Smith Community Discusses Powerful Strategies for Women

Reaching across the academic community, Smith′s Graduate Women in Business club (GWIB) gathered more than 50 Smith alumni, current and prospective students, faculty, and administrators to discuss ways women can achieve influence in the workplace. In honor of Women′s History Month, the event was held on March 6 and included a networking session followed by a panel discussion about strategies on how women earn respect and gain power in the workplace.

Susan Taylor, Dean′s Professor of Human Resources at Smith, moderated the panel, which included: Soonhoon Ahn, founder and principal of AHN Consulting; Debra Cammer, principal, IBM Business Consulting Services; and Victoria Dolan, CFO and senior vice president, International Lodging Finance, Marriott International.

"Power is partially defined by individuals and partially by their network of relationships," said Taylor in her opening remarks. "Powerful people are more able to accurately size up the lay of the land in social situations. Knowing which players are more powerful and influential, they are more skillful communicators who communicate more frequently and use social influence tactics more effectively than do less powerful people," said Taylor. Power begets power, she said.

Taylor directed the first three questions to the panel, and then the audience had the floor. Taylor asked the panelists to describe their networks, noting that research has shown successful minorities have very diverse networks.

Dolan and Ahn agreed that networks should be based on skills and not gender or nationality. Ahn said that you need a very diverse network: "To be long-lasting, you need to develop personal and professional networks that are gender-blind, based on professional interests and value systems."

Cammer said that her working atmosphere has been mostly male-dominated and there haven′t been many potential females for mentors. She noted that sometimes it′s hard for women to have male mentors because females are not as comfortable emulating male characteristics.

Given that the panelists were all top executives, Taylor asked the panel how women who are not managers could be influential. Dolan said that budding leaders sit back and read the situation and that different leaders emerge in various situations. Dolan and Cammer both agreed that if you stay focused on your organization's goals, personal success and power will follow.

Performance is a reflection of your personal power and, Ahn stressed, "Positions and titles come and go, but your integrity stays with you."

While Cammer was moving up, she said she was not more aggressive or motivated than her female colleagues, but she would "Always stay focused on what is going to drive business." Don′t focus on your own agenda; ask yourself how you can help your clients, and make your boss look good, she said. "The more power you give away, the more power you′ll have."

Know yourself, your values and goals, and be consistent, said Dolan when asked by the audience how to deal in a male-dominated atmosphere. Dolan stressed the importance of respecting the people around you to gain influence. She said that women are fighting for a small piece of the pie and should never operate out of fear.

At the end of the discussion, the audience descended on the panelists as the networking session started up again. "We are proud the panelists come from diverse backgrounds, in terms of personal and professional attributes. In addition, this panel was developed with the help of part-time and full-time students, as well as alumni," said Cara Mattison, Smith MBA candidate 2003 and co-coordinator of the event with Estie Kearney, Smith MBA candidate 2003.