Interestingly, these two articles help to frame an
interesting conflict that faces many women in our industry today. Harvard
concludes that “there’s little correlation between a group’s collective
intelligence and the IQs of its individual members. But if a group includes
more women, its collective intelligence rises.”
The New York Times notes that women have trouble getting
heard in meetings. Those who speak up
are often interrupted by male colleagues and any good idea they offer are often
appropriated. “If a man talks in a meeting, he gets a hearing. A woman gets
interrupted.”
So my takeaway from these two articles forms a
contradiction. The good news is that it benefits companies to include women in decision
groups. The bad news is that the dynamics of these groups suppress and discourage
women’s input.
Since the Times article cited an example from our industry -
the writer’s room of “The Shield” where the female writers essentially gave up
contributing ideas and opinions during meetings - I was curious to know if
other women in our industry experienced similar treatment in meetings. So I
sent out a query to a range of female media executives to see if this article
resonated with them as it did with me.
The response was almost immediate. I received several emails
at once detailing instances of being interrupted by direct reports, top
management and colleagues, of ideas appropriated and of feelings of great
frustration. One example from a VP of Research for a cable network was, “I
heartily agree with the article. I have had men on my team who reported to me
and constantly interrupted me whether it was on a conference call or
in-person.”
An SVP of Sales at a cable network wrote, “I have seen this
type of behavior happen in round table meetings at big and small media
organization I've worked for. I've had
my ideas ignored, until a man's similar idea is taken as "great
idea". I'm not the type to keep
quiet, however being too vocal labels women, and not necessarily in the best
way. A few have broken out, but usually it is because they are empowered by
someone higher up, who usually is a man.”
But not all of the women I contacted felt that way. Lack of
control seems to correlate to how little power that woman held in the company. Both
a President of Sales for a cable network and a CRO for a cable network group responded
that they do not face this type of treatment. “I have not experienced this type
of gender bias. I do however always
see/hear people get interrupted whether male or female“, was one response.
Another was “Maybe I’m not being observant enough, but I don’t think this
phenomenon exists in my company, or in industry organizations I’m active in… at
all.”
It is good
to know that at the rarified top corporate level, negative behavior towards
women’s contributions is rare. But, percentage-wise, there are fewer women in
the C-Suite. Most women in media have layers of authority over them in addition
to ingrained relics of corporate behavior around them. Some of those women are becoming
disenfranchised. “There are UNCONSCIOUS biases at work” wrote one sales director
for a cable network group, “the dominant group thinks it's a meritocracy, when
in fact, they are subtly advantaged by the fact that they are part of the
stronger group. Once when I was at my previous company, I expressed the hope to
a colleague that the next VP hired would be a woman, since there was a dearth
of women in senior sales roles and I was shocked when he was appalled at my
statement.”
But it is
not all darkness and tribulation. Solutions are simple: Make a conscious effort
to diversify the workforce, promote qualified women to more thought leadership
positions and recognize the dynamics at meetings and install rules if necessary.
With regard
to more women in the workplace, “I am very lucky to be at a company where the
majority of senior executives are women”, said one VP Research for a cable
network. “In research, the ratio of men to women has completely changed from
when I worked here the first time. The department is predominantly women now.”
With regard
to meeting rules, a President of Sales for a cable network stated, “My general
rule of thumb is to allow people to finish their thoughts or comments whenever
I am present in the meeting. People have
come to respect this approach and everyone has their opinions heard. This
approach however does require people to think first and to bring meaningful
input because everyone will hear them.”
Perhaps the
best advice to those who feel powerless is to find the confidence from within. A CRO with vast experience at agencies,
television and print said, “The best advice I could offer is to focus on the one
that is in our control: Believe in yourself, in your intelligence and
credibility, and speak and act with confidence, wherever you are, not just in
meetings. It worked for me.”
This article first appeared in www.MediaBizBloggers.com
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