The Next Generation of Women Leaders: What You Need to Lead But Won’t Learn in Business School. By Selena Rezvani, Praeger (Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC), 183 pp.

 

 

	Author Rezvani to speak at ABA event Selena Rezvani will be the keynote speaker at ABA’s Women’s Leadership Forum March 21. See the box at the end of this article for program details.
	In the author’s words “The advice the interviewees provided had a major impact on me, so much so, in fact, that I found myself doing and seeing things differently immediately afterward. In one situation, I left a morning interview galvanized by what I had heard and set up an afternoon meeting with my boss in which I asked for a substantial raise--a ‘bump up’ that I was later granted. After another interview, I became keenly aware of how often I apologized unnecessarily or diminished the strength of my ideas with statements like, ‘I’m not sure if this is a good idea but’…” —Selena Rezvani

Reviewed by Jane Haskin, president, First Bethany Bank, $172.8 million-assets Bethany, Okla. For other books reviewed by Jane Haskin, see the end of this review.

It doesn’t matter if you are a part of Generation X, Y, or any other generation—if you are a woman banker you will find wisdom in this book that will be helpful to your business career. Those of you on your way up the corporate ladder will benefit from the experience and lessons learned along that journey by female business leaders who have made it to the top jobs in their industries. For those of us with established careers, the book provides good reminders of the tools we need to keep our careers rewarding.

 

 

Tools for getting past barriers
When I began my career in banking 34 years ago, I never dreamt of becoming president of a bank. Not because I didn’t have the educational credentials, but because the simple truth was that, to my knowledge, there were no female bank presidents. 

 

Many of the lessons businesswomen of my generation, the baby boomers, had to figure out for themselves are shared with author Selena Rezvani during her interviews of 30 female CEOs, CFOs, COOs, chairs, presidents, and executive vice-presidents. Next Generation began as an independent study project as part of her MBA program. She was seeking a way to learn from the women who had reached senior positions.

Why is it important for one generation of business leaders to share their experiences with the next generation? As of 2009, women made up 46.5% of the total U.S. workforce, but only 15% of  them were employed as corporate officers with Fortune 500 companies and only 3% were the chief executive officer. The more alarming statistic is the fact these latter two percentages didn’t increase significantly during the three years studied.

I would dare to guess the ratio of women as CEOs within the banking industry compared to the total number of women employed in banking would yield no greater than the 3% for Fortune 500 companies.

What is the reason, after all the advancements women have made over the past 30 years that the top executive jobs in banking are still dominated by men?  There are a variety of reasons, but rather than analyze why these facts exist, Rezvani instead does an excellent job of focusing on the lessons learned by the 30 business leaders interviewed that can be passed on to the next generations to affect change.

Rezvani’s main focus is on the “soft” skills you don’t learn in business school. These skills include how to prepare to lead when leadership opportunities arise. Women, due to multiple roles as mother, wife, and employee, are excellent multi-taskers, but we don’t always acknowledge or understand what an important skill that is in preparing us for leadership in business.

One of the best suggestions for ways to learn leadership skills is by volunteering for non-profit organizations. These volunteer opportunities can teach you how to run meetings and lead groups of volunteers in the completion of a project. It can also provide a platform to develop and practice public speaking skills; basically, all talents that will help prepare you for senior-level management jobs.

Women are generally good communicators, but not as good as men are at networking within the business community. Almost all of the women interviewed noted the huge impact that networking had played in their career advancement. Rezvani provides numerous examples and suggestions of ways to engage in networking.

Women spend a great deal of their lives negotiating while shopping, as well as with their children and spouses. However, they are often timid when it comes to negotiating their own salaries and career advancement. Negotiating can be one of the most important skills impacting how far a women advances in her career. The women interviewed shared their real life experiences in negotiating their own careers, plus Rezvani provides many resources to help you improve your negotiation skills. This is one area of personal development in which all of us can benefit.

	In the author’s words “Silence, though not something we are well accustomed to in American culture, can be one of the greatest negotiation strategies at your disposal. When we are silent, we are not over-promising or under-selling in ways we will later regret. Instead we are giving ourselves the precious gift of time and space. … Silence can have an effect on others as well; for one, it tends to make people uncomfortable. It can make your counterpart share information, restate their position, or try to guess what your position is. Each of these attempts to break the silence put you in a more favorable position.” —Selena Rezvani

Rezvani provides much practical insight into office politics and how to successfully navigate through it to your personal advantage. In any office, large or small, there are unwritten rules and people who have more power than is officially granted through position titles. One of the best suggestions I found was to give yourself six months or longer when starting a new job to become familiar with how the organization functions. This allows time to identify how projects are accomplished and who the decision makers are within the organization. It is also important to know how to indirectly get ideas in front of the decision makers through their trusted advisors.

No book on women and careers would be complete without a chapter on the miraculous job working women do each day to balance work and family responsibilities. Although the balance achieved was unique for each women interviewed, the inner struggle to balance work and family is the one constant for all career women with families. The women interviewed were very open in describing how they personally achieved their own balance, but are quick to acknowledge there are no right or wrong answers to this challenge.

 

 

Genders’ management ratios continue uneven
Banking has always been a wonderful career for women but there is definitely a shortage of women in the top management positions. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission statistics for 2010 in the Finance and Insurance Industries, there were 1,829,610 women employed with 25,234 as executive/senior level officials and managers--1.4%. By contrast, out of 1,245,538 men employed in this sector, 61,673 as executive/senor level officials and managers--nearly 5%.

However, if we all pass on the lessons we have learned in our careers to the next generation of women leaders, maybe it will keep them from having to devote so much time of their time to figuring out the system and instead focusing more on what they need to do to advance their career.

I just hope when young women are deciding their career options that they can visualize and aspire to being president of a bank. I would advise every one of them to read this book to get a head start on a wonderful career in banking.

 

ABA sponsors Women’s Leadership Forum featuring Revzani Are you coming to ABA's Government Relations Summit? If you're a woman in banking, take some extra time to attend the March 21 ABA Women's Leadership Forum, which follows the summit. Over three hours, attendees will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and share challenges faced by other women banking executives. Dorothy Savarese, president and CEO of Cape Code Five Cents Savings Bank, will host the forum. The meeting will feature speeches and discussion including: • Selena Rezvani, author of The Next Generation of Women Leaders: What Your Need to Lead but Won't Learn in Business School. • Janet Bodnar, Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance • Bridgitte Madrian, Aetna Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Management, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. The forum will also feature a special networking reception for women bankers on March 19, the first day of the GR Summit. Open to women CEOs and senior executives in the banking industry. Learn more

Other books reviewed for ABABJ.com by banker Jane Haskin:

• 11 Laws of Likability: Relationship Networking--Because people do business with people they like 

• Smarter, Faster, Cheaper: Non-Boring, Fluff-Free Strategies for Marketing and Promoting Your Business

   

[This article was posted on March 7, 2012, on the website of ABA Banking Journal, www.ababj.com, and is copyright 2012 by the American Bankers Association.]