I'm happy to say that many of the most competitive corporations today actively seek diversity in their ranks. These businesses will tell you they aim to give all people equal opportunity to reach the very highest positions they offer.
I often think about whether individual employees aim as high as their employers do. Specifically, do men and women aspire to the highest levels of management to the same degree? Is career ambition an equal opportunity trait?
Popular belief says it isn't and that men are more professionally focused than women. After all, fewer than 10% of the companies in the Fortune 500 have a woman at the helm.
But what if popular belief is either outdated or just plain wrong? And what if a false premise has not only guided people and businesses in the past, but persists today?
This premise is so crucial to the advancement of men and women in the workplace today that it demands more than an assumption. It demands facts. And as it turns out, a recent study by Catalyst, a leading research and advisory organization that focuses on women in the workplace, suggests men and woman are much more alike in terms of career aspirations than previously thought.
Statistically, it appears men and women covet the job of CEO pretty much equally. In fact, men and women have nearly identical feelings about what it takes to make them happy in their jobs.
So while the barriers that men and women face may be different in their careers, the degree of their ambition is, essentially, the same. Basically, slightly more than half the men and women surveyed aspire to be CEO. That's a powerful argument for diversity right there. If men and women are equally inclined to be the boss, why shouldn't they have an equal chance at the job?
Another misconception: Children change a woman's career ambitions. Recent statistics from the same Catalyst survey suggest otherwise and, in the ultimate irony, show that men's career aspirations are the ones influenced by childbirth. It appears women are either focused on career advancement or they're not. Children don't seem to have a bearing on their professional aspirations.
Desire is only part of the equation. Being an effective business leader requires a deep understanding of things like how people interact, how to work within a given structure, and how to build consensus. According to the Catalyst survey, it's precisely in these areas of mentoring, informal networks and role models where women are at a disadvantage compared with men. It's this infrastructure aimed at successful career advancement that they lack.
These are all skills that PwC formally nurtures. Men and woman are on equal footing in every sense possible and given the same access to professional development throughout their careers in the form of mentoring, informal networks, and even special lunchtime roundtable discussions. These office-wide roundtable conversations touch on everything from business and career advice and current events, to issues of inclusion in the workplace.
The trick is getting people to find new ways to think about this ongoing issue. Gender equality in the workplace is an issue with significant business implications, so the mission is to create a climate favorable to everything positive about diversity. It is a climate that aims to help every individual at PwC understand how to navigate his or her way through the organization and, ultimately, flourish.
At the end of the day, it's about competitive advantage. Roughly half of PwC's workforce is composed of women. How could we do anything but cultivate the talents of a group this significant within our ranks?
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Regular communications focusing on the professional achievements of women and minorities demonstrate a commitment to an inclusive work environment. PwC distributes monthly e-mails that spread success stories, celebrate accomplishments and provide a forum for feedback.
