Nancy Parsons On The Glass Ceiling

College, Career, Life Career and life planning sources for school students, recent grads, and profession-changers. Primary Menu Nancy Parsons on The Glass Ceiling Andrea Although a lot progress has been made by ladies in the office, they are nonetheless routinely bypassed for high stage positions and promotions. When it comes to girls in high leadership positions, the trends are disappointing. In 2018, the number of women CEOs fell by 25%, leaving ladies holding a mere 33 or 6.6% of the top positions at Fortune 500 corporations. Conventional wisdom holds that male-generated discrimination, biases, and sexual harassment are responsible. But based on Nancy Parsons, an expert on the science of personal evaluation and development, the explanation the glass ceiling remains firmly in place is as a result of its main root trigger is misunderstood. In her new e-book, Women are Creating the Glass Ceiling and Have the Power to End It, Parsons reveals her groundbreaking, scientific analysis to elucidate why the glass ceiling exists, why ladies are responsible for it, and the way they can use proven and tested methods to finally break via to higher priva te and professional success. We interviewed Parsons about the glass ceiling and how girls can break via to achieve career success. The glass ceiling is the invisible impediment or barrier that holds girls again from reaching the top executive positions in organizations. In 1979, the doorways were eventually opened for women to be promoted primarily based on their expertise and efficiency because of the US Pregnancy Act going into impact. Even though it has been 40 years since the doorways supposedly opened, the numbers of women reaching the CEO or C-Suite level are dismal. Today solely 6.6 % of CEOs in Fortune 500s are ladies and solely 11 p.c of prime earners are girls. Meanwhile, every year since 1982 women have earned more bachelor’s degrees than men. Since 2005, girls have obtained extra grasp’s and doctorate degrees as nicely. Given these facts, it makes it all the more puzzling that ladies are not ascending to the highest, most coveted roles. Through my firm’s research w e found out what is causing the glass ceiling, and it is not what people suppose. People regularly recommend that discrimination (the good ole’ boy system) and gender bias are the primary causes ladies are not rising to high levels. What we found is that almost all girls, contrary to popular lore, are holding themselves again. What has changed is that executive males and other males in key leadership and professional posts have turn into fearful about mentoring girls and spending alone time with their feminine workers. Men are extra fearful about potential accusations and claims of sexual harassment or misconduct. After the #MeToo movement in late 2017, the case of the Judge Kavanaugh hearings in 2018 made issues even worse. The assault allegations from Dr. Ford have been from more than 30 years in the past with no direct corroboration or evidence. Despite the lack of evidence and Dr. Ford’s sketchy memories, (didn’t know dates, areas, how she went home, etc.) Judge Kavanaughâ €™s profession was practically ruined and his status eternally damaged. Men are, consequently, extra fearful of false allegations or complaints after seeing this extremely politicized case play out throughout the media. So, quite than serving to girls leaders extra, many men executives are pulling back or are more hesitant. I think everyone’s perceptions within the workplace are largely mistaken when it comes to the glass ceiling. Most folks assume the glass ceiling exists because of overt discrimination and biases towards girls. In spite of the positive intent of many male executives (or you possibly can say govt males) and the billions of dollars spent on ladies in management and diversity initiatives, the glass ceiling remains as firm as ever. “Through our research at my assessment firm, we found that almost all of women are holding themselves back, and this is the reason the glass ceiling is almost impenetrable to today. This is not intentional or a conscious selection by la dies. What holds most ladies back is their inherent persona danger issue as “Worriers.” This threat factor causes girls to turn out to be too cautious and extra vigilant, to freeze, overanalyze, or retreat, and to go silent from fear they might not have the a hundred% correct response. They may seem invisible or lack confidence when going through robust situations, which is opposite to what we anticipate of leaders. “ Meanwhile, we found that men’s predominate risks are “Egotists, Upstagers & Rule Breakers.” These risks assist propel them forward, even though the resulting behaviors are sometimes inappropriate or ineffective. The aggressive responses demonstrated by males are considered as extra courageous or leaderlike. On the opposite hand, ladies are viewed as moving away or retreating from adversarial or tense situations which is opposite to what we expect of leaders. The rub is that each women and men are equally well suited by means of personality character strengt hs to serve as efficient leaders. It is the personality-based danger elements that are pulling girls out of the running. As Worriers, they lose visibility and usually are not judged as having the “stuff of leaders” as a result of they maintain back, research, evaluation, and analyze more when dealing with adversity. Women pull again to check and suppose, quite than standing as much as be assertive and battle. They don’t win the battles as a result of they are not in them. Being a Worrier is a self-defeating issue because this causes the individual to be targeted on a concern of failure or a fear of making a mistake quite than focusing on the opportunities of success. So, the person tends to slow down choice making, is too cautious, over-analyzes, requires too much examine, and is reluctant to make a decision or to defend a position when there may be battle or robust opposition. While this person is usually a powerful performer in many ways, this tendency to freeze in concern d ebilitates their effectiveness throughout challenging occasions. They tend to go inside their head to over-think and re-think somewhat than stand sturdy and move forward. The self-defeating issue is they're usually the particular person with the answers and the capability, however they fail to step up and use it or communicate it with the suitable timeliness or sense of urgency. By making an attempt to get issues 100% correct within the spirit of helping the company succeed, they as a substitute shoot themselves within the foot and fall off of the career ladder. First, girls ought to learn my book. What they'll learn is that to be able to succeed to their biggest functionality â€" they should be deeply aware of their inherent character-primarily based strengths, threat elements, and intrinsic drivers and rewards, (motivational needs).Too many ladies (and men) are unaware or in the dark on what their true strengths are to a nuanced level. This is essential and serves to distinguish t hem from the group. Next, figuring out what intrinsically motivates or excites them is significant, in order that they steer their career and efficiency by not solely their strengths however by what they love to do. Lastly, it is essential that each girl concentrate on her inherent threat factors. Most people have no idea what their dangers are, and these traits undermine their success and relationships regularly when faced with stress or adversity. Everyone has dangers, but very few persons are conscious of their own threat factors. Once she learns what her dangers are, then she will take efficient steps and develop techniques and expertise to stop her dangers from undermining her success. So, the important thing to success is deep self-awareness. Without this knowledge (best gained by way of goal, deep-dive assessments) careers and performance can undergo. Sadly, women too typically fail to stay as much as their promise and potential. 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