Diversity Fatigue?

Catalyst, the pioneering women's research organization, is now 45 years old and losing ground in making a difference for executive women hoping to breakthrough the glass ceiling.

Broadening its membership may have something to do with Catalyst's kinder and gentler middle-aged doldrums.  The nonprofit has increased its membership to more than 340 multinationals, including Amgen, Dell, FedEx and Whirlpool, all four of which have no women among their top-paid corporate officers.  Each pays $10,000 to $100,000 or more annually, in part to associate themselves with the Catalyst name.  Perhaps, in serving its broad base of members, Catalyst is becoming fatter and, if not happier, less than a forceful change agent in helping executive women move up the corporate ladder.

Women in Corporate America are losing ground in breaking into the Men's Leadership Club and are dramatically underrepresented at the highest levels of business.  The percentage in corporate officer and director positions fell, to 15.6% and 14.6%, respectively, from 16.4% and 14.7% according to a short report of America's 500 largest companies posted on Catalyst's website.   

Former Catalyst president Sheila Wellington points out that when it comes to looking for top women at each company, "there's a lot of power in the word 'none.'" 

The day before Jeffrey R. Immelt became chairman of General Electric Co. in 2001, he told BusinessWeek that he'd cringed at a photo in The New York Times showing no women among GE's top 31 officers.  "It haunted all of us."  Immelt consulted with Catalyst, got more women into the senior ranks and, in 2004, won a Catalyst Award. 

Don't look to Catalyst to help spot the worst corporate offenders today.  Current president Ilene H. Lang says, "We're not in the shame game.  We don't find that publicly embarrassing people achieves anything."

Source: BusinessWeek, April 16, 2007   

Perhaps, some of the women executives you know are ready to start doing things slightly different in order to achieve the success they deserve.  These days, they are not alone.

  John Agno: Women and Time 

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