Where are the real seats of power held? Where are the decisions being made that affect us, the consumers in our everyday lives? Who's deciding what we get paid, who gets hired and fired, our benefits, how companies get run? One key place to look is on corporate boards.
Currently only 19% of S&P 500 companies have a woman on their board. And it's an issue I feel very strongly about. Last night we gathered together a group of seriously smart, successful, board qualified women to hear insights and ideas on how they could get recruited for corporate boards. Our speakers were former Goldman Sachs partner Lisa Shalett and Nexus Management founder, Ceci Kurzman. Both are heavy hitters and on some serious boards.
Getting on boards takes work. You have to lobby, you have to position yourself correctly in the public eye, you have to network at the right events, you have to know the recruiters and be on the right lists, and you have to have right skills e.g. tech, finance, marketing. But it can be an incredibly enriching experience for you and your career and is a sure fire way to affect real change from the top.