Last night, I was reading an article online, and the author (a venture capitalist) started out by saying that he thought a great senior team was more important to the success of an enterprise than a great idea. "Yes," I thought. "I think that's true - I agree." Then he went on to make a pretty good case for it: how an idea without the people who can execute it is just an idea, but a great team can find a great idea if the one they have isn't so great, etc. etc. I continued to agree.
FT.com / Comment & analysis / Comment - We must break the male cartel in the workplace.
According to a recent study by McKinsey, the management consultancy, companies with a higher proportion of women in senior management are on average 48 per cent more profitable than rivals. Diversified management means better management. Including more women in top positions, both in public and private sectors, changes decision-making processes fundamentally, as women tend to play down formalities and communicate directly, overcoming organisational blockages.
Last Friday, I experienced one of the most fun and useful meetings ever. It was an intersection of many good things: wonderful topic + great people + exciting possibilities + excellent outcomes. If you're a regular reader of my blog, you may remember a few weeks ago, I mentioned that my editor at St. Martin's, Phil Revzin, had suggested that we use the principles of my new book to create the marketing plan for the book. So that's what we did.
The Top 100 Management and Leadership Blogs That All Managers Should Bookmark - HR World.
Greatwebmeetings.com | Great web meetings.
For the last 5 years Wayne has been focused on teaching people how to use web-based presentation tools to do more than present; to communicate and connect. His passion for the topic stems from his background, not as a technology buff (no geek is he!) but as someone committed to helping people get the best out of their people and themselves no matter the medium.
This blog provides aspiring leaders with a forum to investigate ideas, innovations and approaches to leadership. I welcome your thoughts on these topics or any other that affects the “nature of work" and the advancement of women in the corporate world.
In response to my post below, I got a great comment from my new friend and fellow blogger/consultant Wally Bock, who pointed out that the business guru list was based largely on people’s popularity from having written business books – and that very few business books are written by women.
Hmmm, I thought: so I went to the Penguin Portfolio website and found that, of the 50 or so books Portfolio published from the end of 2006 to the end of 2007, only 3 were by women: Carly Fiorina, me, and a woman named Catherine McBreen (who was listed as co-author with a guy).
So then I did a little more research and found - nothing. I'm a good Googler, and I was completely unable to find anything referencing the percentage of business books written by women. So I went to 800CEOREAD to look at their top sellers for the past month: of the top 25, one was written by a woman (and it was a book for women - called Inside Every Woman: Using the 10 Strengths You Didn't Know You Had to Get the Career and Life You Want Now).
Again I say – what’s up with that? I have some theories: First, I think men are much more likely than women, as a group, to think they have something important to say to the world and to be willing to put themselves forward to say it in a very public forum. Second, I suspect publishers are more likely to listen to a man with a good idea for a business book than to a woman. Third, most business books are written by people in their 40s, 50s and 60s (accumulated wisdom, etc.), and I think it’s the folks now in their 20s and 30s who are going to level the playing field in this regard.
But what do you think?