Women in Business

Article: Women's conference stresses leadership

Nice article on our recent Women's Leadership Conference in The Acorn:
Women's conference stresses leadership

Shards of crystal, symbolizing the breaking of the glass barrier that keeps women from top level corporate jobs, served as an apt emblem for the recent Academy Women's Leadership Conference.

Printed on conference brochures and notebooks, the logo represented the difficulty women often face when trying to break into the top echelons of corporate America.

Although most of the conference's keynote speakers were female, a panel of male executives also offered insights into business management.

The organizers and panelists at the Sherman Oaks conference shared wisdom, strategies and stories of their rise to top jobs without having compromised their core values.

Lois Phillips, a management consultant, conference speaker and co-author of "Women Seen and Heard: Lessons Learned from Successful Speakers," and Fran Lotery, a consultant, executive coach, speaker and co-author of "Live Inside Out-Not Upside Down," co-chaired the event.

Marcy Carsey, a producer best known for hit television shows such as "The Cosby Show," "Roseanne," "Grace Under Fire" and "That '70s Show," and founding partner with Oprah Winfrey of the Oxygen network, was among the 11 keynote speakers.

Phillips  discussed  leadership with  Carsey  and  Patty DeDominic, CEO of two companies-PDQ Careers  and  Executive Search.

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Dickstein Shapiro Paper Examines 'Women Leaders and The Bottom Line'

Thought this press release worthy of passing along:

Dickstein Shapiro Paper Examines 'Women Leaders and The Bottom Line'

WASHINGTON, April 24 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP has recently published a white paper, titled "Women Leaders and the Bottom Line," which focuses on the correlation between women leaders and improved financial performance at corporations. Authored by top women leaders from the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro, the white paper highlights several studies that demonstrate the positive impact of women leaders on financial performance and, most notably, describes why the focus of the "women in the workplace" debate needs to shift from the challenges that women leaders face to the positive financial impacts of women leaders on businesses.

"There is significant attention on women in the workplace, but the focus must be on the proven ways women leaders improve financial performance and provide companies with a competitive advantage. As seen in other major business revolutions, such as the adoption of technology and globalization, striving for a competitive advantage is the impetus behind change," said Robin Cohen, Managing Partner of Dickstein Shapiro's New York office and co-author of the white paper. "Although the social reasons behind gender diversity are important, major business decisions are most often based on return and profitability."

Studies by organizations such as Catalyst, Glass Ceiling Research, and IVEY School of Business demonstrate that companies with more women leaders in their organizations have significantly higher returns to shareholders, higher returns on equity, and higher profitability than similar companies with fewer women at the top.

"This is not a men versus women issue. It is a discussion about what makes the best business sense for companies today," said Linda Kornfeld, Managing Partner of Dickstein Shapiro's Los Angeles office and co-author of the white paper. "Brilliance knows no gender, and organizations that recognize this point will benefit from better leaders and a competitive advantage."

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Lawyers seek roots of slow partner pace for women.

Interesting piece by Shari Qualters in the Boston Business Journal:

Lawyers seek roots of slow partner pace for women.

The Massachusetts legal industry is taking steps to shore up its ranks of female partners in the wake of recent findings indicating the number of women on the partner track has stagnated.

As female law school enrollments edge close to the 50 percent mark -- up from 20 percent in 1974 and 40 percent in 1985, according to the American Bar Association -- Boston's largest firms report female partnership percentages in the mid-teens to the 25 percent range. A number of firms are sufficiently worried about attrition in the ranks of up-and-coming females to change policies and add support systems in an effort to keep them on the partner track.

read the rest on the site.