A woman’s place is in the… boardroom?

With pressures to conform and be measured by set male standards, many professional women find that to be and to act naturally in female ‘skin’ can sometimes put them at a disadvantage. That is – to appear female can inadvertently court failure. Even in the recent US presidential campaign for the Democratic Party Hillary Clinton had to be groomed to win by being positioned by her chief strategist, Mark Penn, to run as a ‘man’ – confident, controlled, competitive. But although she didn’t win, her journey to the top would have been a lot tougher, perhaps, had she worn her female skin all the way.

Statistically speaking, from the Women’s Bureau of the US Department of Labor, although women hold 43% of executive/administrative/managerial professions, they account for less than 3 to 5% of the top executive positions (‘clout titles’ such as CEO, COO, CFO, etc.). And those that made it to the top had to somehow ‘mimic’ the male role model – be single, have no children, and/or have a spouse who stays home (as quoted by Catalyst – NY based non profit research and advisory organization). A bit of trivia here: Fortune’s list of the 50 most powerful women in business in 2007 - four have husbands who don’t work!

But, statistics aside, for those of us women, like myself, who continue to keep the ‘Eve’ factor in us (not single, have children, and don’t have a spouse who stays home) still aspire to take on the traditional ‘Adam’ positions, what do we do to prevail in the game?

Some female professionals have addressed this challenge superficially by developing baby steps to evolve themselves into the male environment: shoulder pads, pantsuits, deeper voice intonations, assertive ‘men’s locker room’ vocabulary. Such efforts to show their male counterparts that they are in the game to the end!

What’s my approach?

More than twenty years of corporate experience has taken me around a myriad of multinationals and some large local Thai conglomerates. I had the luxury of being in a wide array of senior management positions across key business areas such as marketing, operations, corporate affairs, and media relations – all of which allowed me to get access to and get embedded in boardrooms.

Other than golf courses, this is one place that’s a, “if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere” sort of a place. However, there is a price to be paid once you get entry to this room: if you are not prepared to make Attila the Hun your role model of ‘staying power’, you might fall by the way side and get picked up by the coffee lady who comes in at various intervals during the ‘meetings’ to pick up empty cups and saucers as well as ‘depleted’ or ‘obsolete’ executives.

I recall one event, a full day of Thailand business presentations to a global VP at an international bank – something that usually happens in multinationals to remind us to act local but to think global. Therefore, visitors from galactic headquarters were natural events that certainly had repercussions to those who did not understand the nuances of board room presentations – that they can actually be a matter of life and death. Corporate death, at least. I was fortunate enough to have been picked as the first presenter – you know the typical ‘ladies first’ thing, since I was the only female executive in the list to present. I didn’t find out until later in the day that three senior VPs who followed me had their corporate lives shortened and ‘bit the dust’!

And, I reflected. What happened? Was my presentation so much better than the other three and why? And I concluded that the one thing that gave me the staying power was simply that I was thoroughly prepared. More prepared. Preparations that included understanding the subject matter to the nth degree as well as the deep knowledge of the audience – his experiences and perspectives on the subject matter to be presented.

That was the difference.

That’s where perhaps the female factor comes in: simply we have to be just one notch more prepared, do a lot more leg work, a lot more homework, just in order to stand shoulder to shoulder with our male counterpart and be credible. And be noticed. And be heard. And be taken seriously.

Why?

Because, despite living in the new millennium where scientists are contemplating potential life on Mars, some men and interestingly, some women, still believe that women would do better to be adorned with aprons rather than business suits and stay home or take on a less ‘male oriented’ jobs and positions.

So, next time you are privileged to be an audience in a board room with a female executive presenting, watch how she stands confidently at the podium for her presentation clad in her latest Chanel suit and looking totally calm, cool, and confident…stop to think that perhaps this superficial picture perfect vision may be an illusion. The reality is that she’d prepared for this event long before the global visitor knew he was coming to Thailand. So sit back and prepare to enjoy a thoroughly well concocted presentation. She’s ready to go. Are you?