Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/149047
HRO Today Forum Gender Divide Female power players explore workforce issues that both help and hinder executive leadership. By Mitchell Joseph At the recent HRO Today Forum in Philadelphia, the Women in Leadership panel raised a number of important and pressing questions about the struggles of women to reach the boardroom. The panelists agreed that there are factors relating to both women themselves as well as societal pressures that have hampered women's advancement to board positions. While there were many references to the "implicit biases" that many hold in regards to women in the workplace, there was also an emphasis on what panelists called the female tendency to prepare incessantly. Women, they agreed, must have more confidence to take risks in the workplace, while men must be aware of the female propensity for caution and encourage them to bring out their many unique skills. "Women are inherently planners," said Gilfeather. "Opportunity isn't always welldefined, but it's around us if we keep our eyes open for it and we need to leap without all the details." The panel was impressive: Diane Jorkasky, chief medical officer of Complexa Therapeutics; Rose Ann Scanlon, chair of Scanlon Louis; Martha Soehren, chief learning officer and senior vice president for talent management at Comcast; and Cindy Fiedelman, vice president of people and diversity at American Airlines. It was chaired by Beth Gilfeather, CEO of Seven Step Recruiting. Each woman shared her own experiences, but a number of common themes emerged from their personal anecdotes and thoughts. Gilfeather opened the discussion with a question about the relative leadership styles of men and women as well as what strengths and weaknesses each bring to leadership roles. Jorkasky asserted that the gender of a leader was "irrelevant" to their success. However, she seemed to contradict that statement by saying, "The leader today who can get people to work together with different disciplines and different backgrounds and have them see a goal and work through those issues rather than a command and control mentality is the leader we're going to see become successful in the future. I personally think that women do that better than men." In spite of the apparent contradiction, it appears that Jorkasky meant leadership style, rather than success, varies with gender. Soehren had a slightly different take and said that women "have a lot that we can learn from the men as we continue to progress." The conversation then shifted to some of the barriers that women face in the workplace. According to Scanlon, there exist "some implicit biases that hold women back." Gilfeather agreed that these predispositions exist, but noted that they are often not deliberate, but subconscious and ingrained from previous experiences, possibly dating all the way back to childhood. JULY/AUGUST 2013 | www.hrotoday.com [57]