sphinxx news alert  
17 March 2010 | www.sphinxx.com.au   

This week we talk about Nigel, the importance that educated women play in the developing world, paid parental leave, Fruit at Work and a reminder to register for Ascend in May.

1. YOUR CAREER: Who the hell is Nigel?
2. WORK: Educating women the key to improving business in the developing world
3. WORK: 6 months paid parental leave - what's your view?
4. LIFE: Fruit at Work & Snowgoose hampers
5. OFFERS: Register now for Ascend to take advantage of the earlybird special

If you have an idea for a topic we should include in a future news alert, please let us know - we’d love to hear from you!

All the best,

Jen Dalitz
Founder & The SheEO, sphinxx.com.au

YOUR CAREER: Who the hell is Nigel?

Over the past week I’ve met with two of my mentors to discuss strategies for attaining a new board appointment, which is one of my goals for 2010. So it was of interest to me to receive an invitation through our network from a guy called Nigel who is part of the line up at TedX. Nigel’s email highlighted a line up of the workshop topics including one called: “Giving up control: - why women are leaving boardrooms or simply not making it there because they don’t want to conform, or to be told what to do.”

So who the hell is Nigel and what makes him an expert on why women aren’t making it into our boardrooms? (and why does he think that more conformance will help us get ahead - isn’t that just encouraging group think and defeminisation by women as a means of getting ahead?)

In my experience working in the advancement of women as leaders, our ability to relinquish control is not the primary reason women aren’t making it to the boardroom. Its more likely that the 92% of male board directors who are currently in control (in the ASX200) don’t want to relinquish control or power. Or, as the gentleman I chatted with at The Sydney Institute dinner last night explained to me, "it often just doesn't cross his mind to add women to the 2 boards he sits on, because it's only male directors he knows through his networks". Yes, women also have to get better at self-promotion, and connecting with the men who are in the roles so we can get onto short lists and preselections. But when women hold only 8% of board positions, what control is there to give, Nigel?

Nor is conformance a sound strategy for women getting ahead: in fact this usually works against us. In Executive Women and the Myth of Having it All, Sylvia Ann Hewlett (whom most of us are familiar through her Onramps and Offramps research) surveyed perceptions of women who take on male behaviours in order to get ahead in their careers - and the results were clear. When women try and behave like the men, they win no fans with either the men or the women they work with. And what about all the great attributes women bring to leadership when they're just allowed to be themselves - like their lateral thinking skills, more advanced social and community skills, and their greater EQ which is widely acknowledged as being more important than IQ when it comes to leading.

I'm just so sick of the Nigels of the world giving me their advice on what I should do. So this is one event I won't be supporting.

New research by McKinsey points to education being the key driver for economic growth and business opportunities in the developing world. The same research also points to a new development in the gender differences prevalent in development work.

It’s a fairly well accepted fact that allocating funds to a girl in a developing community is more solid investment then funding a boy in the same group. One of the key reasons for this is that in general, women reinvest a larger portion of their income then men do. Another cultural and lifestyle factor is that women are more likely to stay within the one community, as the primary carer of a child.

New research by McKinsey outlines the financial difference an extra year of secondary education has on a girl, and a boy child. The study found that for girls that extra year caused a 10-20% rise in future earnings, whereas with boys it was 5-15%. Consequently, improving education for women in the developing world could greatly boost national prosperity and international business opportunities.

It will be exciting to seeing emerging business women from developing countries in the future. So much so that it might just be worth adding a foundation that funds educational facilities in the developing world to your companies list of causes.

6 months paid parental leave - what's your view?

If you've ever doubted the power of the female vote just take a look at the paid parental leave policy Tony Abbott wheeled out on International Women's Day: 6 months at full pay... now we're talking!

While the plan has plenty of critics, I'm not one of them. I reckon a system paid for by business, not individuals, is a good thing because:

1. Businesses in Australia don't pay that much tax - 30% tax is much lower than what most of us are paying
2. This is a simple way to deliver big benefits - I've seen first hand the millions of dollars spent every year in big business on employee engagement programs to explain how much employers care. But actions speak louder than words and 6 months paid leave would really show how important working parents are to business.
3. The payback of retaining women - particularly senior women - in organisations is real. During the first six months its extremely difficult for women not to be the sole carer and six months of paid leave will help during this period and encourage them back to the workforce thereafter.
4. As a society we can do so much more to support working families. I've been to Denmark and spoken with people there about the benefits of their social systems that encourage parents to spend more time with their young children. A shift in this direction would be a good thing for Australia.

So that's my view... and what is yours? We have 5 simple questions we'd love you to answer on this poll - click here to complete the poll or post your comments here on the blog.

Fruit at Work & Snowgoose hampers

So I'm on a health kick at the moment. Yeah, you probably know how that's going.. but I'm trying really hard and I've had 5 A.F.D.s over the past week which is a big thing for me! So it was a huge relief for my taste buds when a Snowgoose hamper arrived in our office. One look and I was sold - these are a great value healthy gift hamper option that would make the perfect gift for any occasion. And for those of you who (like me) are super fussy when it comes to your fruit, you should be aware that every item was blemish free and progressively ripened so we could enjoy fresh fruit every day til we'd demolished the lot!

Better still, for those of you who get the munchies at work but are too busy to step out and buy a healthy snack to boost your reserves, Snowgoose has a sister company in Fruit At Work, who have just come on board as a sponsor of our Ascend development days - so all our participants at Ascend in May will also get to sample the fantastic fruit you can have delivered to your office around Australia. We loved our Snowgoose hamper so much that we're signing up for the Fruit at Work 2 week trial - you can get 50% off as you trial the service.

Want to try a Snowgoose hamper for yourself? We have one to give away valued at $70 + delivery, to one lucky reader. To go in the running, post your comment on the blog with your top tip for staying healthy and happy in your workplace - and don't forget to include your email address in the comments form so we can contact the lucky winner (don't worry, your email won't be posted on the blog but we'll be able to see it in our secure back end)

Register now for Ascend to take advantage of the earlybird special

May is fast approaching and we have a fantastic line up of inspirational speakers at our sell-out Ascend leadership development day series in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney including my good friend Ronni Kahn, Australian of the Year – Local Hero. As a result of your feedback we have improved the schedule to include more networking time, and there will be more group discussions to deepdive into some of the hot topics we’ll cover. Register before 16th April to receive the earlybird rate of $345 (after 16th April it will be $445). And just a reminder that Ascend is free for members of the Leadership Program – you must register online to confirm your place. Click here and register while places remain.