Running the Race

It was once believed that no human being could run a sub-four minute mile.  Then in 1954 Englishman Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile time ceiling. Following Bannister’s achievement, there was a flood of people who were then able to match or surpass Bannister’s time. Today, it is common that elite and non-elite runners alike run sub-four minute miles. For me, an on-again, off-again runner, my best mile ever was seven and a half minutes. Slow by most people’s comparisons but a time of which I’m still proud. Roger Bannister defied the conventional wisdom of his time and was a pioneer in the sport of running.

However, just because he and others have broken the “four-minute ceiling” doesn’t mean that everyone can do it. I’m certainly proof of that. And so it is too for women in business attempting to break through glass ceilings. Some women have done it so it is possible, but women are far from being equal in opportunity to break through their barriers. In 1920 women gained the right to vote in America. In 2007 – 87 years later – Nancy Pelosi became the first woman ever to be elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Senator Hillary Clinton could be the first woman ever to be the presidential nominee of either major political party. These women, like the CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and Board of Director members in business, are the exception to the rule. Just because they did it doesn’t mean the barrier – the glass ceiling – has been broken for all women.

The numbers tell the story: 82.9 percent of all Fortune 100 company board seats are held by men. So some women have broken through the glass ceiling barrier but, at the current rate, it will take nearly 50 years for female executives to achieve parity with their male colleagues and nearly 75 years to do the same with board seats (Fitzpatrick, 2008). That is hardly what I would call equality.  Yet there are those that do.   73% of male CEOs believe that the glass ceiling is no longer a problem for women, while 71% of women trying to break through glass ceilings said it was (Falk and Grizzard, 2003).  As long as there is such a difference in perspective between men and women and their perception of the glass ceiling, there will be fewer women breaking through them.

Unfortunately, until men and women alike see that some women breaking through the glass ceiling does not equal all women breaking through, the gap in parity between male and female CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and Board of Director members will not close. In order to close the gap in parity, men in clout title positions must see and evaluate women from a different perspective than how many women occupy certain positions.

For as long as glass ceilings have been discussed and debated, the two primary items of focus have been the lack of women in clout title positions and the gap in pay between men and women for comparable jobs. My belief is that if women who aspire to clout title positions want to break through a barrier that 73% of male CEOs don’t believe exist anymore, they must not focus on their worth but their value to the company. In a bottom line world, any individual – male or female – who adds to the value of the company will get the attention of those who make promotion decisions.

At the end of the day, the company or corporation’s bottom line is how all CEOs – and aspiring CEOS, et al, are graded. If women make themselves visible to the current holders of clout title positions, let it be known they want to hold a clout title position, and then create a successful track record that shows they can do the job and achieve impressive results again and again, gender will have less meaning. An impressive corporate bottom line will assist women in getting across their finish line faster.

Because time is not on your side.