subject: The need for leadership programmes for women - an interview with Liz Mellon [print this page] The need for leadership programmes for women - an interview with Liz Mellon
Friday the 26th of November 2010 saw the annual Women in the City awards held at the prestigious Plaisterer's Hall, London.This year's event starred the inaugural Parity Award, proudly sponsored by blackswan.
Attending the event as a guest of blackswan was Dr. Liz Mellon, Executive Director ofDuke Corporate Education. Liz spoke to blackswan about the influence and need for business leadership courses for women.
"Having worked in leadership development for the last 25 years, I am shocked by how few womenI still encounter at the most senior level in organisations in both the public and private sectors. Something like 3% of executives globally are women. I would of hoped we would have made more progress over the last 25 years.
So what's the answer? The answer is to be unashamed about the need for women's development programmes. Women's development programmes need to achieve several aims:
The first is thatthey need to acknowledge there are not enough women in senior roles in business today.
The second is that they give women the skills they need to make it to the top; whether it is strategic skills, whether it is networking skills and whatever other skills they need to advance and accelerate them, so they are able to fulfil some of the most important jobs in the organisation.
Thirdly, as long as they are sponsored by the CEO, they will achieve success. There is a real need for doing this; if you look at the financial returns of business today those with more women at the top make more money."
The interview with Liz is available below, our apologies for the high level of background noise.
