Women have taken on top leadership roles in major corporations since the 1990s with a few pioneers becoming part of the top tier team in the 1980s. A historical event was recently reported in The Wall Street Journal (Power Couple: Meet the Sister CEOs For the First Time, Two Sisters Will Run Big Companies: Writing Big Brother’s Review, July 18, 2011 by Joann S. Lublin) where for the first time two sisters have taken on the top job in major corporations.
It is 2011 and has it really taken decades for more than one woman in one family to experience this kind of success? Apparently so.
On the way to the top
Breaking the glass ceiling was one of the main reason that droves of women got business and other degrees and started making headway into the professional workplace starting in the late 1980s. The 1990s saw professional women making strides in leadership roles in companies like eBay and Hewlett Packard. Since the start of 2000, women seem to have lost steam and by some reports have lost ground on the way up the corporate ladder.
Reported findings show that many women just didn’t encounter the distinct advantage of career development given to men by their companies. Many companies do not watch for proven track records of women at the middle management level and as such, do not include programs that would help them get over the next promotion hurdle.
Meet the CEO Sisters
The two CEOs featured in the WSJ article were Denis Morrison, Campbell Soup’s next chief executive officer and her sister, Maggie Wilderotter, CEO of Frontier Communications. Both women are in their mid to late 50s and have had great successes throughout their careers.
The article provided examples of siblings “holding powerful corporate posts” that included two brothers or a brother and a sister. There was a second side bar to the article reporting that “The children of wealthy, well-educated white parents with few offspring and an intact marriage have a better chance for success.”
The two sisters profiled in the article are thirteen months apart in age and are the eldest of four daughters all of whom are executives. Their father was an AT&T executive who talked with all of his daughters about business while they were still in elementary school.
More Case Studies Needed to Encourage Women to the Top in Corporations
Women need more case studies and stories like this to help motivate them to keep trying for the top spots. Unfortunately, success stories of women succeeding in business have been few and far between, especially in the past decade.
Resources:
The Wall Street Journal (Coaching Urged for Women, Joann S. Lublin, Monday, April 4, 2011).
The Wall Street Journal (Wealth, Education Play Role in Producing Super Siblings, Joann S. Lublin, Monday, April 4, 2011)
