Scarcity of female CEOs and Board members

Submitted by Chris Baker
in

There was a good article about women CEOs in the FT this weekend - interesting ideas about why they might (still) be such a rarity here http://bit.ly/bjzwl Main article (a "top 50" at http://www.ft.com/women )

Submitted by Lindsay Lehane on Monday September 28th, 2009 1:30 pm

Thank you for sharing, Chris - Interesting! 
My past 3 firms have had no women in a C-Level position other than HR. I catch myself questioning my project choices in terms of their potential impact on my future executive status. I don't want to shy away from potential risky projects or seem "timid" in comparison to my male counterparts. 
Are other women out there experiencing the same need to strategize?

Submitted by Chris Baker on Tuesday September 29th, 2009 9:46 am

I guess every ambitious person should "[question] my project choices in terms of their potential impact on my future executive status". But you can probably fail gloriously and career-progressingly?
Note that the article doesn't say that women are disproportionately lined up for risky projects by some kind of conspiracy - but it suggests there is an issue that if the project does fail, some folks are going to associate failure with the involvement of a woman (whereas a man failing would l not be a MAN failing, just someone failing at a difficult project). I guess similar issues apply for any other group currently in a minority (black, Jewish, gay, bearded, whatever...)
Thought-provoking stuff, anyway.