But if we have learned anything from the last century, it is this – that change is possible. As Ann Veneman, UNICEF Executive Director points out:

Education is one key to better lives for girls, their families and their communities. Expert studies estimate that every extra year a girl spends in secondary education lifts her income by more than 15 per cent. Better educated girls have better employment and health prospects and, as they grow to womanhood, they pass these benefits to their children.

I have been a strong believer in the power of education for years. As a member of the board of Reading Partners, I see the benefits first hand. I see the benefits in my community, and as a business woman, in the intelligent, educated young women who are starting their careers. But most of all, I see the benefits that education brings these young girls and their families.

At Reading Partners, we see (on average) students jump an entire grade level in reading skills after only 30 hours of tutoring. The impact of this is immediate and lasting. It changes the students perspectives of themselves, and it changes that way that they relate to the world, their families and communities. It opens the door of opportunity, and it sets in train, a process of ongoing learning which benefits future generations (with mothers teaching and supporting the education of their children).

Programs like these exist all over the world. And somewhere, there is a young girl in need of a better education. She may be living in your neighborhood, or in a country on the other side of the planet. But if you can only do one thing this International Women’s Day – find a way to support a young girl’s education. The world will be a better place for it.

But rather than waiting for the structural impact of women’s workforce participation to take effect at senior levels, women are, instead, taking matters into their own hands. Support networks and groups are being formed such as Women 2.0, Young Women Social Entrepreneurs and the Blogher network – complete with mentoring opportunities, professional networking events and conferences – and all this effort is now beginning to bear fruit.

Research by Cindy Padnos, managing director of Illuminate Ventures, indicates that the performance of women in the enterprise – especially in startup businesses – has significant benefits. Not only are the high-tech companies that  women build more capital-efficient than the norm (with higher revenues and less committed capital), there are fewer failures:

As the global economy regenerates, new business models are needed to stimulate economic and job growth. Investors seeking to reinvigorate bottom-line performance and to favorably impact the entrepreneurial strength of our economy would be wise to support strategies that enable high-tech start-ups that are inclusive of women entrepreneurs.

But what it the opportunity for leaders? First, we need to acknowledge that we are not facing a recession – but a reset (as John Hope Bryant suggests). Next we need to look to those women in our management ranks who are already leaders in their fields. We need to support them and mentor them in the way that the grass roots social networks are doing. And we need to actively plan for their success and succession.

Nina Nets It Out: The statistics are starting to tell the tale – but despite clear economic and professional benefit, there is still a dearth of senior roles available for women. Smart business leaders will proactively support the transition of women leaders into more senior roles – and those that do will reap the rewards.

When we are thinking through succession plans – we need to consider not just who’s coming in, but what’s going out. That’s right – when a leader leaves, it marks the end of an era. She will take with her, her whole way of doing business – and the impact of this will be felt right through your business. Perhaps NBC weren’t ready to deal with this type of wholesale change – communicating the way in which this transition would be handled should have been clearer, unambiguous and ongoing. Communications around succession needs to be handled over several months, and in some cases, one to two years. After all, we all crave security.

Part of this stability comes from “doing what you say”. In NBC’s case, making an offer and then rescinding it has created confusion and uncertainty. Not only will this impact the financial performance of both shows (think of the advertisers and sponsors – or in your business, your various stakeholders), it also sends a morale breaking message to all your other up-and-coming leaders/stars. And when this happens, the talent that you have been nurturing for years looks not at your promises (which now seem empty) but at the rival offers which seem so unambiguous and full of opportunity.

Finally, remember that we are living much more public lives than ever before. You don’t need to be Conan O’Brien to publish your personal thoughts on your career. You don’t need to be NBC to create a news network. Facebook, blogs and even Twitter operate like 24 hour broadcast channels. So whenever you think “succession planning” also think “crisis management”. You may not need to activate your crisis plan – but you’ll be glad you have one if you need it.

Nina Nets It Out: The Conan vs Leno debacle has yielded some valuable lessons for leaders. As always, communication and clarity are imperative.

Just a generation ago, women were largely confined to repetitive, menial jobs. They were routinely subjected to casual sexism and were expected to abandon their careers when they married and had children. Today they are running some of the organisations that once treated them as second-class citizens.

However, the number of women who are actually running or leading these organizations are few and far between. Despite a resounding correlation between business performance and the number of women holding management and leadership positions, women remain substantially under-represented in such roles – with only 2% of the top jobs in the US and 5% in the UK being filled by women.

Orit Gadiesh and Julie Coffman wonder if there is something more systemic to this situation and are running a survey to investigate. You can participate in this survey here – with the results being presented at this year’s World Economic Forum at the end of January 2010.

Nina Nets It Out: In a time where expertise and experience is prized – where talent is scarce and will continue to be so, organizations with a pool of talented women will likely outperform their competitors. It’s time that we understand and begin to grow this vital two percent.

With more and more men forced to stay home, more and more women are bringing home the bacon. Women are more likely than ever to head their own families. They’re doing it all—and many of them have to do it all. When they work, it’s no longer just for “the little extras.” Their income puts food on the table and a roof over their heads, just like men’s income always did.

Even a quick glance at the Shriver Report signals the widespread changes that have occurred in just a generation. Between 1975 and 2008, the “traditional” family structure (a working husband only) has more than halved, from 52% to 21%. This has impacted families and women in particular in a myriad of ways – generating political, policy and organizational challenges around flexible working hours, child care, opportunity, equal pay and family care. At the same time, it is clear that women are reaping the benefits of education – women now receive 62% of college associate’s degrees, 57% of bachelor’s degrees, 60% of all masters degrees, half of all professional degrees and just under 50% of all PhDs – a stunning turnaround since 1970, especially at the upper end where women received fewer than 10% of professional and doctoral degrees.

Yet despite these indicators, and despite the fact that we have women in the high ranking public positions of Secretary of State and Speaker of the House, it seems that appearances are, in fact, deceiving. In her New York Times article, The Mismeasure of Women, Joanne Lipman suggests, “… Somewhere along the line, especially in recent years, progress for women has stalled. And attitudes have taken a giant leap backward.”

Rather than focusing only on the statistics – on the numbers, the gains, the incremental improvements, we need to look, as Joanne Lipman suggests, to changes in perception, alterations in behavior and how this creates the conditions for a change in the way this nation thinks of, and engages, its women citizenry. We need to take the same approach within our organizations – looking at what Jo Miller calls the “shadow organization” – the networks of relationships that hold and carry influence, and create action across the enterprise regardless of hierarchy – and actively put in place plans to promote our achievements and influence the way that they are perceived and even valued.

For sure, we have made progress, but better jobs, more pay and greater opportunity is one thing. Respect is another. Our challenge as leaders is to shift the conversation around the topic of women. After all, if you want profits, you have to smash the glass ceiling. It’s time to put the numbers to work – our numbers, the numbers that lie behind Maria Shriver’s report – and we’ll all be better off for it.

Nina Nets It Out: Women have made significant gains in the last 30-40 years. But for all the statistics, there are still inequalities – cultural inequalities which threaten to undo the good work of a generation. Leaders, as the custodians of organizational culture, have an important part to play in transforming both the perception and reality of women in business.

Both Lynda Gratton of London Business School and Rosabeth Moss Kanter edge up a place in the rankings, and Tammy Erickson and Barbara Kellerman enter the list for the first time.

But surely there are more women out there that you admire. I know there are some impressive women on my personal admiration list. What’s yours? Who would you add – and why?

Nina Nets It Out: Last year I hoped to see more women on the Top 50 Thinkers list. I got my wish – but only just. Who else would you add? Let me know – and remember you can also VOTE for your favorite Top 50 Thinker (or add a new name to the list for next year).

But as we reach the last quarter of the year, leaders will be turning their attention to closing what business they can before the year end, as well as planning for the new year ahead. With the economy remaining tight, we may be tempted to focus only on the short term – securing business, bringing in every last dollar of revenue and squeezing out extraneous costs – leaving the 2010 plan open ended or only half-baked. If you find yourself in this situation, you may want to consider what I call “Do-able Strategy”.

• Direct business engagement – work with your leadership team to identify and prioritize the new business opportunities in your sales pipeline. Determine where best you can inject yourself into the process with a view to closing the deal – or get out of the way and let your team do its job.
• Objectives – scan your opportunity pipeline for the emerging “need states” of your top customers. Are there new issues or business problems appearing on your customer’s horizons? Use these to begin feeding your 2010 strategic objectives. Make sure that these are folded back into any customer discussions that are taking place during the last quarter.
• Authority and responsibility – Now it is time to invest your team with what Wally Bock calls authority and responsibility. Make them responsible for achieving outcomes and then ensure they have the authority to make it happen (remember the do-able strategy is as much about doing as it is about strategy).
• Breakdown – as all the elements of your near and short term plans begin to take shape, it can become overwhelming. Remember to breakdown your strategy into executable programs. Ensure that there is someone responsible for each program.
• Learn – we can always learn from a process. Make sure that your learnings are being recycled into your forward planning. Don’t repeat the same mistakes. The goal is to become a scholar-practitioner.
• Engage the emotions – many leaders tiptoe around emotions. They see them as the messy side-effect of dealing with people. But emotions can supercharge your team. Rather than avoiding emotions, engage them. Talk to your team about your vision. Work to include them in operationalizing it. As Steve Roesler reminds us, “emotions prompt us to act”.

Nina Nets It Out: Sometimes circumstances conspire against our best strategic efforts. Rather than sacrificing longer term planning for short term gain, consider accelerating your planning process. It’s not a substitute for a formal, rigorous plan, but it can alleviate the pressure in the short term.

Balance by KarolusLinus

President Obama recently sparked an interesting dialogue about empathy when he stated that he would nominate a Supreme Court justice “who understands that justice isn’t about some abstract theory. … It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people’s lives,” to replace the outgoing Justice David Souter.  In short, he wants someone with judicial empathy.  This has caused outrage from some and applause from others.  Regardless how you feel about this issue, it is interesting to see so much attention being paid to empathy within the context of the Supreme Court.

Personally, I am a definite believer that empathy has a place in leadership and business in general.  That said, it must be properly balanced with power in order for long-lasting, sustainability to be achieved.  Karl Long wrote a wonderful piece discussing this balance.  Leaders must find a way to appeal to those that they lead and simultaneously command the respect of these individuals.  Some people respect a leader who demonstrates care and concern for them.  Others respect a powerful authority that leads based on a command and control approach.  I have written about a related topic in the past in a piece entitled “Democratic Dictatorship“.  In this piece I made the point that a leader is ultimately responsible to the organization’s best interests, not those of any particular individual.  However, to be clear, this does not imply that a leader cannot show empathy toward individuals within the organization.  On the contrary, it is often in the organization’s best interests to keep the people who work there satisfied.  In fact, loyalty expert Fred Reichheld, has written extensively about customer loyalty and its direct linkage to employee loyalty.  And in these turbulent economic times, nothing can be more important to a business than keeping the customers that they have satisfied; in large part, by keeping the employees they have satisfied.

There’s even real science to back up the power of empathy within a leader and the physiological effects that it can have on others.  In a recent HBR article about social intelligence and neuroscience, the findings demonstrated “that certain things leaders do—specifically, exhibit empathy and become attuned to others’ moods—literally affect both their own brain chemistry and that of their followers.”  For example, in performance feedback settings, it was more the tone and emotional signals given during feedback vs. the actual feedback itself that established the recipient’s attitude and feelings about the feedback.  In essence, the way things were communicated were more important than what specifically was communicated.  In fact, we can all recall seeing this same effect when talking to a baby or even a pet.  If you speak with a particular tone, it is not relevant what specific words you are saying.  In these cases, the words are not even comprehensible to the baby or pet, but the tone of voice is clearly what dictates their response.

What does all of this mean to you as a manager or leader?  Well, if you want to get the best out of your teams, colleagues, subordinates, etc., use an easygoing tone and humor to engage the best neurons your folks have to offer!  In one study, it was found that “top-performing leaders elicited laughter from their subordinates three times as often, on average, as did mid-performing leaders.”  For business, it is true when they say, laughter is the best medicine!

Nina Nets It Out: A good mood can not only make your day better, but also that of the people around you. I guess this science has proven the French proverb “more flies are caught with honey than with vinegar.”  Be sure to balance your own drive, ambition and intelligence with an ability to empathically and socially connect with co-workers, business colleagues, customers, etc.

But in amongst all this, we must also understand the nature of the implied leadership contract.

I was reminded of this by Wally Bock’s excellent post, Don’t Just Tell Me. Show Me. In this post, Wally writes of a colleague who challenged him early in his career – rather than offering praise, she said “don’t just tell me, show me”. As Wally explains, praise is powerful and financial incentives can be very effective:

But if that’s all you use with team members, you risk moving out of the realm of social covenants and into the realm of economic contracts.

And this is one of the most important aspects of leadership. Just because you may not “know” every person that works in your business unit or across your enterprise, this doesn’t mean that those people don’t have a sense of who you are. It doesn’t mean that they don’t have some sense of relationship with you. After all, if you have been following my advice and working on your communication skills, you will have built a great deal of rapport with and amongst your teams. But with this sense of relationship also comes a covenant – the leadership contract.

The leadership contract goes way beyond a mere transactional relationship. This is not just about financial reward, recognition or even performance. It is both personal and collective. When your teams buy-in to your vision and commit to making it their own, they are doing so by first providing what Robert Putnam describes as “bridging capital” – the type of social capital that connects us to people outside of our close circle. But I think that the leadership contract spans the space between bonded and bridging social capital (bonded capital refers to those close personal relationships and trust that we have with family and friends). As time goes on, and as leaders deliver on their promises, the bonds between us change. This happens because we derive satisfaction from our work far beyond the financial reward. We identify with our company, with our business unit and with our colleagues – so our work becomes “part” of who we are.

Leaders who recognize the complexity of this type of relationship – the leadership contract – will find higher levels of performance, resilience and innovation within their organizations. And in this day and age, that can only be a good thing.

Nina Nets It Out: As leaders our influence extends far beyond the casual employee-employer relationship. It is multi-faceted. Understanding some of the nuances of the leadership contract can keep us all ahead of the curve.

Too many leaders, along with their communications staff, spend too much time thinking about how to say whatever it is they need to say. And, for sure, I commend those with the gift of gab for whom communicating clearly and with well-chosen words comes easy. I’ve surely written about the tremendously valuable ability to communicate clearly on my blog over the past year and think it is, without a doubt, one of the most critical skills anyone in business [and it really isn't nor should be limited at all to people working in the business world] can possess. However, as important as such communications are, the benefits from them can be completely eroded when the actions don’t support the words. How often have people in our lives, be it in professional or personal circumstances, said one thing and done another? What are we to believe when such things occur?

One way that Isadore Sharp has integrated both communications and actions is in the creation of the “Glitch Report.” Every department at the hotel creates a diary of the previous day’s mistakes and uses this to both inform teams of issues and to ensure that, wherever possible, those mistakes are not replicated. Isadore Sharp explains this approach in this interview with National Geographic’s Intelligent Travel blog:

By keeping close tabs on what’s happening at the hotel every day, the management team has the ability to work closely with staff to continually teach, reinforce and empower them to make great customer service decisions.

This is not to say that there are times when our actions can’t match our words. We can have the greatest intentions to follow up our words with the appropriate actions, only to realize subsequently that we cannot do as we have said. In such times, express the changing circumstances aloud and let others know that you are fully aware that your prior words cannot be supported by current actions. In this way, you can demonstrate the realization that your initial words and actions won’t match, but you can modify the words, provide explanation, if necessary, and get your words and actions re-aligned to one another. People may not like the change, but they cannot disregard the effort to openly communicate and to keep the synchronicity of words and actions required for a trusted relationship intact.

This follows along my philosophy of telling it like it is. I know that this approach won’t please all of the people all of the time; but, it will allow all of the people to know where I stand all of the time. And given the choice of pleasing everyone all of the time [as if this could even happen] or being authentic and having all of the people know that what I say is so, I will always choose being regarded as authentic and honest to my words. And this recalls my belief about leaders in general in regard to the expression: “it is better to be respected and not liked than to be liked and not respected.”

Isadore Sharp understands that actions tell others who we are and what kind of person we are. He spent years evangelizing his laser focus on service and living up to the expression “We are only what we do, not what we say we are.” These words are easy to say but challenging to live up to. It required shifting mindsets, delegating responsibilities, giving up control when necessary, firing people who did not live up to the credo, despite them being competent in various other areas, and other such actions that demonstrated the seriousness with which his company was going to follow this path. Without a doubt, to those who have ever had the good fortune to stay at a Four Seasons hotel, the service ethic has been instilled throughout every level within the company. From the bellmen who greet arriving cars, to chamber maids, to wait staff and desk personnel. The Four Seasons chain of hotels demonstrates the possibilities of a corporate-wide focus on doing the right thing, not just saying the right words.

Today, the Four Seasons Hotel & Resorts “is considered among the finest luxury hotels worldwide, according to Travel + Leisure magazine and Zagat Survey, and operates 78 hotels in 32 countries including 22 AAA Five-Diamond properties.” Now if we can only get business leaders in all sorts of companies, industries and countries to follow the Four Seasons approach!

Nina Nets It Out:Words are just that…they’re words. If we say we are going to do one thing and we do another, of what value are the words we spoke? Clearly, we all want to be considered honest, authentic leaders. To achieve this, we must make certain to maintain synchronicity between what we say and what we do. If you must do something that differs from your words, at least offer an explanation and demonstrate your awareness of the discrepancy. The importance of this cannot be overstated for leaders who wish to be held in high regard and worthy of being considered a leader.