The Power of Sponsorship
I often hear that women need more mentorship from men and women leaders to advance their careers. While this is true, women need more than mentorship alone. Women need sponsorship, too! Mentorship vs. sponsorship What is the difference between “mentorship” and “sponsorship”? There are a few critical distinctions between the roles. Mentorship is about advising. They help by guiding behind the scenes. Sponsorship, on the other hand, is about acting. Sponsors support individuals they believe in by publicly advocating them when they are not in the room. In her Harvard Business Review article, organizational behaviour expert Herminia Ibarra succinctly describes the difference between sponsorship and mentorship. She writes, “While [...]
The Power of Connection
Did you know the power of connection can be a one of the most effective paths to accomplishing your goals in business and beyond? Specifically, the path to success is authentic connection with people in your network. However, the very idea of networking and connection can be intimidating. The good news is that connection doesn’t just happen at awkward events. In fact, it is happening right now, everywhere—online, at work, and in your social life. Even when we are not consciously networking, we are still connecting. Meaningful connections can happen anywhere, from a virtual conference, to a LinkedIn post, to the person next to you in your yoga class. The question [...]
Elevating Your Board Effectiveness: Emotional Intelligence in the Boardroom
In my 20th year of serving on corporate boards, I wrote a blog called “Emotional Intelligence in the Board Room.” Today, I am writing about the topic once again as the second blog in my “Elevating Your Board Effectiveness” series. If you haven’t yet, you can read the first blog in the series here: “Finding Your Voice in the Board Room.” The reason that I am reintroducing the topic of emotional intelligence is that in my decades of board service, I have observed that emotional intelligence is one of the most important and least discussed boardroom skills. What is emotional intelligence? According to Daniel Goleman, the American psychologist who [...]
Elevating Your Board Effectiveness: Finding Your Voice in the Boardroom
When corporate board have gender diversity, businesses see better results. For example, a Canadian study of 6,000 boards found that gender-balanced boards have more varied viewpoints and lead to higher effectiveness and decreased financial irregularities. That’s why Women Get On Board’s mandate is to connect, promote and empower women to corporate boards. I am pleased to announce that to further Women Get On Board’s mandate, I am launching a new blog series called Elevating Your Board Effectiveness. Building on my e-book “How to Get Yourself On a Board”, the Elevating Your Board Effectiveness series will provide practical insights, intelligence and tools to empower women with the skills and confidence to lead and serve on boards. Today’s blog [...]
How to Get Yourself on a Board: Ace Your Board Interview
By Deborah Rosati, FCPA, FCA, ICD.D According to a Harvard Business Review article called “Research: When Women Are on Boards, Male CEOs Are Less Overconfident”, having more women on boards yields better results for shareholders because “having female board members helps temper the overall confidence of male CEOs, improving overall decision making for the company.” Women Get On Board supports the findings of this study: having more women on boards leads to better results for the businesses they represent. That is why our mandate is to connect, promote, and empower more women to corporate boards. It’s also why I am sharing my board advice in this 4-part series [...]
How to Get Yourself on a Board: Get Board Interviews
In recent years, businesses have begun to realize that gender diversity on boards makes a big difference. For example, one study of 6,000 boards found that gender-balanced boards are less likely to have financial irregularities because having different viewpoints and opinions leads to increased effectiveness. Women Get On Board’s mandate is to connect, promote, and empower women to corporate boards. We do this through an engaged community of women and men in Canada committed to advancing gender diversity in the boardroom. However, as I wrote in my blog post called “Are You Board-Ready”, “getting yourself board-ready is a journey where you need to be realistic in your skills, [...]