February 18, 2004
Women in Business Leadership Conference: Personal and Professional Journeys Intertwine
by Erica Grieder
On Feb. 13, MBA students, alumni and other businesswomen gathered at the McCombs School of Business for the third annual Women in Business Leadership Conference. Through panels, speeches and workshops, the conference aimed to recognize the unique strengths that women bring to corporate America. Participants also considered some of the issues and challenges that still affect women who pursue graduate degrees and careers in business.
In her opening remarks, Alison Davis-Blake, senior associate dean at the McCombs School, recalled an ad for Enjoli perfume that ran in the 1970s: “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never never never let you forget that you’re a man…” Although the jingle might come across as kitsch these days, she said, the underlying message to women—that they should be able to pull off a perfect balancing act of marriage, career and kids—still exists. However, most businesswomen have not found it quite that simple to do it all, much less with an unwavering smile and a perfect wardrobe.
The difficulty of balancing work and home life was a motif of the day. Many women felt that, regardless of their intentions, their husbands spent less time with the kids and doing housework than they did. However, there were exceptions. Regan Ebert, vice-president of potato chips at Frito-Lay and winner of the 2004 Trailblazer Award, who commended her husband for taking on the lion’s share of her family’s domestic responsibilities.
In the past, these other commitments could derail a woman’s career. To some extent, this still goes on, but women in business today are better off than they were just ten years ago. Most companies recognize the comparative advantages afforded by executive diversity and are becoming more responsive to women’s concerns, offering sabbaticals, greater flexibility, and work-from-home options.
Still, an industry like consulting entails a great deal of travel and unpredictable hours. At a panel on the relative merits of careers in consulting, Jennifer Foucher, MBA 94, reflected on her own experiences. “I was initially attracted to the project-based nature of consulting, and that’s what I continue to love in my career,” she said. “But when I had my first child, the travel made my life a lot more difficult.”
At the same panel, Liz Ryan, a writer, speaker and former corporate executive, recalled her years of competing with consulting firms for top female recruits. “After they had kids, I won, because I didn’t make them travel five days a week.”
The challenges facing women in business, are, unfortunately, not confined to the work/home schism. “Study after study shows that women have excellent communication and relationship-building skills,” said Davis-Blake, but these attributes can cut both ways. In her workshop on the art of negotiation, Janet Dukerich, chair of the management department, asked audiences to consider how these collaborative and non-confrontational tendencies may hurt women when they come to the table. “Most of us under-negotiate,” she said. “If we conceptualize negotiation as a conflict, we want to stay away.” She encouraged women to reconceptualize negotiation as two parties working towards a mutually satisfactory arrangement.
Some participants in the discussion contended that there is an inherent difference between the negotiating styles of men and women. One offered, “Who’s better at negotiation? When you mean coming to a resolution, women are better. When you mean getting what you want, men are better.”
An alumna agreed, chalking the difference up to socialization. “The raise, the corner office, the promotion—it’s a game, it’s football, it’s win-lose, and we are not emotionally equipped to deal with that.” Once she appreciated that the most charged negotiation was not to be taken personally, she said, she had a much better time of things.
Helping younger businesswomen build the essential emotional toolkit to maintain sangfroid in the face of personal and professional challenges was a goal of the conference. “I truly believe that women have a skill set they can leverage in a great way,” said Linda Riek, senior vice president of technology for the Bank of America in Dallas, “but they have to have confidence that they can do that, because the competition is tough and the cards may not always be passed out exactly evenly.”
Although women at the conference talked about making difficult choices and compromises in the course of their careers, few expressed regret over their decision to pursue demanding professional careers. As Davis-Blake put it, “Being a successful, contributing professional is worth it.”
For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.
