Hi Jen, do you have a good article on how gender diverse boards are more successful (or their companies?) I’d love to share some empirical evidence about this with a client of my firm.  M. Read More

A new report by the Law Society of NSW was launched in Sydney yesterday by The Honourable Justice Julie Ward, putting the advancement of women in the legal profession under the spotlight. Unfortunately much of its findings read like another how-to guide for “fixing the women”; whereas very little has been said about the culture and leadership that fails to fully harness the value and opportunity that women lawyers present.   Read More

The long awaited bi-annual census results of women in leadership roles in Australia have been released today by EOWA, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency.  Following a downward trend in almost every category in the 2008 results, the 2010 census results have been eagerly awaited.  The good news is the downward trend appears to have been arrested; the bad news is despite comprising 45% of the Australian labour force, women hold only 8% of key executive management roles, 3% of CEO roles, 8.4% of company director roles and 2.5% of ASX200 Chairs. Read More

New research by Goldman Sachs JBWere finds that whilst some progress has been made in Australia towards gender equality, we’re still have two thirds to go. And the estimated value for closing the gender equity gap is 11%! Read More

An executive level survey by the Australian Human Resources Institute has confirmed that Australian businesses are investing in flexible employee arrangements since the introduction of the Fair Work Act, with 71% of respondents reporting that flexible workings arrangement requests are taken seriously. Read More

One definition of insanity is to do the same thing again and again and expect a different result.  If we want more women in senior leadership positions we need to take a different approach. The current one isn’t working.  We’ve repeatedly called on Board Directors and C-suite executives to act on the strong business case for appointing more female colleagues, with minimal impact.  The 2009 Catalyst Census of Fortune 500 Women Board Directors revealed that less than one fifth of companies have three or more women on their boards, and more than 40 percent have no women directors whatsoever. Read More

Work life balance is talked about a lot these days. Whether its study leave to flexible working hours, or shorter days for new dads to job sharing there are lots of innovative ideas floating around that can benefit employees and the businesses they work for. I got a sneak peek at some brand new findings at the Women Management and Work conference. But it seems all this discussion is not enough, with the Australian Work Life Index (AWALI) and the University of South Australia publishing the results of a four year comparative study from a large sample of working Australians finding that our work life interference is getting worse.
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I’m pretty sure most of us have worked with, or worse, worked for a person with poor self-awareness. Isn’t it difficult? Whether it’s outright poor behavior or something subtler like asking questions in a way that prescribes and limits the possible answers, I think self-awareness is critical in achieving a rewarding career.  Read More

Last week we had a preview of what is headed our way with the August Ascend Development days, with a free article from Ken Wright, a people management whiz and a prize winning author. Registrations are rolling in every week for Ascend so if you haven’t booked yet, do it now or risk missing out. Read More

The Palladium Group is a global market leader in strategy execution management and conduct annual surveys to gather expertise in strategy, corporate performance management and business intelligence. Last year, the Palladium Group in partnership with Monash University conducted the first of a series of annual surveys, focused on the links between strategy and operational performance in public and private sector organisations across the Asia Pacific region. This survey clarified the critical importance of strategy execution to the operational performance and survival of a host of companies during the recession.  Read More