Mentoring the Mentors

Lynn can blog about mentoring the mentors here...

What About Those Male Voters?

Much has been said about whether adding Governor Sarah Palin to the Republican Presidential ticket is going to make a difference with the female voters in the United States, especially the female voters that were previously supporters of Senator Hillary Clinton. While that is an important part of the equation, I think the other big story here is that a significant number of male voters are supporting female national candidates. This should not go unnoticed nor taken for granted. It also could have benefits beyond politics, such as in the corporate board rooms of America.

As to Senator Clinton’s Presidential bid, there were both female and male voters in those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling. As to Governor Sarah Palin’s political support, it is very likely that it took a lot of male voters for her to win the governorship and to enjoy such a positive satisfaction rating as governor. From what I saw watching the Republican National Convention, there were a lot of male Republican voters in the audience displaying their support for her.

Why should male voter support for female national candidates be another big story here? It is because of its potential spill over effect in the workplace. One of the most difficult challenges senior executive women in the workplace face is the subtle bias many male senior executives have about what “leadership” looks like. Too often, “leadership” to them has not looked like a female person, regardless of capabilities. Sometimes, this is merely because they have had no female leadership image as a historical frame of reference for leadership. That is not how business has been done in the past.

This is nowhere more evident than at the highest echelon where business gets done in America – the corporate board room. Right now, senior executive women hold only about 14.8% of the corporate board seats of the Fortune 500 (F500) companies. Indeed, the actual number of such women holding these board seats is lower that this dismal statistic suggests because female board members already selected tend to sit on multiple boards. Fifty nine F500 companies have no women board members, and another 172 have only one women director.

And, while the historical preference at the board level has been active or retired CEOs, making the pool of potential female candidates virtually non-existent, even when that preference was relaxed recently to include other “C” suite level executives, there still has not been a sea change in diversity in the board room. This is the case even though a study has shown that having three or more women on a corporate board showed an increased return on equity, an increased return on sales, and an increased return on invested capital when compared with those companies with no women on their boards. Additional research has shown improved boardroom dynamics and increased attention to important governance benchmarks for those companies with 3 or more women on their boards.

So, why so much focus on the board room composition? This is because board members play a significant role in selecting new directors. Board members also are responsible for recruiting and retaining the CEO of the company.

The more that male voters see women in a position of leadership – such as the political leadership displayed by our two female national candidates and even our current female Speaker of the House, the more that the “image of leadership” begins to move away from the traditional white male man to a more diverse candidate possibility. That way female CEOs, like the CEO from WellPoint and the CEO from Pepsico, might no longer be so few and far between.

We know from the recent Census that there is a significant shift underway in our demographics anyway towards a more diverse American population, Perhaps, seeing women candidates in play for our nation’s top offices will spill over and jump start the integration of our corporate board rooms with diverse candidates. After all, if a woman is good enough to get a male voter’s support for the White House ticket, then maybe that same man will select a woman “candidate” the next time he is choosing a new director for the board or a new CEO for the company.

By

Lynn Shapiro Snyder
Founder and President
Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Foundation
Author: Advancing Women in Business: 10 Best Practices
Co-author: Answering the Call: Understanding the Duties, Risks, and Rewards of Corporate Governance

Welcome To Our Blog - Women Business Leaders Of The U.S Health Care Industry Foundation

Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation ™ ("WBL") – a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization – was established in 2001 to address the unique needs of women serving in a senior executive capacity in the U.S. health care industry.

Founder Lynn Shapiro Snyder is recognized as one of the most powerful people in the health care industry. Lynn was honored in late 2007 by Jewish Women International as a "Woman to Watch." She is a senior member of the law firm of Epstein Becker & Green, P.C and is both founder and president of the Women Business Leaders of the U.S Health Care Industry Foundation. In December 2007, Lynn released the third edition of her how-to guide for senior executives pondering stepping up to corporate board service. The purpose of the manual is to explain clearly and briefly the duties, risks and rewards of corporate board service., what kind of due diligence is needed before deciding to accept an invitation to serve/ and what will be expected once one gets there.

Says Lynn Shapiro Snyder, "We published Answering the Call at the urging of our health care industry colleagues who had the willingness to serve on corporate boards but lacked comprehensive information relative to it." Ms. Shaprio Snyder continued, "We believe that for the informed person, the rewards of serving outweigh the risks."


This new edition of the book also contains a chapter on director and officers liability insurance written by experts from Darwin Professional Underwriters, a specialty insurance group that focuses on the professional liability insurance market, as well as a chapter of the importance of gender diversity in the boardrooms written by experts from the Women Business Leaders of the U.S Health Care Industry Foundation.

This practical, brilliant book is popular with executives throughout the nation. You may pick up a copy of her book by clicking on the image below .

You may also be interested in another of Ms. Shapiro Snyder's publications, Advancing Women in Business. This book is chock full of practical advice for the path to the corner office as well as the boardroom. Professional women in-the-executive-trenches shared their best advice to round out an excellent compilation of success-how-to in this book. For more information, and to purchase this publication, please click on the image below.

At its 2008 WBL Summit, WBL brought together many of its Foundation Associates. They are leading senior executive women from all segments of the health care industry.

2008 SUMMIT PHOTOS

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Upcoming Summits:

WBL Foundation Associates - Hold the Dates:
2009 WBL Summit - March 11-13, 2009 - Scottsdale, AZ
2010 WBL Summit - March 16-19, 2010 - Dallas, TX

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UPCOMING RECEPTIONS & BYOCCs

UPCOMING EVENTS:
September 2008:
09/25/08	WBL BYOCC Dinner in Nashville, TN - for details or to RSVP, please contact Sonja Sadowski.