Woman and business

Student: Bogatoniu
Mihaela
Master 1, AATIO

The Business of Placing Women in Leadership

For years women have struggled against the glass ceiling or the pink
ghetto. More women are graduating from college than men. Women flood
the workforce. Why, then, are only about 19 percent in the C-suite?
Research has shown that women leaders are good for business. Companies
with the highest representations of women in leadership roles show better
financial performance, writes Anna Marie Valerio in Businessweek.
Even though research shows companies benefit from women leaders and
companies say they want high ranking female executives, studies show
women lag behind men in this area.
Here are five ways businesses can seriously and deliberately create a plan to
promote women to jobs in equal proportions as men:
Commitment from the Top. More than lip service or inclination, the top
leadership must have a total commitment to hiring and promoting with
gender diversity. When the CEOs are adamant about this, it will happen.
CEOs can recommend women for their board of directors; they can
encourage the succession planning with a focus on women; and they should
establish a company culture of inclusivity.
The 70-20-10 rule. Herminia Ibarra, an expert on professional and leadership
development, in her article in Businessweek discussed companies striving to
place more women in leadership:
Invariably, each described the sacrosanct 70-20-10 rule, by which 70
percent of a managers learning and development should come from on-thejob learning through stretch assignments, with only 20 percent and 10
percent coming from mentoring and classroom learning, respectively.
The traditional path of leadership training and mentoring is not sufficient to
launch a womans career.
Pivotal Roles. Certain positions carry extra weight and are punch the ticket
kinds of jobs. All too often women rise to leadership into staff roles and are
thus placed on the sidelines when it comes to the path to the top. A major
chance to produce more women at the top must start with placing women in
those key roles that lead to the top.

Its critical for management to identify those pivotal positions and then focus
on filling them with gender equality. The people in these jobs gain visibility
and credibility. Its in these key roles women will learn the leadership skills
that will take them to the C-suite.
Succession Planning. Companies must identify and build on the pivotal role
positions. They must quantify and standardize the process in their succession
planning. They know the key roles that lead to the top. As they look for
successors for these jobs, they need to deliberately include women and
promote their leadership abilities.
Quality Mentoring. Often mentoring is based on liking a person or their
leadership style. Mentors may perceive men as being more worthy for
attention, or they may feel more comfortable with them.
To break the glass ceiling, the mentoring process needs to be more organized
and formal. Deliberate attention must be given to placing women with
mentors who can and will further their careers.
Businessweek, Forbes, Fast Company, and other magazines continue to write
articles on the importance of promoting women in leadership. New studies
continue to refine successful processes to help them gain more parity with
men and reach the highest levels.

Angela Ahrendts
Angela Ahrendts, (born June 7, 1960) is an American businesswoman and
the senior vice president of retail and online stores at Apple Inc. She was the
CEO of Burberry from 2006 to 2014. Ahrendts left Burberry to join Apple in
2014. Ahrendts was ranked 25th in Forbes' 2015 list of the most powerful
women in the world, 9th most powerful woman in the U.K. in the BBC Radio 4
Womans Hour 100 Power List, and 29th in Fortunes 2014 list of the world's
most powerful women in business.She is also a member of the UK's Prime
Minister's business advisory council.
Ahrendts moved to New York City to work in the fashion industry. After a
series of positions including merchandising at bra maker Warnaco,Ahrendts
joined Donna Karan International in 1989, working to develop the luxury
brand internationally through both wholesale and licensing. In 1996 she was
hired at Henri Bendel by Leslie Wexner to expand Bendel stores to 50 new
markets, but the project was cancelled by the board of directors two years

later.
In 1998, she joined Fifth & Pacific Companies as Vice President of Corporate
Merchandising and Design. In 2001, she was promoted to Senior Vice
President Corporate Merchandising and Group President, responsible for the
merchandising of the group's 20 plus brands including Laundry by Shelli
Segal, Lucky Brand Dungarees and the men's retail business of Liz Claiborne
Inc. In 2002, she was promoted again to serve as Executive Vice President,
with full responsibility for the complete line of Liz Claiborne products,
services and development across both women's and men's lines.
Burberry
Ahrendts joined Burberry in January 2006, and took up the position of CEO on
July 1, 2006 replacing Rose Marie Bravo. Ahrendts mitigated the brand's
decline in prestige by immediately limiting the number of clothing and
accessories carrying the Burberry check pattern to 10%, minimizing the
damage ubiquitous counterfeits had caused to sales. She also oversaw the
buying out of the Spanish franchise which was then generating 20% of group
revenues to stop its unfettered licensing. Ahrendts says she did not model
her approach after any other fashion house, but looked to world-class design
as an influence, including Apple Inc..[2] The company value rose during her
tenure from 2 billion to over 7 billion.[CNN Money reported that during
2012, she was the highest paid CEO in the UK, making $26.3 million.
Apple
On October 15, 2013, it was announced that Ahrendts would leave Burberry
in Spring 2014 to join Apple Inc. as a member of its executive team as Senior
Vice President of Retail and Online Stores, filling the spot vacated by John
Browett in October 2012. On May 1, 2014, Apple's new SVP of Retail and
Online Stores Angela Ahrendts was placed on the Apple Leadership roster,
signaling her official entry into the company.According to Apple's 2015 Proxy
Statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission,Ahrendts
earned over $70 million in 2014, more than any other executive at Apple,
including CEO Tim Cook. She is the only female senior executive at Apple.
Ahrendts met her husband Gregg Couch in elementary school. They married
in their 30s after a 17-year long-distance relationship. The couple has three
children. When Ahrendts was working at Burberry, the family lived in a
12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) home on an 8 acres (3.2 ha) plot west of
London.Brought up a Methodist, she is still an active Christian.

(Angela Ahrendts)