1. Terms of “endearment” such as “sweetie,” “hon” or “cutie.”
This is when a term of endearment becomes anything but endearing. In the workplace, such language can be interpreted as degrading or belittling.

2. “You’ve lost weight” or “You look so much better.”
Women as well as men may enjoy compliments on their looks. But saying this to a female coworker or executive at an inappropriate time can make female coworkers feel as though their skills and work are not taken seriously—that male counterparts are focusing only on their looks. Comments on weight and/or physical appearance should not be made to anyone in a business setting, as they imply a level of personal familiarity. They also suggest the person was fat or looked bad before. And the person might have an undisclosed illness, which would obviously make the comment even more rude.

3. Any kind of sexual comment.
Not only do sexual innuendos and derogatory terms like “honey” make the female employee on the receiving end feel embarrassed and offended, they also create a problem for the rest of the workplace environment. Think your top women employees will stick around if they know a company does not promote and enforce equal respect.

4. “Is it that time of the month?” or “She’s so emotional.”
There’s a preconceived notion that women cannot handle stress and tend to get too “personally invested” in their work. Dr. Ella Bell, Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, speaks very passionately about her work. As such, she immediately took offense when a senior male colleague said to her: “You sure wear your heart on your sleeve.”

That “ticked me off because I always try to be concrete. I interpreted it as my work wasn’t making intellectual sense,” recalls Bell. “I did pull him over on the side afterward and explained how it made me feel and that it was inappropriate.” Bell notes, however, that she was hesitant to speak up at first as she did not want to draw more negative attention.

When a female executive is forceful or aggressive, she can be received in a negative way, but a man in the same position is perceived as doing his job. One of the ways that negativity can be expressed is by attributing the behavior to hormonal changes. It is never appropriate to comment on a female coworker’s menstrual cycle or hormones. But how should a woman deal with the situation if she is the recipient of such a comment? Bell suggests that women find evidence of a male employee behaving the same way, which can help generate awareness for this common stereotype of women.

5. “You aren’t as aggressive with your subordinates as you should be. You need to be more forceful and tougher.”
“These are code words for being more ‘manly,’” says Barbara Frankel, Senior Vice President and Executive Editor of DiversityInc. “There are many different successful styles to manage people. What matters is results and that the manager’s style is inclusive and in keeping with the corporate culture.”

6. “You only got the job because you’re a woman.”
Suggesting to a woman that she’s excelled in her career because of gender is disrespectful. But unfortunately, Bell says this is a common occurrence, and that it’s common for those in the academic world to feel they must “justify” picking a woman over a man. “When a woman gets tenure you’ll hear others—including women—say, ‘She really wasn’t that good but they really wanted to keep her,’ or, ‘She shouldn’t have made it but … ,’” explains Bell. “You never hear that with the men.”

“After a while it rolls off your back. Your skin toughens so that when you hear comments, you can then approach the situation in a constructive way,” she says.

Elizabeth Vazquez, CEO of WEConnect International, a nonprofit fostering global business empowerment for women, says that globally there exists a perception that women do not have business savvy—this includes the ability to grow a company to a significant size and be a very successful business owner. “The public perception creates a cultural barrier for women who do not consider business ownership [or senior management] as a viable option, and it can also make it harder for women to get the support they need from their families and communities,” she explains.

To change this dynamic, Vazquez stresses the need to promote women’s success stories in business, including how they did it, what barriers they overcame, and the impact it has had on their lives and the lives of their families, communities and industry sector.

7.  “Do you really want that promotion? You’ll never see your kids.”
There still exists an unspoken belief that a woman executive will not be able to put in the same hours as a man. People assume she won’t be able to work more than 40 hours per week if she has a family or she’ll have to keep her children, not work, as the priority. This is a fatal error in judgment, especially for companies looking to improve gender diversity among their senior executives.

Don’t be quick to assume that a woman employee doesn’t value or want to pursue a high-profile executive career because she has (or wants) children at home. In fact, a woman who can simultaneously manage the demands of leading a team with the responsibilities of a busy family life demonstrates exceptional skill.

Similarly, you should never ask a woman, “Do you want to keep working now that you’re [married, divorced, pregnant, your husband/partner is relocating, your husband/partner is retiring]?” according to an anonymous female executive. You wouldn’t ask a man if he wanted to keep working if his family status changed or his significant other’s job status changed. But many bosses think it totally appropriate to ask women the same thing.

8.  “You do that so well for a girl.”
Even jokingly, the phrase implies that women are inferior to men and reinforces dated stereotypes. It also discourages many young women from actively pursuing interests in traditionally male-dominated industries, including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields. Any conversation that implies that a woman—or any individual from any group—is “less than” is inappropriate. For an inspiring story, read about Wells Fargo Executive Vice President Michelle Lee’s experience as the only Black woman in her bank’s leadership-training program (www.DiversityInc.com/michelle-lee).

9. “Are you pregnant?” or “When are you due?”
While your intentions here may just be based on goodwill and a little curiosity, this can be a sensitive question to ask ANY woman, at work or outside of the office. Assume it’s none of your business unless a coworker decides to bring it up on her own. If you are discussing families and children, you may ask, “Do you have children?” but it’s up to the other person how much they want to reveal and when.

MORE THINGS NOT TO SAY:

• “You look thin. You should eat more.”
• Calling your boss or a snarky female coworker the B-word.
• “You aren’t one of those feminists, are you?”
• “Why aren’t you married yet?”
• “Men and women are treated equally. What are you complaining about?”
• “You’re being irrational.”

The post Beyond ‘Honey’ & ‘Sweetie’: Things NEVER to Say to Women appeared first on DiversityInc.

National Women’s History Month can trace its roots back to March 8, 1857, when women from New York City factories staged a protest over working conditions. International Women’s Day was first observed in 1909, but it wasn’t until 1981 that Congress established National Women’s History Week to be commemorated the second week of March. In 1987, Congress expanded the week to a month.

Emphasizing the increasing value of having women in leadership positions can help you increase cultural competence among your employees. It’s important to note how women’s roles have evolved, how flexible work arrangements allow more women to combine family and professional responsibilities, and how many glass ceilings still have not been shattered.

The timeline shown here illustrates significant dates in women’s history and major historic figures, while the facts data we have chosen to present here represents information of relevance to corporate America, such as education (available labor pool), business ownership, and progress in gaining executive and management positions.

Click the images to view and download the Women’s History Timeline and Women’s History Factoids.

The post Women’s History Month Timeline & Diversity Facts appeared first on DiversityInc.

Gender Discrimination

Food company settles OFCCP charges of adverse impact hiring discrimination. A national food distributor has agreed to pay approximately $200,000 and change its hiring practices. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) charged that the company’s hiring practices discriminated against women. In a nine-month period, the company hired only six out of 90 qualified female applicants (6.6%) for “order selector” positions at one of its facilities. Out of the male applicants, the company hired 40 of 150 qualified applicants (26.6%). The OFCCP considered this disparity too great to be random and too great to avoid a conclusion of gender discrimination. The situation was heightened by evidence that a number of the rejected female applicants had experience and credentials which were equal to and greater than the men who were hired. The settlement monies will go to women who were not hired, and a number of those will also be offered jobs. This was a no-fault settlement because it was reached in a conciliation process, before the OFCCP proceeded to the enforcement stage. OFCCP v. Nash Finch Co. (Administrative Settlement, 2012). 

Religion/National Origin Discrimination

Offensive mannequin and one comment were not enough to create harassment case. A Jewish hospital employee of Mexican origin filed a case on religious/national origin’ harassment and for retaliatory discharge after he complained about the harassment. The harassment consisted of three incidents. There were mannequins in one area of the hospital. The supervisor noticed that one had a “Hitler-style mustache” and thought it would be funny to position the arm in a Nazi salute. The Jewish-Mexican employee saw this, was offended and put the arm back down before the end of the day. He then called the internal complaint hotline about the offensive incident. During the call he also stated that he heard that the same supervisor had previously referred to the hospital’s cleaning crew as “those Mexicans,” allegedly in a negative tone. The employee then transferred to another location. At that location he was critiqued for performance issues and complaints by patients about his work. This critique eventually led to discharge. He filed a Title VII case on religion, national origin and retaliation. In the case, he added the evidence that the supervisor who posed the mannequin had also once noticed the large Star of David necklace worn by the employee and said, “That’s gaudy!” This was further evidence of anti-Semitic animosity.

The court granted summary judgment, dismissing the case. The incidents were not sufficiently severe or pervasive to constitute illegal harassment. Neither the mannequin pose nor the Mexican comment were directed at the employee. Though insensitive, there was no indication the less-than-a-day mannequin pose was intended to be anti-Semitic. Not every Hitler reference or parody has such an intent. The jewelry comment had no religious reference attached. It was a large piece of jewelry, and the court would not interpret a religious meaning to an otherwise neutral comment. Finally, the performance critique and discharge were by a different supervisor, in a different location. The evidence was that this supervisor had no knowledge of the employee’s prior hotline complaint and so could not have acted in retaliation. De La Rosa v. Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics, Inc. (D. Ariz., 2012).

National Origin Discrimination

Deputy sheriff can maintain retaliation case for investigation of her citizenship status. A 13-year veteran deputy sheriff of Mexican descent made an internal written complaint about alleged improper treatment of and derogatory and discriminatory comments made to and about Mexican inmates in the county jail. The following day, she was suspended pending an investigation of her own status—was she a U.S. citizen or legal resident? The deputy was able to produce the evidence of citizenship and was reinstated. However, the court validated her ensuing suit for retaliation under 42 U.S. Code § 1983, against the county, the sheriff and two other personally named defendants. The judge found a substantial foundation that the reason for the sudden investigation of the deputy’s legal status was her complaint about improper treatment and national origin discrimination, a matter of public concern. Garcia v. Arapahoe Co. Sheriff’s Office, et al. (C.D. Col., 2012).

Disability Discrimination 

Failure to confer with coach/guardian can violate interactive process. Some disabilities render the person less capable of communicating without assistance. This may be true for visual and hearing conditions and is often the case with intellectual disabilities. A kitchen worker with an intellectual disability was capable of doing the job if his supervisor was reasonably sensitive to his understanding abilities and manner of direction. His accommodation plan included a request to consult with a third-party job coach or his guardian regarding accommodation requests and before any tangible employment decisions. The employee did make requests for accommodation, which seem to have been ignored. There was no communication with the designated third party. He was then fired, again with no consultation with the designated third party. This violated the established accommodation plan and the ADA-required interactive process. The company agreed to settle the ensuing case for $255,000 plus a series of compliance requirements. EEOC v. Bannes Health (Administrative Settlement, 2012).

State employee cannot sue under ADA-Title II. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that state agencies are immune from suit under the ADA’s Title I employment sections due to the 11th Amendment’s “sovereign immunity” clause. (Employees can file cases under the Rehabilitation Act if the agency takes federal funds for a program they work under.) Title II of the ADA, however, specifically applies to state and all other government agencies. Title II prohibits discrimination by any public entity “in any public services, benefits or activities.” A university employee alleged she was discharged due to failure to accommodate her spinal conditions. She sued under Title II, claiming the language covered any discrimination, including employment actions, by an entity which provided public services. The court disagreed. It ruled that Title I and II are mutually exclusive. Title II is limited to those who are recipients or participants of the public services and not the employees of those services. Ewell v. Bd. of Regents of the U. of Oklahoma (10th Cir., 2011). This is the fourth court to make this finding (also the 3rd, 6th and 9th Circuits). However, the 11th Circuit has allowed a Title II employment case. So other cases may be brought to test the waters in other circuits.

History of drug use vs. current drug use. The ADA does not protect an employee from the consequences of current drug use. However, there is a “safe harbor” for those who have a “history” of use, have completed a treatment program and are no longer using. Where is the transition point? In Shirley v. Precision Castparts Corp. (S.D. Tex. 2012), an employee was abusing prescription painkillers at work. Instead of discharging him, as it could have, the company allowed a leave for treatment with the condition that he complete treatment. After two days, the employee checked out of the program, against the doctor’s advice. He was fired. He sued under the ADA, claiming he had a protected disability as a “former user.” The court disagreed, finding “current use” means “recent use.” The employer could infer the use was current, especially since the person failed to complete treatment and checked out after only two days. There must be a “sufficient time” after the last use to qualify for the “safe harbor” protection.

One year is enough time, and college perceived employee as drug dependent and disabled. A mailroom supervisor at a private college became dependent on prescription pain medication following a series of back surgeries. He tested positive for an “excessive amount” of opiates. He entered and completed a treatment program for addiction. He continued to take a different prescription medication for his continuing surgeries and pain, monitored by his physician, along with opiate-blocking medications. A year after the completion of the drug-treatment program, the college again ordered a drug test. It again showed the presence of prescription pain medication. The college fired the employee. In this case, the employee did qualify under the ADA’s “safe harbor” as a person with a record of past treatment. Further, the college did not establish that the prescription medication level was “excessive.” It did not ascertain that he was taking the medication under his doctor’s monitoring and treatment advice. Thus, the termination violated the ADA, based on the employer’s perception of drug addiction, instead of a valid foundation. The jury awarded $300,000, plus attorney fees and costs. Fowler v. Westminster College (D. Utah, 2012).

Bob Gregg, a partner in Boardman & Clark LLP, shares his roundup of diversity-related legal issues. He can be reached at rgregg@boardmanlawfirm.com.

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Race Discrimination

Diversity and inclusion in the corporate culture could mean preemptive hiring is discrimination. A Black employee alleged that she was denied a promotion to a higher IT position, and a less-qualified Asian employee was selected instead. The employer’s defense was that she never applied for the position and, therefore, could not contest the decision. However, the evidence showed that the manager: knew there were only two eligible employees; knew the Black employee intended to apply; did not wait for the application deadline to expire; and directed the selection of the Asian employee and stopped the hiring process, while the application period was still open. The evidence further showed that the plaintiff rated far higher on performance factors than the person selected, and other key managers considered her “superior by a wide margin.” The court found that the employer’s defense seemed to be a pretext for racial discrimination. Calhoun v. Johnson (D.C. Cir., 2011). For best practices in recruitment, watch Diversity Recruitment Web Seminar: How to Find 1,800 Black & Latino Employees.

Race discrimination claim ruled “nonsense.” A white police applicant filed a race-discrimination case alleging that he was bumped from a hiring list, passed over, so that lower-scoring “minority” applicants could be hired. He identified two “minority” officers who were hired. The court upheld summary judgment, dismissing the case as frivolous and “nonsense.” The plaintiff’s complaint relied on hearsay and stray comments he had heard from people who were not involved in the hiring (loose rumors, conjecture and pure speculation). The actual evidence showed that: the plaintiff was not “passed over,” he was eliminated due to failing the background check; the two identified “minority” officers had been hired in a process that was long over before he even applied, and neither of them had “passed over” anyone; and finally, the bottom half of the roster that the plaintiff was on were all white (some of whom were hired), so he could not have been bumped by a “minority.” His entire case was based on conjecture, unfounded rumors and stereotypes about “affirmative action” hiring instead of evidence. Thompson v. Lansing Mich. (6th Cir., 2011). For more on stereotypes, read ‘Blacks Should Not Be Satisfied With Food Stamps’: The Danger of Stereotypes and NBA Star John Amaechi: Hate Speech Goes Beyond N- and F-Words

Sex Discrimination

HR manager files class-action suit against Toshiba. A former HR manager has filed suit requesting certification of a class of “all females who are or have been employed by Toshiba in the United States.” The suit alleges systemic gender discrimination in compensation, promotion and terms and conditions of employment under Title VII and the Equal Pay Act. The suit seeks to cover all Toshiba subsidiaries. The plaintiff had been an HR manager for the Toshiba Nuclear Energy Corp. subsidiary Cyphers v. Toshiba American, Inc. (S.D., NY, 2011). (Whether such a large class will be certified may rest on the outcome of the pending Walmart decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.)

Trashing harassment complaint creates case. After-the-fact action does not cure the problem. A clerical employee gave a written complaint of sexual harassment to her supervisor after several verbal complaints received no action. The supervisor wadded up the complaint, threw it in the trash, pointed at the door and said, “This is total [BS]! I want you out of here and never want to see you again!” She left, assuming she was fired. However, two days later the company’s HR director learned of the incident, called the employee, informed her she was not fired and asked her to come back. She refused, claiming that she could not reasonably reenter the environment after what occurred. She sued for Title VII retaliation. The court ruled that there was a valid claim of retaliation. The supervisor’s act clearly violated Title VII. The company’s attempt to cure was too late to overcome such an overt act by the supervisor. Young-Lousee v. Graphic Packaging Int., Inc. (8th Cir., 2011).

Disability Discrimination

Is an essential function essential to the job? A shoulder injury made a UPS driver unable to do his job. He applied for several other positions he believed he could do. The company rejected him, due to essential job functions in the job descriptions requiring lifting and mobility beyond his medical limitations. However, the employee produced evidence that these functions were not actually performed in the real job. The court allowed the case to go to trial. The courts give great weight to an employer’s determination of what duties should make up a job, and the position description’s list of essential functions are a powerful defense in an ADA case. The court, though, ruled that there must be more than a hollow defense. “The employer will have to show that it actually imposes such requirements on its employees in fact and not simply on paper.” Supinski v. United Parcel Service, Inc. (3rd Cir., 2011).

Messing up president’s schedule was valid reason for discharge. A communication director had cancer. He incorrectly scheduled the organization’s president, resulting in the president missing a major, important public-relations event. The communication director was fired. He sued, claiming that he was replaced by a person without a medical condition and therefore the discharge was a prima facie case of disability discrimination. The court disagreed. It found no connection between the cancer and the discharge. A major job blunder is a valid non-discriminatory reason for discharge. McCermott v. New York City Housing Development Corp. (S.D. NY, 2011).

Bob Gregg, partner in Boardman Law Firm, shares his roundup of diversity-related legal issues. He can be reached at rgregg@boardmanlawfirm.com.

The post ‘I Didn’t Get the Job Because I’m Black’ appeared first on DiversityInc.

Photo credit: Northfoto/Shutterstock.com

Augusta National Golf Club announced former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and business executive Darla Moore as its first female members this week. But many media reports and social-media comments question the sincerity and timing of the club’s decision to end its 80-year-old men-only policy.

Some Twitter users said Augusta National’s “motives were questionable at best” and wondered why an LPGA “pro wasn’t first or even at all” offered membership. Some “suspect sponsor pressure had something to do with it.”

IBM’s Female CEO

Augusta National’s men-only policy came under increased scrutiny during the Master’s Tournament this April after Augusta National failed to extend membership to IBM’s CEO Virginia Rometty, the company’s first female CEO. Augusta National traditionally offers membership to CEOs of the tournament’s sponsors—this year, that included IBM, AT&T and Exxon—that contribute about $18 million annually. IBM is No. 17 and AT&T is No. 4 in The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list.

All four of Rometty’s male predecessors received membership. Rex Tillerson of Exxon and Randall Stephenson of AT&T are also members.

Rometty, who does play golf, later attended the Master’s sporting a pink jacket, reports Forbes, creating further criticism of Augusta as well as its corporate sponsors’ decision to endorse its discriminatory practices.

Stephenson applauded Augusta’s addition of Rice and Moore. He said in a statement: “As a sponsor of The Masters, we applaud today’s historic announcement by Augusta National and warmly welcome Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore as members of Augusta National.”

The club’s membership policies have come under attack multiple times in the last couple of decades. Augusta’s first Black member was admitted in 1990 as a response to civil-rights protests at Alabama’s Shoal Creek Country Club.

Similarly, National Council of Women’s Organizations’ Martha Burk organized a protest in 2002 that pressured Augusta National to remove its gender barrier, as DiversityInc reported in “What in the @#!% Is Wrong With Golf?” But then-chairman William “Hootie” Johnson stood firm on the club’s policy, refusing to allow what he termed “social pressure” to be the catalyst for change.

Burk notes to news sources that her protest greatly influenced Augusta, along with continued attention from other women’s groups. “My first reaction was, we won — and we did,” Burk says. “We gave them a pretty big black eye in April … And I think they knew they could not sustain it.”

ESPN journalist Bob Harig writes that Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne was “waiting for the right time, the right place, the right way” to veer away from his predecessor’s decision.  He notes that Payne may have shown his more inclusive sentiments after the 1996 Olympics had to exclude golf because of  Augusta’s men-only policy. Payne said the event was his “biggest personal disappointment.”

Charlie Hanger, executive editor of Golf.com, disagrees. “Payne seemed genuinely flustered with the harsh questioning this year, and I wonder if behind closed doors that led him to push for the change. The issue was clearly not going away, so they really didn’t have much of a choice,” he writes.

Baby Steps to Gender Equality

Is Payne’s decision purely out of good will? Or is it a PR-savvy play? One article on BleacherReport suggests that Augusta’s motives remain gray and highlights that two women among the club’s speculated 300 male members isn’t enough to “all join hands and start singing.” Augusta’s new 0.6-percent representation is well below the total 20 women now serving as Fortune 500 CEOs (a total of 4.0 percent).

Rice is the first Black woman to serve as secretary of state, and Moore, vice president of Rainwater, was the first woman to be featured on a cover of Fortune magazine.

The golf industry has traditionally been a white and male sport. The formation of the LPGA in 1950 and star Black golf players Joe Louis in 1952 and Tiger Woods in 1997 helped the sport gain publicity in the public eye. In 2010, core golfers totaled 18.0 percent women, up 17.8 percent from 2005, according to the National Golf Foundation. Black core golfers total 3.9 percent, Latinos total 7.7 percent and Asians total 8.9 percent of core golfers, says research from the 2009 World Golf Foundation.

Diversity & Inclusion at Your Office

Currently, women account for 50.8 percent (157.2 million) of the total U.S. population and about 49.8 percent of the world population. Our Women’s History Month Facts & Figures show that women increasingly are obtaining educational degrees and assuming management roles.

DiversityInc Top 50 companies, in particular those in The 2012 DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Executive Women, have made progress in achieving parity in representation. That’s why they have more women in top management and CEO positions (8 percent) than the Fortune 500 and are able to connect to the marketplace better.

Here are their best practices for recruiting and promoting women:

Resource groups: Also known as business resource groups or networks, resource groups are particularly helpful for enhancing the talent development of women, providing a peer support system and gaining insight into the key concerns/needs of your female customers.

Mentoring: Our DiversityInc Top 50 data reveals that mentoring is a key way to improve retention, engagement and promotion rates for women. More on mentoring is available in this diversity web seminar.

Work/Life Benefits: Keeping women in line positions so they can reach senior management is one of the top challenges organizations face. Providing telecommuting, flexible work schedules and onsite childcare, among other work/life options, are not just company “perks” anymore but key strategies for approaching the global talent war. Additionally, a DiversityInc networking event on global female talent development revealed that leaders also need to educate managers about the need for flexibility. Watch the video below.

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Talent-development doubts? Michelle Lee’s extraordinary story is a testimony to mentoring and teamwork.

With all intentions of following a career in music, she took a job as a bank teller to have something to fall back on. She fell in love with banking and, through support, perseverance and an innate ability to bring people together to work collaboratively, rose to the top of Wachovia, now a Wells Fargo company. Wells Fargo is No. 33 in the 2012 DiversityInc Top 50.

As the executive vice president and Northeast regional president, she is responsible for more than 460 branches, nine business banking teams, approximately 5,500 team members, and about $100 million in revenue.

DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti sat down with her to discuss her personal story, including the racial stereotypes she had to fight as well as her deep faith in Wells Fargo’s corporate values and inclusive culture in the workplace and the marketplace.

Read When Will There Be More Women CEOs? for more on women and talent development. For more on stereotypes, read ‘Blacks Should Not Be Satisfied With Food Stamps’: The Danger of Stereotypes.

Luke Visconti: You mentioned that you didn’t intend to be in banking and that it was kind of a mistake.

Michelle Lee: From the age of 5, I never considered doing anything other than music. I think I was born singing. I had this great dramatic soprano voice and ended up going to Boston Conservatory. I graduated with a degree in music, applied voice.

My mother is from Cleveland, my father from Blakely, Ga., and they came to my recitals and asked, “Why don’t you think about teaching or something a little more conventional?” To get them off my back, I applied for a job at the bank. I thought that was a nice, respectable career. I started as a teller.

I had this inquisitive nature about banking. I wanted to understand how it worked. There was this woman in the back room who basically did all of the proof work. I ended up taking on little tasks for her, running numbers and learning. Here was this informal mentor. She was willing to train me to be the backup person when she was on vacation or when she had a day off.

I started attending the American Institute of Banking, taking classes after work. I had this hunger to learn. I think it’s the same side of the brain that makes music theory fascinating to me. Mathematics, numbers all appeal to me.

I eventually got into the bank’s management-training program. I remember talking to my assistant manager. She’s an African-American woman and she gave me an example of another really talented African-American woman who had applied for a similar program years before and didn’t get into it. She said, “I’m just trying to give you a reality check. They’re never going to take a Black girl in that program.”

I was accepted into the program. I was the only African American and probably was the only person who wasn’t just out of college.

Luke Visconti: Why do you think they took you?

Michelle Lee: My work history, references that I received. It probably was the first time in my career that I really got a sense of what other people thought of me. They were willing to recommend me; other people saw potential in me. That’s the first time that I really understood the importance of having an advocate.

A Learning Curve

Michelle Lee: There were probably 25 people in the class. They were all white men and women just graduating from Ivy League schools.

I show up for class. I have on my very best Sunday dress. I’m in a royal-blue dress with flowers on it, and I walk into this class with this sea of dark navy, dark brown, dark gray suits. I knew immediately one of these things is not like the other.

Luke Visconti: Where did you get assigned to after this class?

Michelle Lee: There was an assistant manager at a branch in downtown Newark who had a heart attack. They actually pulled me out of the class a little early. From there I got my first management job in northern Newark, which was a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. No one wanted to talk to me. Trying to bridge the communication gaps that we had, connect with people and establish relationships with them—it was my first lesson as a manager.

Someone approached me about a branch in East Orange, N.J. It was much bigger, much busier, a very challenging community to work in.

I spent about five years at that branch. That was really where I think I cut my chops in managing people. That branch had failed its audit. The previous manager had been fired. The head of operations said, “You’re green. I have no idea why they put you here and I think you’re going to fail.”

On the one hand it scared me, but it motivated me. Three years later, we passed our audit with flying colors. We’re a top-performing branch with the same group of people.

I think about what made this team not behave like a team—they didn’t care, didn’t align with the company’s vision and philosophy around serving our customers. It really was about helping them see the value that they could bring to work every day.

I didn’t think that I was doing work around diversity because that was before all of the focus on diversity and awareness training. But when I think back on it, it was about the same core values.

Luke Visconti: When you think back on those traits that you used to make this branch successful, can you distill them down into bullet points?

Michelle Lee: Part of it was sharing, creating a vision for the team. We knew why we were coming together every day. We came to some common agreements around how we wanted our customers to feel and how we wanted our customers to experience us and what we wanted our work environment to be like.

Then celebrating success; giving people candid feedback; letting them know here is what’s standing between where you are and where you’re trying to go; being a great coach, mentor and not shying away from giving people tough feedback. 

A Seat at the Table

Luke Visconti: Tell me about the scope of your responsibility.

Michelle Lee: I’m responsible for New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, all of community banking—over 460 branches, nine business banking teams, about 5,500 team members in total, about $100 million in revenue.

There are 11 lead regional presidents in Wells Fargo with the acquisition of Wachovia. I report to Laura Schulte, who is the president of Community Banking for the East Coast. She reports to Carrie Tolstedt, who is the head of Community Banking for the company. On my expanded leadership team, there are 21 people: 12 are women and four of those women are African American.

Luke Visconti: What do you think about the bank and its ability to relate to people, to be successful in a very demanding marketplace?

Michelle Lee: One of our key priorities is our focus on our communities and stakeholders. In order to be successful, our workforce has to reflect their diversity. Wells Fargo having so many women in senior management roles helps us interpret and form the company around what’s important to our stakeholders.

When I go into my stores, I don’t just see white men as my customers. I see their wives; I see single women; I see single mothers; I see working women; I see women in business.

John Stumpf, his leadership team and his direct reports are very deliberate about getting the voice of our team members. It’s not about having more people than the next organization; it’s really about having more engaged people.

People are engaged when they feel like they are valued, that a company gets them and that we’re not trying to homogenize everybody. When you feel that your leaders, your mentors, the decision makers of the company value your opinion, they seek it out.

Ultimately, that leads to helping our customers succeed financially. [For] any company, regardless of the industry that figures that out, I think it’s a difference maker.

Luke Visconti: I’ve seen the results of Wells Fargo’s engagement surveys. How deep down do they survey the people who report to you?

Michelle Lee: We survey down to every team member that is part of the organization.

Not only do we assess where we are but then each team builds an action plan to address areas where we could do a better job.

What I really like about our process is that we get the opinions and voices of our team members, ultimately solving for areas where we have opportunities or building on strengths. The team members are engaged in figuring out what the action plan is and then holding themselves and each other accountable to it.

Diversity-Management Success

Luke Visconti: Let’s talk about diversity management. What are the things that have struck you as being particularly effective?

Michelle Lee: Building competency around diversity—it’s a skill that you build. Where you are along your journey is so colored by what your background is, what your culture is.

We’re willing to apply some resources around developing leadership skills, to set expectations with leaders that they become competent as it pertains to diversity and inclusion. Not to have it be this sort of separate thing that we do because it’s the right thing to do but making it an integrated part of our business practices.

Most corporations will say that our ability to grow, our ability to sustain, is tied to our ability to create a diverse and inclusive environment. How does that actually translate to the bottom line? How do you build it in to your day-to-day business practices?

Understanding demographics, the different needs of your customers, how their backgrounds and culture might drive their needs and desires differently—how as a company, regardless of your product, do you respond to those needs and not have diversity be this thing that’s sitting off on the sideline?

Is it in your recruiting practices? Are you looking to attract diverse talent? How do you on-board a person with a diverse background differently? How do you support that person differently so that they can be successful in their roles.

Luke Visconti: Your organization realized it. How did it happen here? Why was it successful?

Michelle Lee: The one that rings in my head is that every day we come to work to help our customers succeed financially. It’s at the core of everything that we do, including all of our efforts around embedding diversity into our business practices.

Wells Fargo is grounded in its vision. If you were to read, interview after interview, leaders across all different business lines, I guarantee you that somewhere in that interview you’re going to hear the words “We want to help our customers succeed financially.” It’s the pillar upon which the success of the company is built.

If our vision is to help our customers succeed financially, we need to understand who our customers are. Our team members need to reflect the communities that we’re serving. That will be our competitive advantage.

It’s not about whether the vision statement is good. It’s not about the words or that internal guilt that makes you go apologize to someone or do something to correct it.

We bounce decisions that we make against our values system. I’m not saying we get it right 100 percent of the time. When it doesn’t align, we go back and ask how we get this in line with what we believe.

Everyday Accountability

Luke Visconti: You see in great detail what’s going on with the economy from a very feet-on-the-ground perspective. How do you see things going right now?

Michelle Lee: The economy is still sluggish. Our movement out of it is really tied to jobs. Businesses are still hesitant, people are still hunkered down, not willing to grow or build until there is more certainty. I also sense that people want to be hopeful. As a society, that will help the trajectory of the upswing.

Our value-add as a bank is to understand that that’s on your mind, to help you, to provide you with some expertise around how you’ve invested. Helping you do the math on “Do I really need to work until I’m 75 now? What can I do differently today that will help remedy or resolve some of that?”

To me, it’s our time to step up … I’ve got to know the customer who is walking into my branch. They are just trying to figure out how they’re going to make the rent, the business customer like you who is not just thinking about impact to his business but impact to his personal livelihood and retirement needs.

Luke Visconti: I find this to be a very consistent beam across industries: Companies that are focused are successful and the value statement is extremely important.

Michelle Lee: How are we going to hold ourselves accountable to it? Having a vision is part of it. That’s what breathes life into it, moves it off the brochure, off the page, into action.

How was it ingrained into our business practices? It’s in our recruiting practices. I require my recruiting team to make sure we’ve got a diverse candidate pool before we interview. We’re starting to get our team-member networks up and running: we’ve got five here in my region. It’s in our diverse-supplier strategy, where I make an effort to meet diverse businesses who could potentially become vendors and champion beyond those.

Doors for Those Like Me

Luke Visconti: Do you think that having a diverse leadership team creates the kind of environment that encourages good decisions around diversity?

Michelle Lee: Absolutely. We’ve got this pool of talent that we’re developing. These people will be future leaders who’d take our roles. People want to look up and see that somebody looks like them and that they made it. It makes it feel tangible for them; it makes it feel possible.

I’ve been in banking 28 years. When I started as a teller and really had the epiphany that I wanted to be a banker, my goal was to be a branch manager.

No one said “You’re never going to be anything more than a branch manager.” I said “If I could just be a branch manager” because it’s all I could see; it’s all I could envision. But when I saw other women or I saw other African Americans, it made me think “I can do that too; that’s not a road I’m not allowed to go down.”

It probably was 15 years before I started thinking [about] what’s next for me, before I started to take the cap off my career opportunities, take the chain off my own brain around what I am able to do or what I can achieve.

I represent that to a lot of people. I don’t just think that, I know that. People take time to tell me that.

The post Talent Development Takes Wells Fargo Leader From Teller to $100M in Revenue appeared first on DiversityInc.

Why do DiversityInc Top 50 companies have 4 percent more women CEOs than Fortune 500 companies? How do they use best practices in diversity management to build a sustainable pipeline of women executives? IBM, Kraft Foods, WellPoint and Health Care Service Corporation have women CEOs and a base of women leaders in the next two levels of executives.

The exclusive articles and web seminars on diversity management listed below feature data and strategies that benefit women in mentoring, talent development, resource groups and diversity metrics.

Where’s the Diversity in Fortune 500 CEOs?
There’s a dearth of Black, Latino, Asian and women CEOs running major companies—but the DiversityInc Top 50 companies have better stats, thanks to diversity-management efforts.

Women’s History: Diversity Fact & Figures
Here are the relevant women’s-rights events and demographics you need to know.

Mentoring Roundtable: How Mentoring Improves Retention, Engagement & Promotions
In this diversity-management roundtable, IBM reveals how its women’s resource group creates targeted mentoring programs to increase promotions of women.

How Kraft Increased Promotions of Women in Sales by 39%
One of 12  diversity-management case studies: Kraft shares how to leverage employee-resource groups to increase representation of women, especially in senior management.

Increasing Diversity in Talent Development
Merck & Co.’s diversity-management leader recounts during this roundtable how its women’s resource group partnered with external educational programs to better develop its women talent for executive roles.

Resource Groups Webinar
How are resource groups helping MasterCard and Aetna improve employee retention, especially among women employees, to reach business goals?

Why Is Global Diversity So Difficult?
Our exclusive research from 17 countries explores how the norms around advancing women vary between European and Asian nations and what companies are doing to address issues of gender equity through diversity management.

Diversity Metrics Webinar
How does your company fare with the representation of women in the workforce, especially at management levels? This diversity web seminar will teach you how to accurately track key diversity-management metrics and set a diversity-management scorecard.

For more on gender equity and current women’s issues, read How ‘Slut’ and ‘Sweetie’ Challenge Gender Equity.

The post Why DiversityInc Top 50 Companies Have More Women CEOs appeared first on DiversityInc.

As shown in DiversityInc’s Women’s History Month timeline and facts, women have made considerable progress since the beginnings of the women’s-rights movement in 1857. Yet women innovators, political activists and other gender-equality pioneers have largely gone unrecognized. It’s something that our nation’s numerous women’s-history museums are striving to change.

Here, DiversityInc provides a selection of our top resources that highlight the need for continued awareness for gender-diversity issues, as well as research and best practices for including and promoting women in business. Also read The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Executive Women for a list of the best flexible workplaces with strong talent development for women.

When Words Hinder Progress:

Is This the End of Rush Limbaugh? Advertisers Flee Show
The radio host receives explosive backlash after his misogynistic “slut” comment goes viral. He learns that in today’s social-media world, negative reactions are swift.

Is Professor’s ‘Hi, Sweetie’ Comment Sexual Harassment?
Did this university overreact when a professor called the department chair “sweetie” and chucked her chin?

Update on Giant Walmart Gender-Disparity Case, Plus Sex, Age & Disability Discrimination
Was “Good riddance, b—-!” sexual harassment when a male coworker shouted this to a female financial adviser who had just resigned? Read this and other discrimination cases.

Things NEVER to Say to Women Executives
Before you make that harmless little comment to the woman in the next office, take a look at things you should never say to a female executive or coworker. 

Best Practices:

How Women Benefit From Mentoring, Sponsorship
PricewaterhouseCoopers’ chief diversity officer provides seven ways women can take charge and start advancing their careers. 

How Kraft Increased Promotions of Women in Sales by 39%
In one of 12 case-study examples, Kraft shares how to leverage employee-resource groups to increase representation of women, especially in senior management.

What Does It Take for a Woman to Become CEO?
Against the odds, Beth Mooney became the first female CEO of a top 20 U.S. bank and is carrying on the culture of inclusion at KeyCorp.

Research Reveals:

Why Is Global Diversity So Difficult?
Our exclusive research from 17 countries explores how the norms around advancing women vary between European and Asian nations and what companies are doing to address issues of gender equity.

Study: Women Still Not Getting to the Top Levels
Women make up more than half the workforce, but they still are significantly underrepresented on corporate boards and in C-level executive positions. 

Where’s the Diversity in Fortune 500 CEOs?
There’s a dearth of Black, Latino, Asian and women CEOs running major companies—but the DiversityInc Top 50 companies have better stats.

For more best practices and research on gender equity and the inclusion of women in management, visit DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

The post How ‘Slut’ and ‘Sweetie’ Challenge Gender Equity appeared first on DiversityInc.

So what are leading companies doing to step up their recruiting and retention strategies?

In Finding Talent Sources Globally, DiversityInc provides the findings of the study and breaks down what those companies with successful recruiting and retention practices are doing to take their talent programs to “world-class” status.

Readers will learn:

• The importance of metrics and aligning talent with business goals
• How generational and gender issues, as well as global diversity, are affecting talent recruitment
• How many levels down a successful succession plan should go

Read Finding Talent Sources Globally at DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

The post Is Your Talent Program World-Class? appeared first on DiversityInc.

In this exclusive, 2,240-word Q&A with DiversityInc’s Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Barbara Frankel, Beth Mooney shares insights about how her journey has involved overcoming naysayers, getting help from mentors and sponsors and, most importantly, her own perseverance, hard work and vision for herself.

In the interview, Mooney discusses:

• The feminization of leadership and how women influence organizational culture from the top
• How diversity can change personal career trajectory
• Creating opportunities for future generations and the importance of coaching/mentoring
• Why diversity is key to the success of community banking

KeyCorp is one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies and is No. 4 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Regional Companies. Mooney follows in the footsteps of retired Chairman and CEO Henry Meyer, who had been a strong diversity leader at KeyCorp.

Read Q&A With KeyCorp’s CEO Beth Mooney at DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

For more on women in leadership, read Successful Career Paths for Women in Corporate Sales.

The post What Does It Take for a Woman to Become CEO? appeared first on DiversityInc.