C-Suite Ceiling

This past weekend, the quote that kept coming up about Hillary Clinton's defeat was though she didn't shatter the "glass ceiling" of the Oval Office, she cracked it pretty badly. You'd think, along with Barack Obama's success at winning his party's nomination as the first African-American presidential nominee, we would all feel better about opportunities for women and minorities to make it into the top echelons of corporate America. I'm not so sure how optimistic we should be about these gains transferring to the business world.

For one thing, unlike our government, corporations have no obligation to be democratic. If employees at every company in the world were required to vote for their CEO and other high-level executives, chances are we'd see more women and minorities at the top. But with a small band of decision-makers controlling who rises as corporate leaders, I think widespread change is a long time coming--or at least a decade behind our political system. Voting for CEO isn't always--if ever--a good idea, I bet many of you would argue, and I think I'd agree, but what else can you do to change the typical face of your executive suite?

The first step is figuring out if you have a problem. Women and minorities still lag behind white men in corporate America, so statistically there is less of a chance one of them will rise to the highest ranks. Let's say your company is just 10 years old, for instance, and you're in an industry not typically dominated by women and minorities--a Wall Street financial institution maybe--is something wrong if there are no women in the handful of executives running the show?  Now, what about a 20-year-old grocery store chain or paint manufacturer, and you've never had a woman as CEO or high-level executive. Do you have a problem?  The point I'm making is you have to create benchmarks particular to your own company on what progress is when it comes encouraging women and minorities into high-level job roles. Statistics on the frequency of women and minorities as CEO, COO, and CFO that look across industries aren't always relevant--or even helpful--to figuring out your company's own situation.

So, the first step is putting together a panel at your company to discuss whether the people at your top ranks are representative of employees at the company, and, more importantly, the customers you serve. If your executive suite is dominated by white men, but so is the industry and customer base you service, then at least determine whether the few women beginning to join your company are given the same opportunity to rise. What's the career trajectory of these individuals been like compared to that of other employees?  Do they seem to stagnate in entry and mid-level positions only to leave the company a few years later in frustration?  Any obvious red flags like that?  Also beware of more subtle red flags like exclusion from after-hours gatherings with colleagues. It may be that they're given promotions as fast as any other employee, but are hampered in their progress to the top by exclusion from the "old boy's club"--they just don't have the benefit of networking.

So, you have tons of female and African-American friends, and so do all of your colleagues, so your company couldn't possibly have a problem, you think to yourself, feeling content. You're probably not a racist (at least not a bad one) and most likely neither are (most) of the decision-makers at the top of your company. But it's like that old saying, "if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."  Maybe your organization's laziness about seeking out mentors for women and minorities, and other targeted development opportunities, is a form of prejudice by default. Is there such a thing as passivity as prejudice?  As one of the world's great lazy people, I hope there isn't--or else I'm in trouble, too.

What's the story at your organization when it comes to propelling females and minorities into the c-suite? Does it come down to random chance, or are you making a concerted effort?