sphinxx blog

Unless you’ve had your head in the sand since last Friday you’d know that the EOWA has released its Top Earners Report.  Details of the Gender Income Distribution of Top Earners in ASX200 Companies featured in all of the major newspapers and show, amongst other things, that women hold only 7% of top earner positions in the ASX200. 

That the female median is salary only 58% of the male median salary, and less than the male median salary of top earners in nine out of ten industry sectors, is a telling sign that women have a long way to go before pay equity becomes a reality.  But the question on my mind is: do women really care?

I mean, have you actually read the full report?  It’s hardly an epic with only 16 pages to flick through.  And if you’ve read the report, have you tabled it with your leadership team to determine what – if anything – your workplace response will be?

Maybe it comes down to different measures of success.  And sure, maybe there is something more sinister at play.  But maybe the blokes are earning more because they actually appear to want it more: they are more hungry, more determined and more likely to succeed because as my friend Susan says, “the harder you work, the luckier you become”.  So maybe it’s not a case of apples for apples after all.

I’d be interested in your view on this issue.  Is pay equity a priority for women; or is it something we’ll get around to, one day.  That might explain the glacial pace of change that Anna McPhee refers to in the EOWA report.

Over to you.

When it comes to emotions, I reckon fear is one of the strongest, most common and paralyzing of them all. Fear compels us to do things we would not otherwise consider; and to not do those things that we know we should.

Have you ever had a bad experience which, like being thrown from a horse, really battered your confidence? Maybe you’ve put forward a suggestion that was belittled by colleagues; or you made a decision only to be over-ruled by your boss; or had an application rejected for your dream job. Were you afraid to give it another shot, to get back on the horse and give it another try?

It’s human nature to have a fear of failure. After all, we are constantly encouraged to pursue excellence and marketers surround us with images of perfection. Anything less is deemed “not good enough”. But the problem with fear is that the longer you leave it, the more threatening it becomes.

Franklin D. Roosevelt famously stated in his first inaugural address: the “only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. I wonder how often we let our fear become stronger than our desires – like women who take parenting leave with every intention of returning to the workforce, but become afraid over time that their skills have lost relevance, or their children won’t be adequately cared for, or they won’t be able to cope with the competing demands.

So it is a huge success every time you challenge your fear and get right back on the horse. And the advantage of moving quickly is you’ll know at least one way not to do it this time! Yes it can be tough – and that is why you should credit yourself with a win every time you back yourself and give it one more shot.

Yesterday I was in a public loo when I saw something gross that really made me feel sick! Before you censor me, it was only a cigarette packet – but being a non-smoker I was quite shocked by the graphic photos printed on the packaging these days. In this case it was a photo of open heart surgery being performed on some poor body, but the others like the black lungs and effects of stroke are really no better.

After being completely grossed out by the photos, it occurred to me that smokers clearly are not. Or at least the images aren’t quite shocking or scary enough to make them change their habits. Smokers have grown accustomed to the graphic imagery and our now numb to it. I reckon it’s a bit the same for women leaders who are part of a blokey workplace.

Sure, it was a shock at first to be the only female or perhaps one of two women seated around the leadership table; and for every team building day to be testosterone charged with the more scars the better – like the paint skirmish bruises and the mountain biking gravel rash. It may even have been a surprise, but not a complete turnoff, the first time your suggestion was overlooked in a meeting for the exact same idea put forward by one of your male colleagues, but in a more “on message” way by reframing and emphasizing your key points.

But over time, maybe you’ve started to patiently sit out the Action Jackson events and opt out from the boozy pub nights and dinners. Maybe you’ve stopped speaking out in meetings with your peers, thinking your point won’t make it to the whiteboard anyway. Or you’ve failed to notice that each of the executive appointments in your firm over the past 6 months has been a male, so you’ve started scanning the job ads to see whether another company would value you more.

Maybe you’ve grown so accustomed to the lack of diversity around you that you no longer notice it, or you’ve simply resigned yourself to it much like the smokers with their ugly packs (or maybe you mask it with those nifty covers I notice some enterprising smoker has designed to cover up the ugly photos!!)

In a new year, with a new world of opportunities available to you, maybe it’s time to take a step back and assess your workplace for what it is and what it could be. And then set about implementing some real and significant change in 2008.

Welcome to 2008! Those interested in numerology will know that 2008 is a one year so it’s a year of renewal and one in which new beginnings will flourish. So what better way to start the year than a blog dedicated to the individual success of each and every one of us!

So it’s a new year, new beginnings and perhaps the opportunity to redefine success for all sphinxx leaders. As the economy booms and our society becomes more affluent, more and more individuals are challenging the traditional definitions of success. Power, status and money are losing appeal in favour of freedom, choice, personal pursuits and challenge.

As a leader, what drives you? Do you define success in terms of professional or personal achievement, or both? Or something completely different? sphinxx is publishing an ebook titled “Success Stories: 100 new definitions of success”. For a free copy of the book, send us a paragraph outlining what success means to you – along with your first name, job title and age.

Happy new year and – whatever success means for you – I hope you will find it in 2008.