Most Clicked Forté Foundation SmartBrief Stories
1. Jack Welch is behind the times, say female leaders
Forté Foundation SmartBrief | May 23, 2012
Former GE chief Jack Welch stirred up trouble this month by telling a group of high-powered women that they should work harder and sacrifice their family life if they wanted to achieve their career goals. The assembled leaders took particular umbrage at Welch's suggestion that gender-blind appraisal systems mattered more than programs for encouraging gender diversity. Former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers noted, "If objective performance measures were enough, more than a handful of Fortune 500 senior executives would already be women." Wall Street Journal, The (05/04)
2. Female business chiefs offer advice on career advancement
Forté Foundation SmartBrief | May 23, 2012
Wall Street Journal, The (05/18)
3. Alumna share stories of being the first women in b-school
Forté Foundation SmartBrief | May 23, 2012
As one of the first women to attend the full-time MBA program at Harvard Business School, Sharon Baum had to deal with the lack of bathrooms and other facilities for female students. In this article, Baum and other women share their experiences as pioneers at previously all-male business schools. Despite the obstacles they faced, they say getting a business education was worthwhile. "The MBA was key to all my career moves," said Hélène Ploix, who attended Insead in France. Globe and Mail (Toronto), The (05/08)
4. 5 networking tips for MBA students
Forté Foundation SmartBrief | May 23, 2012
Networking is key for securing a position after graduation, writes Roxanne Hori of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. You should separate your contacts into two groups: those who are essential to your job-search process and those who have less direct, but still useful, connections, she writes. Create a quick pitch that you can use to introduce yourself, and thank everyone after you find a position, she recommends. Bloomberg Businessweek (05/09)
5. Study: Female CEOs are viewed more negatively
Forté Foundation SmartBrief | May 23, 2012
Research suggests that people may view female CEOs more negatively than their male peers. Participants in a university study viewed a company less favorably when they were told that its CEO was a woman. "We don't want to point fingers and say there's overt discrimination, but we think there are other biases that may trip up valuations, and this one has significant social welfare impact," said Lyda Bigelow of the University of Utah. Wall Street Journal, The (05/03)
6. Female CFOs share their stories from the road to success
Forté Foundation SmartBrief | May 23, 2012
Check out these profiles of three female CFOs who embraced risky career moves to make it to the top. They include Fannie Mae's Susan McFarland, Erie Indemnity's Marcia Dall and Novartis' Meryl Zausner. "Sometimes we don't take on risky situations that have wonderful possibilities, because we're afraid of the downside," McFarland says. CFO Magazine (05/2012)
7. Report: Older women are underpaid, pushed out of the workforce
Forté Foundation SmartBrief | May 23, 2012
The wage gap between genders tends to be wider among older people than among their younger counterparts, according to a study. Also, older women are more likely to be underemployed than older men, according to the study. "We just have a long history of discounting older women as productive workers," according to Margaret Huyck of the Older Women's League National Board. ABC News (05/10)
8. KeyCorp's Mooney discusses career challenges for women
Forté Foundation SmartBrief | May 23, 2012
Beth Mooney, chairwoman and CEO of KeyCorp, met resistance in her climb to the top and faced criticism for being "too prepared." Mooney, who discusses obstacles for women in the workplace in this Q-and-A, credits "the willingness to take the ugly job, to fix the thing that's not working" for some of her success. Wall Street Journal, The (05/07)
9. Work depression touches men and women differently
Forté Foundation SmartBrief | May 23, 2012
Women were more likely to be depressed if they were not properly appreciated or rewarded on the job, while men were more likely to suffer depression when work stress was high, Canadian researchers found. The study by the University of Calgary in Alberta also found that men's depression risk rose when family interfered with work, and women's when work conflicted with family. The study appears in the American Journal of Epidemiology. FoxNews.com (05/10)
10. High-performing businesswomen build effective teams
Forté Foundation SmartBrief | May 23, 2012
Successful business owners are adept at finding the right people and providing them with the proper support, writes Geri Stengel. Jennifer Smith of Innovative Office Solutions said, "The key to our growth has been to hire great people and then empower them to make a positive difference every day with our customers and vendors." Women may be especially skilled at building effective teams. Forbes (05/16)
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