Catalyst Blog

Congratulations to Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Sodexo—the 2012 Catalyst Award winners! These companies’ Award-winning initiatives share a strategic, laser-sharp business focus and lead with strong results.

This year’s winning initiatives reflect the evolution of advancing women from a “nice-to-do,” to a core business practice. Commonwealth Bank and Sodexo have incorporated a culture that values diversity into their brands, which differentiates their businesses from competitors, increases profitability, and better reflects the customers they serve. Their initiatives focus on transforming leadership, workplaces, and lives.

This year, in recognition of Catalyst’s 50th anniversary, the annual Catalyst Awards Conference will be held over two days at The Waldorf=Astoria in New York City. The first day, March 28, 2012, will highlight Catalyst milestones spanning five decades, and on March 29 we’ll honor the Award-winning initiatives, culminating with the Awards Dinner that night. You can find the program and register today by clicking this link. Hope to see you there!

Among the highlights from last week’s Catalyst Awards Conference was the standing-room only session, “Connections That Count: Using Social Media for Diversity and Inclusion,” featuring Catalyst’s Emily Troiano and Mike Otterman, plus social media and D&I experts Joe Gerstandt and Jessica Faye Carter. As Emily and Mike explain in this guest post, tools like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and blogs start conversations and spark action—and their impact on diversity and inclusion initiatives can be profound.

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When companies use social media to connect with customers, profits can soar. When harnessed by popular uprisings, regimes can crumble. And when used to reach out to diverse communities, social tools can foster and enhance diversity in organizations.

While the terminology around social media may be confusing, or even overwhelming, keep in mind that it’s all about people, connections, and relationships—not technology.

For example, starting a public blog written by a diverse team of employees who focus on their company roles can show potential applicants and customers that you value D&I as an organization. An internal enterprise-wide “microblog”—powered by Yammer, for instance—is a great way to communicate D&I messages from senior leaders to the rest of the organization. Employee resource groups could also use this tool to let others in the organization know about activities and ideas worth sharing.

LinkedIn features thousands of groups related to women and people of diverse backgrounds. These groups can contain a rich pool of talent—and should not be overlooked in recruiting efforts. You can tap into them directly by placing job postings within the groups or by joining them and discussing opportunities with members.

Companies using social media for recruiting, however, need to make sure that D&I doesn’t stop at the door. If an organization presents itself as inclusive and diverse via social media, it needs to make sure the culture actually is inclusive. New employees can be unsettled—and jump ship—if there is a blatant disconnect between how a company portrays itself online and the reality of the workplace.

We believe that social media access is true measurement of an inclusive culture. With the proliferation of mobile internet, it’s increasingly pointless to block access from company computers.  And if a company blocks Facebook or Twitter, what does it say about its culture and its trust in its employees?

Are you tapping the power of social media to foster an inclusive workplace? Jessica Faye Carter and Joe Gerstandt are trailblazers exploring the intersection of social media and D&I. Check out some of their work here and here. Get engaged, get connected, and see you out there!

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Emily Troiano manages Catalyst’s Information Center and fills numerous library roles, including responding to research requests on a variety of topics from member organizations, Catalyst staff, members of the media, and outside researchers. Ms. Troiano also works on standardizing virtual work at Catalyst, is heavily involved in managing and developing content for Catalyst’s intranet and external website, has authored a tool on workplace trends, and has served on the Catalyst Award Evaluation Committee.

Michael Otterman is a social media content writer for Catalyst and is the author of two non-fiction books, Erasing Iraq: The Human Costs of Carnage and American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond. He is a graduate of Boston University (BS, Journalism, 2003), University of Sydney (MA, Peace and Conflict Studies, 2006), and was Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Sydney, from 2006 to 2009.

Among the many insights shared at this week’s sold-out Catalyst Awards Conference and Dinner (and I’ll be highlighting more on Catalyzing in the coming weeks), was this gem from Rhonda Joy McLean, Time Inc.’s Deputy General Counsel. “You better speak up for yourself, baby!” she told attendees.

Rhonda’s advice really resonated with me—especially after a recent bout of laryngitis.

After launching the Catalyst Israel Census in Tel Aviv, I was stricken with a full-blown case. Under doctor’s orders, I had to stop trying to talk. This was a new experience for me—I’m not used to not being heard!

After several maddening days of silence, I realized that voice is a privilege not to be taken lightly. And with that privilege comes the responsibility to speak up for yourself and speak out when you see women valued less than men at work and across society.

As I told the crowd at the Waldorf-Astoria, say something—and do something—when you see men advance more quickly than equally qualified women, when you are asked to appear on a panel or participate in an event where there are no or few women, or when people tell you there weren’t any qualified women to fill a position. Ask: Did they look hard enough? Did they assume a woman didn’t want the role?

Use your voice to fight against sexist stereotypes that devalue women, and use it to advocate for yourself. Your voice is powerful and will inspire others to act. Use it to speak up!

The days leading up to the Catalyst Awards Dinner and Conference are always exciting. Anticipation is high, work is frenetic—and it’s all worth it!

At this year’s sold-out dinner, I will be joined at New York City’s Waldorf=Astoria by close to 100 CEOs and leaders of major corporations, academic institutions, and nonprofits—plus more than 1500 guests from 140 companies from around the world. Ursula M. Burns, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Xerox Corporation, is chairing the dinner, which honors trail-blazing programs by Kaiser Permanente, McDonald’s, and Time Warner. And at our sold-out conference during the day, we’ll hear more about what really works to advance women and diversity at the breakout sessions and keynote discussion with Irene Rosenfeld, Chairman and CEO of Kraft Foods Inc.

If you are unable to attend this year’s festivities, be sure to follow all the action on Twitter—the official hashtag for this year’s Conference and Dinner is #Catalyst2011.

See you there!

On March 18, 1976, Catalyst held our first-ever Awards Dinner at The Waldorf=Astoria Hotel in New York City to honor women board directors who supported Catalyst’s mission. Reflecting the mindset of the time, a 1979 New York Times article in the Family/Style section highlighted that year’s winners’ “conservatively styled long-sleeved evening dresses, a minimum amount of makeup and simple pageboy hairdos.”

Catalyst was expanding opportunities for women and business at a time when many believed that women had little to bring to the table of business leadership. Year after year, our Awards have been a platform for the change-makers destroying this myth.

And the 2011 Awards are no exception.

Kaiser Permanente, McDonald’s, and Time Warner drive change in the workplace through initiatives that value women’s talents, perspectives, and leadership skills. Their powerful initiatives are transforming business culture—benefitting employees, families, communities, the economy and society along the way.

So please join me in congratulating this year’s inspiring Award-winners—bravo, brava!

Change can happen in the least likely of places.

At the Waldorf during our Awards Conference in March, I overheard a well-dressed man grumble: “Now I know what it feels like to be a woman.” He didn’t say this during a break-out session—he was waiting in a long line for the men’s bathroom! Staff at the hotel had converted several Men’s rooms to Ladies rooms— hence the shortage.

But the comment got me thinking…sometimes all it takes to understand another person’s perspective is to stand in their shoes—even for a brief moment.

At the conference, Frank J. McCloskey, Vice President of Diversity at Georgia Power, explored this very theme. During a session on men supporting women’s advancement, Frank said his upbringing had conditioned him to be a “typical guy.” Raised in the South, he played football at Georgia Tech, drank beer, and never thought about inequality. “Men—we are just who we are—we are not a very evolved species,” he mused. He said he suffered from a “pathology” that held “anyone who is different is less than.”

Frank had an “a-ha” moment on inequality when he revisited a painful episode involving his wife Debbie. “Whatever progress I have made in my own way was because of pain I inflicted on someone else,” he said. Empathy was the key to understanding his wife’s perspective.

Frank recalled that when Debbie was pregnant with their first child, she asked him pointedly: “Are we going to do this together?” Frank responded: “I’ll be with you all the way.” But soon after their child was born, Frank was offered a promotion. “It was a 2 year commitment— 24/7— and I accepted it,” he said.

It wasn’t until years later that he understood what he had done to his wife. And he felt terrible. He had accepted the promotion “without thinking of the consequences it would have on her and the child,” he explained, noting that the incident had been “the first time in our relationship that we had a breach of trust.”

Life lessons were thrust into sharp relief. “I managed to understand that maybe someone else has a different life experience. And once I started hearing other women’s voices…I was hearing things that were so difficult to hear,” he said. For most of his life he tried to minimize those voices and blame the women so that he would feel comfortable. “It took me a long time…to acknowledge that maybe something is going on with others that is not going on with me.”

This realization led Frank to ask himself two questions: “What am I doing to create that experience for you? And what should I do with myself to counter it?”

At Georgia Power, Frank oversees an array of gender initiatives. He believes that “leadership means men being part of the solution.” They should “unravel the pathology, hold themselves accountable.” He now believes, he said, that “if anything takes away from women as a whole, I should fight it.”

Catalyst research suggests that before individuals will support efforts to right an inequality they must first recognize that the inequality exists. Here is Frank’s advice for men on creating awareness: “Who are those that are closest to us outside of work—wife, daughter, sister?” he asked. “Say to them, ‘Help me understand how your life is different from mine.’”

For the women reading this, I’ll add some advice of my own. Allow the men you know to see the world from your eyes. Share your experiences. It can change their perspective, or even their lives.

“If you want to understand the past, look at current conditions,” said PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi at last night’s Catalyst Awards Dinner, quoting an old Chinese proverb. “But if you want to understand the future, look at today’s actions.”

All the great speeches and conversations about the Award-winning gender initiatives from Campbell Soup, Deloitte, RBC, and Telstra demonstrated a bright future for women in business. A lot of work remains to be done, but I left The Waldorf last night knowing we were a little closer to gender parity in business leadership.

The day was filled with engaging, inspirational, and sometimes hilarious moments. I appreciated the down-to-earth advice on men championing women from Frank McCloskey, Vice President of Diversity at Georgia Power. “It’s a manager’s obligation to create a work environment where everyone is valued,” he told a standing-room crowd. “I hope y’all change your culture—if not, we’ll take your people,” he jibed.

Later that day, Irene Chang Britt, President of Campbell Soup, North America, discussed her views on work-life. Like me, she does not like to use the word “balance.” She prefers the term: “work-life integration.” After all, she said, “We’re all nuts if we think we’re balanced.”

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It’s finally here!

This Wednesday, March 24, I will gather with thousands of Catalyst supporters, CEOs and other leaders at The Waldorf=Astoria in New York for our annual Catalyst Awards Conference and Dinner. The day will be filled with lively panels on women’s advancement into leadership, plus in-depth presentations by CEOs from Campbell Soup, Deloitte, RBC, and Telstra whose initiatives won the 2010 Catalyst Award. In the evening, we will formally recognize our Award winners’ initiatives and celebrate their success.

This year, close to 80 CEOs from Fortune 1000 companies and leading professional organizations will attend along with a sold-out 1,500 guests for an evening of celebration. If you can’t make it to the Waldorf, join us virtually via our special Awards Conference Twitter feed.  Online or in-person, I want you to be a part of our special day. I look forward to seeing you and sharing in the excitement.