Are you aware that a 2022 Women in the Workplace study shows that women make up 48% of entry level positions, but only 26% of C-Suite positions? These numbers can be even more stark in male-dominated industries. You can only imagine how delighted I was to meet Sarah O’Hare of Freudenberg Group, a global solutions company that is developing innovative technologies across 40 market segments. Meet Sarah O’Hare Sarah O'Hare serves as the President, North America and Global Head of Human Resources. The company is based in Weinheim, Germany and employs 51,000 people worldwide. As the Global Head of HR, Sarah focuses on strategic benchmarking in order to ensure ample opportunities are in place for women. These efforts have resulted in a 32% increase in women holding specialist and management positions and she’s going to share another mind-blowing stat in our conversation to come. Immersing herself in various cultures and countries across the globe and spearheading initiatives in her various career roles, Sarah remains passionate about cultivating a culture that lifts its people up. In this episode Sarah and I discussed:  

How to Sustainably See More Women in Top Leadership

The Women Taking the Lead podcast is a resource for women leaders, allies, and organizations looking to promote more women into senior leadership. Episode formats include specific leadership challenges, "on-air" coaching with women leaders, and interviews with internal talent and organizational development leaders. Women Taking the Lead inspires women to overcome self-doubt and lead with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.

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 If you could have more time or more energy, which would you choose?  I’m going to get bold and make the case that many of your challenges would be overcome if you had more energy.  If you’re like me trying to control time, you take things off your schedule only to find other things have filled that briefly open space. As a result of your effort, you still don’t have any extra time. What you’ve got is a new routine.  In this episode I’m laying out why you are better served by finding the best ways to renew your energy, rather than looking for more time. Resources  Leadership Coaching. Find out more about my coaching process, or how to ask your employer to pay for you to work with a coach.  Apply to be on an “On-Air Coaching” episode. Are you a female leader who has been promoted in the last year? Apply to be on the podcast.  Leadership Operating System Inventory. Wondering what kind of Leadership traits you have? Take this FREE, FAST self-assessment and find out more about yourself as a Leader.  Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing. The book containing a simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

What Do You Need More, Time or Energy?

Most people, without training and mindset work, are uncomfortable giving others feedback. Without training and mindset work, giving feedback is perceived as a hard conversation. This is largely because of uncertainty of how the receiver is going to respond to the feedback. The fear is that the receiver will at minimum take offense and withdraw. They could also become defensive and lash out. I think we can all admit that there have been times when we avoided giving feedback for this reason. We’ve avoided giving feedback to protect ourselves, even though it would give the other person an opportunity to change their behavior and increase their chances of positive outcomes. On the other side of that equation, when we don’t get quality feedback it leaves us with a gap in knowledge and unable to even consider making changes. Trust answers the basic question, can I rely on you? How much trust someone has in you is in relationship to the level to which they believe you can be relied upon. In this episode I’m sharing five things that will cause people to lose trust in you.

5 Things That Cause People to Lose Trust

Have you come face-to-face with any of the prevailing myths about women in the workplace? Last month I interviewed Analiza Wolf, the author of The Myths of Success: A Woman of Color's Guide to Leadership. Analiza’s book, and our conversation, focused on the myths we women, buy into that hinder our growth as leaders. Not too long ago, I was listening to an episode on The McKinsey Podcast, produced by McKinsey & Company. The episode was titled  Busting myths about women in the workplace. Interesting. Not myths that we women hold about ourselves. Rather, the myths that are held about women in the workplace in general. Then recently I came across an article by Gallup titled  The Path to Gender Parity in Leadership, published March 8, 2024. This article complimented and added to the information shared on The McKinsey Podcast. I found the topic of myths about women all so fascinating that I wanted to share it with you. Resources Leadership Coaching. Find out more about my coaching process, or how to ask your employer to pay for you to work with a coach. Apply to be on an “On-Air Coaching” episode. Are you a female leader who has been promoted in the last year? Apply to be on the podcast. Leadership Operating System Inventory. Wondering what kind of Leadership traits you have? Take this FREE, FAST self-assessment and find out more about yourself as a Leader. Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing. The book containing a simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

Myths That Prevent Gender Parity in Leadership

I'm going to get a bit vulnerable here and be transparent that on the Women Taking the Lead podcast I have not given a lot of time to the topic of pay equity. Part of it is because I'm typically not working with women around the areas of negotiating salary. That may come up when a client of mine is being offered a promotion but typically, I'm not dealing with the issue of disparities in pay. And what my guest is going to really underscore for us today is pay equity is not something that comes about because women have good negotiating skills. I know, shocker. Because that's what we've been led to believe for a long time now. If only women would develop certain skills, there wouldn't be so much inequity. My guest Emily Aries is calling BS on that. Meet Emilie Aries: Emilie Aries is a speaker, podcaster, author, and the Founder & CEO of Bossed Up, an award-winning leadership development and career services company committed to closing the gender leadership gap. Aries has worked with leaders at Fortune 500 companies to support retention, diversity and inclusion, and human resource initiatives, and has been featured in media outlets including the Washington Post, CNN Money, Buzzfeed, and more. Her book, Bossed Up, serves as a practical roadmap for women who want to set themselves up for sustainable, long-term career success and step up as the boss of their lives. In this episode Emilie and I discuss:  Current stats on pay inequities (it’s not just a problem for women) Why developing negotiation skills is not solving the gender gap in pay. What has proven to be effective in closing pay gaps across genders, ages, races and abilities. What you can do on the individual, organizational and legislative level to bring about pay equity once and for all.  Where you can find Emilie: Book Emilie to speak: www.emiliearies.com Bossed Up: www.bossedup.org Subscribe to the Bossed Up podcast: www.bossedup.org/podcast Find Emilie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emiliearies/  Resources Leadership Coaching. Find out more about my coaching process, or how to ask your employer to pay for you to work with a coach. Apply to be on an “On-Air Coaching” episode. Are you a female leader who has been promoted in the last year? Apply to be on the podcast. Leadership Operating System Inventory. Wondering what kind of Leadership traits you have? Take this FREE, FAST self-assessment and find out more about yourself as a Leader. Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing. The book containing a simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

Emilie Aries on Systems-Level Solutions to Pay Equity

Hello and welcome to Women Taking the Lead. I’m going to start us off by reading a quote I read not too long ago of my guest today. “As leaders in an increasingly polarized society, it's crucial that we recognize the talent within our organizations. Incredible talents are often overlooked, underutilized, or placed in situations that are bound to fail. The consequence of this is stagnant teams and underperforming businesses because our people feel disconnected. However, it's not the people who are broken; it's our organizational systems that require fixing.” That is a bold statement made by Dr. Mary-Clare Race, the President of Talking Talent. Meet Mary-Clare Race Dr. Mary-Clare Race is recognized for her remarkable career spanning four continents. She has played a pivotal role in facilitating business improvement for globally renowned organizations, including Barclays, Goldman Sachs, GSK, Unilever, Coca-Cola, and Estee Lauder Companies, as well as governmental organizations including the British Government, Cabinet Office, and the UK National Health Service. A prominent figure in her field, Dr. Race's research contributions have been published in reputable journals such as Frontiers in Psychology, Mental Illness at Work, and People & Strategy. While her expertise features in industry-leading publications including The Harvard Business Review, People Management and The Financial Times. Talking Talent, a team of business psychologists, coaches, talent specialists, and diversity leaders committed to creating workplaces where everyone feels valued and respected. With almost two decades of experience, they know that the best way to ensure business success and resiliency is by building spaces where people feel like they truly belong. Through their coaching-led approach, they help individuals and organizations develop the skills and behaviors they need to create a culture of belonging. Talking Talent has delivered award-winning DE&I; programs and coaching within world-renowned organizations, including Disney, NatWest, Lloyds Bank, Citi, EY and many more. Clients have reported a 56% increase in job performance and £100 million saved each year in retention costs through a 50% reduction in the risk of staff turnover. In this episode Mary-Clare and I discussed:  The history DEI and the current state of DEI efforts around the globe. The importance of considering the ecosystem vs. the individual when looking to retain talent Where companies can make investments in the coming year to see meaningful progress. How the most effective programs will both customize to the organization and personalize to the individual. Why, when psychological safety is introduced to a team or organization, the issues can appear to get worse before they get better.  Where you can find Mary-Clare Race: www.talking-talent.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/talking-talent-ltd/ Resources Leadership Coaching. Find out more about my coaching process, or how to ask your employer to pay for you to work with a coach. Apply to be on an “On-Air Coaching” episode. Are you a female leader who has been promoted in the last year? Apply to be on the podcast. Leadership Operating System Inventory. Wondering what kind of Leadership traits you have? Take this FREE, FAST self-assessment and find out more about yourself as a Leader. Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing. The book containing a simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

How to Sustainably See More Women in Top Leadership

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