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How To Empower Women All The Way To The C-Suite

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POST WRITTEN BY
Lynne Doughtie and Condoleezza Rice
This article is more than 7 years old.

Ask any executive and he or she will agree: to thrive in business, as in life, leadership matters--whether it’s developing a career, managing a project or work team, or making the tough calls that business demands. But in corporate environments, women do not achieve senior leadership roles in numbers that better reflect their representation among the workforce population. 

This week, KPMG will host its second annual Women’s Leadership Summit--bringing together 100 of today’s most accomplished leaders from multiple industries with 200 next-generation women who were nominated to attend by their CEOs. They’ll engage in a concerted dialogue around the persistent and complex challenge of how to cultivate more women leaders in business.

As they gather, we’d like to inspire the dialogue by suggesting a few recommended actions that we believe can help strengthen women throughout their careers and make a positive difference.

First, there is power in pairing women with mentors early in their careers, and sponsors as careers mature and high performers are identified. Networks of mentors and sponsors, in particular, offer several practical benefits: helping to ensure women have access to strong senior-level role models--male and female; enhancing visibility to senior leadership; and providing opportunities to work on special projects and join high-profile work teams. These opportunities help credential women in career-boosting ways, while also providing key real-time management experiences.

In addition, engaging in deeper, more relevant career-design and performance conversations encourages women to take risks and ownership of their careers. Open discussions need to be had about non-linear career trajectories. For example, there are growth opportunities that can both expand valuable skill sets beyond an individual’s specialization and create connections that can spur advancement. Simply put, women need more insights to actively consider how best to utilize their skills and harness their career potential.   

Third, fostering leadership in the formative years can’t be ignored. By engaging high-potential young women in high school--years before they even enter the workforce--we can identify and cultivate pipelines of future leaders. Investments such as college scholarships, training, internship and mentoring programs will strengthen their growth and leadership capabilities.

Promoting future leaders matters. As today’s leaders, we can plant those visionary seeds of how high women can go and what they can achieve. We have to do more than encourage them; we have to equip them with the tools to succeed.

When women are empowered during the critical stages of development, get solid career direction, and have a network of mentors and sponsors, the net effect is the ability to take on senior leadership roles.

As stewards of the next generation, we have an obligation to give women the tools that allow them to dream, contribute and, some day, lead the enterprise.  

Ms. Rice was also the 66th U.S. Secretary of State.