‘Just Keep It Moving’: C-Suite Women Share Secrets To Career Mastery

“It’s well known that firms with greater gender diversity among senior leadership perform better,” the esteemed Harvard Business Review wrote in 2021. Yet, today, only 10.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, and only 33.5% of senior management roles are held by women, according to a 2024 study by Grant Thornton. It’s even worse for women of color. As Grant Thornton noted, it’ll take at least another 50 years at this rate for women to achieve parity. Considering the tangible benefits of more women in leadership, that’s just bad business and economic strategy, even if you set the societal impacts aside. As HBR put it, “Research has shown that firms with more women in senior positions are more profitable, more socially responsible, and provide safer, higher-quality customer experiences — among many other benefits.”

This progress has occurred despite the myriad headwinds women leaders face, because women continue to be resilient, which is likely among the reasons the recent 2024 Career Mastered Summit, celebrating its 10^th anniversary, held “I am resilient” as its theme.

“Resilience is defined as the ability to adapt and bounce back in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress. Resilience is not just bouncing back to the way things were before, it also involves personal growth, learning, and transformation from the experience of the adversity.” That’s a definition shared by Sabrina Jackson, Ph.D. in a passionate, interactive presentation at the Summit.

An audience of about 300, predominately women, from across industries listened intently as about two dozen women and a few men at the top of their game shared insights and stories from their experiences climbing the proverbial corporate ladder to the C-suite, and/or as successful entrepreneurs or board directors.

Here are nine insights that stood out to me from the speakers:

· When times get tough, “just keep it moving”: That’s a key piece of being resilient, according to one of the women executives on the “Real Talk, Real Conversation, Women and Resilience” panel. It included Dr. Lisa Wicker, Hosetta Coleman a top executive at J.P. Morgan Chase with a long career in human resources and diversity; Gina Coleman, Chief Diversity Officer of PNC Bank, and Donna Joseph Kemp, President of marketing and events company DMJ Group. (Note: J.P. Morgan Chase and PNC Bank were sponsors of the event.)

· “Know what you’re good at”: Is another key piece of advice panelists shared, and a common one I’ve heard from guests on my Electric Ladies Podcast too.

· “Be prepared”: Do your homework, come in ready for the meeting, no matter what it’s about or who it’s with. Indeed, Laura Liswood, Secretary General of the Council of Women World Leaders said research shows that women board members are so much better prepared for meetings than their male counterparts generally, that they raise the bar for the other board members and meetings become more productive.

· Leverage the power of your network to increase your impact: That’s one of the nuggets Portia Mount, Chief Marketing Officer of Topcoder crowdsourcing company said that caught my attention. She’s also the author of “Break Some Glass.”

· Be conscious of how a crisis changes you: Resilience is about getting through the hard stuff, and that hard stuff changes you in some way – big or small – Phylicia Musa reminded the audience, as she told her own stories. Musa is Manager, Culture, Diversity & Inclusion at Lowe’s Corporation (Note: Lowe’s was a sponsor of the event)

· Understand how your company makes money: This is a key point that a lot of trainings miss at conferences like this, so I noticed when Catherine Budzynski, Chief Legal Officer of Ohmium International, emphasized it on the panel about being on a board of directors. It’s important advice for any role, not just being on a board.

· Know when to write down what you’re thinking, instead of actually saying it: Those wise words from Kira Carter Robinson, Chief Operating Officer of University of Michigan Health – Sparrow Lansing, remind us to think before we speak and decide if it’s really best to say it out loud, or not.

· Talk to the people who can make the decision: That is especially true when presenting a product or service. Reaching the decision maker about that particular issue is the key to success.

· “Don’t let what you’ve been through dictate what you can do”: That is a critical insight from Dr. Sabrina Jackson’s presentation on resilience.

There were several self-care-related points made at the Summit too, including:

· Come from kindness

· Say something positive about yourself to yourself every day, Jackson nudged the audience.

· Have a support group who will tell you the truth and “keep it real”; and

· “Get a solid admin”: Robinson reminded the audience how much administrative support, as well as systems, can leverage their time and expertise to be at the top of their game.

Let’s hope Grant Thornton is wrong and women gain senior management parity decades faster than the firm predicted. Resilience is a prerequisite.

Full disclosure: Career Mastered presented Leadership in Action and Diversity Impact 50 awards, and the author was among the Diversity Impact 50 2024 awardees.