preventing the female brain drain

Preventing the Female Brain Drain

Marcia Reynolds

© 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/ert.20315

When I interviewed Judy in 2006, she hadheld her vice president position in a

fast-growing tech firm in Northern Californiafor less than a year. It was her fifth position inless than 20 years, including partner in twoBig Four accounting firms in San Franciscoand New York, director of international taxpolicy for a major telecommunications com-pany, and a congressional lobbyist positionthat had her making presentations to powerbrokers in Europe. She told me, “I reach satu-ration. About three years into the job, I beginto feel as if I’ve ‘been there, done that,’ and Ijust feel that I have to move on. I know thereis something more out there for me to do.”

I met Julie last year. She went from beinga celebrated marine biologist to an interna-tional sales executive to a management consultant and is currently on the boards ofseveral performing arts organizations in amajor city while raising her daughter andcontemplating her next career move. Sheholds three degrees from Stanford, crossingover from biology to business. Her passionbrought her great success, but she couldn’tsay that it had brought her contentment.With each accomplishment, she asked her-self, “Is this all there is?” and then went onto find something more. Yet, she jumped offthe ladder not because she wanted to be afull-time mother. She told me she had beentaught to raise her hand at every opportunity.Now for the first time in her life, she is ques-tioning what she is raising her hand for.

In my three decades of training andcoaching high-achieving women, I havenoticed an evolution in their needs anddesires. In the past, my female clients longedfor life balance; now they get bored if theirplate isn’t full of new and exciting challengeswhere they can showcase their skills. Notlong ago they were desperate to overcometheir fears of being “found out”; now theywant help laying out a clear career path sothey can quit making brash decisions. Theyused to ask for assertiveness skills; now theyare looking for ways to better formulate theirwords so people will quit questioning themand get on board with their ideas. Womenstill face inequities in the workplace and dif-ficulties juggling their many responsibilities.Yet something has changed in the womenthemselves—the way they approach life, theway they work, and the way they relent-lessly show up even when they aren’t surewhat they are showing up for.

Yet, from my research and my experienceworking with leaders internationally, I havefound few organizational leaders who under-stand this emerging mind-set in their smart,strong, top-talent women. Even the bookswritten to tell women what they should andshouldn’t do to succeed at work are based onold assumptions. With no guidelines avail-able, managers are ill equipped to developand retain these women.

As a result, many high-achieving womenin organizations today have their résumés

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Employment Relations Today

ready to use once the economy turns aroundand job opportunities increase. Either theywill job hop or they will hop off the ladderaltogether to start their own businesses. Ibelieve the rise in new women-owned busi-nesses demonstrates that high-achievingwomen are looking at corporations as a train-ing ground for self-employment rather thanas providers of long-term careers. If you donot engage your high-achieving women today,you will likely lose them next year whenopportunities start to open up.

WOMEN LEADERS MEAN GOOD BUSINESS

Recent studies demonstrate that it makesgood sense to have women share the topleadership roles with men in most

organizations. According to analysts in boththe United States and Europe, the morewomen in a company’s senior managementteam, the less its share price fell in 2008/09.1

In another study spanning 19 years, Pepper-dine University found that Fortune 500 com-panies with the best record of promotingwomen outperformed their competitors byanywhere from 41 to 116 percent.2 McKinseyalso did a global study that showed a signifi-cant difference in the financial performanceof companies that have women in at least athird of the senior management positions.3

Yet women still lag behind men inadvancement and compensation. The HarvardBusiness Review found women representingjust 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs and less

Marcia ReynoldsEmployment Relations Today DOI 10.1002/ert

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than 15 percent of corporate executives at topcompanies worldwide.4 Many feel that thesedismal numbers reflect a need to force theissue. Northern European countries arerequiring quotas to put women in the board-room. Finland demands that CEOs publiclyexplain why they lack women at the top ifthe numbers are low.

Using quotas or public humiliation willnot resolve the issue of retaining women.These policies may open doors that shouldhave been opened a long time ago. Theycould give women a chance to change thesystem once they are in positions of power.However, these policies won’t change the factthat many of the best female talent choose tostay in positions below the glass ceiling, orthey don’t stay long enough in one organiza-tion to earn the top spots. Then after a num-ber of years “wandering” from job to job ororganization to organization, they leave thecorporate world altogether to start their ownbusinesses as they search for something theycan’t quite define.

In the next few years, half the babyboomers will have retired, leaving millions of positions requiring college degrees to befilled. That gap will keep getting bigger.Highly educated employees will be in hugedemand. With women earning moreadvanced degrees than men, the gap will beharder to fill if organizations can’t attract andkeep their top-talent women.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH WOMEN’SDEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS?

You would think these studies would promptcompanies to do whatever they can to retaintop-talent women, but the reverse has provento be true. A 2009 study of 376 organizationsworldwide found that 50 percent more men

With women earning more advanced degreesthan men, the gap will be harder to fill if orga-nizations can’t attract and keep their top-talentwomen.

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get special attention than women, includingmentoring and attending “high-potential pro-grams” designed to transition them intohigher-level jobs.5 To compensate for the lackof women in senior positions, some compa-nies provide special programs to developwomen to be leaders. Unfortunately, many ofthese programs are designed more to “fix” thewomen than to develop them. They focus on“women’s issues,” such as enhancing theircommunications skills and giving them tipson how to better cope with work-life imbal-ance. Few provide the advanced businessskills the women need to be successful in the ranks with global executives.

The result—instead of fighting to climb thecorporate ladder, the women choose zigzag-ging career paths to get the experience theyneed. In 2004, the Center for Work-Life Pol-icy asked 2,443 working women with gradu-ate or professional degrees how their careerswere progressing. Nearly 40 percent said they were planning to leave their jobs to eitherfurther their education or make a careerchange. Fifty-two percent of the women withMBAs said they were planning to leavebecause they found their work was no longerenjoyable or significantly challenging.6 Sothey decided the best thing would be to moveon. They did not lose their ambition. Theyfelt their ambition was not valued or it wasunderutilized. A common mantra I hear inmy coaching sessions is “it’s not worth it anymore.”

Therefore, if companies want to keep theirbest female performers in the pipeline, theyshould look at how they develop womenearly on. In addition to providing trainingand follow-on coaching in senior leadershipskills, HR needs to offer ample tuition reim-bursement and encouragement to furthertheir learning. These offerings should not be

Preventing the Female Brain DrainEmployment Relations Today DOI 10.1002/ert

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given as perks but as a part of the overallbusiness strategy.

Also, with few female role models in lead-ership positions, the women need breadth aswell as depth of knowledge. It is critical toprovide women with mentors to help themunderstand power brokering in your organiza-tion. In addition to personal guidance, thewomen need to network with each other.Create a platform where top-talent womencan come together with each other and withthe current female leaders. Most male leadersdo not understand the perspective and leader-ship styles women bring to the table. If thewomen can work with each other to betterstrategize their career and project plans, they

will be better equipped to deal with the lackof understanding they encounter.

DEVELOP THE CULTURE, TOO

Although women want a good life for them-selves and their families, they value the dailyexperience of work above titles and money.Therefore, if they are used to using tradi-tional compensation models, managers willstruggle with motivating high-achievingwomen. I’m not talking about helping womenjuggle family and work responsibilities,though both men and women have this issue.I’m talking about what high-achievingwomen need even more than men to fullycommit to their work.

I interviewed and surveyed 100 corporatewomen in the United States that fit the

It is critical to provide women with mentors tohelp them understand power brokering in yourorganization. In addition to personal guidance,the women need to network with each other.


profile of “high-achieving” for WanderWoman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction.7 I found that morethan traditional incentives of compensationand future promotion, these women prizeboth “motion and meaning” in their work.Instead of playing it safe, they crave frequentnew challenges to conquer. They love beingbusy and hate feeling bored. They want to bevalued, respected, and recognized and willwork hard to deserve it. They struggle whenthey feel pigeonholed, underutilized, micro-managed, slowed down, and ignored.

Additionally, they long for quality relation-ships. Contrary to popular belief that womentalk behind each other’s backs and will sabo-tage each other’s careers if given the chance, intoday’s workplace women prefer collaboration

over competition. They are fueled by teamsof people focused on innovation and achieve-ment and love solving the toughest problems.Combine this tendency for connection withthe female propensity to have a broader focuson issues than men do, and an organizationwould do well to have teams of high-performingwomen assigned to going after their bestopportunities.

WHAT WOMEN WANT AT WORK

Women typically have a high capacity toadapt if they want to, but the women wholeave companies are choosing not to adapt. If the workplace doesn’t support their needs,they are choosing to move on. If they stay


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during a down economy, they spend timeplanning their next move. Their disdain for“giving in” eventually overrides their fear ofnot finding another job.

To retain top-talent women, employersmust ensure that these employees will feelengaged both personally and by the design ofhow work gets done. Although the followingsuggestions may also apply to engaging malehigh achievers—especially the younger generations—they are strikingly true when itcomes to inspiring goal-driven women.

These five organizational practices requirecultural shifts in the organization. However,if these shifts in leadership practices andwork design are not made, it’s likely the lead-ership pool of talented, competent, and fullycommitted women will remain thin. To cre-ate organizations where women will flourish,they need (1) frequent new challenges; (2) meaningful missions; (3) recognition fortheir achievements and their contribution tothe organization; (4) creative, collaborativeworking environments; and (5) flexible workschedules.

Frequent, New Challenges

Today’s high-achieving women want auton-omy, new challenges, and a chance to shineon their own in a reasonable amount of time.They don’t apply for jobs; they seek opportu-nities. Once they earn a position, they aim toquickly accomplish their goals and just asquickly look around the corner for the nextopportunity, which could be in the samecompany if there is space to grow.

The dark side of this drive for frequent,new challenges is that the women areplagued by a subtle yet constant feeling ofrestlessness. This “soulful agitation” leadsthem to accomplish great things, but it leaves

Women typically have a high capacity to adaptif they want to, but the women who leave com-panies are choosing not to adapt. If the work-place doesn’t support their needs, they arechoosing to move on.

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them aching for what’s missing. They con-stantly question the value of their jobs, thedefinition of their purpose, the certainty oftheir identity, and their roles as wives, moth-ers, and sisters. Yet, they still feel justified inkeeping their lives in motion.

It wasn’t until I began writing my bookthat I found myself calling these women“wander women.” The urge to move, men-tally if not physically, is lodged in their souls.If they don’t geographically move, they seekto change the landscape with new projectsand responsibilities, including a wide varietyof volunteer commitments.

Therefore, it is critical to help managersprovide top-talent women with new and com-plex challenges where they can learn andgrow. Never assume their outside responsibil-ities will get in the way of a demanding newtask. Let them make that decision. Then workwith their managers to create flexible workschedules so they have the opportunity to besuccessful. If expectations are clear, theywon’t disappoint their leaders.

In accordance with good delegation, man-agers need to give their top-talent womencontrol over the processes and decisionsrelated to their tasks as much as possible.They need to feel they have the power toimplement what they plan. Also, they needthe authority to talk to stakeholders to negoti-ate actions. If they are missing informationthat will help them succeed, provide mentor-ing so they can develop their business acu-men. They will report their progress asagreed to and respond to issues promptly.They learn fast from their mistakes. However,watch that managers don’t overload their topwomen because they can be counted on forresults. These women love to give outstand-ing performances. They love to feel trusted toperform. Yet if they are given too many


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assignments and responsibilities, they wouldrather look for another job than face failure.

Encourage their managers to ask themhow they are feeling about their work and ifthey need any resources to get their workdone. They often struggle with asking forhelp. Even when they ask to figure out aproblem on their own, they still appreciatewhen their managers check in to see whetherthey need any additional support.

A Meaningful Mission

Top-talent women want to be a part of some-thing that feels bigger than their individualtasks. They will eventually disengage if theydon’t see how their work fits into a broader,more significant context. They struggle withcommitting to a monetary goal or a drive

solely focused on beating out competitors.Even if the products are not that meaningfulin the bigger scheme of life, they want towork for companies that care for theiremployees, respect the environment, and sup-port their local communities. They will aligntheir energies with profit-centered goalswhen they can see the evidence of their goodwork in the world. If work is meaningful,they are likely to both stay longer with acompany and share how excited they areabout their work with the world.

Additionally, growth of an organization isnot a motivating goal for most women. Theyneed to know the purpose of growth—howwill the growth serve to achieve their

Top-talent women want to be a part of some-thing that feels bigger than their individualtasks. They will eventually disengage if theydon’t see how their work fits into a broader,more significant context.


mission? I remember sitting with the execu-tive team of the last company I worked forwhen the CEO declared his vision to be having the organization grow to become a$200-million company. Being in charge of the cultural change in the organization, Iasked what the growth would mean to theemployees—that is, what great things wouldwe be able to do in the world when we grewto the size to support his vision? He looked atme blankly for a few seconds and then pro-ceeded to discuss the product-developmentplan. Afterward, my boss, the VP of HR, reprimanded me for not getting on boardwith the vision.

In the book The Female Vision,8 SallyHelgesen and Julie Johnson define a numberof ways organizations can come to honor the

wide-ranging perspectives women have tooffer and how to help them find work thatfeels worthy of their time and effort. Leadersmust learn how to truly integrate whatwomen value about work to realize the com-pany’s potential.

Acknowledgment of Their Contribution and Value

While they love working on new challengesthat have value, women want to be acknowl-edged in the process. Their sense of contribu-tion to the organization is as important tothem as their paycheck. They need to knowhow well they did in relation to the peoplethey touch, whether those individuals are


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their direct reports, their peers, or their cus-tomers. They need to know when they makean impact and that others value their input.

This acknowledgment needs to be contin-ual because their personal sense of contribu-tion is fleeting. Once they finish a task, theyare quickly on to the next. There’s alwaysanother project to master and another crisis toresolve. Therefore, they need management to help them stop and reflect on their impact.Otherwise, this sense will get lost as theyswim in a sea of assignments.

One of the greatest complaints of high-achieving women is that they don’t get theacknowledgment they feel they deserve. Theymay need to learn to ask for it more often.However, the return on the investment of thetime it takes to recognize their efforts by boththeir leaders and by human resources is wellworth the payoff.

This doesn’t mean the women want morerecognition than anyone else. They prefer towork for companies that have a culture ofrecognition, where acknowledgment of bothperformance and contribution is the norm.Recognition can be as simple as a personalcomment or written note praising an actionor accomplishment and the impact it had.Additionally, public recognition demonstratesto everyone what behavior is valued. Don’tjust recognize results; make sure managersshow appreciation for creativity, inclusive-ness, optimism, and determination, even ifresults did not turn out as expected. It shouldbecome common practice for people to stopand admire each other’s work.

Managers can also recognize their employ-ees by knowing them—knowing their talentsand personal goals. This shows you careabout their future. This is critical in develop-ing loyalty. Similarly, for top-talent women,know their current strengths and frustrations

One of the greatest complaints of high-achievingwomen is that they don’t get the acknowledg-ment they feel they deserve. They may need tolearn to ask for it more often.

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and what they want in the future. If awoman isn’t clear about what she wants forher career, help her envision a possiblefuture. Then offer support as she moves for-ward on this path.

A Creative and Collaborative Environment

In his book Born to Be Good,9 Dacher Keltner,director of the Social Interaction Laboratoryat the University of California–Berkeley,claims that the survival of humanity is not“survival of the fittest” (or strongest). Thisphenomenon might be true for individuals orsmall groups, but the longevity of companies,communities, cities, countries, and empires isactually due to our remarkable tendenciestoward playfulness, cooperation, generosity,respect, and a desire to contribute to a com-mon goal. It is our need for belonging, ourneed to have people care about us, and ourneed to build communities for safety andconnection that sustain our existence. If thisis true, then it makes sense that women arerising out of the current economic chaos weare experiencing. As conventional systemsbreak down and the progressive cultures arebased on open-source creation and produc-tion communities, companies that have astrong percentage of female leaders will sur-vive and thrive where others may die.

The need for top-talent women will inten-sify as we move forward into the future. In A Whole New Mind,10 Daniel Pink describesthis change in the nature of work as we movefrom focusing on replicable processes to pro-moting innovative environments. Rules andmanuals will be thrown out in favor of spon-taneous creation. Key leadership skills willinclude collaboration, empathy, and inspira-tion. The boardrooms and workplaces willlook totally different a decade from now.


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Top-talent women love to work for leaderswho create environments that provide anopen flow of communications in all direc-tions. They want to talk freely, whether it’saround the real water cooler or the virtualwater cooler using social media. Cooperativecultures represent the future of management.Invite your top-talent women to help makethis significant change.

Flexible Work Schedules

Women tend to take on too many responsibil-ities, both at work and at home. They needhelp in managing their energy. They willwork obsessively to complete important pro-jects. Yet they need to renew their energy sothey don’t burn out.

Therefore, they need flexible schedulesbased on meeting goals instead of wastingtime in traffic or on “contests” to see who canstay at work the latest. Women recognize theneed to be present for important meetings,but on days they can get more work donefrom home, trust them. They have becomecomfortable with technology and will use itto communicate. Currently in the UnitedStates, more women than men use socialmedia. Because they value producing goodresults, let your top-talent women figure outhow and where they will get the work done.

To know more about setting up work cul-tures that are successfully flexible, look atwhat these companies are doing—Capital

As conventional systems break down and theprogressive cultures are based on open-sourcecreation and production communities, compa-nies that have a strong percentage of femaleleaders will survive and thrive where others may die.


One, Deloitte & Touche, Best Buy, Marriott,Patagonia, AES, Sun Microsystems, IBM, andPepsiCo. Moreover, the Brazilian companySemco allows employees to choose their ownsalaries and hours and does not assign jobtitles, yet the profits keep growing, and thereis practically no employee turnover.11

If employees have children to take careof, don’t put women on a “mommy track”that doesn’t have access to promotions andplum assignments. Let them decide whatthey can handle. If you allow them the flexi-bility to meet their goals on their ownterms, they will in turn be honest with youabout what is possible. Some may decidethey need to step back because their home-life challenges need their attention, but

if you welcome them back when they areready they will amaze you with the resultsthey produce.

WHAT IS GOOD FOR WOMEN IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS

If implemented, these suggestions will serve your entire workforce. They couldhave been made to engage any employeewho wants to feel more inspired at workand seeks more independence, inclusion,recognition, opportunities to learn, and control over his or her time. If employees’needs are not honored, their passion, curios-ity, and creativity will be stifled. They mightstay with the company when the economy


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turns around, but they will not be able togive their best effort.

This is particularly the case for high-achieving women, and it presents a chal-lenge for HR executives and other leaders of organizations—to create an environmentthat will engage the hearts and minds ofthese employees. Top-talent women wantdevelopmental opportunities, frequent newchallenges, meaningful work, a sense ofpersonal contribution, collaborative workenvironments, more control over theirwork, and flexible work schedules. They are willing to stand by your side to help youmake these changes. In fact, key to creatingan environment that helps to retain top tal-ent may be empowering teams of high-achieving women to create a new manage-ment structure. They will embrace thischallenge with gusto.

The strategies outlined in this article meangood business. Ilene H. Lang, president andCEO of Catalyst, said, “What is good forwomen is good for men, business and theglobal economy.”12 When you help morewomen climb the corporate ladder, theresults will be good not only for your organi-zation but for the world as well.

NOTES

1. Tarr-Wheelan, L. (2009). Women lead the way: Your guideto stepping up to leadership and changing the world. SanFrancisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler; pp. 23–24.

2. Adler, R. D. (2009). Women in the executive suite corre-late to high profits. Pepperdine University, European Pro-ject on Equal Pay, p. 5.

3. Desvaux, G., Devillard-Hoellinger, S., & Baumgarten, P. (2007).Women matter: Gender diversity, a corporate performancedriver. Paris, France: McKinsey & Company; pp. 12–14.

4. Carter, N. M., & Silva, C. (2010, March). Women in man-agement: Delusions of progress. Harvard Business Review.

If employees’ needs are not honored, their pas-sion, curiosity, and creativity will be stifled.They might stay with the company when theeconomy turns around, but they will not be ableto give their best effort.

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Retrieved from http://hbr.org/2010/03/women-in-management-delusions-of-progress/ar/1.

5. Howard, A., & Wellins, R. S. (2009). Holding womenback. DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast, pp. 7–8.Retrieved from http://www.ddiworld.com/thoughtleadership/holdingwomenback.asp.

6. Hewlett, S. A., & Luce, C. B. (2005, January). Off-ramps and on-ramps: Keeping talented women on theroad to success. Harvard Business Review, 83(3), 43–54.

7. Reynolds, M. (2010). Wander woman: How high-achievingwomen find contentment and direction. San Francisco,CA: Berrett-Koehler.


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8. Helgesen, S., & Johnson, J. (2010). The female vision:Women’s real power at work. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

9. Keltner, D. (2009). Born to be good: The science of ameaningful life. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

10. Pink, D. (2006). A whole new mind: Why right-brainerswill rule the future. New York, NY: Riverhead.

11. Shipman, C., & Kay, K. (2009). Womenomics: Work less,achieve more, live better. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

12. Lang, I. (2010). Targeting inequity: The gender gap in U.S.corporate leadership. Statement made before the JointEconomic Committee, U.S. Congress.

Marcia Reynolds, PsyD, coaches top-talent women and speaks globally on cultural inte-gration and leading change. In addition to her best seller Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction (Berrett-Koehler, 2010), sheauthored Outsmart Your Brain (Covisioning, 2004) and has been quoted in many publica-tions, including Harvard Management Review, Psychology Today, and the New YorkTimes and has appeared on ABC World News. She is a Master Certified Coach and a pastpresident of the International Coach Federation. Dr. Reynolds may be contacted at [email protected], or for more information, visit http://www.outsmartyourbrain.com.

preventing the female brain drain

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