Why Women Mean Business Understanding the

Why Women Mean Business takes the economic arguments for change to the heart of the corporate world. This powerful new book analyses the opportunities available to companies that really understand what motivates women in the workplace and the marketplace. The book: Looks at how companies that learn to adapt to women will be better able to respond to the challenge of an ageing workforce and the demands of the next generation of knowledge workers Examines why many current approaches to gender have not worked and why we need a new perspective Compares policies and approaches in countries around the world, with surprising results Offers companies and managers a step-by-step guide on how to use gender to drive their growth strategies Gender is a business issue, not a 'women's issue'. The optimisation of women's talents will boost the bottom line. Taking action to achieve this will require sustained courage and conviction from today's corporate leaders. But this is an opportunity not to be missed.

AVIVAH WITTENBERG-COX is CEO of 20-First, one of Europe’s leading gender consultancies. 20-First works with progressive companies interested in building gender ‘bilingual’ organisations that capture the opportunities offered by the other half of the talent pool and the other half of the market – the female half. The firm’s renowned Bilingual Leadership programmes help executives – men and women - manage difference more effectively.

Avivah is also the Founder and Honorary President of the European Professional Women’s Network (www.EuropeanPWN.net), a certified executive coach and was a Visiting Coach at INSEAD. She is a popular speaker on leadership and gender issues across Europe and has had articles and interviews published in publications such as the International Herald Tribune and the Financial Times. Canadian, French and Swiss. In 2007, ELLE Magazine recognised her as one of the TOP 40 Women Leading Change. She lives in France with her husband and gender balanced children (a son and a daughter).

ALISON MAITLAND is an independent journalist and commentator who has been researching and writing about women in business for a decade. She spent 20 years with the Financial Times, including eight years as Management Writer. Her other specialist areas are leadership and corporate responsibility.

Alison is a Senior Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Management at Cass Business School, City University, London. She is a conference speaker and moderator and she directs the Work-Life & Diversity Council of The Conference Board Europe. She served on the advisory group for the Equal Opportunities Commission’s 2007 investigation into the Transformation of Work. She lives in the UK with her husband and two daughters.

Foreword	p. xiii
Preface	p. xv
Acknowledgements	p. xxi
Womenomics	p. 1
Guarantors of growth	p. 1
The strategic side of the gender divide	p. 6
Opportunity cost	p. 9
Valuing difference	p. 12
Becoming "gender-bilingual"	p. 15
Declining demographics is not destiny	p. 18
21st century forces: weather, women, web	p. 22
Most of the Talent	p. 27
The "talent wars" are here	p. 28
Female brainpower	p. 30
Under-used talent	p. 34
The role of business schools	p. 36
Tapping into the pool	p. 39
Recruiting: making women welcome	p. 40
Retaining: structural repairs needed	p. 44
Promoting: return on investment	p. 57
Building better boards	p. 62
Legislating solutions - the controversial quota	p. 65
Much of the Market	p. 73
Purchasing power - beyond parity	p. 75
Female finances	p. 77
Sex and segmentation	p. 85
The many faces of marketing to women	p. 89
Shut-your-eyes	p. 90
Marginalise	p. 93
Specialise	p. 94
Prioritise	p. 96
Becoming "Bilingual", What Companies Can Do	p. 103
A fresh look at traditional approaches to gender	p. 103
Equal and different	p. 107
Diversity dilemmas	p. 110
Recognise that "best" is biased	p. 113
Surprising sectors	p. 119
A new approach to gender	p. 120
Understand the starting point	p. 120
Personalise the conversation	p. 124
Manage the metaphors - the power of vocabulary and vision	p. 126
The building blocks of bilingualism	p. 130
"Getting it": top management commitment	p. 131
Management bilingualism: proactively managing difference	p. 132
Empowering women: the knowledge and networks to succeed	p. 133
Banning bias: identifying and eliminating systemic bias from corporate systems and processes	p. 134
Seven Steps to Successful Implementation	p. 141
Key success factors	p. 141
Awaken your leadership team	p. 143
Define the business case	p. 148
Let people express resistance	p. 151
Make it a business issue, not a women's issue	p. 155
Make changes before making noise	p. 162
Don't mix up the messages	p. 166
Give it a budget, not just volunteers	p. 170
Culture Counts, What Countries Can Do	p. 183
Making bosses and babies	p. 183
Best and worst: surprising results	p. 187
Imperfect deal in America	p. 199
Continents of contrast	p. 206
Public policy pull, private sector push	p. 212
Figuring Out Females	p. 223
What companies need to know about women	p. 223
Discomfort with "politics"	p. 225
The conversations that matter	p. 236
Careers are not straight lines	p. 238
Ambition	p. 242
Culture shock	p. 244
Self-affirmation	p. 252
The lure of entrepreneurship	p. 256
Alternative views of "power"	p. 258
Sex, success and the media	p. 259
Change agents on their own terms	p. 264
Tomorrow's Talent Trends... Today, "Women-Friendly" Means "People-Friendly"	p. 271
New models of work	p. 273
Fathers count too	p. 277
Technology as enabler	p. 280
The value of "grey" brainpower	p. 285
Making the most of the "Me" generation	p. 291
The future is already here	p. 296
Conclusion, From Better Business to a Better World?	p. 301
New voices, new choices	p. 302
New measures of success	p. 306
A challenge for business	p. 309
Index	p. 317
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Why Women Mean Business Understanding the Emergence of Our Next Economic Revolution

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