Why Women Mean Business

Foreword by Niall FitzGerald KBE
Preface by Michael Kimmel
Acknowledgements

CHAPTER ONE: WOMENOMICS
Guarantors of growth
The strategic side of the gender divide
Opportunity cost
Valuing difference
Becoming “gender-bilingual”
Declining demographics is not destiny
21st century forces: weather, women, web

CHAPTER TWO: MOST OF THE TALENT
The “talent wars” are here
Female brainpower
Under-used talent
The role of business schools
Tapping into the pool
Recruiting: making women welcome
Retaining: structural repairs needed
Promoting: return on investment
Building better boards
Legislating solutions – the controversial quota

CHAPTER THREE: MUCH OF THE MARKET
Purchasing power – beyond parity
Female finances
Sex and segmentation
The many faces of marketing to women
Shut-your-eyes
Marginalise
Specialise
Prioritise

CHAPTER FOUR: BECOMING “BILINGUAL”, WHAT COMPANIES CAN DO
A fresh look at traditional approaches to gender
Equal and different
Diversity dilemmas
Recognise that “best” is biased
Surprising sectors
A new approach to gender
Understand the starting point
Personalise the conversation
Manage the metaphors – the power of vocabulary and vision
The building blocks of bilingualism
“Getting it”: top management commitment
Management bilingualism: proactively managing difference
Empowering women: the knowledge and networks to succeed
Banning bias: identifying and eliminating systemic bias from corporate systems and processes

CHAPTER FIVE: SEVEN STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION
Key success factors
Awaken your leadership team
Define the business case
Let people express resistance
Make it a business issue, not a women's issue
Make changes before making noise
Don't mix up the messages
Give it a budget, not just volunteers

CHAPTER SIX: CULTURE COUNTS, WHAT COUNTRIES CAN DO
Making bosses and babies
Best and worst: surprising results
Imperfect deal in America
Continents of contrast
Public policy pull, private sector push

CHAPTER SEVEN: FIGURING OUT FEMALES
What companies need to know about women
Discomfort with “politics”
The conversations that matter
Careers are not straight lines
Phase : ambition
Phase : culture shock
Phase : self-affi rmation
The lure of entrepreneurship
Alternative views of “power”
Sex, success and the media
Change agents on their own terms

CHAPTER EIGHT: TOMORROW'S TALENT TRENDS . . . TODAY, “WOMEN-FRIENDLY” MEANS “PEOPLE-FRIENDLY”
New models of work
Fathers count too
Technology as enabler
The value of “grey” brainpower
Making the most of the “Me” generation
The future is already here

CHAPTER NINE: CONCLUSION, FROM BETTER BUSINESS TO A BETTER WORLD?
New voices, new choices
New measures of success
A challenge for business

Index