Home—Blog—Six ways women can make it to the top
Feb 08, 2012, 11:36
Posted byMerryn Somerset Webb
Comments (28)
There is an awful lot of talk these days about work-life balance. Ask almost anyone in or around middle age and they’ll tell you, whether they mean it or not, that there is more to life than money and more to life than corporate success.
They’ll tell you about how they aim to work from home one day a week; how they share the school runs with their spouse; and how they value quiet time away from the cut throat world of their day job.
But what if you aren’t much interested in work-life balance? What if you are genuinely fiercely ambitious? If what you really want out of your 85 years is not the time to chat with other mums and dads at the school gate and take two yoga classes a week, but a chance to get status, to claim your place firmly in the 1% and to breath the rarified oxygen available above the waterline of mediocracy?
Then you will need to approach things slightly differently. And if you are a woman, you will have to approach it very differently. How? The answer is to be found in Heather McGregor’s new book Careers Advice for Ambitious Women.
McGregor herself is pretty successful. She runs a high-powered head hunting business. She has a column in the FT. She presents a series on Channel 4. She has a pilot's licence. She has three degrees. And of course she has three children.
However, good as all this sounds, she reckons, as she approaches 50, that had she tweaked her behaviour slightly over the years, she’d now have even more than she does. You should probably pick up a copy if you want to make it to the top or if there is a woman around you would like to make it to the top. But for those of you who are too busy to read, here are a few of her top tips. They all sound utterly exhausting and they are. But so is getting to that oxygen.
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• Get the best possible qualification you can. A degree doesn’t mean much these days unless it is from one of the very top universities and it is a first. So get another – and in particular get an MBA. You might think you can learn everything you might get from an MBA course from a book, and you might be right.
But do it properly and you will give yourself huge confidence (this is key to success) and you will give everyone else confidence too (a good MBA is short hand for employers when it comes to figuring out if you have the skills you say you have). You’ll also meet the kind of people you will need to know if you want to get to the top. And you’ll make more money too.
• Remember that, whatever Nick Clegg says, life is not just about what you know. It is also very much about who you know. “The truth is that if you want to achieve your goals in life, you need to be both good at what you do and good at building relationships with people who matter.”
So talk to everyone (Heather likes to corner important people at breakfast in hotels) and network seriously with people who you like, admire and trust. Hold events and invite them. Work with a charity with an interesting board. Learn a good networking sporting skill (golf or shooting). Keep a proper database of all the people you know, where you met them and what you spoke about. I find this last bit impossible. Heather doesn’t.
• Say no to things that don’t matter to your work. That’ll make it easier to do the things that do – “assuming you want to get to the top”.
• Accept that you can’t have it all. Too many women still think that “it is possible to be the CEO of a large public company / a brilliant brain surgeon / concert violinist and achieve this while securing and maintaining a husband, having an amazing sex life, conceiving and raising perfectly balanced children” as well as keeping up Pilates and having good nails.
This is “severely deluded”. So commit. Work full-time - never part-time. And get help at home even if it uses up all your salary. Then remember that while you can’t have it all, you will still have to do it all. Working mothers still take on most of the domestic responsibilities in a household. That is just the way it is.
• Be financially literate. Control your own finances and make sure you understand every page of MoneyWeek and the FT. Know the language people at the top already use.
• Be interested. Be interesting. And have a third dimension outside family and work to your life. Make it a hobby or make it a charity, but either way, have more to you than ordinary people have.
Published in Blog More articles by Merryn Somerset Webb
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(08 February 2012, 09:35PM) Complain about this comment
All very good advice - and I will be sure my teenage daughter reads it. I might even look into getting that book for her. She is interested in bio chemistry and pharmacology. I was a bit disappointed with her school for discouraging these interests at a recent parents evening on the grounds that it is competitive and being a bit pessimistic on account of recent AstraZeneca redundancies. If I had my time again I would do more of what interests me.
(08 February 2012, 09:59PM) Complain about this comment
7th Tip: Invest in yourself - breast implants
(08 February 2012, 10:29PM) Complain about this comment
Rather puerile comment from neutronwarp but there is a kernel of truth. Too many women who want to be successful adopt the worst attributes of alpha males and personally I take great to avoid such women at all costs. I'm not suggesting that a woman needs to sleep with the boss to get promotion (although it is a tried and tested route) but a pleasant manner, a smile and gentle flirtation just makes a person (male or female) more fun to be with and ensures success.
(08 February 2012, 10:58PM) Complain about this comment
The best person should always get the CEO job whether you are male, female, white, black, disabled, etc. It should not matter. The best person should get the role. For companies that are serious about being successful and making lots of money so lets say a FTSE 100 company, then I am sure it will want to recruit the best person for the role. It would not be fair or right to recruit more women CEO's to meet some quotas.
(09 February 2012, 08:39AM) Complain about this comment
@ bapodra investmentsYou are correct of course but in practice that just is not the case. If top companies really did recruit the best person for the job how does that explain how there is a statistically significant number of tall men in top positions (in commerce and politics). If it were a job stacking shelves I can see an advantage in being tall but perversely such lowly jobs go to shorter people!Recent example such as Fred Godwin show that if you can "walk the walk" and "talk the talk" it really doesn't need any special talent or ability to end up in charge even of a company bigger than the national economy!In the meantime while this is the case we just have to accept that the system is imperfect and flash the smile and wear heel raisers.
(09 February 2012, 09:57AM) Complain about this comment
You forgot the most well practised and effective method, as demonstrated by an old university friend of mine who now commands a 6 figure salary in the media business. It may be un-pc, but there is nothing new under the sun.
(09 February 2012, 10:44AM) Complain about this comment
8th tip; have sex with your boss irrespective of their gender.
(09 February 2012, 10:51AM) Complain about this comment
@ alex. How on earth would you know that you old university friend got her big media job in the way you hint at. Its not an admission many woman would make. Outside the sex industry, I expect women who sleep with male bosses for promotions are much rarer than a lot men seem to fantasize about.
(09 February 2012, 10:56AM) Complain about this comment
Oh she's quite open about it. To be honest Ellen I'd reverse you're statement, it's far more common than you would like to think.
(09 February 2012, 11:17AM) Complain about this comment
9th Tip: Don't listen to head-hunters, recruitment consultants or what ever else they call themselves these days. They create zero value and leech off corporate profits for being nothing more than a CV database. How they've managed to dupe the market into thinking they have a place is beyond me.Apologies for the off-topic but the existance of parasite industries grates me. They sit alongside meaningless health & safety & the training industry in my book.
(09 February 2012, 11:47AM) Complain about this comment
@10, because most organisations HR departments are so inept as to be unbelievable. They can cope with organising training days and the xmas party but ask them to sift through cv's to identify suitable candidates for the busiess and they're generally useless.
(09 February 2012, 12:08PM) Complain about this comment
I can think of 6 ways a man can make it too the bottom; the first of which is to join the Navy.
(09 February 2012, 12:25PM) Complain about this comment
@Ellen: I think the advice your daughter is getting from career advisers assumes that she will be working in the UK. My opinion , from inside the scientific profession, is that a career in science can open many doors, present exciting opportunities and offers a good salary...... provided she is willing to leave the UK to find work. I could make all sorts of comments about the UK attitude to science but I'll refrain because I think my caveat above says enough. In my experience, science also offers a refreshingly merit based culture for career progression.
(09 February 2012, 01:51PM) Complain about this comment
@12, any more comments like that and you'll find yourself confined to the poop deck.
(09 February 2012, 02:08PM) Complain about this comment
@Antony. Thank you for you insight. I am very interested to know why you think the UK gives science a low priority. The obvious areas of employment for this type of qualification would be with one of the big pharma companies or a university. Are you talking about the US? What are your main criticisms of the UK? I would be very grateful to you if you would point me it the right direction the get advice on where a bio chemistry or pharmacology degree could lead.
(09 February 2012, 04:44PM) Complain about this comment
Antony is right. We have an anti-science cultural bias. In France for example, the highest status schools are schools of Engineering and Engineer is a high status title. In the UK, Engineer means mechanic, and a First class Engineering degree implies a second class brain, thus you will never win a seat on the Board.Tell her being a scientist is a calling, and is rarely well paid, unless you start your own company.
(09 February 2012, 10:02PM) Complain about this comment
@Ellen: I couldn't explain it properly in 1000 charaters and it's off topic from the article but here's a summary: scientists in the UK are not viewed as Professionals in the same way as teachers, lawyers, accountants or medical doctors. Salaries in Switzerland and the USA are often 2 or 3 times UK for the same scientific job. Big Pharma have been moving R&D out of the UK for years (Pfizer is the bigggest recent). EU attitude to GM is driving biotech R&D to the USA. UK Universities still a great place to study science. I work in science because I enjoy it - a lot!
(09 February 2012, 10:29PM) Complain about this comment
@Ellen: Big Pharma are outsourcing more and more R&D work, therefore many redundancies create new vacancies at contract research organisations. These are spread all over the World, the business model of the modern Life Science company favours the employees that are most adaptable to change.
(10 February 2012, 11:28AM) Complain about this comment
@Antony. Thank you for this information. We are going to investigate it further. You know, with university fees here set to become among the most expensive in the world, we have already laid down a few ground rules with our children if they want us to finance a degree. Certain university courses and universities we are simply refusing to pay for. We have a short but growing list for each.As we live in London, we have a preference for a good London university so our child could stay at home saving on accommodation costs.We will not pay for anything we believe won’t benefit their finances or career progress - (but, I have to say, I am astonished you think science could be on this list).Thank you again.
(11 February 2012, 10:02AM) Complain about this comment
@Ellen: you're astonished? Can I clarify your aims: if the aim is to be a board member of a company someday then science is not enough. The scientists that make it to the top do not "do science", they manage big corporations and, for that, I think Merryn's six points are excellent advice. Board members have to be financially minded whatever company they run and scientists regularly move into the financial sector after qualifying. However, if the aim is to have skills that are/will be in demand and command a respectable (but certainly not big bucks) salary, then science is a good option.
(11 February 2012, 10:06AM) Complain about this comment
@Ellen: Imperial College London is rated as one of the very best places to study science - very highly rated by Industry.
(11 February 2012, 12:23PM) Complain about this comment
@Ellen: I just looked up the background of the board members of the company I work for: 6 banking/economics, 4 lawyers, 6 scientists, 2 politics/languages. FT.com has an excellent Directors tab for each company. Board salaries can obviously be 7 figures but a scientist "doing science" with 10yrs experience can earn 35 to 50K GBP in the UK, or 70 to 100K GBP in Switzerland. I think USA is closer to the latter. Aside from the money, if you enjoy what you do, this improves performance and accelerates progression. Globally, scientists are in short supply at the moment.
(12 February 2012, 02:57PM) Complain about this comment
@Antony - We aim to make our children self sufficient and do not want to be supporting 30 year old offspring. But we want them to have a good life ideally working at what they like doing. You could describe people who make their living doing the things they love doing as the most successful type of person. MSWs fifth point of being financially literate is very important and I think a great many people don't bother about this because they see the whole area of finance as 'boring'. I see Imperial College run degree courses in biochemistry, chemistry and physics with language and management. Thanks again - your opinion as an 'science insider' is very useful,
(12 February 2012, 06:21PM) Complain about this comment
I studied Mechanical Engineering at Imperial, as well as the Engineering modules there were opportunities to take some non-engineering electives such as financial management. There are a lot of good aspects but I also think the college has quite a unique environment for a U.K university due to it being very international, pretty competitive and teaching only engineering and science subjects- and so I would say it’s worth taking a good look at the college and department in question and seeing if it feels right for you.In terms of the view of science in the U.K, I think one aspect could be engineering and science is not as well promoted/ the industries are not as good at promoting themselves in the U.K. For example the financial sector seems very good at PR and self-promotion, doctors are well regarded and professions like medicine or law tend to get good promotion through films and T.V series.
(12 February 2012, 06:22PM) Complain about this comment
I think in terms of science and engineering, good documentaries that effectively explain the complexity, relevance and importance of the disciplines can be a good way to raise their profile. Inspiring children to want to study and be passionate about the subjects is important I think if you want to get good candidates and have a good talent pool for the industry, this could be done through good media productions, having school trip to visit exciting projects, and also if engineering and science companies in the U.K both collaborate with schools and also set up centres showing off what they do that people can visit. If the standard of the industry and the calibre of the candidates could be improved, then hopefully this would contribute to the success of the sectors and in turn the money that they attract.
(22 February 2012, 05:01PM) Complain about this comment
I very much doubt many women (or male bosses for that matter) would want to sleep their way up the hierarchy, that simply doesn't appeal to either party concerned generally. Most people like to keep their work-private life distinct. In the article, I thought this piece of advice:"and in particular get an MBA"was a proverbial crock of s--t. If you've not go it, and MBA isn't going to get it for you, ok, maybe if its from Kellog, Harvard, maybe, but most MBA courses are just money making machines. Taking in graduates that got a 2:1 - they can't churn out ultra smart people: garbage-in, garbage out (to a degree).
(22 February 2012, 06:26PM) Complain about this comment
re: why aren't there equal women at the top of UK industry - well, a lot of women, prefer to look after the children? My wife couldn't wait (and I suspect this is a popular choice) to give up working first time she was pregnant. So, I think its unfair of some posters to say 'because there isn't 50% women running FTSE100' something must be biased against women.
(07 March 2012, 08:17PM) Complain about this comment
http://www.rsc.org/AboutUs/News/PressReleases/2012/Lesley-Yellowlees-womens-day.asp
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