News & Media

 

Time to Get On Up

Rebecca Shambaugh advises women on reaching career goals

December 18, 2007
Metro International, Tiffany L. Kilfeather

INTERVIEW. For women who have been searching for a crack in the glass ceiling to get that next promotion, Rebecca Shambaugh, president and CEO of Schambaugh Leadership, recommends looking at your own two feet. In her book, “It’s NOT A Glass Ceiling, It’s A Sticky Floor” (McGraw Hill, $25), Shambaugh outlines the seven “sticky floors” that prevent women from reaching their career goals, and how to fight for what you want — and get it.

What sticky floor do you find women have the most trouble with? Talking with hundreds of women across the country, coaching women, working with women — the one they struggle with the most when moving from manager to leader, leader to executive is the whole sticky floor of perfectionism. We’ve been socialized since girls to be high achievers, which carries over into the work environment.

Do companies often come to you asking to mentor their female employees? There are a number of demands across the world and the country to tap into our research and solutions for women leaders because they see there’s going to be a demand for them as they become a major pipeline for our future leaders. Women are the major consumer in all areas in the United States. There’s more of a calling for a broader spectrum of talents, and women represent a majority of those traits that companies are now seeking out.

What can men get out of reading your book? Men in organizations that have been primarily at the top are finding that a number of people that are going to fill their seats are women. So they’re picking up this book and trying to find better how to meet them where they are at, what their obstacles and assumptions might be. I’ve gotten numerous e-mails and phone calls from men who say “thank you.”

Do you think there’ll ever be a point where women aren’t conditioned early on to develop sticky floors? There will be a point in time for anybody to become more aware. Once we become aware of what these sticky floors are and where we might be stuck, we’ll ultimately create more opportunities. We’ll shift our belief system to know that women are becoming a more important force to really shape our economic and social well-being. I’m not saying women are all stuck, I’m saying women have a lot to offer. Sometimes what hold us back are our beliefs and assumptions.