Perhaps no issue has been stirring as much discussion in the leadership field as the continual lack of balanced representation of women in senior management. Faced with the discouraging reality that only 3% of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women, despite their growing numbers in the lower management positions, it’s not surprising why this topic is getting a lot attention, if not concern given the growing rate at which women now represent current graduates coming out of universities.

Granted, it’s difficult, if not impossible for me to truly speak with any authority as to the challenges women face in the business world. However, that doesn’t make this a topic that doesn’t matter to me, especially given my own relationships as a father, husband and brother who’d like to know the women in his life have just as many opportunities as he does irrespective of gender or other divisive social categorizations.

That’s why I’m delighted to share this story courtesy of Susan T. Spencer. Susan came upon my blog some months ago and in that time, we’ve been corresponding about the issues of women, leadership and the changing business environment. Susan has had plenty of experience working in various male-dominated industries – from serving as the VP and acting GM of the NFL franchise Philadelphia Eagles, to being the successful owner of several meat processing plants which had combined annual revenues of $50 million US.

She recently sent me an advance copy of her upcoming book “Briefcase Essentials”, which not only chronicles Click here to continue reading »”Women and Leadership – A Look From Inside The Boardroom”

Last week, Dorothy Dalton shared an intriguing guest piece on my blog which questioned whether management training should take into account the inherent differences between men and women. Not surprisingly, her piece resonated greatly among women readers, who both participated in the follow-up discussion, as well as sharing this piece with others on Twitter. Although on the surface this might seem to be a “women’s issue”, the reality is that gender issues should be viewed as an important topic for those involved in managing an organization’s workforce.

While Dorothy’s piece posed the question of whether such gender-specific measures are needed today, the points she put forth got me thinking about what we should expect in the decades to come based on some issues arising from today’s education system.

A dramatic shift in gender strengths in education

There have been numerous reports over the last couple of years that have shown that girls are excelling in the fields of mathematics and science, areas of knowledge which in the past were dominated by boys both in terms of grades and interest. At first glance, these results seem to indicate that girls are finally catching up with boys in their mastery of these subjects. A closer examination of the situation though, reveals something more problematic at play here.

In order to address the obvious difficulty girls were having with math and science, many education boards took on Click here to continue reading »”Are We Ready For The Workplace Gender Shift?”

I would like to invite all of you to listen to my interview on the Real Recognition Radio show, found on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel, which will air Tuesday, March 16th at 1 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST).

The episode, titled “A Better Workplace Conversation”, will feature myself, along with feedback expert Sonia Di Maulo, discussing some of the issues facing today’s workplace and what leaders can do to improve the performance and productivity of their workforce.

Real Recognition Radio is hosted by S. Max Brown and Roy Saunderson of the Recognition Management Institute. The show focuses on the importance of recognition and appreciation in the workplace and through their guests, offers insights and ideas on what companies can do to improve their workplace culture and with it, employee morale.

Real Recognition Radio has already hosted such renowned speakers as John Hope Bryant, author of the bestselling book “Love Leadership” and in upcoming shows will be interviewing many industry leaders and thinkers including leadership authors Jim Kouzes, Michael Stallard and Jason Pankau, Dr. Matthew J. Grawitch, Dr. David W. Ballard, and Dr. Don Schultz to name but a few.

It’s truly an honour to be included in such an incredible list of guests and I hope you will check out both my interview, which will air Tuesday, March 16th at 1PM EST on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel website, as well as these upcoming shows for the wealth of information that will be offered on leadership and the workplace.

NOTE: I’ll be posting a piece about this interview later this week which will include a streaming version of this broadcast for my readers to listen to here on my blog.

There was an interesting article featured on the Scientific American website about the impact city noise is having on bird songs. Researchers discovered that white-crowned sparrows in city and urban areas sing songs in the higher frequencies, not at all like the same sparrow species found in the countryside that sing in the lower ranges. They found that the city birds changed their songs to these higher frequencies in order to be heard over the sounds of cars, buses, and other sources of noise found in these urban environments. While it’s a remarkable example of the ability of animals to adapt to certain changes in their habitat, the article also got me thinking about how our own behaviour is similarly influenced by the environment that surrounds us.

As is the case with birds, we take cues from our environment in not only how we communicate, but also what information we share. Looking at the kinds of behaviour and conversations we have with our friends in a social setting, we see that it’s quite different from what we present in our workplace. But what is less obvious is the fact that even our mood and our perceptions are influenced Click here to continue reading »”Changing our Behaviours – A Lesson From the Birds”