The real issue is why are there not more women CEO’s, not why are women CEO’s leaving.
The number of women leading the largest companies has always been small. Out of the Fortune 500 today, women CEO’s number just 24, down from 32 a year ago. These numbers are just too small to extrapolate a meaningful trend. The issue is why are there not more women CEO’s, not why are women CEO’s leaving. While a 25% drop sounds significant, per Equilar, women CEO’s depart at the same rate as male CEO’s. The number of women leading companies in the Fortune 500 had grown to 6.4% last year, a record high, from 2.6% a decade earlier.
Pepsi’s CEO Indra Nooyi who announced her retirement this week, was trained to be a CEO/leader by her Mom. Growing up with dinner table discussions on what she would do if you were the prime minister? This inspired her to believe she could lead.
To increase the number of women CEO’s, mothers/fathers should encourage and challenge their daughters to believe they can lead. Women need to own their career curation in a purposeful way. Make a 5 or 10 year plan of how you aspire to reach your goal, whether it’s as a senior exec or CEO. If you want to be CEO identify the milestones and steps to make yourself ready by starting with owning and stating your goal to be part of the pool of senior execs on the succession path. Identify the key decision makers both in the company and on the board who are part of CEO succession selection and articulate your goal and ask for clear feedback on what you need to do to be considered “ready.” Don’t be demure waiting for an invitation. Often it’s critical that you are in a “line” revenue producing function, not merely a staff role, so you may need to ask for broader general management rotation opportunities.
www.forbes.com
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