“Danica Patrick did it. Hilary Clinton did it. And now droves of females in the financial services industry are doing it – succeeding in what was once a man’s world. As this male-dominated industry continues to change, so do those who represent it.”

A post on Colonial Life’s blog addresses the recruiting and retention of women – reasons and benefits – and quotes my client Heidi Spilotros of Mass Mutual, one of the industry leaders in this area.

Bottom line, to reach the huge and growing women’s market, the most effective strategy is to recruit women as talent. The more women you have, the more you will get. As I teach my clients and audiences, women have different motivators and communication styles than men, and those differences must be addressed effectively in order to be successful attracting female talent and customers. It’s not rocket science! Just awareness and easily learned communication and management skills.

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Rick Goings writes a powerful message on Huffington Post, here’s an excerpt:”Studies have shown time and again that opening opportunities for women in the workforce can have a massive impact on a nation’s economy. A report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Countries found that restricting job opportunities for women is costing the region between US $42 and US $46 billion a year. Even in our country, women still only make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes.”

And that’s just the beginning. Goings’ philosophy and position on women in the workplace is so similar to mine and what I teach that it’s as if he read my articles and then wrote the post. No wonder I found this post inspiring!

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“For something intangible, a glance can be a powerful thing. It can carry the weight of culture and history, it can cause psychological harm, and it can act as a muzzle. Consider the relatively simple act of a man staring at a woman’s body. This is such a common part of modern society that most of us rarely stop to think of its consequences, much less investigate it with a scientific lens.”
Continue reading the Not Exactly Rocket Science post

A great post on Fistful of Talent by Tim Sackett! REad this excerpt:

“Shaun, I hate to say it, but you are probably sexist, and it’s not “mostly womens fault” that you didn’t promote them.  While I’m sure you would argue you are very in-touch with diversity issues, because of your heritage, I would also assume that same background has given you a skewed view of gender issues and the historical battles they have faced in climbing leadership ladders. The fact that you write that some might be surprised that most men have nothing against working for a female boss, shows you yourself were somewhat surprised by the data. Most men don’t have issues working for women, only sexist men have problems working for women.”

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The Dallas Morning News writes (by Debbie Fetterman) that menopause brings out and enhances women’s assertiveness and leadership skills. Well it most certainly can impact women’s lives that way, due to lower estrogen which then allows testosterone to have more influence over behavior and attitude. Interesting!

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CNNMoney.com has posted results of a workplace survey exploring gender style differences in the workplace. No big surprises to me, a gender issues expert, but still interesting. Bottom line, duh, differences exist in motivational and performance drivers…the more companies respect and address these differences, the more financially successful they will become.

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Jackie Papandrew writes in her Woman Around Town blog that some men don’t believe women can be funny. Well she and I disagree with that…we just do funny differently. Our brains process funny in different ways. Read her take on this laughing matter.

Great Gen Y site, Small Hands Big Ideas, talks about emotions in the workplace. so, for those who think gender differences don’t apply to younger generations, think again.

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My 40″ keynote on “Get GenderSmart! Gender Communication for Recruiting & Retention” for the 2009 GAMA-LAMP conference in Atlanta – delivered live and finishing with a standing ovation from over 2000 field and home office leaders in the financial services industry.

 

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