Getting Women On (The) Board With Personal Branding

The recent Catalyst survey out of New York has found that companies with a higher representation of women on their boards perform better financially.

The impact of this report (and many others in the past - perceived to be biased or not) goes much deeper and all companies need to take notice at all levels.

Women represent the larger percentage of decision makers in almost all product and service categories - from cars to financial services and everything in between - in some cases as much as 80-90%.

But corporations still seem to 'ignore' this fact when it comes to appointing to the board or other senior roles. Many people argue that the 'dual role' that women are 'expected' to perform stops or hinders them from getting involved at senior level.

What companies really need to be saying is "We cannot afford to NOT have women fairly represented at all decision making levels. How can we make this happen?"

Then women need to be bolder about how they communicate their value to an employer. It's not about bragging, its about making the right people aware of the impact you can make. This comes down to building your personal brand - being authentic about who you are but also making sure you are not leaving things unsaid.

Cross posted on Reflections of a Square Peg