This is the first Momentum breakfast where we have actively promoted the event to men. That’s because it’s important for men to be part of the solution to the imbalances that exist when it comes to leadership. Sometimes we are asked why women need their own leadership program. In simple terms, women make up half of the population, but have only about 20% representation in areas of leadership. The business and economic impact affects everyone. The reasons for the disparity are complex, and the solutions will take require men and women to work together to change.
There are many challenges stemming from culture and past history that are not unique to women, yet they are almost universally experienced by women. These challenges impact everyone, not just women.
Men who work with women, manage teams with women, are sons of working women, are married to working women, or who have a customer base of women (which covers just about everyone) are all impacted when those same women earn less, are recognized less, are promoted less, or purchase less because society values them less.
Earlier this week a woman in our current Momentum class shared an interesting story that illustrates my point. The story covers Martin Schneider, a guy who simply switched his email signature with a female co-worker for a couple of weeks. You can read her blog post about it here, or his Twitter moment here. After two weeks of having to work twice as hard to earn credibility from clients in order to get anything done, @SchneiderRemarks tweets “I was in hell…”
This is precisely the type of discussion we hope to hear at the breakfast this Thursday. The more we open ourselves to the discussion, the faster we can find solutions that will help better our businesses, communities, and economy.
