Women CEOs Speak Strategies for the next generation of female executives and how companies can pave the road - Canton Symphony Orchestra
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Women
CEOs Speak
Strategies for the next
generation of female
executives and how companies
can pave the road.
Fearless Girl
Sculpture by Kristen Visbal
Commissioned by State Street Global Advisors
Supported by:
The CEO
Pipeline Project
Project leaders Core team
Jane Stevenson Wendy Beecham
Stu Crandell Irv Becker
Chris Bowman
Team leaders Kari Browne
Katie Lemaire Ruth Cochran
Dina Rauker Jonathan Dahl
Evelyn Orr Betsy Fischer
Peggy Hazard Carol Forde
Krista Michalski Ilene Gochman
Liz Levit Kat Hartman
Michael Distefano Denise Kramp
Stephanie Mitchell Tracy Kurschner
Dan Gugler Melanie Kusin
Beatrice Grech-Cumbo Carly Kustra
Research team Kristin Mannion
Evelyn Orr Bob Mintz
Susanne Blazek Caroline Nahas
Signe Spencer Julie Norris
Shakif Chowdhury Deb Nunes
James Lewis Colleen O’Neill
Laurie O’Shea
Tierney Remick
Robin Rauzi
Judy Roland
Mary Elizabeth Sadd
Scott Stevenson
Naomi Sutherland
Carolyn Vavrek
Acknowledgments
The Korn Ferry Institute would like to express its deepest gratitude to the former
and sitting CEOs, whose participation in the preparation of this report has been
indispensable.
Angela Ahrendts Shelley G. Broader Virginia (“Gina”) C. Drosos
Former CEO President and CEO CEO
Burberry Group plc Chico’s FAS, Inc. Signet Jewelers Limited
Shellye Archambeau Michele Buck Adena Friedman
CEO President and CEO President and CEO
MetricStream Inc. The Hershey Company Nasdaq, Inc.
Claire H. Babrowski Kathryn Bufano Christina A. Gold
Former President and Interim Former President and CEO Former CEO
CEO The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. Western Union Financial
RadioShack Services, Inc.
Ursula Burns
Cheryl Bachelder Former Chair and CEO Shira Goodman
Former CEO Xerox Corporation President and CEO
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. Staples, Inc.
Wendy Clark
Mary T. Barra CEO Mindy Grossman
Chair and CEO DDB North America President and CEO
General Motors Company Weight Watchers International,
Sandra B. Cochran Inc.
Angela F. Braly President and CEO Former CEO
Former Chair, President, and Cracker Barrel Old Country HSN, Inc.
CEO Store, Inc.
Wellpoint, Inc. Veronica (“Ronee”) M. Hagen
Debra A. Crew Former President and CEO
Rosalind G. Brewer President and CEO Polymer Group, Inc.
Group President and Chief Reynolds American Inc.
Operating Officer Kimberly J. Harris
Starbucks Corporation Mary Dillon President and CEO
Former President and CEO CEO Puget Sound Energy
Sam’s Club Ulta Beauty, Inc.
Larissa L. Herda
Former Chair and CEO
TW Telecom, Inc.
3
Jacqueline Hinman Gretchen W. McClain Debra L. Reed
Chair and CEO Former President and CEO Chair, President, and CEO
CH2M Hill Xylem Inc. Sempra Energy
Lisa A. Hook Sheri McCoy Paula Rosput Reynolds
President and CEO CEO Former President and CEO
Neustar, Inc. Avon Products, Inc. Safeco Corporation
Linda P. Hudson Judy R. McReynolds Jennifer F. Scanlon
Former President and CEO Chair, President, and CEO President and CEO
BAE Systems, Inc. ArcBest Corporation USG Corporation
Chair and CEO
Amy E. Miles Sally J. Smith
The Cardea Group
Chair and CEO President and CEO
Terri L. Kelly Regal Entertainment Group Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc.
CEO
Allison Moran Susan N. Story
W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc.
Former CEO President and CEO
Ellen Kullman RaceTrac Petroleum, Inc. American Water Works
Former Chair and CEO Company, Inc.
DuPont Denise M. Morrison
President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su
Constance H. Lau Campbell Soup Company President and CEO
President and CEO Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Hawaiian Electric Industries, Anne M. Mulcahy (AMD)
Inc. Former Chair and CEO
Xerox Corporation Lisa W. Wardell
Rochelle (“Shelly”) B. Lazarus President and CEO
Chair Emeritus Deanna M. Mulligan Adtalem Global Education
Former Chair and CEO President and CEO
The Guardian Life Insurance Meg Whitman
Ogilvy & Mather
Company of America CEO
Kimberly S. Lubel Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Former Chair, President, and Sheryl Palmer
Chair, President, and CEO Geisha J. Williams
CEO
Taylor Morrison Home President and CEO
CST Brands, Inc.
Corporation PG&E Corporation
Anna Manning
Patricia K. Poppe Dona D. Young
President and CEO
President and CEO Former Chair, President, and
Reinsurance Group of America,
CMS Energy Corporation and CEO
Inc.
Consumers Energy Company The Phoenix Companies, Inc.
JoAnn M. Martin
Denise L. Ramos Marita Zuraitis
CEO
President and CEO President and CEO
Ameritas Mutual Holding
ITT Inc. Horace Mann Educators
Company
Corporation
4
Executive Summary
When roughly 94% of Fortune 1000 chief concentrated primarily on strategic career
executive officers (CEOs) are men, what experiences aimed at becoming CEO.
qualities drive the 6% who are women Seeking out challenge
to the most elite reaches of corporate
Being driven by challenge was a standout
leadership?
attribute for most of the women we studied.
To find out, the Korn Ferry Institute studied 57 Their assessments also showed low desire for
women who have been CEO—38 currently and predictability in their work. These women didn’t
19 previously—at Fortune 1000-listed companies just prefer difficult and unpredictable work
and others of similar size. We analyzed assignments, they sought them out.
structured interviews with all 57 women and the
Motivated by purpose and culture
results of psychometric assessments taken by
two-thirds of them. The CEOs interviewed said they were motivated
by a sense of purpose—the thought that one’s
Among the key findings:
company could have a positive impact on its
Few set out to be CEO employees, community, or the world at large.
In 68% of the interviews, CEOs gave detailed
Only 12% of the women always knew they descriptions of creating a more positive
wanted to be a CEO. More than half gave no culture—23% considered this among their most
thought to being CEO until someone explicitly important accomplishments.
told them they had it in them.
A different mindset as CEO
Starting out in STEM
These CEOs appear to highly value the
More than 40% of the CEOs started out with contributions of others, and moreover concede
college degrees in science, engineering, that they can’t single-handedly bend the future
or math—twice as many as those with a to their will. This showed up in assessment
background in the arts and humanities (21%). scores related to humility and confidence, areas
About 19% studied business/economics/finance. of the greatest divergence from our general
No single path to the top CEO benchmark (which shows typical scores
for CEOs who are in the 99th percentile of work
We discerned four distinct career approaches engagement).
the women took. While some zigzagged,
eager to learn new things, and some focused
on driving innovation and growth, only a few
5Introduction
CEOs may be the most scrutinized Korn Ferry’s portion of that initiative, called
people outside professional athletes. the CEO Pipeline Project, seeks to learn from
Magazines and data companies analyze the women who have already succeeded at
becoming CEOs. What common strengths and
their education, career history, tenure,
areas of development can companies focus
stock performance, and more. And yet too on to build robust pipelines of high-potential
little is known about what distinguishes women?
the women in that group. The reason
Although the 100x25 initiative targets the
is profound in its simplicity: Until quite
Fortune 500, that list of companies didn’t
recently, there were so few female CEOs include enough women for Korn Ferry’s study.
that a statistically valid study wasn’t Expanding the scope to include Fortune 1000
feasible. and similar-size companies, the Korn Ferry
Institute was able to enlist 38 current and 19
Only 6% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women in
former CEOs for structured interviews. Two-
2017. The Rockefeller Foundation, which funded
thirds of them also took Korn Ferry’s executive
this research, wants to change that. The target
psychometric assessment.
of its 100x25 initiative is to have 100 women
leading Fortune 500 companies by 2025.
57 female CEOs participated in the study
38 are
23 in the
Fortune 500
43
current CEOs in publicly
traded companies 18 in the
Fortune 1000
19are 14 in privately 16 other
former CEOs held companies companies
© Korn Ferry 2017. All rights reserved. | 57 women were interviewed.
6The experiences
men and women bring to the CEO role
To ground our research, the Korn Ferry Institute gathered publicly available biographical
data about all female CEOs in the 2017 Fortune 1000 and compared that to a representative
sample of male CEOs in similarly sized companies. In total, there were 59 individuals in each
group. Seen in demographic silhouette, male and female CEOs look very similar. The
differences are subtle but potentially meaningful.
Diversity of experience
Female CEOs 2.14 1.95
7.69 positions in positions in
senior positions held diverse diverse
functions industries
7.46 1.73 1.54
Male CEOs
Tenure at current company
Female CEOs
11.98 5.30 3.57
years at company years on board years as CEO
12.41 10.31 5.65
Male CEOs
Women were
50.9 years old Advanced degrees
when named Female CEOs
to their first 12 30
Other degrees MBAs
CEO job,
18 26
compared to
46.8 for men. Male CEOs
Demographic and career data on the Fortune 1000 CEOs came from external sources including the subscription database
BoardEx, and publicly available data from Bloomberg, Fortune, LinkedIn, and company websites.
© Korn Ferry 2017. All rights reserved. | 59 women and 59 men included in sample.The research was designed to develop a more The Fortune 1000 data also reveal that female
nuanced understanding of CEOs are not spread evenly across industries.
They are in greater numbers in consumer goods,
the common personal attributes and utilities, and finance (particularly insurance), but
workplace experiences that aided and less represented in industrial companies and the
prepared these women to become CEOs; health and life sciences.
the factors that led to promotions at key
junctures in their careers; and Industry
In our sample of 118 matched Fortune 1000
how the women overcame the organizational CEOs, the women were concentrated in
barriers they faced utilities, consumer goods (including retail),
and financial services (particularly insurance).
in order to make research-based
recommendations as to how organizations can 8
identify, develop, and support more women to UTILITIES
4
become future CEOs.
PROFESSIONAL 3
AND BUSINESS
Demographic and career SERVICES 1
differences NATURAL 4
RESOURCES 4
To ground this research, the Korn Ferry Institute
gathered publicly available biographical data 6
INDUSTRIALS
about all female CEOs in the 2017 Fortune 1000 13
and compared that to a parallel sample of male 6
CEOs who led companies of the same revenue HIGH/ADVANCED
TECHNOLOGY 8
size. Seen in demographic silhouette, male and
female CEOs look very similar. The differences HEALTH AND 1
are subtle, but they add up. LIFE SCIENCES 7
The women were, on average, four years older 10
FINANCE, BANKING,
when they got their very first CEO appointment, AND INSURANCE 6
though it is worth noting that in our male
1
sample many CEOs were their company’s OIL AND GAS
0
founder. Overall, the women accrued more
diverse experience by working in a greater
average number of senior roles, functions, CONSUMER GOODS 19
companies, and industries. AND SERVICES 14
1
Only 24% of the women CEOs and 22% of the 19 COMMUNICATIONS
men were hired as CEO directly from outside 2
the company. The rest were groomed internally.
Female CEOs
Of those, the women were promoted to CEO Male CEOs
slightly faster, on average, than the men (11.98
years compared to 12.41 years).
© Korn Ferry 2017. All rights reserved. |
59 women and 59 men included in sample.
8| WOMEN CEOS SPEAK |
100x25? Attainable, but the The 100x25 goal is not assured, but it is possible.
What we learned in studying female CEOs and
pace needs to accelerate how they rose within their companies will enable
us to accelerate the possible.
In the higher-revenue Fortune 500, women held
the CEO role at 32 companies in mid-2017, up
from 12 a decade earlier and two in 1997. TAKEAWAYS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
The Rockefeller Foundation’s 100x25 goal is Before becoming CEO, women have
attainable, but even the current exponential rate worked in a slightly higher number of roles,
of change (doubling every five years) is too slow functions, companies, and industries than
to meet this target. men. This suggests that some might be
catching up with key experiences, or waiting
The average tenure of a CEO is eight years;
or moving to be in position when a CEO
hence, by 2025, an estimated 500 opportunities
opening arises.
will arise when a woman could be named CEO.
Currently, 24% of C-suite executives are female. The pool of C-suite women is small, and that
If a similar percentage of the next CEOs are situation is made more dire by how few are
women, that would result in 116 female CEOs in in the roles that lead directly to CEO, and
2025. how women appear concentrated in certain
industries.
Of course, it is not so simple. The biographical
data on Fortune 1000 CEOs show that women,
on average, worked for a company for nearly 12 TAKEAWAYS FOR WOMEN
years before being promoted to CEO. And not
all female senior executives are truly positioned Not all C-suite roles are a path to CEO. The
to ascend to CEO. Multiple studies indicate women CEOs we studied gained an edge by
that 90% of new CEOs come directly from changing roles and functions more often.
roles with line responsibility (defined as having
profit-and-loss or direct client responsibility),
most typically president, division president, or
chief operating officer. Lean In and McKinsey
& Company’s “Women in the Workplace 2016”
study found that fewer than half of C-suite
women hold those kinds of jobs.
There are other wrinkles as well. Data from Korn
Ferry’s Executive Search branch reveals that it
currently takes 269 days on average to place a
female CEO in the United States—30% longer
than the 207 days to place a male CEO. There
is no such delay in Europe-Middle East markets,
where women are placed 14% faster than men,
or in Asia-Pacific, where they are placed 22%
more quickly. This suggests that boards of
directors in the United States still aren’t as open
to female CEOs as boards in other countries.
9Our Research Tools
For this research, Korn Ferry conducted Throughout, we compare the average scores
structured interviews with the 57 CEOs, from those 38 assessments to Korn Ferry’s CEO
benchmark. The CEO benchmark scores are
asking about key events in each woman’s
model-based and represent trait, competency,
career progression, including pivotal
and driver scores for CEOs who are high in work
experiences, setbacks, and factors that engagement, which research shows correlates
enabled or hindered her success. These with superior performance on the job.
were analyzed and coded to determine
common themes.
We also looked at results from an executive
psychometric assessment taken by 38 of those
CEOs. Our assessment for executive leaders
specifically measures:
Traits: A person’s inclinations and aptitudes,
such as personality traits and intellectual
capacity. Traits also include attributes such
as assertiveness, risk-taking, optimism, and
confidence.
Drivers: Deeply held values and internal
motivators that guide a person’s actions and
decisions. A desire for power, challenge, or
work-life balance are things we categorize as
drivers.
Competencies: The observable skills essential to
management success, such as resourcefulness,
courage, cultivates innovation, and strategic
vision.
10The Foundation
Personal fortitude and courage
The right stuff. That’s what female CEOs “So you go into a job—not that
exhibited in their assessment scores, you know it all—but then you
starting with their traits. have a lot more to learn. And
Their mean score matched our CEO benchmark then when you have that kind of
on 16 of 20 traits, including persistence, need for humility, people want to help you.
achievement, curiosity, focus, assertiveness, risk-
taking, and empathy. They deviated from the
It’s a strength to ask for help, not
benchmark on humility, confidence, credibility, a weakness.”
and openness to difference.
“I stepped out of my do-what-
Personal traits are not immutable, but they are you’re-told role and said, ‘I’m not
established early in life and difficult to alter—so
this close alignment to the CEO benchmark
going to do this. And I am going
suggests that these women had the style and to go figure that other thing
mindset of a CEO early in their careers. out.’”
12| WOMEN CEOS SPEAK |
Humility and valuing others
Traits female CEOs share
reign over confidence
with the CEO benchmark
The female CEOs’ score on confidence was near
On 16 of 20 traits, the female CEOs’
the mean, so they don’t lack confidence—but
average assessment scores matched Korn
Ferry’s CEO benchmark. our CEO benchmark is significantly higher, at the
71st percentile. Conversely, the CEO benchmark
ADAPTABILITY for humility is at the 55th percentile, but the
female CEO score averaged above the 70th.
CURIOSITY
FOCUS
These two traits are intertwined. High humility
scores indicate a lack of self-absorption and,
RISK-TAKING more importantly, an expressed appreciation of
others. Confidence scores, on the other hand,
TOLERANCE OF AMBIGUITY
hinge on “locus of control”—a person’s belief as
OPTIMISM to whether he or she is in complete control of
events and outcomes vs. at the whim of fate and
COMPOSURE
circumstance.
SITUATIONAL SELF-AWARENESS
These women are very willing to give credit to
EMPATHY
people and situations that contributed to their
success. This came through in the interview
ASSERTIVENESS findings, too. The female CEOs repeatedly made
INFLUENCE
note of people who’d helped and supported
them. This combination of traits would suggest
SOCIABILITY a leader who values the contributions of others,
and moreover concedes that she can’t single-
AFFILIATION
handedly bend the future to her will. This,
TRUST frankly, might be more attuned to the reality of
running today’s large enterprises.
OPENNESS TO DIFFERENCES
The women’s credibility score, which is at the
HUMILITY mean but not as high as the benchmark, adds
an intriguing twist. Credibility is generally
NEED FOR ACHIEVEMENT
shorthand for delivering on your word, but in
PERSISTENCE our assessment it also captures something
better described as dutifulness or “good
CONFIDENCE
soldier” behavior. It seems understandable, and
CREDIBILITY interviews confirmed, that for these women to
rise to CEO, they probably didn’t always do what
0 50 100 was expected.
Rockefeller Female CEOs Negative Difference
Best-in-Class Target for CEOs Positive Difference
© Korn Ferry 2017. All rights reserved. | 38 women were assessed with KF4D.
13Ambition and drive grow Their outlook is optimistic
out of early formative and fearless
experiences Generally speaking, the women CEOs were
In the interviews, we heard that these traits not at all cynical about the corporate world
have deep roots. Asked about “key events in they entered. Their traits scores and interviews
your career progression that contributed to both indicated that they are highly optimistic,
your development as a person or a leader,” trusting, sociable, and empathetic.
many spoke first not of their career but of their The interviews underscored how much emphasis
childhood. In our interviews, 23% of the “key these women placed on being authentic and
events” the CEOs chose to discuss were about remaining true to themselves. Compromising on
personal experiences unrelated to work. their values—or on their vision—is not in their
Parents instilled resilience, high expectations, makeup, even if it would mean turning down
and a strong work ethic in their daughters. Some some opportunities for advancement. Some said
CEOs had particularly difficult childhoods—a they didn’t feel they could give their all to a goal,
parent was ill or deceased, for example—and strategy, or company that they didn’t believe in.
they had to take on responsibilities when quite This independent streak may also explain their
young. score on a trait called openness to difference.
Many specifically gave credit to fathers who This gauges how actively one seeks out others’
believed in their ability, pushed them to speak viewpoints. Being in the minority, they may also
up about what they knew and thought, and feel inundated with viewpoints different than
looked past traditional notions of gender. Others their own. These women seek input at critical
credited their mothers for their confidence. One stages, then solidly make up their mind. And, as
CEO said her mother “taught me that ambition we’ll see in the next section, these women are
is feminine.” exceptionally focused on pursuing their own
vision.
Some interviewees also mentioned the value of
growing up with brothers and how that helped “My father held us to an
them be at ease in offices where men vastly incredibly high standard. We had
outnumbered women. to deliver good grades. That was
More than 40% of the CEOs earned our scorecard. We had job jars
undergraduate college degrees in science, for chores because the family
math, or engineering. (This prevalence of STEM
degrees may seem surprising, but similar rates
was a team, so he promoted that
are seen in male CEOs as well.) Another 19% teamwork.”
studied business, economics, or finance, while
21% were in the arts and humanities. Law was
a frequent area of study: 16% earned a J.D. In
any of these arenas, these women would have
been part of a small minority in many classes,
especially in the 1970s and early 1980s, when
many of them attended college.
14| WOMEN CEOS SPEAK |
“My father was probably the one
that I would watch and that I
aligned mostly with. He would
work endlessly. That whole
way of organizing your life and
thinking about your life is what I
then gravitated towards.”
TAKEAWAYS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
The traits that made these women CEO
material—curiosity, willingness to take risks,
persistence, and a need for achievement—
were reinforced early in their lives. But these
traits are not rare among women, and can be
further cultivated in the workplace.
TAKEAWAYS FOR WOMEN
An education in science, math, or
engineering sets a strong foundation for
becoming a business leader.
While confidence is important, tempering it
with equally high levels of humility doesn’t
seem to have hurt these CEOs’ careers.
Women should also pay attention to the
issue of openness to difference. Women
who are in the minority in an office might
presume they are sufficiently exposed to
differing (in this case, male) points of view.
But CEOs aggressively seek out others’
opinions as they shape their own strategic
vision.
15The Drive
Drawn to challenge and delivering results
The traits outlined in the previous section
are the raw ingredients needed to become Drivers that female CEOs
CEO. The next question is: What values
share with the CEO
and interests or motivators—referred to
as drivers—guided the women’s career benchmark
decisions? Female CEOs sought out challenges and
independence, not predictability
In a word: Challenge. (structure) in their work.
Collectively, the female CEOs’ scores on BALANCE
challenge were among the highest across all 60
attributes that our assessment measured. COLLABORATION
“I’ve got this drive, this
POWER
competitive drive—but it has
nothing to do with being in the CHALLENGE*
spotlight or making a lot of
STRUCTURE
money. It’s an inner thing that’s
saying, ‘Can I do it? Can I do it?’” INDEPENDENCE
“I would pull all-nighters just 0 50 100
to try it. I was getting an MBA.
It was incredible, the rigor, the
intensity. I was young, by myself Rockefeller Female CEOs Negative Difference
Best-in-Class Target for CEOs Positive Difference
in New York, pulling 80-hour
*Significant at p| WOMEN CEOS SPEAK |
Thriving on challenge, less This challenge-centric mindset explains a
striking observation from our interviews: 63% of
interested in competition the CEOs either didn’t mention organizational
barriers or explicitly said they were not hindered
Challenge scores on our assessment reflect the
by being a woman. In some cases, organizations
degree to which individuals are motivated by
were seamlessly facilitating their growth and
achievement in the face of tough obstacles.
grooming them for leadership. But others simply
Scores in this very high range—at the 79th
didn’t see obstacles—including getting fired,
percentile—indicate that these women don’t just
being handed leadership of failing divisions,
prefer formidable work assignments, they seek
being excluded from all-male networks, or
them out.
being told to literally erase career goals from
The women also had very low scores (24th a performance review—as obstacles. Instead
percentile) in structure, which is a desire for they saw them as learning opportunities or as
stability and predictability in their work. Taken situations that they could use to demonstrate
together, these scores suggest these women their ability to deliver results.
are an extreme case—deeply unmotivated by
This eagerness to take on the unknown could be
predictable jobs, and highly desirous of variety
summed up in a phrase we heard from the CEOs
and a chance to tackle new problems.
more than once: “What’s the worst that could
Routine job promotion may not be enough to happen?”
slake this thirst for challenge. Our interviewees
stepped knowingly into less-than-desirable, “If I ever felt I had a roadblock
ill-defined roles because they saw potential in because I was a woman I just
these opportunities, like diamonds in the rough. went a different way around it.
If stifled, some found ways to create their own
opportunities or leaped into an altogether new
I didn’t keep trying to smash
industry. There was at least some evidence of through the wall. Either I
this type of courage in career decisions in 84% moved to a new company,
of the interviews, and it was strong or very
or disassociated myself with
strong in 64%.
someone, or I made a difficult
We also heard from the CEOs that sometimes decision.”
they were so intensely focused on whatever
challenge was before them that they neglected
longer-term career planning and mastering the
“political” aspects of the organization. A typical
refrain: “I was head-down, delivering results in
my current role.” They were largely disinterested
in inside-the-company competition. They
preferred to let their results speak for
themselves.
17Independence balanced with Why doesn’t such drive
collaboration produce more female CEOs?
The assessment also revealed higher- That women must exhibit such a huge appetite
than-expected scores for a driver called for challenge to reach CEO speaks volumes
independence. This generally reflects an about the systemic barriers many women
entrepreneurial bent, a strong desire to pursue still face. Their adaptations to that working
one’s own vision. These women find it much environment, further, can harm their chances of
more satisfying to set the agenda rather than to success.
successfully execute a predefined strategy.
We will never know, for instance, how many
These scores also indicate another dynamic: women didn’t become CEO because they were
These women are happy to get things done on more independent than well-networked, or
their own. Our interviews suggest that some because their humility undermined how they
learned this high degree of self-reliance because were perceived, or because organizations didn’t
they were excluded by a “men’s club” situation. recognize their drive.
Overall, however, we see the female CEOs
exhibiting benchmark levels of collaboration, so Other recent research also offers some useful
this hasn’t impeded their desire to foster and related insight. Far fewer women (40%) than
lead teams, to build consensus, and to share men (56%) aspire to join the C-suite. This should
responsibility. make organizations ask what it is about how
C-suite jobs are perceived and positioned that
But there is a cautionary flag here. Those who makes them unappealing or seem unattainable
become overly autonomous in how they work to women in such large numbers.
can later find themselves without the support,
networks, or advocacy that they need around A 2017 study of 10,000 women in British
them to become CEO and stay there. Many of companies found that female executives are
the women we interviewed had strong late- also 1.5 times less likely than men to apply for
career sponsors who pushed their careers top management jobs if they have been rejected
forward, but then discovered they didn’t have before from a similar job. Rejection is inherent
the broad support they needed for their agenda in trying to advance in corporations, so these
as CEO. Others found themselves blindsided by effects add up. The women who made it to CEO
competitive executives, or without enough allies bucked this trend, they said in interviews, by
when they discovered others were waiting—or being particularly resilient.
rooting—for them to fail. Finally, multiple studies have documented
that women are more likely than men to leave
“The more somebody tells me
positions in which they are unsatisfied. That
I can’t do something, the more doesn’t mean the work is difficult or unpleasant.
determined I get. I developed The CEOs we interviewed quit or turned down
a lot of resilience skills. And jobs when
it was important to me that I the company didn’t meet their standards for
not become another victim of integrity;
the role lacked a sense of larger purpose; or
the system that didn’t want to
it was a place where people were treated
accommodate me.” very poorly.
18| WOMEN CEOS SPEAK |
“It was the first time I was free to outsourcing of childcare, while choosing to stay
home or take jobs with more flexibility.
align my personal and my work
values. They just blended and About nine in 10 of the CEOs had children, and
those who did usually hired nannies and other
it was so much better. I was so
help with childcare and household management.
free to just be the leader I always Some had to negotiate whether to uproot their
wanted to be.” kids to move for a new job assignment, or stay
put in a more stable role for a period of time.
“After my mother died, I just Some said that their career affected what kind
realized that certain things don’t of mother they were. One said, for example,
matter. You start to realize that her children were resentful of her career
commitments when they were young, but came
it’s your friends, it’s your family to admire her accomplishments when they were
that matters. I love my job, but older.
there’s a balance there. And I Many pointed out that being a mother added to
changed policies in the company. their abilities as executive leader. It gave them a
It helped me start to create a particular grounding and sense of perspective.
better environment for people, It also gave them practice on patience and
compassion, setting appropriate boundaries,
both male and female.” creating clear expectations, and making
unpopular decisions.
More motivated by work-life
balance “My values and the culture I want
to live in are that much greater
The participants in our interviews never
shied away from hard work, and they took no
than whatever money I could
shortcuts. But they did, on average, express make.”
more desire for work-life balance than our CEO
benchmark. Our CEO benchmark, at just the “I have to tell you there is a
22nd percentile for work-life balance, suggests a driving force around purpose.…
person for whom career is not just a top priority, One of the things that I get to
but the primary component of one’s identity.
do every day is look in the mirror
The female CEOs, by contrast, were at the 36th and know that my company is
percentile. In interviews, they suggested that a
going to make a lot of people’s
healthy and supportive family life was crucial.
All are or had been married, and said they had lives better.”
supportive spouses, though some didn’t find
that until a second marriage. Being a CEO, they
acknowledge, is not a one-person job; a CEO’s
partner has to “lean in” too. The partners of the
women CEOs often took primary responsibility
on the home front, managing the logistics and
19Motivated by purpose and TAKEAWAYS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
creating a positive culture
Organizations need to recalibrate how
We asked all 57 women about why they wanted they recognize ambition. The drive in high-
to become CEO, and what accomplishments achieving women may not manifest as
they were most proud of. Their answers also corporate-ladder climbing or jockeying for
provided clues as to what their drivers are. promotion. Men, who might be motivated
more by advancement, could be more
In 68% of the responses, they said they were
willing to take any promotion as long as it
motivated by a sense of purpose—by the
progresses their careers. If women hesitate
thought that the company could have a positive
or turn it down, this can be misconstrued
impact on its community, its employees, or the
by the organization as disinterest in senior
world around them. Purpose and mission were
leadership.
central to their message as leaders. Working to
create a more positive culture was a primary Organizations also have a big problem if
way these women carried out purpose and women aren’t interested in the top jobs that
mission in their companies. are offered. Senior leadership and C-suite
roles need to be described in a way that
In 23% of the interviews, CEOs indicated that captures the challenge and opportunity
creating a positive culture was one of their most they present, as well as what outcomes are
important accomplishments. Exactly how that possible and needed. This is what speaks
was defined varied, from instilling operational to women’s sense of purpose and desire to
discipline to creating a culture of honesty and contribute value and shape culture.
openness, to improving how fairly and equitably
workers are treated.
TAKEAWAYS FOR WOMEN
“Sure, shareholders made a lot
of money and we hit all our To navigate into leadership roles, women
have to resist inclinations to be overly
targets. But success is more the
self-reliant, which can be part of that
other stuff. What did you do for “head-down” focus. They need to create a
the communities and for your strategic network, because without those
people?” relationships, they won’t have influence on
the things that matter to them.
Results don’t speak for themselves; some
positioning and packaging is needed for
people to notice. Women should seek out
not just difficult challenges, but also “high-
visibility” ones.
Negotiating with a partner or spouse as to
who takes a big job and who manages the
personal side of life is crucial. This can have
implications very early on, even in the kind of
person one chooses as a partner.
20The Turning Point
Early identification and affirmation are paramount
Five women always wanted to be CEO. “I’m very ‘keep your head down
Three never wanted to be CEO, and took and do these things.’ So although
the job out of a sense of responsibility. I would have aspirations, it wasn’t
But the majority of the women we
a clear line or anything. I came
interviewed? They had not thought about
being CEO at all—until someone told them
into [the CEO’s] office and he
they had the talent. says, ‘We’re going to name you
[chief revenue officer]. I was
Sometimes this revelation came early on, during
a promotion or a talk with a mentor. Sometimes completely shocked.”
it arrived surprisingly late in one’s career, after
“It just kind of happened and
already entering the CEO succession process.
Four had outside mentors late in their careers then I had to make a decision.
who forcefully told them to “go for it.” In eight Do I want to make that move or
cases, women said they didn’t realize they not? [I thought], ‘Wow, this is
wanted to be CEO until the job was offered to
them.
really closer than I ever thought
I’d ever get to a position like
These women knew that they were terrific
executives, but most had a common blind spot: that.’”
They didn’t envision themselves as the chief
executive.
When women realized they could be CEO
Someone else told them they could be CEO 65%
Only became clear when they reached a high role 16%
They had wanted this position for a long time 12%
They never actually wanted to be CEO 7%
© Korn Ferry 2017. All rights reserved. | Represents the responses of the 43 women who
answered this question during their interview.
22| WOMEN CEOS SPEAK |
Providing a wake-up call “I don’t know if I would have
embraced cross-functional
The CEOs we spoke with generally described
themselves as having been intensely focused on development without a sponsor.”
driving results, but not always focused on their
own personal success. Late-career sponsors provide
Of the women who mentioned early mentoring,
crucial shepherding
about 20% said a boss or outside mentor At the senior executive level, important
pointed out leadership potential that the relationships shift away from mentors who offer
woman hadn’t seen in herself, sparking long- encouragement and advice, often outside the
term ambition. “It wasn’t until that conversation organization, to sponsors who take a hands-on
that I even imagined anything past manager, role in managing career moves and promoting
forget CEO,” one woman recalled. “I really just executives in front of the board.
wanted a good job with a good company. That
conversation was a bit of a wake-up call for me.” The CEO interviewees had much more to say
about those sponsors. Many women reeled off
Organizations must provide that wake-up call multiple names, most frequently including their
to women. Without it, they risk letting talented predecessor CEO (15), other senior executives
women drift where their curiosity and appetite (12), board members (6), and CEOs from other
for challenge take them, which might not be into companies (5). Women who had board mentors
senior leadership roles or general management were particularly appreciative of that insight and
roles. Often women need to hear this message support.
again later, too, specifically affirming they have
the talent to be CEO. These relationships are not necessarily smooth
and idyllic, and sometimes include tough
interactions and difficult criticism.
Early career coaching
appears scattershot Ten women described how their sponsor
arranged their career moves—but often without
One woman offered this comment about discussion or explanation. Sometimes it was
mentoring from male executives: They coach only in hindsight that these assignments made
younger women on how to lead people, and sense as a way of rounding out their functional
younger men on how to run a profitable experience, surely because many of the women
business. She felt this was a big hindrance for weren’t anticipating becoming CEO.
women.
Some were sent to executive education
Our data supports this observation to some programs. Only two, however, described what
extent. From early mentors, the female CEOs we would consider best-in-class sponsorship
discussed receiving performance feedback, with extensive opportunities for coaching
exposure to high-level executives, coaching and development that prepared them as CEO
on people and working relationships, and successors.
career advice. There were far fewer mentions
of learning the strategic, financial, or nuts-and- Even when sponsorship was opaque or
bolts side of making the business run. haphazard, it was better than nothing. Four
women mentioned an absence of sponsorship at
senior levels as a hindrance to their career.
23“She said, ‘Look, when you walk TAKEAWAYS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
in that room, you are not to
explain why you deserve to be External affirmation was essential to getting
many of our interviewees to set their sights
in that room. No man walks into on becoming CEO. Affirming women’s
that room thinking he doesn’t leadership talent early in their careers—
deserve to be in that room.… either one-on-one or through high-potential
development programs—will help steer more
Women are always sitting there
of them into leadership roles.
explaining why they deserve the
Mentoring and sponsorship will be much
seat. You are already in the seat. more effective if the mentors and sponsors
Get over it. Start talking about themselves are coached on what women
what you are going to do.’ It was need. Our research suggests this would
include more input on core business issues
key.”
and perspectives that build business
connectivity early in their careers, and more
Even great results need board and external stakeholder experience at
packaging the senior-most levels.
Beyond sponsorship, some of the women
underestimated how much personal TAKEAWAYS FOR LEADERS AND ALLIES
endorsement they would need to reach the
threshold of the CEO’s office. Men, they saw Speak up earlier to women about their
in hindsight, not only sell themselves more talent and their abilities to become CEO.
aggressively, they champion one another Guide women to be strategic in their career
constantly. When a man positions himself to decisions so they gain critical profit-and-loss
become CEO, one women noted, he talks about experience and have options for top roles.
his track record—and lists 15 people who will Sponsors too can offer more transparency
sing his praises. around their actions and assignments. Cross-
business and cross-functional assignments,
Women who have even the slightest difficulty
for instance, are much more effective if the
blowing their own horn don’t find it instinctual
women know that they are being groomed
to use their networks so blatantly to advance
for top leadership.
their own careers. A few avoided “playing
politics” in the run-up to a CEO succession
and lost out. Others found out the hard way TAKEAWAYS FOR WOMEN
that results don’t, most of the time, “speak for
themselves.” No one mentor can provide everything. Seek
out and invest in several such relationships.
A few organizations did spot outstanding talent Accept the good in each and let the
from early on, and created a developmental imperfections go.
glide path for the women who rose to be CEO.
These are models to be emulated. Recognize that top appointments are
generally based on a “personal trust and
knowledge,” not just good results.
24The Experience Factor
What women have, what they need in abundance
If traits and drivers are the raw ingredients People leadership (10% of experiences)
of CEOs, experiences are how those For many women, learning how to lead others
ingredients get cooked. started with corralling siblings, joining student
council, or serving as sorority president. They
To understand what experiences prepared and
then honed that ability during their career. A
positioned the women to become CEO, we
critical lesson here was often about how to
asked them to describe “key events in your
leverage the expertise and efforts of other
career progression that contributed to your
people.
development as a person and/or as a leader.”
They were free to list anything, personal or Hardships (10% of experiences)
professional.
Early hardships women cited included growing
The women discussed 136 key events. Many up poor, being children of immigrants, or
cases included multiple dimensions—for experiencing racism. Several women talked
example, an opportunity to develop a strategy about the pivotal experience of having a parent
while building a global business—so we counted die while they were young, and watching their
201 pivotal experiences. More than half—57%— mothers pursue careers—including one who had
fell into just a handful of areas. spent three decades as a homemaker. Another
had asked her mother who would take care
Mentors (14% of experiences)
of them after her father passed away, and her
The female CEOs learned what to do from their mother replied unequivocally, “You take care
favorite leader, and what not to do from their of yourself.” The tenacity and resilience they
worst boss. In addition to the support discussed witnessed encouraged them to keep working
in the previous section, there were also hard, and especially not to take help for granted.
numerous examples of bad or even unethical
Education/early experiences (10% of
leadership that provided pivotal experiences.
experiences)
Functional experience (13% of experiences)
Among the pivotal early personal experiences
The women became CEO after acquiring a and career decisions discussed, higher
breadth of business function experience that education issues represented a significant
gave them perspective on how the whole subset. A number of women were the first in
organization is run. Many cited the significance their families to complete college, and many
of lessons learned in the function where they got were told that college wasn’t an option. Some
their start, whether it was sales or engineering women said landing in the field of study they did
or law. Others cited the mind-broadening set the course for their whole career.
experience of moving to an unfamiliar function.
25“They set up a new division… the failure if they can’t right the ship. But for
the CEOs we interviewed, their success with
So I went from never managing
turnarounds was where they sensed the strength
more than eight people to having of their leadership ability. Rather than shutter a
250 people working for me factory, for instance, one woman asked for 30
overnight.” days to turn it around. She was invested in the
employees and saving their jobs, and she knew
“I had no idea if I wanted to be in that if she could ignite their engagement and
sales... They were incredible when hard work, they would survive. She uncovered
millions of dollars in savings and was able to
it came to teaching not only the make the factory profitable.
technical skill of professional
selling and the art of persuasion, “I learned a great deal about
but also leading people: the how to take something that
ability to calibrate talent, the was broken and make it work. If
ability to work with a team… the department or a particular
the ability to really be customer process wasn’t functioning
focused.” properly, I gained the ability to
turn that around by engaging
Turnarounds: Seizing the the workforce, engaging the
opportunity employees, and achieving better
Leading turnarounds—turning a failing business
results. Now that was superb,
or venture into a profitable one—is a known and that was very pivotal.”
crucible and testing ground for corporate
leaders. In our 57 interviews, seven CEOs cited “When I became a president, they
saving businesses from certain failure as a sent me for a week to finance for
pivotal experience. nonfinancial senior executives,
For female executives, turnaround opportunities but I always had to have some
epitomize the phenomenon known as the financial people around me
“glass cliff.” The situation works like this: When
because that was clearly not my
organizations or business units are in dire
straits, a woman gets tapped as the leader. Our strength.”
observations from this study would suggest one
underlying cause: Women who have risen to CEOs wanted more
executive levels are challenge- and risk-seekers, experience in four areas
and turnarounds specifically appeal to their
desire to solve problems and make a difference. Important in a different way were the
At the same time, the likelihood of failure experiences the CEOs did not cite, categories
probably repels many other candidates. that represented 1% to 3% of cataloged
experiences: operations, finance, governance,
Glass cliff situations are hazardous for careers and external relations. Instead, the CEOs listed
in general, as the women can get blamed for these experiences as ones that would have
26| WOMEN CEOS SPEAK |
helped them hit the ground running as CEO.
Future generations of women who aspire to Competencies female CEOs
become CEO should guide themselves to seek share with the CEO
experiences in these areas.
benchmark
Operations
Female CEOs use sets of related
Women who had operational experience competencies in a pattern that tracked
found it to be pivotal; women who didn’t closely to the Korn Ferry CEO benchmark.
thought it could have helped them be more INSPIRATIONAL
prepared.
SELF-DEVELOPMENT
Finance
TEAM BUILDING
Although a few CEOs built their careers in
finance, those who didn’t felt they needed a MANAGING DIVERSITY
strong CFO or workaround to compensate.
DRIVING RESULTS
Governance
MANAGING COMPLEXITY
Board directors can help advance a
0 50 100
strategic agenda or stall it, so it’s critical to
understand how to manage a board early on.
External relations Rockefeller Female CEOs Negative Difference
Best-in-Class Target for CEOs Positive Difference
Dealing with stakeholders and constituents © Korn Ferry 2017. All rights reserved. | 38 women were assessed with KF4D.
outside the company, particularly investors
and activist investors, was a pitfall for some “I realized how difficult it is to get
of the women CEOs. the job done if you don’t have
[board] support. I couldn’t seem
The right skills at the right to get this group moving in the
time right direction or aligned.”
Specific experiences are crucial, in part, because
they develop specific business and leadership
“About three years in, they
skills called competencies. In our psychometric asked me to go start a business.
assessment, we measure and categorize dozens Everybody told me not to. I did it
of competencies. From a high-level view—
because I was bored and I wasn’t
looking here at groups of thematically related
competencies—the 38 female CEOs’ scores track learning anything anymore.”
closely to our CEO benchmark.
27Our interviews with 57 CEOs allowed us to hear Nimble learning
in more detail which specific competencies
these women were exercising at the pivotal These women always stretched themselves
moments during their rise to become CEO. The on new assignments, in new roles, and in new
competencies that came to the fore were: geographies. They found lessons everywhere,
even from mistakes and difficult bosses.
Strategic vision
Seeing future possibilities and translating What boards are looking for
them into actionable plans. The CEOs in future CEOs
uniformly had strong visions for where they
wanted to take the business. When Korn Ferry consults with boards that are
in the midst of making CEO succession plans,
Drives results the directors are asked to prioritize specific
experiences and competencies as mission-
Achieving results under difficult
critical, somewhat critical, or less critical. In the
circumstances was the calling card for many
chart below, we outline which competencies
of the CEOs. Some noted that they see the
boards are designating as must-haves for CEO
careers of younger women hindered by an
candidates.
unwillingness to go after tough roles.
Engages and inspires
The CEOs were proud of creating cultures
that employees believed in and were willing
to work for, and that had a sense of purpose.
Resilience
Rebounding from setbacks and adversity
was vital for these women. For some, that
extended to being passed over or losing a
CEO role, but then getting the job at another
company.
Courage
To become CEO, these women did what
had to be done when facing some of their
organizations’ knottiest problems. They also
insisted on leading with integrity, and often
led bold strategies.
Self-awareness
The CEOs had a grasp of their strengths and
weaknesses, and were unafraid to ask for
feedback. Most recognized how they came
across and adapted to different audiences.
28| WOMEN CEOS SPEAK |
There’s little arguing with what tops the list.
The skills boards are CEOs must have a strategic vision, align
execution around it, engage and inspire
looking for in future CEOs people to succeed, and ensure people are held
When considering the skills profile for a accountable for meeting goals.
CEO, boards prioritize these competencies,
shown here by average ratings ranked in Two other competencies highly ranked by
order from most critical to least critical. boards are worth noting: balances stakeholders
and navigates networks. As mentioned
Least Critical Most Critical
earlier, the female CEOs’ focus on digging
into challenge, producing results, and doing
STRATEGIC VISION so in a self-reliant way occasionally left them
undernetworked. Several also noted their own
ALIGNS EXECUTION
desire for more exposure to boards, investors,
and outside stakeholders. These are areas that
ENSURES ACCOUNTABILITY
women in contention for CEO in the coming
years should heed in particular.
ENGAGES AND INSPIRES
BALANCES STAKEHOLDERS What’s needed to fill the
pipeline
NAVIGATES NETWORKS
To observe further down the talent pipeline,
COURAGE we looked at Korn Ferry’s broader database
of assessment scores, which includes
PERSUADES many thousands of people at all levels of
management. By analyzing data from 1,642
MANAGES AMBIGUITY female professionals—including 165 senior
executives and 71 CEOs—we see that women
CULTIVATES INNOVATION who become CEO are much more likely to score
high on six competencies.
DEVELOPS TALENT
Women must become highly developed in these
SITUATIONAL ADAPTABILITY six competencies as they move from manager to
senior executive. Organizations can also identify
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE women with superlative skills in these areas
early and intensify their development so that the
MANAGES CONFLICT pipeline of future female CEOs becomes more
robust.
NIMBLE LEARNING
© Korn Ferry 2017. All rights reserved. |
Represents a sample of 1,485 CEOs and 6,866 other executives.
29Differentiating skills for future CEOs
Female CEOs were more than twice as likely to have high scores on these six
competencies than middle managers. These are the skills women need to develop on
their way to senior executive roles, especially if they aspire to be CEO.
ENGAGES AND INSPIRES Creating a climate where people are motivated to achieve the company’s objectives. 2.64 X
DEVELOPS TALENT Developing people to meet both their career goals and the organization’s goals. 2.62 X
BUILDS EFFECTIVE TEAMS Assembling and leading teams that employ diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.
2.62 X
DIRECTS WORK Providing clear direction, delegating, and removing obstacles so work gets done efficiently.
2.41 X
COURAGE Stepping up to address difficult issues and saying what needs to be said. 2.33 X
MANAGES AMBIGUITY Operating effectively even when things are uncertain or the way forward is unclear.
2.09 X
MIDDLE MANAGER
The numbers above are odds ratios. They answer the question, “Compared to middle managers,
how much more likely is a CEO to score high on the given competency?”
© Korn Ferry 2017. All rights reserved. | Represents a sample of 1,642 female professionals, including 165 senior executives and 71 CEOs.
TAKEAWAYS FOR ORGANIZATIONS TAKEAWAYS FOR LEADERS AND ALLIES
Organizations can identify women with The female CEOs were clear about the area
exceptional skills in the competencies where they felt they could’ve been better
discussed here and intensify their prepared: experience with boards and with
development so that the pipeline of women other external stakeholders. Sponsors of
leaders is more robust. CEO candidates should help women get
Turnarounds are vital experiences these vital experiences. For women who
for developing CEO leadership. But are earlier in the journey to becoming
organizations should take care that they CEO, rounding out operations and finance
aren’t pushing women off the “glass cliff ” knowledge is critical.
and losing potential CEOs if the turnaround
has virtually no odds of succeeding. TAKEAWAYS FOR WOMEN
There’s a theme throughout our assessment
findings: courage, risk-taking, resilience,
challenge, and managing ambiguity.
More women need to take on tough and
unpredictable job assignments that will build
these characteristics.
30You can also read
