Interview with Meiko Takayama, CEO of Advancing Women Executives
In this week reading “How
Leaders Create and Use Networks” which discusses the value of 3 forms of
networks to leaders. Common barriers in
the areas of personal and strategic networking. “ The word “work is part of
networking” (Ibarra & Hunter, 2007 p.7) and “reaching outside the borders
of a manager’s comfort zone.” (Ibarra & Hunter, 2007 p.7). To some
executives there is a stigma to the idea of networking that is negative due to
the implication that it is a self-serving opportunity (Ibarra & Hunter,
2007.) To address these concepts in networking, I interviewed Meiko Takayama,
the founder and CEO of Advancing Women Executives (AWE) a network for executive
women.
Takayama has an extensive background in
human resource consulting and is a retained search consultant for a large
number of Fortune 500 firms. “I’ve
consulted with many firms for senior level searches and have encountered so
many women that have had an adverse reaction to networking, whereas men have
very little issues with it.” According to Takayama, the traditional forums for
networking are not conducive to the style in which women communicate and
connect so she created AWE.
AWE is a membership of
female executives by invitation only of vice president level executives and
above. Takayama states, “Our mission is to encourage and facilitate the partnership, growth,
sponsorship and collaboration of senior, corporate executive women by providing
opportunities to develop local relationships.” In order to encourage the
personal and strategic networking between women, she had to remove barriers
such as the ones mentioned earlier as well as the idea that women do not like
to be “sold” to without buy-in, so there is a “service professional-free membership and
adheres to a strict policy against marketing or commercial activity” (http://inawe.com/about-us/)
therefore, lawyers and bankers are not invited to join AWE. According to Cross,
Borgatti & Parker (2002) informal networks tend to emerge between groups
that have shared similarities which is why AWE has stringent criteria on whom
they invite: female, the executive must currently employed so the relationships
are not based finding a job, and in a corporate
role in in the areas of: finance, sales & marketing, IT, legal, human
resources or operations.
The activities that AWE executes
promote key personal and strategic network purposes which is a component of
effective leadership (Ibarra & Hunter, 2007); development of mentoring and
coaching skills, access to external information and resources to help how a
female executive in their own organizations. The activities are “teas” with
complementary paired speakers like President of CBS Nina Tassler and actress
Gina Davis and lectures on reverse mentoring. Another feature of the membership
Takayama mentions is similar to “Match.com.” “Networking for executive women is
similar to dating and they do not have the time to sift through candidates,
they need an efficient process to create these key relationships.” Takayama
interviews each member about the type of female execs that are valuable to
provide them with insight and knowledge and then facilitates an formal
introduction between the parties. Also, the membership is paid for by the
corporation of the member so there is management buy-in to this process and members of AWE are more likely to engage in the process because of the expenditure.
AWE is an organization that helps women
throw a wider exterior net that is essential to leadership (Ibarra & Hunter,
2007) but they also help leverage their networks by streamlining what Ibarra & Hunter
mention: “Mind your mind-set”, “ reallocate your time” and” establish
connections.”
References
AWE website. Retrieved from http://inawe.com/about-us/
Cross, R., Borgatti S.P.
& Parker, A., (2002). Making
Invisible Work Visible: using Social Network Analysis to Support Strategic
Collaboration. California Management Review. 44 (2), 25-46.
Ibarra, H. & Hunter, M.,
(2007) How Leaders Create and Use Networks. Harvard
Business Review. 1-9
Milissa,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this application of the readings because it focuses female executives and female leadership. I like that the AWE consists of female executives that still network and continue to developed and leverage their status to help eachother. I also think your reference to the Ibarra and Hunter readings was great! I liked the quote you used : Common barriers in the areas of personal and strategic networking. “ The word “work is part of networking” (Ibarra & Hunter, 2007 p.7
It was really insightful. Networking really does take a lot of work and time. Great job!
I hate it for all of the reasons in our reading and I work in a field where that is how business is done. I'm horrible at it and the minute I feel someone is sucking up to me or expects the inverse, I run. That I said I like connecting people I trust and whom are credible and I prefer that I get nothing out of it- it makes me feel less greasy.
DeleteAWE sounds like an interesting organization! Did Takayama have any thoughts regarding why women may be more averse to networking than men? What do you think about the exclusion of lawyers and bankers? Do you think this is necessary in order to create an environment in which women executives feel comfortable networking? Are there any drawbacks to a women's only network?
ReplyDeleteTakayama felt that women in her experience had an adverse opinion of networking and that socially women connected in different ways even when it came to professional connections. She mentioned externally women viewed trust and credibility as very important but internally they were more concerned about appearing "too opportunistic" (which isn't as much as an issue with males)so that why she put in the mechanism of "being invited", the vetting of the members as well as being the "connector" that makes the introduction. I wonder if how characteristics of certain of types "ties" vary between men and women and the dynamics surrounding.There are lawyers who are members but they are from corporate counsel, biz affairs and banker-types from finance so as member you do get the benefit of interacting with those professions. I agree with the exclusion of lawyers and bankers because it adds to AWE's environment of trust and keeps the opportunistic grossness and ickiness(my proprietary term) to a minimum so there's no soliciting business. I think the drawbacks are that you've lost exposure half the talent pool to network with and you aren't really honing your networking skills in an environment that normally exists.
ReplyDelete