Programs Help Women Take the Lead

Workforce Management

Not since the 1970s and 1980s has there been such a push to help women find their way into the C-suite. With a record number of women earning college degrees, such programs are critical in making more cracks in the glass ceiling. By Rita Pyrillis
Workforce Management, January 2011, p. 3-4

Advertising account manager Samantha Reeb-Wilson is clear-eyed about her strengths and weaknesses. She recognizes that honing her negotiating skills will likely accelerate her career. And at age 31, with 10 years of advertising agency experience behind her, she’s ready for the next step.
So when she learned about a new women’s leadership program at Barnard College in New York City, her alma mater, she signed up for a seminar on persuasive argument. “In my role we try to figure out the best way to solve a client’s business problem, and that requires laying out an argument and defending it,” says Reeb-Wilson, whose employer, ad agency McGarryBowen, footed her tuition bill. “It’s hard to find a program where you can learn those kinds of skills. I’ve run into many that focus on project management or financial fluency for women, but I have that. I need more powerful skills, like having a presence in a room.”
Female-focused leadership development programs—such as the Athena Leadership Lab at Barnard College, which was launched last fall and offers workshops costing $199 to $799—are flourishing. Among the schools offering leadership programs for women: Babson College in Babson Park, Massachusetts; Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts; Harvard Business School in Boston; Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois; and Simmons College, also in Boston.

Full Story: http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/hr-management/programs-help-women-take-lead/index.php