Page 45 - The 10 Best Women Founders And CEOs To Watch for 2019

some examples of exclusive work and face challenges, the
male professions. Women were
identified with professions like
nursing, banking, teaching and
human resources management,
to name a few. The proportion of
female representatives on boards of
companies and in senior levels of
management was miserably low.
The past decade and a half have
seen remarkable and refreshing
changes. The realization that half
the talent in the planet has been
underutilized has come a bit late,
butis welcome. Women have hit
and broken the glass ceiling in
many professions and the false
impression that they are not
cut out for certain jobs is being
demolished. However, what we
are seeing is just the start of the
change. A lot more is to come and
come, it will.
As mentioned in the foregoing
paragraphs, the consulting industry
was known as a male dominated
profession, and still is, in some
quarters. However, this myth has
been destroyed by the ascent of
women to key positions where
they manage, control and guide
the fortunes of entities that handle
millions of dollars. Two examples
of such women will be in order.
Pay attention to detail and know
your work
This is perhaps the most important
pre requisite to success. Superficial
knowledge doesn’t get anyone
anywhere. Knowing one’s work
or domain and letting it be
known automatically enhances
the standing of the individual.
Attention to detail is also important
to ensure quality of work and to
ensure that you are in control in
leadership positions.
Take the bull by its horns
Being apprehensive, nervous and
tentative can never help in one’s
march to the top. To develop into
a good manager, fearlessness and
a risk taking ability is required.
Pitfalls are the stepping stones to
success. When you “own” your
remains a big business problem.
results are sweet. And unless we move beyond
tokenism and truly strive to
Be assertive make our workforces diverse
and inclusive, we will be
Never get overawed by the people unable to breed creativity,
with whom you come across. When promote innovation and push
it is your turn to speak, put forth the envelope when it comes to
your point of view clearly and growing our companies.
firmly. And when challenged, your
knowledge of the subject will come The fact is men and women
in handy. However, assertiveness, work side by side, walk the
preparation and knowledge of the same hallways and tackle the
subject go together. When you are same business challenges. Yet,
armed with these, a whole army they inevitably experience the
of men cannot find chinks in your workplace differently in some
armour. ways. For instance, though
employers have begun to offer
Win the confidence of the client generous maternity leave,
women deal with the fear of
The client is the most important being judged and analyzed
entity for persons in the consulting for taking a career break.
industry. Winning the confidence of However, contrary to popular
the client is essential for survival. belief, motherhood doesn’t
This positive can also contribute to diminish career ambition as per
your personal progress as, in many Accenture’s Getting to Equal
cases, the client’s preferences and 2017 survey Motherhood and
recommendationsare taken very Ambition. In fact, working
seriously by consultants. moms are just as likely to aspire
to senior leadership as women
More women in consulting are without children.
preferred by the industry because
of the following reasons, according Though organizations have
to studies. This is because they: Are begun to take steps to support
better team players; Understand and treat women equally, women
the clients’ needs better; Are better too, need to own their place in
in developing and improving the organization. They need to
relationships; and Are better proactively step up, turn every
engaged. experience into an opportunity,
There is one word of caution, maximize their access to
leadership positions, and never,
women on the way to the top ever doubt their abilities.
should be careful of. This is the
tendency to be unfairly critical Calling for more women in
of other women. This is a the workplace should not
phenomenon that is very common be a race to meet a quota; it
and prevalent. This is true for should be about maximizing
client-consultant relations too. an organization’s potential,
better decision-making,
Summarizing, the way to the top higher employee retention,
is rocky and difficult, not only for and increased innovation. An
men, but for women. However, organization where women can
this cannot deter, but can only be be found at every rung will be a
a challenge for ambitious women better workplace for everybody.
eager and impatient to break the
ceiling. Interviewed and written by
Challenges and Opportunities Vasudevan Iyengar
Gender gap in the workplace
March, 2019│SwiftNLift│ 45