Chicago Network (content frame)

"The importance of a critical mass for women to succeed on boards can be extended to women in senior executive roles. When they are isolated, they are often viewed as tokens and subject to both the high visibility and invisibility that encourages stereotyping and makes it difficult for them to succeed. When they are part of a critical mass, gender becomes much less of a factor both for the women and their male colleagues."
Vicki W. Kramer
Co-author, Critical Mass on Corporate Boards


	CEO SCORECARD - CORPORATE YOUR COMPANY STATS How many women in your company have P&L responsibility? How many women are on your Board? Your Management Committee? How many women directly report to you? How many women report to your direct reports? Can you name them? What is the percentage of women in your customer base? In your shareholder base? YOUR PERSPECTIVE Have you ever worked with or for a woman who was a strong positive influence on you? Do you believe that your wife/mother/sister/daughter/niece was/is able to use her full potential in her work life? Would they agree? YOUR ACTION PLAN Do you have formal initiatives to hire and advance women, e.g. recruitment, work-life programs, career development, succession planning? Do you have a mentoring plan for women in your organization? Do you have set goals for increasing diversity in your organization? In your vendor base? Do you tie executive compensation to achieving diversity in your organization? At senior levels? THE BOTTOM LINE Best in class corporations show close to 40% representation of women in senior leadership positions.* Where is your organization? *Catalyst (2004), "The Bottom Line: Connecting Corporate Performance and Gender Diversity".