Why SHAMBAUGH
SHAMBAUGH has more than twenty years of research and success in applying integrated solutions to address today's business leadership challenges.
We're unique thanks to our
- Customized approach
- Proven process
- Peer-to-peer framework
- Long-term solutions
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Letter to the Editor
July 12, 2005Fast Company, Rebecca Shambaugh
I can sympathize with the experience Jory Des Jardins endured as a corporate executive. But I helped found the country's first executive-leadership program for women 12 years ago, and Des Jardin's view that women aren't making it to the top because of a male dominated culture is a limited one.
While it's true that women represent more than half the workforce but just some 12% of all executive positions, the fact is that women are too often holding themselves back. It's not so much a glass ceiling as it is a "sticky floor."
We've learned that women frequently fail to focus on the overall corporate picture, instead believing they will be judged solely on their work. They're also often victims of an abundance of modesty, which propels them to downplay their power - the very thing needed in a strong executive. Only when women acknowledge their own personal strategic failures will they ascend, in droves, to the corner office.
Rebecca Shambaugh
McLean, Virginia