Lisa Wicker, Ph.D.’s Post

Over time, the number of BIPOC women in executive positions has gone up. Unfortunately, this improvement doesn’t extend to all roles, including some of the largest. While women make large percentages of roles such as chief communications officer and DEI leadership, only 10% of Fortune 500 company CEOs are women, with similarly low percentages for other high-level jobs. This number becomes much lower when it comes to women of color specifically, even when they are as qualified as their peers.    Elevating BIPOC women to the top of the C-suite won’t happen overnight — but it’s vital that we continue to work toward reducing these promotional gaps and increasing the diversity at the executive level. More training, education, mentorship, and intentional pipelines for BIPOC women are needed, and organizations must remain intentional in their hiring and promoting practices.    #BIPOCExecutives #BIPOCWomenExecutives #WomenInBusiness #WomenInLeadership 

What a read! First, some myth busters ... [1 ] Are women becoming less ambitious? Hardly! In reality: Women are more ambitious than before the pandemic — and flexibility is fueling that ambition. Sadly, Women represent roughly one in four C-suite leaders, and women of color just one in 16. [2] The ‘broken rung’, instead of the 'glass ceiling', is the greatest obstacle women face on the path to senior leadership. All women lose ground at the first step up to manager, but Black women and Latinas are held back the most: 73 women of color were promoted to manager for every 100 men, down from 82 women of color last year. Black women's promotion rates have fallen to 2018 levels, with only 54 Black women promoted for every 100 men this year. [3] The workplace is a mental minefield for many women, particularly for those with traditionally marginalized identities. Microaggressions have a large and lasting impact on women — they are much less likely to feel psychologically safe, making it harder to take risks, propose new ideas, or raise concerns. They are also more likely to think about quitting their jobs, and always be burned out. [4] Both men and women see flexibility as a ‘top 3’ employee benefit and critical to their company’s success. And for women who are able to work remotely or in a hybrid manner, they face fewer microaggressions and have higher levels of psychological safely. But all is not lost ... "Sixty percent of companies have increased their financial and staffing investments in diversity, equity, and inclusion over the past year. And nearly three in four HR leaders say DEI is critical to their companies’ future success." More to be done. #GenderEquity #DEI #WomenInLeadership #Culture | McKinsey & Company | cc Leda Glyptis PhD | Ghela Boskovich | Wincie Wong | Sabine VanderLinden | Stephanie F. | Sonya B. Dreizler | Liv Gagnon | Michelle Tran | Anne Chow (She/Her) | Tammy Bangs, CAMS® | Barb MacLean | Anne Leslie | Sabina Sulat | Jocelyn Davis |

Interesting and insightful post from one of my fellow Beyond Lean In authors, Theodora Lau. Some surprising insights about the current workplace. #leadership #beyondleanin

As a woman of color There are two things that are 💯% ❗  1. I have worked HARD as hell for everything I have achieved in my #career. 2. Although I have never had a desire to climb 🧗♀️ to the mountain top of the corporate ladder, my scaling has had many unnecessary obstacles that I have had to overcome. Believe it or NOT... one of those obstacles is that although I have always been a very high performer. I HAVE NEVER BEEN PROMOTED! 😮 Although I have helped others get there. I recently led a discussion about women in leadership and it prompted me to revisit the Women in the Workplace research that has been conducted for 9 years (2015-2023) straight by McKinsey. And "IT'S THIS ONE THING" that has quantitatively remained the same. And in digging deeper into this report there is one question that I kept asking myself so I wanted to pose this to the #linkedincommunity to see what other insights and perspectives I could get from other professionals. Even men of color are advancing 🤔. Including my incredibly talented husband who has always moved through leadership and promotions with speed and precision. But the ONE thing that I cannot understand is this... Why are women of color in particular so grossly underrepresented in upper-middle to high-level leadership positions? I couldn't even find the why in the research; just more or less of an identification of the problem. In fact, the research only speaks to women in general: "Over the past nine years, women—and especially women of color—have remained underrepresented across the corporate pipeline (Exhibit 1). However, we see a growing bright spot in senior leadership. Since 2015, the number of women in the C-suite has increased from 17 to 28 percent, and the representation of women at the vice president and senior vice president levels has also improved significantly (McKinsey, 2023)." Let's just say that we remove the 🐘 elephant in the room. So what is it about ME and other women of color that has been affirmed that: 1. We are unable to lead others to success 2. We are incapable of leading with excellence 3. We won’t produce the highest results and perform at the highest of echelon What other justifiable reason(s) can be hypothesized for the reason (why) women of color continue to be stuck at entry-level to middle management positions? Who believes they can objectively speak to this? If you can, please COMMENT and help me understand this. #curiosityunleashed #leadership #womenofcolor #career #change #challenge #organizationalbehavior #culture #coaching #saturdayspotlight #linkedin

“Just because someone carries it well, doesn’t mean it’s not heavy.” This quote deeply resonates with me as I reflect on the professional challenges faced by women, particularly women of color. According to the Women In the Workplace 2023 report, the largest barrier to women's career advancement is the 'broken rung' in the corporate ladder. This systemic obstacle often prevents women from securing their first promotion from entry-level to manager, causing them to fall behind men right from the start. For women of color, the impact is even more pronounced. They experience much lower promotion rates and are severely underrepresented in leadership positions. This is compounded by limited access to crucial career supports such as mentors and sponsors. If you’re a woman of colour seeking to bridge the promotion gap and advance your career, I invite you to book a complimentary discovery session at leadtochange.ca. Let's work together to pave your path to success.💫 #WomenOfColor #CareerCoaching #Empowerment #BreakingBarriers

The lack of C-suite diversity is even deeper when you take race and ethnicity into account. While one in four #Csuite leaders is a woman, just one in 20 is a woman of color. Modern Retail spoke with half a dozen #women retail executives on why women leave their roles, and what steps businesses can take to build a pipeline of diverse leadership talent. The conversations shine a light on the underlying — and often unspoken — realities that women executives face. From hiding pregnancies to being mistaken for an assistant, from lower salaries to oblivious investors, they say the double standards facing women executives contribute to shorter tenures, unplanned exits and a preponderance of white males leading companies.

If you're feeling stuck and unsure how to break through the glass ceiling? You're not alone. Nancy Reyes, CEO of the Americas for BBDO, dives into the reasons why so many talented women leave the workforce before reaching leadership positions. Key takeaways: ⭐ Lack of confidence and mentorship can hold women back. ⭐ Women of color often face additional challenges due to bias. What can we do? ⭐ Believe in yourself and your abilities! Deserve your seat at the table. ⭐ Seek out mentors and sponsors who can champion your voice. Together, we can create a more supportive environment for women to thrive at all levels. #genderequality #womenofcolor #earlycareers #diversityandinclusion #humanresources #DEI #DiversityandInclusion #ProfessionalDevelopment

Worry about the Glass Ceiling later, focus on the “Broken Rung” The 2023 Women in the Workplace report is out and packed as usual with important insights about the state of women at work. For those of us who have spent decades focused on improving the funnel of women in progressively senior leadership roles, this finding is important with a worrying declining trend particularly for women of color. This is an important read for anyone in a leadership position. “The glass ceiling is often cited as the primary reason more women don’t reach senior leadership. Our data show a different problem. For the ninth consecutive year, women’s biggest hurdle to advancement is at the first critical step up to manager: for every 100 men promoted from entry-level to manager, 87 women are promoted. And this gap is trending the wrong way for women of color: this year, 73 women of color were promoted to manager for every 100 men, down from 82 women of color last year. As a result of this “broken rung,” women fall behind and can never catch up with men.”

I shared this article from Russell Reynolds with my team last week but I’ve been thinking about it since. There is a lot of great advice for organizations, but it made me think about our individual responsibilities if we want to see this change. While it may be implicit, if we want more women in leadership then it requires more men to take on allyship. Intentionally. I think the intentionality is often what is missing. We may all agree (and I don’t assume that everyone agrees) it’s the right thing to do and what we want to see in the world, but we may not do anything about it except read articles and nod along. So if men want to be allies and agents for change, then we need to take action. How do each of us ensure equality of opportunity? How do each of us speak up for someone when they aren’t in the room? How do we encourage people and lift them towards new challenges? Obviously, this same logic applies to other underrepresented groups as well. So, let’s make the implicit more explicit. Organizations can help make this change but it’s going to require the men within these organizations to take ownership and act intentionally.

Navigating professional landscapes can be uniquely challenging for women of colour. Yet, progress beckons as we push for greater equity and inclusivity. Notably, only 6% of corporate board seats held by women are occupied by racialized individuals. 🌍👩🏾💼 Let's amplify the voices of leaders like Ontario politician Mitzie Hunter who shares invaluable insights. Dive in for profound insights and tips: #equity #leadership #womenofcolour #corporatechange