think that everyone knows what I mean. A new grad tends to dress differently than a manager, and a manager tends to dress a little differently than a director and so on up the chain. If you want to be able to fit in on that next ladder rung, you should already look like you belong there. Watch and learn to see what you should look like. The rules are relaxed a bit in smaller companies, and sometimes the chief executive is the worst dressed person in the company. However, with the way the economy has changed the business climate I’m definitely seeing more of a shift toward more formal business dress. Sloppy t-shirts and jeans are definitely the exception in the management ranks these days.
As a woman, I find that creating the wrong appearance is fraught with peril. A lot of times there aren’t role models to learn from. I’ve been in companies where there weren’t any senior women leaders. What do you do then? For men it is so easy. Business casual is a pair of khaki pants, a polo shirt, a nice belt and a pair of loafers. Done. A guy can get away with that, even if it is a little rumpled. Formal business dress is standard – a dark suit, starched shirt, tie, and dress shoes.
For women there are so many questionable areas.
Hair and makeup:
- Don’t wear too much makeup or constantly touch it up.
- Hair needs to look well-groomed and well cut, but you don’t want to look “high maintenance”.
- Nail polish – I tend to vote no on this – too distracting unless it is very neutral. It also looks horrendous when chipped or dull.
Clothing:
- Don’t show too much leg or cleavage.
- Too tight is bad – don’t want to look like a stuffed sausage casing now do we?
- Too loose is also bad – that comes across as sloppy.
- Sandals may or may not be appropriate. Some industries still expect pantyhose – and that is a rat hole a mile deep in itself!
- Boots? Are they ok with a skirt? Depends on your industry. If they are fine leather dress boots with a heel they are probably ok. No Uggs please!
- Heels or flats? Too high is too suggestive. Too flat is not a “power” look.
- What about sleeveless blouses? I think Michelle Obama finally put that one to rest – thank goodness! If you have the arms to pull it off – go for it. I happen to love a sleeveless blouse in hot weather.
- Pants or skirts? Pantsuits finally are mainstream – thanks in part to Hillary Clinton’s standard garb. I really don’t like skirts in the winter – too cold. For casual business: dress pants and a nice fitted sweater or blouse always look put together.
- Beware – business casual khakis and polo shirts sometimes come off looking like soccer mom gear. No you can’t just dress “like a man”. You are always better off with a pair of dress pants.
- Jewelry is necessary for a polished look, but too much or too big or too loud is distracting.
- If you are going to wear a suit, make sure it has some personality in cut or appearance. If not – add a colorful blouse or an interesting pin or scarf. Women are expected to look a bit more pulled together even in a suit.
The bottom line is that you don’t want to come off looking “too young” or “too sexy” nor “too old” or “too frumpy”. There is a fine line here and it is so easy to teeter off of it one way or another. Image is everything. There are a lot of people who can’t look past someone’s outward appearance when doing business. It is a reality that the care you take in making a good impression is noticed.
Sadly, this also extends to your physical attributes. Overweight people are treated differently in business. This is especially true of women – there is a double standard here as well. Your clothing choices are extremely important. If you can, get your clothes tailored to fit your body as best as possible. If you are heavier on the top or the bottom, buy for the larger size and get the other piece adjusted! This is back to: too tight is bad, and so is too loose.
Older people, if they are not extremely well put together in appearance also are treated differently in business. You don’t want to look like a has been. Get a good stylish haircut that fits the times. There are too many older women who still style their hair like they did back in high school or college. That will date you faster than your wrinkles do! Don’t wear that 10 year old suit – especially to an interview. Styles really have changed. We all remember those behemoth shoulder pads from the late 80s – ok, well at least I do. You wouldn’t catch me dead in one of those old suits.
My inspiration for this post came from the article: Appearances Matter from the Wall Street Journal.
Categories: How Tos
Tagged: Appearance, Women in Business
