Insights

Making The Invisible Visible

What's preventing progress on women in leadership?

Every C-suite executive says inclusion and diversity are priorities. America’s workforce is filled with accomplished women. However, women are still passed over for the most senior leadership roles with only one in four executives female...

Four hidden barriers getting in our way

Oliver Wyman researchers spoke with more than 160 senior female leaders in business and surveyed more than 300 male and female executives on the gender leadership gap. We uncovered four hidden barriers, each directly affecting a company’s ability to win through talent and build a sustainable culture for all.

1.       Leadership is the same game with different rules

2.       Results do not speak for themselves

3.       Qualified women are unintentionally left on the sidelines

4.       Implicit biases and microaggressions are exhausting

The path forward to breakthrough progress

The report dives into each of the barriers and provided fundamental steps to make real and lasting progress.

  • Make the invisible visible: Be not just aware of the hidden barriers but understand how and where they hijack everyone's best efforts. Only then can something be done about them.
  • Sponsorship, the great equalizer: Everyone who gets to senior leadership had sponsors who made a difference. Sponsors are more than mentors because they lend their own personal credibility and advocate for those they sponsor.

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