Thursday, July 29, 2010

Women Take The Lead

Article: Women lead the way
Publication: Training
Author: Margery Weinstein
Issue: July/ August 2010
Review by: Karina Hernandez

“It’s a man’s world,” this statement is no longer true. In today’s world we see more and more females in the work force of corporate America. Through much struggle and work females have been making their way into executives’ jobs and into being seen as male equals. Still there are few women in leading work position. Women “make up the majority of university graduates, and yet they get stuck in middle and lower ranks of companies, often over looked for top roles,” said Selena Rezani, author of “The Next Generation of Women Leaders”. The author Margery Weinstein discusses how companies could increase the females in leading role positions by simply acknowledging that they are there. She talks about having a “Network of their own” as it seen at Cbeyond, a managed services provider in Atlanta. In this company they have an organization design specifically to help women get ahead in their career by the simple fact of networking. The Cbeyond Women’s Network creates a learning and development environment. The article encourages other companies to do the same, which I believe is a good idea because it would only strengthen the company’s workforce. But this might seem a little unfair for the male’s point of view. The article also discusses Western Summit Constructors Inc. and how “women’s leadership development is a top priority.” The construction field is not an easy one for females, but the way this company goes about helping females develop and get ahead is not by giving them their own program; rather by giving women the same amount of attention as men in all of its training programs. They are included in their internship program, mentoring program and leadership program. This company realizes that there are differences between females and males, but these differences do not make any one more capable over the other. “The differences in female leadership tendencies can be use to optimize the company’s benefit.” I couldn’t agree more with Stephanie Taylor (the Bilingual Training Specialist of Summit Constructors Inc.). Females and males are not the same, but the characteristics that disassociate us, when use correctly could lead us into a successful path.