Why are regulators so short sighted? They think a single regulation can fix everything thats wrong with a complex issue. The past few weeks I have scanned a ton of titles regarding countries establishing quotas for the number of female directors serving on executive boards. Malaysia is the latest to come out and establish a rule that states “30% of all corporate decision-makers must be women”. Really?
Before I go on with why the Malaysians and a dozen others who have released similar quota-bearing rule changes are wrong, let me share my views on the problem they are trying to address - the problem of inequality between men and women in the workplace. In a nutshell:
• At the core, Men and Women are fundamentally different in many ways, including physically, emotionally and their approach to reasoning. If you disagree, that’s your problem. These are facts and the planet should come to terms with it and move on.
• I fundamentally believe there is an imbalance in the number of women decision-makers in business – there isn’t enough of them in positions of authority and decision-making.
• I do not believe there is a trend, conspiracy or male-driven agenda behind this imbalance. My theory is its due to how corporate culture has evolved since 1901. There is a 70-year lag in terms of women moving into the modern workforce and this is the cause of the gap we see today. The gap is closing and will plateau over time, probably never at 50-50, but at an optimal balance.
• I believe this imbalance is a lost opportunity. Women have proven time and time again that they are as good if not better than their male counterparts to produce when it matters.
• I believe the responsibility for an individual to achieve their personal aspirations both professionally and personally lies squarely on the shoulders of that individual. Period.
• I don’t believe there is any “rule”, “policy” or tinkering of any kind that can correct this problem. Let me be very clear about this – I am not in favor of any normalization or force-fitting when it comes to the performance of individuals in any situation.
• I believe in the individual. Therefore there are many examples of women being ridiculously successful in the workplace and equally there are many examples of women failing or underachieving in the workplace. Same for men. It has nothing to do with gender.
There you have it, my naked views. Now you know where I’m coming from when I say setting quotas for the number of women in roles is pure politics and wrong. In fact, if I were a woman I’d be insulted at the suggestion that I cannot earn my place to the top without regulations. What an outrage! And it doesn’t even address the problem.
Setting quotas changes some of the fundamental laws of our universe – that each individual brings something unique and different to the table; that a meritocracy is better than phony entitlement systems; that competition is a healthy way for individuals to fulfill their true potential; that outcomes are the single most important measure of a professional. By forcing companies to choose their people based on gender, race or any other factor other than ability, you are undermining the very principles that have propelled humanity since history began.
Play this out for a second – I have 10 people on my board and 3 have to be women per the new law. What if there are 10 men that are more qualified? Now I have to settle for 3 individuals who are not the best options for me. How does that benefit my company, my shareholders, my employees, my customers or even society?
I know it sounds harsh, but it’s the dumbest solution to a problem that is slowly, but surely correcting itself. I spent many years listening to HR and Legal advise me on the need to meet certain unwritten quotas when I worked at corporations. “You must have more female managers” or “we need more minorities”. I never listened to this nonsense and stuck with what I always knew worked – get the best people for the job.
By following this policy I was able to develop strong management teams over my career. At one company I had three direct reports who were my key leaders for our region. Two of them were Indian males, one of them was a woman. We made a great team and our results showed it.
In another company I had to put together a team that was tasked with delivering complex solutions around the world to our clients. Again I chose not to listen to quota suggestions from the PC police. We put together the best team instead – 3 commercial leaders globally, all of them male. 1 operational leader with global responsibility for the business, a female. Her team was made up of 3 female leaders covering the US, UK and Europe, all of them extremely talented. This team delivered huge results over a 5-year period and my people were successful.
Last January a well-known local business in Pittsburgh won the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Diversity and Leadership awards. Pamela’s Diner is one of Pittsburgh’s best-known breakfast places, with 8 or so locations across the greater Pittsburgh region, employing over 50 people.
Upon receiving their award, owners Gale and Pam gave a short yet powerful speech where they said they were humbled by the recognition but initially had trouble understanding their nomination. “At Pamela’s we don’t let gender, race, sexual orientation, tattoos or piercings prevent us from hiring the best people,” said Gale. They have no diversity policy, they just hire, train and keep the best people. This is the solution to your imbalance problem.
Yet we repeatedly see arbitrary rules and policies coming out of regulators trying to manipulate statistics. Where is the common sense?
This topic is broad and cannot be fully covered in a blog post, so let me part with some thoughts on how women can do better for themselves in the workplace – these are purely my views, call them my unsolicited advice.
First, know yourself.
What are you capable of? What do you want out of your career? What would make you truly happy? One open question I have is could the reason why there are less women than men in high stress, high responsibility jobs be because they don’t want the job? I have personally known several women who worked hard to rise in the corporation only to realize its not for them. So know yourself.
Know the beast you are trying to slay.
If you work for someone you need to know three things about them in order to succeed in your job: what is their personal ambition? What are they measured on (goals, objectives etc.)? How does your contribution help or hurt them?
Know the environment you are living in.
Corporations are like worlds on to themselves. Planet Google is just so different from Planet Ford, so just because you were successful at Ford doesn’t mean you are going to make it at Google. You need to understand what does it take to be recognized and succeed in the company you work for. You have to know the culture of the place to understand your path.
Hold your direct Boss accountable.
So many employees don’t get this, regardless of gender. You must have the conversation with your boss about the same things you need to know about him: what is your ambition? What matters most to your career? Where do you want to be in a year, in three years etc. And how is your Boss going to help you get there?
This is such an important thing and I can honestly say the majority of professionals don’t get it. You have to ask your Boss to help you achieve your goals, get their commitment, then hold them as accountable as you hold yourself.
Finally, be ready to work hard. Really really hard.
People are funny animals. I had a recent graduate in my office interviewing for a job. After a decent conversation, this unproven 22-year old asked “How much does the position pay? I need $80k a year”.
What happened next is best kept out of print, but I will tell you this – if you are not willing to work as hard as you can each and every day, you need to reset your expectations of serving on boards and carrying executive titles. There is nothing glamorous about dealing with the challenges and duties that come with these roles. Many people can’t handle it and so when they fail to achieve the results, they are quick to blame discrimination instead of holding themselves accountable. There is no short cut to hard work.
• At the core, Men and Women are fundamentally different in many ways, including physically, emotionally and their approach to reasoning. If you disagree, that’s your problem. These are facts and the planet should come to terms with it and move on.
• I fundamentally believe there is an imbalance in the number of women decision-makers in business – there isn’t enough of them in positions of authority and decision-making.
• I do not believe there is a trend, conspiracy or male-driven agenda behind this imbalance. My theory is its due to how corporate culture has evolved since 1901. There is a 70-year lag in terms of women moving into the modern workforce and this is the cause of the gap we see today. The gap is closing and will plateau over time, probably never at 50-50, but at an optimal balance.
• I believe this imbalance is a lost opportunity. Women have proven time and time again that they are as good if not better than their male counterparts to produce when it matters.
• I believe the responsibility for an individual to achieve their personal aspirations both professionally and personally lies squarely on the shoulders of that individual. Period.
• I don’t believe there is any “rule”, “policy” or tinkering of any kind that can correct this problem. Let me be very clear about this – I am not in favor of any normalization or force-fitting when it comes to the performance of individuals in any situation.
• I believe in the individual. Therefore there are many examples of women being ridiculously successful in the workplace and equally there are many examples of women failing or underachieving in the workplace. Same for men. It has nothing to do with gender.
There you have it, my naked views. Now you know where I’m coming from when I say setting quotas for the number of women in roles is pure politics and wrong. In fact, if I were a woman I’d be insulted at the suggestion that I cannot earn my place to the top without regulations. What an outrage! And it doesn’t even address the problem.
Setting quotas changes some of the fundamental laws of our universe – that each individual brings something unique and different to the table; that a meritocracy is better than phony entitlement systems; that competition is a healthy way for individuals to fulfill their true potential; that outcomes are the single most important measure of a professional. By forcing companies to choose their people based on gender, race or any other factor other than ability, you are undermining the very principles that have propelled humanity since history began.
Play this out for a second – I have 10 people on my board and 3 have to be women per the new law. What if there are 10 men that are more qualified? Now I have to settle for 3 individuals who are not the best options for me. How does that benefit my company, my shareholders, my employees, my customers or even society?
I know it sounds harsh, but it’s the dumbest solution to a problem that is slowly, but surely correcting itself. I spent many years listening to HR and Legal advise me on the need to meet certain unwritten quotas when I worked at corporations. “You must have more female managers” or “we need more minorities”. I never listened to this nonsense and stuck with what I always knew worked – get the best people for the job.
By following this policy I was able to develop strong management teams over my career. At one company I had three direct reports who were my key leaders for our region. Two of them were Indian males, one of them was a woman. We made a great team and our results showed it.
In another company I had to put together a team that was tasked with delivering complex solutions around the world to our clients. Again I chose not to listen to quota suggestions from the PC police. We put together the best team instead – 3 commercial leaders globally, all of them male. 1 operational leader with global responsibility for the business, a female. Her team was made up of 3 female leaders covering the US, UK and Europe, all of them extremely talented. This team delivered huge results over a 5-year period and my people were successful.
Last January a well-known local business in Pittsburgh won the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Diversity and Leadership awards. Pamela’s Diner is one of Pittsburgh’s best-known breakfast places, with 8 or so locations across the greater Pittsburgh region, employing over 50 people.
Upon receiving their award, owners Gale and Pam gave a short yet powerful speech where they said they were humbled by the recognition but initially had trouble understanding their nomination. “At Pamela’s we don’t let gender, race, sexual orientation, tattoos or piercings prevent us from hiring the best people,” said Gale. They have no diversity policy, they just hire, train and keep the best people. This is the solution to your imbalance problem.
Yet we repeatedly see arbitrary rules and policies coming out of regulators trying to manipulate statistics. Where is the common sense?
This topic is broad and cannot be fully covered in a blog post, so let me part with some thoughts on how women can do better for themselves in the workplace – these are purely my views, call them my unsolicited advice.
First, know yourself.
What are you capable of? What do you want out of your career? What would make you truly happy? One open question I have is could the reason why there are less women than men in high stress, high responsibility jobs be because they don’t want the job? I have personally known several women who worked hard to rise in the corporation only to realize its not for them. So know yourself.
Know the beast you are trying to slay.
If you work for someone you need to know three things about them in order to succeed in your job: what is their personal ambition? What are they measured on (goals, objectives etc.)? How does your contribution help or hurt them?
Know the environment you are living in.
Corporations are like worlds on to themselves. Planet Google is just so different from Planet Ford, so just because you were successful at Ford doesn’t mean you are going to make it at Google. You need to understand what does it take to be recognized and succeed in the company you work for. You have to know the culture of the place to understand your path.
Hold your direct Boss accountable.
So many employees don’t get this, regardless of gender. You must have the conversation with your boss about the same things you need to know about him: what is your ambition? What matters most to your career? Where do you want to be in a year, in three years etc. And how is your Boss going to help you get there?
This is such an important thing and I can honestly say the majority of professionals don’t get it. You have to ask your Boss to help you achieve your goals, get their commitment, then hold them as accountable as you hold yourself.
Finally, be ready to work hard. Really really hard.
People are funny animals. I had a recent graduate in my office interviewing for a job. After a decent conversation, this unproven 22-year old asked “How much does the position pay? I need $80k a year”.
What happened next is best kept out of print, but I will tell you this – if you are not willing to work as hard as you can each and every day, you need to reset your expectations of serving on boards and carrying executive titles. There is nothing glamorous about dealing with the challenges and duties that come with these roles. Many people can’t handle it and so when they fail to achieve the results, they are quick to blame discrimination instead of holding themselves accountable. There is no short cut to hard work.
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Thank you for your direct, real, and legitimate assessment of the "gender gap". I too believe it is the responsibility for an individual to achieve their aspirations. That said I do not take for granted that the systems, controls, and cultural norms of our country (and the rest of the world) were put in place for a reason and that the efforts that have been made to debunk them over time have been heroic, at times risky, and are to my benefit today. However, as a woman leader and someone with specific aspirations for my life, I could not fathom applying a filter of "being a woman" as to whether I was successful or not...the degree of success is a direct result of my efforts (or lackthereof). I look to smart people, people with good instincts, creative minds, etc. for my inspiration - man or woman, no matter...rather what can I learn from you as a human being.
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