When Dana first announced The Woman Effect, which recognizes that gender balanced groups produce better results than gender-dominant groups, we noted that this philosophy was informing efforts to improve conditions for even the poorest countries. That was 5 years ago! We asked Jeff to give us an...
Mary Jennings Hegar was an all-American girl from Texas. She had an abusive father, a loving mother and step father, and a dream to fly airplanes in war. She did that, and much more. Reading her memoir, Shoot Like A Girl, was a real treat for someone who explores women in leadership and has a...
There’s a lot of confusion and anxiety running around the Internet these days, and it feels relentless, like we’re drowning in the next big thing every time a text alert comes in. When I started writing this, I was thinking of the Women’s March on Washington (and every other city center) that...
I’m a positive person and the recent election in the U.S. has dealt my positivity a serious blow. But I will do my best to turn it into a lesson we can all learn from. A week ago the world watched as a highly qualified Wellesley and Yale educated public servant, with decades of experience for...
As you may know by now, I’ve been on a research quest to understand why The Woman Effect is helping organizations and economies succeed when there is significant presence of women in leadership. My fourth (and final for now) finding turned out to be a happy surprise. In our search for leadership...
Have you ever heard of Women’s Equality Day? It's August 26th. I’m glad that this day exists. It commemorates the game-changing moment, 95 years ago today, when women gained the constitutional right to vote in the US. It’s important to celebrate that and to remember that there are still many...
There is a quiet leadership revolution going on, a shift in the definition of success from “what” to “how.” In times of major change, the underdog has a strategic opportunity to end up on top. In this revolution, the women-in-leadership underdogs have a unique opportunity to capitalize on it and...
It’s a scene that’s probably familiar to many women who work in an office: a meeting convenes and a male in the group looks to a female and says, “Hey, Jane, how about if you take meeting notes today?” Worse yet, after the meeting adjourns, the majority of the meeting participants leave the room...
Creative Commons "Supergirl” by Ali Zaidan is licensed under CC BY 2.0 The Oscar nominations are all the buzz after last week’s announcements. Even though 2015 saw some very strong roles for women in film (did you see Suffragettes?), as a whole the entertainment industry is still lacking in...
About a month ago, my friend Maureen called me for advice. A young family friend, April, was entering college, and she was getting a lot of pressure to be a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) major from family and teachers. She excelled at math and science, but she loved her English...
