Recognition

June, 2011 – Indiana Minority Business Magazine

Gender Diversity: It Matters to Your Financial Performance

By Jennifer Browning-Holmes

The 25 years I spent climbing up the ranks in corporate America has given me a unique prospective about the legitimate issues women continue to face when trying to advance their careers.

Incorporating a robust gender diversity initiative remains a challenge for many corporations, government agencies, academia and nonprofit organizations.

The opportunity to change the culture of our workplace and communities is not always easy.  However, the working world we live in today is rapidly changing with more women entering the workplace. Fifty percent of today’s workforce is made up of women, of which 37 percent of mid-level managers and 26 percent of vice president positions are held by women.

That number will continue to rise as more women enter the workplace who aspire to advance into higher levels of leadership. Yet, the discouraging fact remains an issue; women are not advancing. A Wall Street Journal article recently reported by Catalyst Inc. stated that only 11 chief executives of Fortune 500 companies are women, down from 15 in 2010.

Over the past several months, The Wall Street Journal has written two important articles discussing the topic of gender diversity, women being held back in corporations. One article entitled; “Coaching Urged for Women, Inadequate Career Development Holds Back Female Executives, McKinsey & Company says.”

The article discussed the need to focus on developing mid-level management by giving additional leadership coaching and allowing women to hold positions that involve profit and loss responsibilities for an operation.

Another article was released on April 11, 2011, “A Blue Print for Change,” interviewed top business executives examining issues women face and what’s holding women back in the workplace.

McKinsey & Co., Catalyst Inc., Heath Care Women Business Associates( HBA), and many universities have published countless research articles full of data looking at the connection between gender diversity on corporate boards and financial performance. McKinsey and Catalyst recently published two separate studies with very similar data on the global results looking at three performance measures –  return on sales (ROS), return on investment capital (ROIC), and return on equity (ROE) for each company averages across the study time period.

There were 524 companies in this study with the following findings reported:

• Companies with the most women board of directors (WBD) outperformed those with the least number of women on return on sales by 16 percent (ROS).
• Companies with the most WBD outperformed those with the least on return on investment capital by 26 percent (ROIC).
• Companies with sustained high representation of WBD, defined as those with three or more WBD in at least four of five years with sustained low representation by 84 percent on ROS, by 60 percent on ROIC, and by 46 percent on ROE.

From: “The Bottom Line: Corporate Performance and Women’s Representation 2008-2010”; Carter, Ph.D, and Wagner,Ph.D. 2011 Catalyst Inc.
There are many highly qualified women who are highly motivated to move up the ranks. However, here are four reasons why I believe women are being held back:

• The structural cultural barriers within companies. They include a lack of sponsorship, role models, mentors and the absence of leadership development along with the exclusion from informal networks where connections are made. ie; golf, happy hour, etc.
•  There are lifestyle challenges – concern about the 24/7 executive lifestyle and travel obligations related to those high level positions.
• The barrier is the entrenched beliefs held by both men and women throughout the organization: “Everyone knows you can’t put a woman in that role.” Or, “That job could never be managed part-time.” And the one I find the most concerning is a statement like this one, “If we promoted her and she goes out on leave, we won’t make our numbers.”
• The barrier of individual mindsets. Research and my professional experience of having spent 25 years in corporate America show, as women age, their desire to move to the next level dissipated faster then men’s.

Integrating Woman Leaders Inc. set out over a year ago to address the issues that surround the challenges of implementing a transparent initiative for gender diversity. We consult companies, organizations, nonprofits, universities and government agencies by providing services that help create sustainable gender diversity programs.

Our team of  consultants have years of experience in Fortune 500 companies holding executive level position in human resources, sales and marketing management and operations. We are passionate to improve companies’ organizational and financial performances who believe in diverse leadership.

We provide leadership development, management training, sales training and executive coaching focused on women and teams.

October, 2010 – Cambridge Who’s Who 

INDIANAPOLIS, IN, October 06, 2010 /Cambridge Who’s Who/– Jennifer Browning-Holmes, Co-Founder and President of Integrating Woman Leaders, Inc., and the Center For Women Leaders has been recognized by Cambridge Who’s Who for demonstrating dedication, leadership and excellence in advancing high potential women leaders.

With 25 years in Corporate America, 18 of which she spent in the medical device industry, Jennifer Vaughan-Holmes recently started her own company, Integrating Woman Leaders, Inc. (IWL) and the Center For Women Leaders. She is committed to mentoring women, advancing careers by working closely with corporations and non-profit organizations to achieve success in advancing more women into top leadership positions.

IWL’s Center For Women Leaders offers customized programs and workshops to further educate women leaders about self-awareness, self-promotion, leadership style behaviors, enhanced mentoring, business relationship development outside their companies, work-life balance, communication/passion and training teams to enhance leadership effectiveness. Center for Women Leaders offers what no one else can: an exclusive focus on leadership competencies based on relevant research. Our programs provide unparalleled expertise and experiences in solving cultural gender diversity issues facing high potential women leaders in the workforce. Research supports that cultural barriers and style differences of leadership correlate with overall organizational performance. We focus on how women in organizations impact organizational excellence while companies create a transport culture to advance high potential woman leaders. We encourage and educate clients around the world the value of mentoring other women while the valuable lessons learned from one another. The company provides leadership development tools, workshops and one on one coaching to help women navigate Corporate America’s male-dominated C-Suites and boardrooms. .

Ms. Vaughan-Holmes, Co-Founder and President of IWL, is a motivational speaker about mentoring powerful women leaders to corporations, non-profit organization and universities. She offers specific strategies on how to rise to the top of Corporate America with personal and professional balance. Her expertise focuses on coaching people to overcome the traditional challenges faced in the workforce enhancing their skills that will allow them to advancement their careers. She formulates a structure that creates alignment from the CEO to the sales organization around the company’s goals; helping to instill a new psychology and new behaviors. Ms. Vaughan-Holmes is excited to note that she will be hosting the Integrating Women Leadership Conference on October 19, 2010. Located at the Civic Theatre on the Marian University campus, the conference will feature expert keynote speakers talking to the year’s chosen theme, “Mentoring Women, Advancing Careers: Style-Impact-Transform.” Over 250 attendees are expected to attend the conference, motivated by the desire to mentor, advance and enhance their leadership skills.

Ms. Vaughan-Holmes currently serves on several nonprofit organizations, as Chair of Ambassador for Woman, Samaritan’s Feet, and Co-Chair of the American Cancer Society Indiana Chapter. She was a competitive figure skater, trained at the Olympic Training Center at the Broadmoor, CO Springs, CO. In 2009 she joined the precedent organizations for Women in Healthcare, Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Foundation and the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA). She is also a member of NAWBO Indy as a women business owner and pending Woman Business Enterprise (WBE) member. A graduate of Indiana University, Ms. Vaughan-Holmes holds a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Physiology and Sports Medicine.

For additional information about Integrating Woman Leaders, Inc., and the Center For Women Leaders please visithttp://www.integratingwomanleaders.com.

About Cambridge Who’s Who
With over 400,000 members representing every major industry, Cambridge Who’s Who is a powerful networking resource that enables professionals to outshine their competition, in part through effective branding and marketing. Cambridge Who’s Whoemploys similar public relations techniques to those utilized by Fortune 500 companies and makes them cost-effective for members who seek to take advantage of its career enhancement and business advancement services. Cambridge is pleased to welcome its new Executive Director of Global Branding and Networking, Donald Trump Jr., who is eager to share his extensive experience in this arena with members.

Cambridge Who’s Who membership provides individuals with a valuable third party endorsement of their accomplishments and gives them the tools needed to brand themselves and their businesses effectively. In addition to publishing biographies in print and electronic form, it offers an online networking platform where members can establish new professional relationships.

Headquartered in Long Island’s premier office building, RXR Plaza, the Cambridge Who’s Who staff spans more than 10 departments and comprises a team of nearly 200 highly skilled and dedicated employees. Together they work to provide members with the recognition and exposure needed to further their careers, expand their businesses and network effectively in an economy where referrals are more important than ever.

For more information, please visit http://www.cambridgeregistry.com.

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