Career Progression - Connecting the dots

Firdaus KhanAssoc. Prof. ICBM-SBE, Hyd.

National Conference on Diversity in Management – Development of Women Executives25-26 November 2013, Hyderabad

Career Progression:

Connecting the Dots

Objectives of the Session

• To encourage career planning by women

• To provide a fair paradigm to corporate mentors responsible for grooming women professionals for top jobs

A fresh perspective …

Are women being restricted from taking on senior positions or

are their career choices effectively eliminating them from the top game?

Women should look at bridging the gap rather than being intimidated by the glass ceiling effect

Women in senior positions –Push or Pull factor?

• No longer an issue about equality or fairness

• Half of the workforce is female

• Research shows that companies with women Directors perform better on parameters such as return on equity, return on sales and return on invested capital*

*(Joy, Carter et al, 2007)

Hurdles in the Career Marathon

• A skewed perception of Leadership qualities being male-oriented

• Getting labeled as ‘over-aggressive’ if a woman is overtly assertive

• Sabbaticals that most women invariably take to raise children and

• A tendency to take on functional rather than line roles.

Woman & the workplaceLinkedIn – Cross Tab Survey 2013

Women believe they CAN have it all

LinkedIn – Cross Tab Survey 2013

Successful, but challenging…

LinkedIn – Cross Tab Survey 2013

Career vs. Family responsibilities

LinkedIn – Cross Tab Survey 2013

Success = Work-Life Balance

LinkedIn – Cross Tab Survey 2013

Journey to the Top

Sharp decision-making skills

Exposure to P&L accountability

Mental toughness

Cross-functional exposure built over a period of time.

2 point agenda for Women

Learn on the job

Build a strong CV for top positions

Planning your Career Moves*

Making it to the Top

Developing your Leadership brand

Taking on grittier, broader roles

Starting off on the Fast Track

* Based on the model given in “WHERE HAVE ALL THE SENIOR WOMEN GONE? – 9 Critical Job Assignments for Women Leaders” by Ines Wichert, Palgrave Macmillan Publication

Outcome of Career Choices

Personal development opportunities

Career development

challenges

#1:Early Stretch Assignments

• Get out of your comfort zone. Take on sink or swim assignments early in your career.

• Usually small, under-resourced organizations or departments throw up such opportunities.

Early stretch……consequent churn

Emotional intelligence/risk taking

Top management attention / mentorship

Skip rungs of corporate ladder

Learning about yourself & your organization

Building credibility in a male dominated environment

Sheryl Sandberg

1 yr at McKinsey

US Treasury Dept .

Debt waiver during Asian

fin. crisis

VP Global Online Sales

& Operations at Google

COO at Face book. 1st

female on Board

• LEENA NAIR Sr VP, Leadership and OD, Unilever. 1st woman at HUL to deal with employee relations in a factory

• DEVITA SARAFWalked away from Rs. 300 cr. Zenith Computers, established own technology firm Vu Technologies

• SWARUPA SANYALHead Of Strategy And Corporate Initiatives, Genpact. Making it bigger, lean & more profitable

• ARUNA JAYANTHICapgemini India’s CEO Her role as global delivery officer for outsourcing catapulted her to the top job.

International Assignments

Operational Excellence

People Management

Working in a different

Environment

#2:Taking on Grittier, Broader Roles

When the going gets tough…

Out-of-the box thinking Cultural sensitivity Independent thinking diversity mgt. skills resilience

From functional specialist to business manager

P&L accountability

Turnaround Pro

ChangeAgent

Corporate Intrapre-

neur

#3:Developing your Leadership Brand

NINA LATH GUPTA MD, National Film Dev. Corp.

CHITRA RAMKRISHNAfirst woman MD & CEO, NSE

KAVITA PRAKASH MANI Head, Food Security Agenda, Syngenta

Building one’s brand …Establishing reputation beyond doubt

External visibility

Large external & internal networks.

Accept being ambitious

Fine tune leadership skills

Enjoy newfound power & authority

#4: Making it to the top…

Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO ICICI

Sminu Jindal, MD –Jindal SAW Steel Ltd.

Padmashree Warrior CTO, Cisco Systems

Neelam DhawanMD, HP

Arundhati Bhattacharya Chairperson, SBI

Indra Nooyi Chairperson & CEO, Pepsico

Sticking your neck out…

Sponsoring, talent development

Outstanding delivery of results

Appetite for risk taking and decision making

Confidence despite critique

Recap of Career Moves

Making it to the Top

Developing your Leadership brand

Taking on grittier, broader roles

Starting off on the Fast Track

“It’s really not correct to say you balance one vis-a-vis the other. You balance both equally well and to the full extent that is required. In a way, you’re trying to do almost like a 48 hour job in a 24 hour time space. But it comes from the determination to say I desire to do both. And then the way you do it is that you prioritize minute by minute.”

Ms. Kochhar on Work-Life Balance

Ms. Jindal on mistakes women make

“They try to be super at everything. It’s okay to fail; it’s okay not to achieve this super status at work and super human at home; it’s okay. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. That’s the biggest learning at the end of it all. It is more important to get up, dust yourself and move again. All the super human stuff, sometimes is self-imposed.”

“I said no to a lot of opportunities when I was just starting out because I thought, ‘That's not what my degree is in’ or ‘I don't know about that domain.’ In retrospect, at a certain point it's your ability to learn quickly and contribute quickly that matters. ….there is no perfect fit when you're looking for the next big thing to do. You have to take opportunities and make an opportunity fit for you, rather than the other way around.”

Ms. Warrior on one key lesson learnt

“ Women keep doubting their own capabilities…they lack confidence or they think they are not as good as the other person… Women never ask for promotions or increments. They find it very difficult to push themselves to say ‘I am the best of the lot.’ They never ask and they never get…even if they see a senior role opening up, they will not put up a hand and say ‘I want that.’ Instead they say, ‘If they think I am good enough for it, they will ask me.’ But they forget that nobody knows they’re interested in the role.

Ms. Dhawan on career ‘ownership’

C..o..n..n..e..c..t the dots

Get Career intelligent

Networking

P&L thinking

Thank you!