{"id":32106,"date":"2012-10-06T15:55:35","date_gmt":"2012-10-06T14:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=32106"},"modified":"2012-10-06T16:06:55","modified_gmt":"2012-10-06T15:06:55","slug":"massive-talent-shortage-or-just-shortsighted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/massive-talent-shortage-or-just-shortsighted\/","title":{"rendered":"Massive Talent Shortage or Just Shortsighted"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taking Her Place<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Image Source - \u201cNine to Five,\u201d 20th Century Fox<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u201c<\/em>If you ever say another word about me or make another indecent proposal, I’m gonna get that gun of mine, and I’m gonna change you from a rooster to a hen with one shot! And don’t think I can’t do it.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Doralee, \u201cNine to Five,\u201d<\/em> 20th<\/sup> Century Fox, 1980<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to a recent report by Oxford Economics that spelled out the what companies should seek out in their executives in the years ahead, the key attributes are: digital knowledge and agile thinking as well as interpersonal and communication skills.<\/p>\n

People should have been excited when Yahoo! snagged Marissa Mayer as their CEO. She certainly has all of those attributes.<\/p>\n

So why all the bluster?<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, she\u2019s female and OMG she just had a baby boy!<\/p>\n

Over half of the world\u2019s population can do that. It\u2019s called procreation.<\/p>\n

Better them than us!<\/p>\n

We doubt if the next generation of Mayer will drain her talents or make her any less decisive (O.K., some Googlites said autocratic).<\/p>\n

Gee, maybe there is a gender bias.<\/p>\n

A guy wears hoodies, flip-flops and another wears black turtle necks and jeans. They\u2019re creative.<\/p>\n

A gal does that and she\u2019s a slob, doesn\u2019t care how she looks, so how can you respect her?<\/p>\n

Eddie looked at a female boss and said, \u201cLady, you’re gonna *hate* it, here.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Female Tech Leaders<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the beginning, there have been a lot of female notables starting with Lady Lovelace who developed the first computer program for Babbage\u2019s analytical engine.<\/p>\n

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Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, USNR<\/p><\/div>\n

Then there was Rear Admiral Grace Hopper who developed the compiler programming language (and a lot more programming firsts) and who popularized debugging when a moth was removed from a system, hence debugging.<\/p>\n

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Sally Kristen Ride, Ph.D., First American Woman in Space<\/p><\/div>\n

How about Sally Ride, the first female astronaut in space. A pretty smart engineer (think you have to be to land that job), you can say she shot right by the glass ceiling for women<\/p>\n

The industry has its share of seasoned pros running organization\u2019s today.<\/p>\n

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Virginia Marie "Ginni" Rometty, President and CEO of IBM<\/p><\/div>\n

Virginia Rommety runs one of the most diverse and far-reaching companies in the industry \u2026 IBM.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s a little atypical compared to today\u2019s crop of female execs because she literally grew up in IBM.\u00a0 And because the company tended to encourage all of their employees, they kept giving her more than she could handle and she handled it.<\/p>\n

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Meg Whitman president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard<\/p><\/div>\n

Another highly visible female is HP\u2019s Meg Whitman.<\/p>\n

Unlike those mentioned earlier, she doesn\u2019t come with a strong engineering background but she did quite well in helping grow eBay before leaving for semi-retirement.<\/p>\n

Yes, that retirement included a run for California\u2019s governorship (lost, but she used her own money in the race).<\/p>\n

Running for Congress at the same time was a lady she replaced at HP\u2013 two \u201cguys\u201d in between \u2013 Carly Fiorina.\u00a0 Honestly, we rooted for her at first but she just didn\u2019t understand, didn\u2019t want to understand the \u201cHP Way.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Meg\u2019s credit, she\u2019s given the company what it so desperately needed \u2013 quiet confidence.\u00a0 Will she be able to fend off the barbarians before they tear the company apart? You sorta\u2019, kinda\u2019 hope so.<\/p>\n

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Alice Chang, CEO of CyberLink<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0A lady you may not have heard too much about is Alice Chang, CEO of Taiwan\u2019s CyberLink (software firm), who runs a tight ship and is deeply involved in the firm\u2019s OEM and end-user sales.<\/p>\n

Trying to determine what will be designed and available six to nine months from now when technology and devices are changing so rapidly is\u2026interesting!<\/p>\n

She\u2019s more typical (she\u2019s gotta\u2019 hate the way we said that) of the Pacific Basin and Southeast Asia where qualified women are more readily accepted as engineers, managers and CEOs.<\/p>\n

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Marissa Ann Mayer, President and CEO of Yahoo!<\/p><\/div>\n

Skipping a lot of very strong, very solid women who have made significant contributions, we\u2019re back to Marissa Mayer who (once removed) replaced a very strong lady with a solid engineering background, Carol Bartz.<\/p>\n

We respect Ms. Bartz and had high hopes of her being able to bring Yahoo! back to its earlier glory, but her personality just didn\u2019t sit well with the folks she worked with (and if Googlites thought Ms. Mayer was autocratic!) and what worked Autodesk just didn\u2019t fly at Yahoo!<\/p>\n

We can envision her quoting Violet and saying, \u201cI know just where to *stick* it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Ms Mayer knows her way around the Web industry (and where the bodies are buried). And given some working room with the customers and employees (the folks who count, not the board), her company could put serious hurt on Zuck.<\/p>\n

After all, she dresses better, she\u2019s smarter, she has a talent for design (discerning customers care about design), she\u2019s visible and outgoing; and now, she could do something Zuck will never do\u2026play the mommy card!<\/p>\n

She won\u2019t, but \u2026 she could.<\/p>\n

Fortune 500 Leaders<\/strong><\/p>\n

Less than 15 of the Fortune 500 companies have female CEOs, and that may not be equitable.<\/p>\n

It will probably never be 50-50, but the winds of change are circling the globe.<\/p>\n

Ernst & Young recently noted that there is a huge flood of female talent coming through the educational systems in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and other countries outside of the US and EU (European Union).<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll be prepared to handle the highest level of business jobs in the years ahead.<\/p>\n

According to the last Zenger Folkman\/Harvard Business Review study, women rated higher than men in nearly every leadership effectiveness category.\"\"<\/p>\n

O.K., everything except strategic perspective. But when you\u2019re in a swamp up to your you know what in alligators, it\u2019s sometimes tough to remember that your job was to drain the swamp.<\/p>\n

But in today\u2019s ever-changing marketplace, we don\u2019t think any CEO, any manager, feels their job is safe; and when they\u2019ve arrived, that they can simply sit back with their feet up on the desk.<\/p>\n

Frankly, most CEOs we know border on being paranoid on seeing what\u2019s over the horizon and achieving their next big goal. It\u2019s what makes them good bosses.<\/p>\n

Things are changing rapidly and with the way organizations have to rethink their global strategies, business models and organizational structure, you have to wonder if we can afford to have a real or unrealized bias for half of the world\u2019s population (actually, less than half are men).<\/p>\n

Davos<\/strong><\/p>\n

The challenge was exhibited again this year at the Davos World Economic Forum where world business\/government leaders come together to figure out how to lift the economy out of its \u201cslump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now remember, these are supposed to be Nuevo smart folks:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 80 percent of the attendees were male<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1 to 0 females were on every panel<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1 of 6 co-chairs of the event was female<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At one CEO lunch there was one female boss and everyone exchanged business cards \u2026 she didn\u2019t get one<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve still got \u201ca little\u201d work to do for equality and are at a point in time when change is of the essence.<\/p>\n

Ironically, emerging markets \u2013 BRIC and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) seem to be more intent on recruiting, hiring, retaining top talent regardless of gender.<\/p>\n

Of course, when more than half of the college graduates and half the workforce are female, there may be times when the best man for the top job is a woman.<\/p>\n

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Image Source - \u201cNine to Five,\u201d 20th Century Fox<\/p><\/div>\n

Violet made her point when she said, \u201c<\/em>There is no need to get sarcastic!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

# # #<\/p>\n

by: G.A. “Andy” Marken<\/strong><\/p>\n

President<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marken Communications Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andy@markencom.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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