While I have seen and written about some positive aspects of working from home, I have also been thinking a lot about younger women who may be missing out on opportunities to advance their careers during this time. When working in an office setting, there is opportunity for incidental and informal contact – a way to be seen. It’s the networking and informal meetings that often lead to important “drive by” career discussions. These informal meetings are also helpful to me. I recently met a long tenured social worker at my organization in the cafeteria, she provided me with some very good insights on the topic of racism and social injustice. That quick cafeteria discussion gave me new information that helped me better understand what my employees were thinking and feeling.
With so many young women in this position, how do we build an infrastructure to ensure their career progression? I’d like to share some strategies for continuing to advance your career while you are working from home.
Investigate Digital Platforms for Career Advancement
I serve as a mentor for CSweetener, a digital platform that is designed to mentor women to lead in healthcare. With this platform, I am able to mentor women from other organizations and provide them guidance and most importantly, make connections for them. I am thinking about creating something similar in my own organization so that our pipeline development does not suffer.
Talk to Your Boss about Challenges Your Organization is Facing
By understanding the biggest needs and challenges your employer is facing, you can find opportunities to volunteer your services and expertise to help. Look for how to get involved in work outside of your day-to-day job so that you have the opportunity to get “in front of” more people – even if that’s just through your email signature. Letting your boss know you want to step up during challenging times will go a long way.
A new feature on LinkedIn (also a great place to network) allows you to explore over 16,000 free and paid courses.There are many that are extremely relevant to our current moment, as well as options to learn a new skill. A few highlights include:
“Digital Body Language”
“Starting a Memorable Conversation”
“Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging”
“Remote Work Foundations”
“Time Management When Working from Home”
“Data Analytics for Business Professionals”
“Inclusive Leadership”
Reach out to Your Contacts for a Zoom Date
Now is just as good a time as ever to reconnect and ask others what they’ve been doing to stay engaged. You’re armed with an instant topic of conversation since we’re all in the same boat. Are they participating in any groups you could join? Have they developed any practices or habits to help them through working from home? Of course, remember that some people are stretched incredibly thin right now, so be sure to be sensitive with any requests.
Join a Professional Facebook Group
Facebook groups can be an effective place to request or share information with like-minded people in your field. It’s best to find one that’s locally based, so that you’re connecting with people who you could possibly carry relationships into the real world with, but even national groups can help you bounce ideas off of other professionals and be of help to those that are looking for it. Ask around your network and see if your friends or colleagues have found any groups they enjoy.
Virtual or Outdoor Happy Hours
Remember to find ways to connect that don’t involve meetings, business goals or requests for help. Look for ways to have fun with colleagues. If you have Zoom fatigue, find an opportunity to connect outside (socially distanced and masked of course!). Have everyone bring a colleague from their department so you can meet new people.
Leaning into an Opportunity for Change
In a recent Harvard Business Review article, reporter Herminia Ibarra cites a poll asking participants to describe how they’re responding to the Coronavirus, “50% of the 2,000 people who responded reported that it has given them ‘opportunities to try new things or learn new skills.’” She says, “In some cases, these new skills are directly related to working remotely.” Now is a great time to reinvent yourself, follow a path you’ve been too afraid to go down, or use the time you’re not commuting and getting ready to plan your next move.
In my role, I’m fortunate to meet so many inspiring women. Part of the purpose of this blog is to share those experiences with a larger audience so that you can be a part of the conversations I’m having with other women leaders. One such woman is Lynn Yeakel, the Director of Drexel University College of Medicine’s Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership, and the founder and president of Vision 2020, a national, non-partisan women’s equality initiative with a particular focus on the year 2020, the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote. Lynn has had an incredible career; she was a founder of Women’s Way, the first and largest women’s fundraising coalition in the nation, and served as its CEO from 1980 until 1992, when she ran for the U.S. Senate, drawing national attention, winning the primary and nearly unseating the longtime incumbent, Arlen Specter. In 1994, she was appointed by President Clinton to the position of Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She’s a published author and has been recognized with numerous honors and awards for leadership and humanitarian contributions.
I recently had the pleasure of listening to Lynn speak at an event for Women’s History Month, and knew I had to hear more from her. She was gracious enough to share her thoughts with me and my daughter-in-law, Kaitlin, on the state of gender equality and women’s leadership.
MB:
Something I heard you say really caught my attention: “We need to think and act like the majority that we are.” Can you expand on that and offer some practical advice for women on how they can go about thinking and acting like the majority?
LY:
You know, I say that all the time, and you’re the only person to ever ask me this. After my loss in the national elections in 1992, I was speaking in Scranton trying to cheer people up, and I said, we really need to think and act like the majority we are – there are MORE of us. I heard from so many women during that race that told me they’d never registered to vote, never bothered to vote because they’d never seen a candidate that represents their point of view. I really learned that if we can stand together as women, we can change things.
In that statement there are two verbs – THINKING and ACTING. Thinking really means claiming our equality and power. I think it’s important that we identify by our gender first, then by race or religion. By aligning together as women, we are so much more powerful. If I had one goal in life, it would be this – helping women unite together around our common values, goals and concerns. This was a huge challenge in the women’s suffrage movement, and still is today.
The acting part refers to helping each other as women. I remember interviewing a woman once who had been out of the workforce for many years, staying home and raising her children. She was talking herself down, saying things like, “well, I’ve just been staying home with my kids, I haven’t had any work experience in a long time.” I immediately recognized the leadership skills it takes to be the CEO of your household, and knew they were transferable to the job. Women in the position to hire other women will see this – I’m not sure if men would. We need to help each other when we’re in the position to do so.
Another key element to acting like the majority we are is being civically engaged. One in three women didn’t vote in the 2016 election. Many aren’t even registered (in fact, that’s one of our biggest goals of the Vision 2020 initiative). It’s so important that women be informed about politics AND that they support women who are running – write checks! So many women struggle with embracing our worth, and women candidates in particular tend to have more trouble asking for money – we need to fund the women we believe in.
MB:
Have you noticed any generational difference when it comes to thinking and acting like the majority? Given that you interact with so many young women at Drexel, what do they say to you when you make that statement?
LY:
When we launched Vision 2020 in 2010, we asked students in Drexel’s College of Media Arts & Design to interview women and men on the streets of Philadelphia and ask if they thought men and women were equal. There was a video clip of one young woman in her late 20’s, who thought for a minute and said, “yes, until they have children.”
My daughter is a lawyer and she decided to work part-time from home after having two, and then three, children. It never really hit her what I was talking about all these years, until she experienced motherhood. I think there are still so many structural challenges women face after they become caregivers that keep discrimination and gender inequality present in our culture. When I was growing up, it never occurred to me that there was gender discrimination, until I started searching for a job. I had been surrounded by strong women and discovering that was one of the most frustrating and humiliating things I’ve ever dealt with. I think in general, times are better for women, but these issues still exist.
MB:
I know you’ve run for elected office in both Senate and Gubernatorial races; what’s your reaction to the change in Congress in the 2018 midterm election? What did running for elected office teach you, if anything, about the way people react to a woman advocating for herself to hold a leadership position?
LY:
I think it’s fantastic that we have so many more women in Congress now. I want to see these women be able to DO things. Changing things takes time, and the guardians of the status quo will always be there – people who have power and don’t want to share it. I’m glad that Nancy Pelosi is showing great leadership to the newer generation.
I have observed that women and men often have different motivations for running for office. Often, men want to be in control and have power. Women for the most part, have a mission, something they want to change or do. In fact, I saw running as a huge personal sacrifice. It was so hard on my family and I was treated totally differently than my male opponent by the media – when they covered me, they described my clothes, jewelry or haircut. Interestingly, I was also often defined by the men in my life. There was something in my father’s voting record that ended up hurting me, my husband’s membership in a golf club that lacked diversity, and a sermon my church pastor gave about his experience in Israel – things that had nothing to do with me or my campaign were used to define me in negative ways. How often do we see male candidates get defined by the actions or activities of their sisters, wives or mothers?
Bill Bradley from New Jersey was in the Senate at the time – he campaigned with me a number of times and talked about the fact that he had been a basketball player before he ran for the Senate and got elected. He didn’t know why he was accepted, while my experience, having run a non-profit organization, somehow wasn’t relevant to hold office. Politics is always nasty, but especially so at that time for women candidates.
MB:
You’ve had an incredibly long and successful track record in advocating on behalf of women and fighting for increasing the number of women in leadership roles across all aspects of American life – where do you think we are still falling short, and how can we continue to address it?
LY:
I actually loved a comment you made when I heard you speak, Madeline, citing the statistic that even though women make up the vast majority of healthcare employees, only 3% of healthcare CEOs are women. I use that in talks all the time now, because I think it illuminates one of our biggest challenges. We need more women in policy making and decision-making roles. I think a great example of what happens when women are in charge is the “Take 2” initiative from Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO of General Motors. It’s a job re-entry program, addressing the issue of “experienced female STEM talent – particularly women – who have taken extended leaves of absence from employment to care for children, aging/disabled parents or other personal needs and are now ready, but uncertain, how to successfully return to the workforce.” That’s why women’s leadership matters and is a great example of a woman in leadership actually doing something to help other women.
MB:
Your first book, A Will and a Way, is described as presenting “insights into the key issues of women’s independence based on your own experience and lessons from history.” What do you see as the biggest challenges to women’s independence today, and in what ways do you think women still give up their independence that are detrimental to their power, happiness and self-advancement?
This is totally still a problem. I mostly see it in terms of economics, and sadly so many women in newer generations have fallen into the trap of so many women of my generation. You have to have your own checking account! I’m so grateful that my parents taught me the importance of having my own economic independence – and to keep it and sustain it. They made me take a typing class when I was young, emphasizing that I needed a skill to be able to get a job. I really give them huge credit – that was so far ahead of their time to teach their daughter that. I firmly believe that a man is not a financial plan – it wasn’t then, and it isn’t now.
MB:
What are you most optimistic about right now? What are you most concerned about?
LY:
I’m really optimistic about all the women stepping forward to lead, both in politics and business, and the efforts I see among women to help each other get on boards and other leadership positions. I also feel that civic engagement is increasing. I want to see these women do concrete things that clearly contribute to women’s opportunities for success.
What worries me most is that when it comes to the matter of gender equality, our history has always been two steps forward, three steps back. There has always been a backlash when women make progress, and I don’t want the newer generation of women to take it for granted that things are going to be fine because more women are getting into leadership roles. We can’t back down or slow down.
MB:
What key pieces of advice could you leave our readers with – women from all walks of life who care about advancing women in the workplace, based on your lifelong experience in leadership positions?
LY:
I love the line in Thelma and Louise – “you get what you settle for.” Don’t settle for less than you deserve. That means whether it’s a job, a relationship, anything that doesn’t satisfy you. You’re entitled to your own life and far too often women settle. Also, let’s pay attention to how we’re raising our future generations of women. Gender pay inequity starts so young – little boys mow the lawn, walk the dogs and other paid work. Girls do laundry, wash the dishes, and other types of unpaid domestic labor. We need to teach girls to value their worth early on.
Finally, and this is really important to me – I care deeply about men being a part of the solution. My father was my role model, I’ve been married many years, and I have a son who I’m very proud of and I have four grandsons. For shared leadership to work, men have to be involved and see it as a benefit. I believe we are women and men by chance, we’re sisters and brothers by choice. Thank you to Lynn for her time. Be sure to check out Vision 2020 for information and ways to get involved in Women 100: A Celebration of American Women, Vision 2020’s year-long commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
I often tell women I’m mentoring that doing A+ work is simply not enough.
If someone is excellent in their role but keeps their head down and doesn’t stretch themselves, their hard work can go unrecognized. Successful careers, promotions, and the type of recognition I hear women say they’re striving for comes from putting yourself in the position to take on an extra challenge. Beyond that, it takes finding the opportunity to let people know about your achievements and contributions. I see two common scenarios: either women worry about being perceived as arrogant, pushy or difficult if they ask for more, or they feel lucky to have the position or salary they currently have. Alternatively, I see men truly believing they add value and deserve more. Sadly, we are also still combating attitudes of some executives who don’t believe women “need” to make more money if they have a spouse with a successful career.
With end of year performance reviews around the corner, I’m sharing advice that can help women know how to prepare themselves to either negotiate a raise or a promotion confidently. Below are a few tips.
Having your talents and abilities noticed requires intentionality. If you want to be elevated in a company or an organization, you need to have accomplished something above and beyond your job description. Schedule a meeting with your boss and let them know you are looking for opportunities to help you stretch yourself. Even better if you come prepared with an idea for what that opportunity could be, and how it will help the organization. Say yes to opportunities or projects that you feel “unqualified” to take on – they are what will give you the credibility to ask for more.
Do your homework on what you should be getting paid. There are plenty of places to research typical salaries. In the corporate world there is actually a lot of transparency – many companies are required to disclose the salaries of their top executives. For the nonprofit world, you can use The GuideStar Nonprofit Compensation Report, a nonprofit compensation analysis based entirely on IRS data. Be sure that what you’re asking for isn’t unreasonable for the industry, region, and role.
One of the most important things you can do is frame your argument by emphasizing what it will do for your organization or department. The key is to be confident without entitlement. What will you bring to the role that will add value? What changes can you make and how will they benefit your company? What will you be taking on in exchange for a higher salary? Of course you need to focus on what you have already done, but it’s important to remember that you’re not entitled to more responsibility or more money – it needs to continually be earned.
For almost every speech, meeting or important conversation I have, I practice out loud first. Ask your partner, your friend or your colleague to role play with you, and run through the conversation. Have them tell you areas where you need to clarify. Make sure you’re comfortable enough with what you’re saying that you’re not speeding through it or talking too quietly.
Make a habit of taking credit for your work. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a woman give a presentation and there is a slide that lists 50 people who helped contribute to the success of the project she led. Additionally, I hear women say “we” instead of “I” when they very much should be saying “I.” Learn to feel comfortable owning your achievements, and find appropriate ways to let others know about what you’ve done.
What do you find most difficult in preparing to ask for a raise or a promotion? Do you have tips to share? I’d love to hear from you as well. It can be easy to simply accept what you are given, but then privately harbor resentment over not earning what you think you deserve. However, I always say, you can’t get what you don’t ask for.
I recently had the pleasure of attending a Women’s Leadership Luncheon hosted by Jacobson Strategic Communications and the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. It was a wonderful afternoon connecting with other leaders, listening to a discussion with Secretary Leslie Richards, the first woman Secretary of PennDOT, and Secretary Robin Wiessmann, the Pennsylvania Secretary of Banking and Securities, moderated by Sara Lomax-Reese, President and CEO of WURD Radio, Pennsylvania’s only African- American-owned talk radio station. I left feeling incredibly motivated by the women I met, and was compelled to share some of what I took away from the event. All three women have different stories and perspectives, but are equally impressive not just in their ability to rise to the top of their fields, but to participate actively in public life. All three serve on boards (a topic I will give advice on in an upcoming post!) and spend time motivating and supporting other women.
photo courtesy of Robbin L. Wiessmann
I particularly enjoyed hearing about Secretary Richards’ career journey. She is responsible for leading 11,500 employees, yet spends a great deal of her time working to advance female leaders. In 2017, she was appointed the first female chair of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission as well as the Public Private Partnership (P3) Board, and has won numerous awards (Female Innovator of the Year, Female Executive of the Year and the Women of Distinction award). In 2017, Secretary Richards and First Lady Frances Wolf launched the Moving Women Forward tour, a series of town-hall-style events held at institutions of higher learning across Pennsylvania. These gatherings encourage more young women and minorities to pursue careers and leadership positions in these fields. At the luncheon, she talked about what it was like to gain credibility with a workforce of men. She also talked about how she uses humor as a strategy to get a difficult message across, especially when she is the only woman in the room. She authors an inspiring blog on the PennDOT website. One line in a recent post stuck out to me,
“Before I was appointed to serve as Pennsylvania’s first female Secretary of Transportation, there were times in my career where I worked part-time and even was a stay-at-home mom for eight years. I never dreamed that I would hold this title. I have a technical background with a degree in economics and urban studies, and am not only the first woman, but also the first person with an urban planning background to lead the agency. I am proof that the traditional linear career path isn’t the only path that exists.”
This aspect of her journey really resonated with me. I too, could not have imaged holding the title of CEO when I was younger. When my second son was born, I pulled back from work and reduced my hours to part time for the first nine months of his life. He was not sleeping well, and the challenges of having two young children were taking a toll on me. At that moment in time, I was simply not able to give to my career what I had previously. However, that’s exactly what it was – a moment in time. Taking a step back at certain points to prioritize family, advancing your education or pivoting to a new path does not mean that you can’t excel and rise to the top of your chosen field later in life. With drive, motivation and help from others, anything is possible.
It is events like this luncheon that are critical for helping to advance more women into leadership positions. I was reminded after reading Secretary Richard’s blog, of a quote from one my personal heroes, Madeleine Albright, “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” By gathering together, sharing our stories and learning from each other, I am hopeful that we can continue to see more women follow in the footsteps of Secretary Richards, Secretary Weismann and Sara Lomax-Reese.
I’m in the privileged position of being able to share advice and mentor other women. It’s something I love doing; something I think is so important to help ensure there are more women leaders. While I enjoy being in this role, it’s so nice when the tables are turned, when I get to meet women who have helped paved the roads to equality before me.
A few weeks ago, I was able to sit down with two local women who inspire me – Suzanne Roberts, an award-winning actress, director, producer and television host, and Dr. Lucy Rorke-Adams, a pioneer in the field of neuropathology. These two women have had extraordinarily different career paths and life stories, but I discovered a common thread that I felt compelled to write about: let’s call it relentless curiosity. Both are going strong at ages 97 and 89 respectively, continuing to pursue passions and contribute to the world.
Suzanne Roberts, who was married to the late Ralph Roberts (founder and CEO of Comcast), has reinvented herself over and over again. Beginning her career as an actress, Suzanne went on to create groundbreaking political television programming which resulted in her book, The Candidate and Television, a guide on how both political parties could utilize the new medium of television. This was during a time when few women were working outside the home, much less leading the way in a new field of communication. She received international recognition for her landmark psychotherapy work with Navajo children, which led to a documentary film, Discoveries in Communication, and worldwide lectures to governmental and medical institutions. For the past 15 years, Suzanne has served as an Emmy Award-winning creator and host of Seeking Solutions with Suzanne, a nationally broadcast weekly informational show targeted to an older adult audience (to reiterate: she decided to create, produce and host a weekly television show when she was 80-years-old!).
I was recently interviewed for her show, and was in awe of this woman; 97-years-old and she sat in front of me, beautifully dressed, thoroughly prepared for the interview, and never missed a beat as she worked with her production staff to create a compelling episode of television. After she interviewed me, I reversed our roles and asked her a few questions of my own. I wanted to know what motivated her, how she was able to stay so driven in her later years. She seemed almost perplexed by the question, seemingly unaware that how she spends her days is not typical for a woman of her age. After a moment she replied, “Well what else would I do? Sit at home and lunch with the ladies? That’s never been my interest.” When I asked her what advice she would give younger women who hope to be as engaged and passionate as she is in their nineties, she spoke about desire. She knew what she wanted, and simply followed those desires. She described what stood out to me as an insatiable interest in the world – an ambition to meet new people and learn new things every day. She knew what she wanted, and she didn’t let anything stand in her way; not her gender, her age nor expectations of what she should be doing with her time. I couldn’t help but leave the interview feeling hopeful and optimistic for what life may hold for me in my next chapters.
I’ve known Dr. Lucy Rorke-Adams for many years and she’s always been a hero of mine. As a colleague at CHOP (she retired after 50 years with the hospital at age 86), I’ve been aware of her innumerable contributions to the field of pediatric neuropathology. I’ve also gotten to know her as a person, and been inspired by her innate leadership abilities. I saw down with her last month for my podcast, Breaking Through with Madeline Bell, to dig a little deeper into what has motivated her all of these years. Much to my surprise, there were many similarities to what I heard from Suzanne Roberts the day before.
Lucy originally wanted to be an opera singer until her out-of-town audition with a Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano was cancelled when the singer took sick. Shifting gears, she started as a clinical psychologist and worked evenings in a psychology clinic while earning her medical degree from the University of Minnesota. There were ten women in her cohort, with five making it through the entire program. While Lucy is adamant that her gender never held her back, she did recall going to meet with the Chief of Neurosurgery during her residency, expressing an interest in the specialty. He told her, “You’ll starve to death if you follow that course. No one will send a patient to a woman neurosurgeon.”
She landed on the subspecialty of neuropathology – a relatively under-researched field at the time. She read the available literature on the malformations of children’s brains (most of which was in German – but surprise, surprise, she just happened to be able to read German!) and found little answers to the causes of these malformations. Her work now informs everything we do today in our research on the brains of babies and children. It is no understatement to call her a living legend. She has held various leadership roles, including being the first female president of Philadelphia General Hospital’s medical staff, acting chair of Pathology at CHOP, president of the American Association of Neuropathology, president of the medical staff at CHOP, and unexpectedly helped run the Hospital for 18 months starting in 1986 during an extended search for a chief executive officer. These were not positions Lucy sought out, but fell into because those around her saw her leadership qualities, her extreme capabilities and her brilliance.
There is one anecdote about Lucy that I think aptly describes just why I admire her so much. After her retirement at age 86, she thought a nice post-career hobby was studying Astronomy –not knitting, not playing cards, not even traveling, but learning a new, complex field of science. When the light pollution near her home threated her new passion, she quickly shifted gears. Since then she has poured all of her energy into a foundation that her husband established in 1999, focused on training high school teachers and students in math, physics, chemistry and biology. She recognizes that Americans are falling behind in science, and is laser-focused on improving the education in these STEM subjects.
In an era when we are (rightfully) hyper-aware of the lingering inequalities between men and women, it’s both refreshing and inspiring to see two women who never let their gender hold them back. Both Suzanne and Lucy developed their own unique passions and simply forged ahead despite not having many other women’s examples to follow. I believe their relentless curiosity is a quality we can all cultivate. If we stay open to the world, to ourselves and what we want to accomplish, our lives don’t have to end after retirement. This is a skill I will continue to build, so that when the day comes to reinvent myself, my next passion will be clear.
I often hear the term “fake it until you make it” – usually in relation to a woman who does not feel confident in her own abilities. In fact, I recently used that term when mentoring a young woman. She was hired by a new client who was really stretching her beyond her comfort zone. This new client was a nationally known brand and the stakes were higher than any client she had experienced working for in the past. She just did not feel that she had the depth of content knowledge or experience. Yet, the client had hired her as the expert.
She did all of the things that you would expect; researching and talking to others who had similar clients and challenges, but she still did not feel confident. As I was prepping her for a first meeting in New York City with her new client, I found myself saying, “just go there and be confident, don’t let your hesitance show to the client, just fake it till you make it.” What I really meant was, don’t let yourself defeat yourself. In the eyes of the client, you are the expert. Make sure you see YOURSELF as the expert too. Come into the room with a air of confidence, a command of the subject matter, reaffirm the problem to the client and turn to other experts on your team to provide the detail.
In reflecting on what I said to her, perhaps “fake it until you make it” led her to believe that she did not have the content knowledge, but she did. It simply meant that she needed to get the age-old foe of women, the imposter syndrome, out of her head. She was not faking anything, she had the right stuff, she just needed a bit of a confidence-booster.
