MBA1708 Guest Teacher – Janel Dyan – How to Invest in Women’s Leadership in Your Company

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Hey oh. Welcome to the $100 RMBA show Business Strategies. You can't afford to miss every single day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholme. I'm also the co founder of the Hundred Dollar MBA, a complete business training and community online over at 100mba.net and today's episode is a guest teacher episode. Today we have Janelle Diane and she'll be teaching you how to invest in women in leadership in your company. This is a topic that is not spoken about nearly enough. Specifically how can you do something about it and improve your business's bottom line in the process? Janelle Diane is going to walk you through some simple things you can do in your business to empower women in your company to be powerhouse leaders and impact your business in a great way. It's a fact that the majority of consumers in the marketplace are women. Wouldn't you want more people in leadership that represent the majority of your customers? How can you pull this off? Well that's what we get into in today's episode. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business.

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Podcast today's guest teacher, Janelle Diane is a sought after brand strategist. She's a speaker. She's an author of a great book called Story Stop Brand why Corporate Results Are a Matter of Personal Style. And she's come today to talk about how you yes, you can make some small changes in your company to empower women to become strong leaders in your business and therefore improve your business. Social consciousness and equality is important, but I'm not here to convince you to do what's right. I'm here to offer you a different perspective through Janelle's lesson. The perspective of by doing this, your business will be highly competitive because you're leaving money on the table, because you're leaving talent on the table. I'm gonna pass it on to Janelle now, but I'll be back to share my takeaways, a few of my stories in my company that relate to today's lesson, and to wrap up the episode. But for now, take it away, Janelle.

Hi everyone, this is Janelle Diane and thanks for joining me today. We'll be talking about why in these unprecedented times, women in leadership are essential to your company's short term growth and long term survival. Gender and racial equality are certainly hot topics of conversation right now, but there are some organizations that are ahead of the curve and like me, have been focusing on the equality of women and women of color for years. And these are my clients. Women in leadership, women on the rise, women entrepreneurs, and women at the helm of Fortune 500 companies today such as Zoetis, LinkedIn and Ford Motor Company and helping them grow as leaders is what I do best. Over the past seven years, I've worked with females of all colors and varied backgrounds from the Bay Area to New York. They are not only having a huge impact today, but they are paving the way for all future female leaders in industries historically dominated by men. And here's what I see the companies who have made it a part of their core tenants to support and invest in diversity programs for the leadership development of women are the companies who are now today's industry leaders. And it's not only for the products and services they provide. But more importantly, as a brand that people want to work for, buy from and remain loyal to, they have shifted their measurables for success to include strong corporate culture of innovation, employee growth, customer loyalty and a diverse leadership team who focus on purpose and not just on the bottom line. They understand that their greatest assets are their employees and they have dedicated their efforts to be a brand that is people focused and purpose driven. During our time together today, we will focus on three lessons you can walk away with. First, because women are today's largest and fastest growing global consumer, companies need to shift their brand strategy to recognize the powerful role that women in leadership play in driving economic growth. Next, we'll take a look at why the greatest leaders are master storytellers and how powerful a story can be. And finally, we'll cover some tips for building a culture with equality in its foundation, including actionable ways to establish, promote and invest in female leadership. So let's get started. Lesson 1 Women are the fastest growing global consumer, and it's imperative that companies adjust. According to Bridget Brennan, author of why she Buys and Winning Her Business, women make or heavily influence 70 to 80% of all purchases across all industries, which means women are every company's largest target customer. To truly capitalize on this customer trend, companies must do a better job creating products and services with female buyers in mind. Companies must create a brand that women will buy from, advocate for and remain loyal to. The companies who are most equipped to connect with women are led by other women, and their leadership results have a positive impact on company performance bigger profits, higher margins and more returns. For investors, leaders such as Safra Katz of Oracle and Mary Barra of General Motors. It seems like common sense, but it's actually not common practice. Facts are that only 18% of global firms are led by women, and According to this year's Forbes annual report, the number of women CEOs running Fortune 500 companies sits at just 7.4%. So clearly there are strong logical, ethical and financial reasons to put more women at the helm. According to a study by McKinsey, if we can close the gender gap by 2025, $28 trillion would be added to the global economy. And to put that in perspective, that is the size of the economies of the United States and China combined right now during COVID and racial injustices at the forefront, we find ourselves in a global economy with a future unknown. These challenges are now calling for a new kind of leadership, no longer one of command and control, but one of collaboration and community, one of the biggest actions that any leader can do right now is be transparent and empathetic to their team members and customers. Because anxiety and uncertainty are heightened during this time of crisis. Emotional connection on a basic human level between the leader and an employee has never been more important than right now. A recent study done in 2019 by MIT sought to determine the makeup of the most effective leadership teams, and those were the teams with the most women, especially women of color, as they are leaders who bring a deeper understanding of resilience. Women are also more likely to have empathy for those struggling to deal with change or lack of inclusion, become role models for the change that they seek, and are willing to share inspirational stories to motivate others to embrace change. They are, in general, more inclusive and collaborative in their decision making and leadership style, which is a combination that continues to prove to be effective in getting companies to move faster in times of change lesson 2 the power of Story and why the Greatest Leaders are Master Storytellers we all love stories. In fact, stories are what differentiate us as human beings. It is how we forge connections among each other and build trust as a community. Each story is an emotional journey that reinforces shared beliefs, values and vision that we can all relate to. From drawings on the walls of a cave with stories of heroicism, folk tales that are full of moral lessons, to generational family tales that remind us of our roots. Human beings need to feel that we are part of something greater than ourselves. Stories remind us that through tough times we will come out to the other side stronger, wiser and more unified than ever. Stories bring us back to the beginning and remind us of who we are and what we do. And stories create clarity in our purpose and a vision to get there. The greatest leaders are master storytellers. Simon Sinek, author of the Power of why and the Infinite Game, says it beautifully, Leaders aren't responsible for the results. Leaders are responsible for the people who are responsible for the results. It is during these times of crisis that provide an excellent opportunity for leaders to communicate stories of incredible vision for the future, showing empathy, advising with humility, and providing optimism for what lies ahead. They also understand that marketing at its core is simply about storytelling. And it is the stories they choose to tell that can differentiate a brand as an industry leader, communicating the values of the brand with the product and services they sell. I mean, who wasn't choked up watching Google's tear jerking super bowl ad of a love story that began with a simple question, how not to forget? So tying back to what we learned in lesson one about women being the largest and fastest growing global consumer with the understanding that stories have power, companies must give their products and services a story that women now can relate to. And what better way to do that than with women at the helm leading the way? Finally, lesson three Building a Corporate Culture with gender equality in its foundation, companies with strong female leadership such as New York Stock Exchange, PwC and Google are continuing to create more equitable, inclusive and fulfilling workplaces for all women. And the investments are already proving to return tenfold to their bottom line. Here are three actionable steps that companies can take to achieve similar results. 1. Implement paid parental leave, not just paid maternity leave Women's equality in the workplace can't be achieved without men's equality in the home. By funding and encouraging men to take as much time for parental leave, it actually helps women by putting them on equal footing. Coined the motherhood penalty, Employees continue to see women as less capable and less committed to work and in turn, women are hit with reduced wages, fewer chances for promotions, less job opportunities, and can even force them out of the workforce altogether. So all efforts to drive equal footing is a step in the right direction. Examine your hiring practices. Start with building out a diverse recruiting team who can bring unique perspectives to the table and a wider network of candidates to pull from. Deepen your candidate pipeline with a focus on gender equality and diversity. Hire candidates that may not check all the boxes of the job description today, but who show growth potential. You can invest in, identify and work to remove any unconscious biases in the hiring process with a focus on equal pay for equal work. And finally, number three, Design a women's development program. Begin by creating a healthy and inclusive corporate culture, focusing on tailoring programs for growth on all levels with a combination of advancement opportunities, networking, training and mentorship. In fact, women who are mentored are statistically more successful in the workplace than non mentored women. They rise to positions of power faster and with fewer roadblocks. And it's not only transformative for women, organizations can begin to balance their leadership teams with greater diversity. So let's recap the three lessons we talked about today. To thrive in this female driven consumer world, female leaders must be at the forefront of all strategic decisions. Stories have the power to connect us, and the greatest leaders are master storytellers. And building a culture with diversity and gender equality in its foundation pays the biggest dividends. Thanks for joining me today and as always, I'm humbled that you have all taken the time to listen. If you want to continue this conversation, explore more about the rise of women in leadership and how you can build a strategic plan for your company's success. Please reach out to me directly@janellanelledianne.com and let me spell that for you. J A N E L D Y A N To learn more about what I do and ways we can work together, visit my website@janelledian.com and if you want to learn more about my story, leadership style and how I launched my brand new check out my book Story Style why Corporate Results Are a Matter of Personal Style on Amazon or Audible today. Thanks for listening everyone. And back to you, Omar Want to.

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What a fantastic lesson. By Janelle Diane One thing I want to point out is in the last 10 years I noticed something in the Internet business, Internet marketing world. Many of the people and the teams behind some of the brands are very male dominant. Some people might even call it a brofest. And this became very apparent to me because my partner in life, my partner in business is a woman, Nicole, right. And half of the industry doesn't really appeal to her as a woman. Those brands, those companies are leaving a massive amount of opportunity on the table. In the last decade I really became hyper aware of this. I was almost completely oblivious about this until it was pointed out to me and Nicole and I really made a conscious effort to make sure more and more women in our business are empowered to make decisions, to be leaders to influence our brand, our business, our product, who we are, so we can attract more of the right people, men and women. This creates a really good balance on your team and your team dynamic. We have many leaders in our team at Webinar Ninja, our customer service manager, CJ our senior lead support Ninja is Anna. Irena heads up marketing. Maria leads product and design. And of course our COO is Nicole. For us it's just the beginning because we're really seeing the benefit of seeing a female perspective on everything we do in our business. Our policies, the way we communicate to our customers, the way we Present ourselves on our website, on our blog posts, in our marketing. No one's saying that you have to be overly female, but it's a problem when you're trying to attract men and women customers and everything you have. All your branding is very male dominant now, of course, if your target market is men like you really focus on men's health, you might think, hey, I should just focus on having men in my team. Well, I'm here to say, no, that's not a good idea. And I'll give you a prime example. Old Spice knew that women play a big role in their products and their services, even though their product is for men, deodorant and aftershave and all that kind of stuff. They did the research. They realized that many women buy these products for their men and realize they need to market and advertise with that in mind, knowing that if women are communicated to and are considered in their marketing efforts, they can differentiate and really dominate the market. You can't just forget about half or more than half of the world's society. So I want to leave you with one tip. I would give you in this process, one thing extra you can do when you're hiring a new position. Force yourself to at least interview just as many women as men, even if it means you have to wait longer to make the hire. The best person will get the job, right? But give your company the chance to hire great leaders that can impact and influence the majority of consumers. Thanks so much for listening to the Hunter lmba Show. If you love what you hear, hit subscribe right now on whatever app you use to listen to podcasts. Whether it's Spotify or Stitcher Radio or Apple podcasts, we're on every single one. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. By having a diverse team, not just by gender, but culture, background, ethnicity, this allows your team to create a great product that can impact the world. So what you want to do is create a representation of the world in your company. They'll be able to really help you expand and serve everybody that can be served in your business, in your niche. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

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