Why Women Fail To Break The Glass Ceiling

Although women make up more than 50% of the American workforce, relatively few of them move into corporate senior leadership positions. Despite the fact that women are making great strides in leadership development and educational attainment, today they  account for only two percent of Fortune 500 CEOs.

So why the disparity? Is it simply traditional sexism? Or is something more complex going on? In The Silent Language of Leaders: How Body Language Can Help - Or Hurt - How You Lead, Carol Kinsey Goman asserts that the difficulty lies with women “being subconsciously recognized by their peers as acceptable leadership material.” In a University of Delaware study nonverbal responses by females “elicit visible non verbal cues of negative affect.” In particular, “females speaking up and taking a leadership role receive fewer pleased responses and more displeased responses from fellow group members than males leaders offering the same input.”

These unconscious, negative nonverbal cues come in the form of head shakes, frowns, and eye-contact avoidance, and they tend to be mimicked throughout a group. This reinforces the idea that women should not speak up or take leadership within any group. This finding is suggests that it’s not simply men refusing to acknowledge the work contribution of women. In part, it points to how unconscious gender expectations play out in the work world, even in mixed company. It also reveals how body language cues play out with regard to gender.

So what can women do to combat this situation? Becoming aware of this dynamic is an important first step. Knowledge is power, so to speak. Recognize, for instance, that angry outbursts tend to lessen the perception of a woman's power and competence - just the opposite of what happens when men become assertive or forceful.

With regard to specific body language cues, Goman reminds female leaders to practice several commonly-advised leadership behaviors: retain a calm and authoritative voice (“curb your enthusiasm”), employ a firm handshake, and dress like a leader, avoiding sexy outfits as counterproductive. She also suggests that female leaders smile selectively, claim their space (stand when presenting their ideas and broaden their stance), watch their hands, speak up, avoid tilting their heads, and keep their eyes at eye level to mid-forehead when they converse,

Although females leaders face unfortunate discrimination because of the unconscious bias against them, they can fortify their position by avoiding specific body language cues that undermine their credibility. Women who must interact regularly in fields that are overwhelmingly male, like computer science and engineering, need to do their research on how better to navigate the trickier social waters they face.

How Body Language Can Reveal Client Intentions

Negotiating with a client on transaction details can be a tricky proposition for those not trained in negotiation skills. Boning up on traditional deal making behavior can be helpful, as is learning to read up on body language cues.

Translating body language can be pretty straightforward, especially when people around you aren't trying to hide their feelings. Take a buyer in a strong negotiating position: she may choose to show disagreement about a proposed price without actually saying anything. In such a situation, her body language might include furrowing of eyebrows, pursing of lips, baring teeth, or touching the back of her neck. These are fairly common body language cues that can be easily discerned.

In contrast, a buyer with little negotiating power may seek to hide their distress. Here, body language cues might only be revealed through more subtle pacifying behaviors. The latter term includes those actions that have the effect of calming others down. Examples include leaning away, touching one’s face, hand rubbing, or playing with a necklace (for men, covering or stroking their necks). Even licking the lips or playing with hair may serve as a pacifying behavior. Other subtle body language cues that reveal distress or discomfort include the sudden interlocking of legs or ankles around the legs of a chair, eye blocking with the hands, and squinting.

Once you’re on the lookout for such cues, you’re likely to see them rather frequently. A colleague might touch her neck dimple (instead of her necklace) when asked about her career aspirations. This is a cue that more may be going on with her than you know about. Asking the right kind of follow-up questions might lead you to more information than you knew was there when the conversation began.

The caveat here however is that attempts to read body cues can be fraught with misinterpretation. For instance, a speaker who is folding his arms under questioning might be deemed defensive or guarded. However, he might simply be cold! Body language experts recommend watching for body cues in clusters, such as the speaker folding his arms, turning his body away from you and/or avoiding eye contact. If the nonverbal cues back each other up, you will be able to feel more confident in determining how the people around you are feeling.

Reading body behavior can save business people an enormous amount of time, especially for those seeking to decipher more ambiguous situations. A thorough understanding of body language can serve as a powerful tool for those seeking to deepen their interpersonal relationships.

How to resolve generational tension at work

Currently, with the Baby Boomer generation beginning to reach retirement age and the Millennial generation transitioning from college to work (or work to college), relationship dynamics in the workplace are in a bit of flux. While it's true that there is always an older generation retiring and always an upcoming generation entering, so many changes have occurred over the past fifty years - roughly the time since the Boomers were the entry generation - that there is more potential for conflict in terms of work ethics, social habits, and technological capability, as well as the ever dangerous politics, religion, and values. Let's break down these big three.

Work ethics - As a generation, Baby Boomers have the greatest loyalty to corporations, which from a management standpoint makes them more ideal workers and less likely to leave. They also believe that hard work and ambition leads to success and have been willing to put in the hours to achieve that. In direct contrast, Generation Xers are far more cynical about corporations and authority and are much more likely to invest time in things they see as directly benefiting themselves. Millennials, raised in a rapidly changing environment with an emphasis on praise, have shorter attention spans and will leave a job that they do not find rewarding or doesn't give them enough positive feedback or rewards - or at least that is how older generations criticize them, as less loyal and more demanding. Gen Xers see Boomers as workaholics and company men who got better breaks in the college and employment markets and don't want to retire and vacate the best positions to younger employees. Boomers tend to see Generation Xers as unmotivated and lazy, wanting promotions but unwilling to sacrifice personal or family life to get them.

Social habits - Of the three generations, the Boomers are least comfortable with change. Generations X and Y were raised within a rapidly diversifying society and don't mind working with people of differing races, ethnicities, religions, or sexual identifications. Younger workers are also more familiar with a rapidly changing employment landscape and are more likely to be open to alternative work arrangements, whether that be part-time work, shared time, online commuting, or consulting. Baby Boomers often prefer face-to-face interaction and training opportunities, while Gen Xers and Millennials are comfortable with online training options, email, and texting. Older workers sometimes find an over-reliance on gadgetry to be annoying and may wish to limit it within the office setting.

Technological capability - The younger the worker, the more likely that they've been exposed to rapidly changing technology and are comfortable both with what exists now and what may exist in the future. While plenty of flexible and tech savvy older people exist, Generations X and Y are better with computers and technology, and they more seamlessly apply old tech skills to new tech applications.

Obviously, the best combination of people for any organization is one that contains many complementary strengths and skill sets and people who can easily get along with each other. A multi-generational group can be a great asset for any organization. Unfortunately, since the economy collapsed in 2009 and work became both scarce and not as well paid, people of all generations have been duking it out for what is there - and blaming each other for what isn't.

Anyone in charge of managing a combination of Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials should remember that people are individuals before they are members of their generations. Not all Millennials are plugged in 24 hours a day, and not all Boomers are putting in the last days until they can get their 30-year company pins. Patterns are a useful jumping off point, but they are not everything.

If your company workplace is experiencing generational tension, try to arrange some opportunities for communication. This may be outings or social events, it could be a part of regularly scheduled meetings too. Sometimes getting to know each other outside of work expectations is the best way to break down boundaries and get people to know and empathize with each other. This could be accomplished as simply as forming a baseball team or a bowling league or by creating a company vegetable or herb garden.

Remember, the more your employees see and like each other as people, the less likely they will be to mentally assign each other to generational groups and stereotype. This holds true for any other type of group tension as well which is why fostering both communication and a sense of community is critical for building a cooperative workforce in your company or organization.

White papers are more important than you think

Do "White Papers" actual drive sales? And if so, when are white papers appropriate? These are not insignificant questions given that a fair amount of time and effort go into their creation.

Why Create a White Paper?

The term white paper refers to an educational report roughly about four to 10 pages in length. In general, these reports are geared towards helping your potential customers solve a problem. White papers commonly summarize survey research or delve into a product or service relevant to a particular market segment.

As with most marketing collateral, white papers help attract qualified leads. Which is often why interested parties must exchange information about themselves in order to obtain such material. It essence, such material is "gated" to the user until they meet this precondition. In contrast, some white papers are widely distributed for the sake of helping establish a company's expertise on a particular topic. And as a result, they build confidence with potential buyers.

White papers are occasionally used by business-to-consumer companies - but they won't be called by that term. That's simply because the term can seem rather intimidating, almost as if a large, comprehensive study is at hand. As a result, many business-to consumer studies are labelled as a "report." And, as might be expected, these reports are somewhat shorter in length.

In contrast, business-to-business companies often employ white papers. Especially where expertise in a particular field is critical. Not incidentally, they're a frequently touted in such fields as telecommunications, biotech, manufacturing, etc. In In the end, white papers can help educate your audience and serve to subtly show why your company's expertise is critical for a job.

Do White Papers Drive Sales?

Although somewhat dated, a 2008 Eccolo Media Technology Survey found that nearly half (44%) of technology buyers found white papers to be very influential in their decision-making. In contrast, product brochures had the least influence upon decision-makers. Indeed, white papers are the most frequently used marketing collateral employed by companies (68%). And perhaps contrary to expectation, respondents noted that videos and podcasts were far less used (28%).

Not incidentally, white papers influence buyers very early in their decision making process. More than half of respondents (56%) noted that they review such material in the "pre-sale" stage the buying process. Obviously, when buyers have a wide variety of options to pursue, both white papers and case studies can be critical in making or breaking a future sale.

Should small businesses focus more marketing dollars on mobile marketing?

Responses from a number of recent surveys have revealed a strong preference from marketers for email marketing over and above other types of digital marketing tactics. This was again confirmed by a September survey done by Ascend2 and its research partners. In this survey marketers ranked email marketing as "Most Effective" (54%), while only 11% of marketers surveyed thought email marketing was "Most Difficult." It would naturally follow then, that most marketers would highly encourage their clients to pursue email marketing tactics over other types of digital marketing. Website and blog marketing and SEO marketing were also deemed "Most Effective" by 48% and 47% respectively. Social media marketing was ranked "Most Difficult" by 49% of respondents. Mobile/SMS marketing had the lowest overall ranking with only 9% of respondents rating it "Most Effective" and 34% "Most Difficult."

It would seem, at this time, that there will not be a big push for mobile marketing coming from most marketers. From their responses, they see it as not worth the effort.

But is it wise for businesses to overlook mobile marketing given how plugged in consumers -particularly those in the Millennial and Generation X generations - are? The fact is, people of all ages, not just that coveted demographic of 18-34, are daily becoming more dependent on their smartphones and their mobile devices to navigate numerous aspects of their lives. Around half of all internet searches are done on mobile phones. And the existence of smartphones and mobile connectivity is itself spawning new industries that people are seamlessly incorporating into their lifestyles. The popular and controversial sharing economy app Uber relies upon mobile technology to function. So does Pandora.

When forecasting marketing trends for 2015, ReadyPlanet.com heavily emphasized the importance of mobile media. While some industry experts have been loudly declaring the importance of mobile marketing for years, this message appears not to have reached the marketers in the trenches. But as with all things, there is a tipping point, and it could soon be reached. Currently there is significant spending on mobile marketing among large corporations, but as of now it seems to be poorly incorporated with other marketing efforts and not a part of most's businesses overall picture.

If your business is spending on digital marketing, it is certainly worth reexamining how much of this budget is allocated to spending on mobile marketing and if mobile marketing is functioning alongside your company's marketing as a whole. This is not a fad. Next time you are out in public, look at everyone surrounding you and count the smartphones. Then ask yourself if you're focusing enough of your business's marketing budget on mobile. The answer is very likely no.

How small businesses are grappling with the Affordable Care Act a year later

Last October 1st, the website for the Affordable Care Act healthcare exchanges premiered, and many small business owners hoped that the new system would provide some relief for the staggering costs healthcare insurance was laying across their shoulders. Unfortunately, the website rollout performed more poorly than expected and the implementation of the new healthcare law - and any relief it would give small businesses - was significantly delayed. Because the website didn't function, not enough people were enrolled by the target date in December, and the administration pushed back numerous deadlines and weakened compliance regulations. How this will play out for individual business owners, we will only discover with the passage of time and as the effects of the new law come down this compromised pipeline.

At this time the requirement that small businesses must provide insurance coverage to their full-time employees only applies in 2015 to businesses that have 100 or more employees (full-time being defined as working an average of 30 or more hours per week). The cost of this insurance must also be less than 9.5 percent of their income. Businesses have the option of providing their full-time employees with coverage or paying a per-employee assessment fine. In 2016, businesses with over 50 full-time employees will have to be compliant or face paying the fine.

Since 96 percent of U.S. businesses have fewer than 50 full-time employees, most small businesses will not have to worry about Affordable Care Act compliance for the foreseeable future, although many businesses have cut either hours or workers in anticipation of the higher costs to them either way. Ironically enough, many government jobs in schools, city government, and libraries have also been cut because of budgetary constraints.

Meanwhile, the costs of both healthcare and health insurance continue to climb. Many employers already offer their workers insurance benefits and are finding it challenging to pay higher costs in an economy that continues to stagnate. Many of these are choosing to offer lower-cost, higher-deductible plans to their employees. Thirty-two percent of firms will only be offering high-deductible plans, shifting more costs to their workers. As long as workers are offered the option of a plan that meets Affordable Care Act guidelines, businesses will not have to pay a fine - regardless of whether employees choose to enroll in these plans.

Some employers are offering incentives for workers who voluntarily shop around for cheaper healthcare options or who take part in lifestyle betterment programs or utilize their preventative care more. High cost, high benefit programs will be taxed beginning in 2018, so employers who have provided their workers with "Cadillac" plans have incentives to either educate their workers on the costs of these plans or slowly transition them to new health insurance realities.

Other businesses have decided to forego offering insurance altogether and pay the fines which are less expensive than the cost of health insurance. As yet there is not consensus on what the best options are as the administration continues to delay mandates and economic conditions change.

Online remarketing as a business tool

If you've (almost) purchased an item from Amazon or some other large retailer lately, you might be forgiven for thinking that the retailer is tracking you online and asking yourself, "How does the internet know I almost bought [insert item here]?"  The answer involves the computer cookies (online trackers) in your browser. They allow for remarketing, a type of advertising that gives you "a chance to reconnect with visitors who have abandoned your site without converting through Display Network advertising." 

With remarketing, an advertiser can promote specific ads related to the products or interests that online visitors have already expressed. For undecided or procrastinating visitors, remarketing can help remind them about products they previously were curious about. So for example, a visitor who abandons her shopping cart with a product in it will see the same product in a advertisement elsewhere online - with a discount coupon attached. Sellers only pay for the ad when someone clicks on it. 

People shop all the time for products they are not entirely certain about but could easily, with a bit of a nudge,  be persuaded to buy. A garden tool may seem like a pricey splurge on Amazon, perhaps, but more like a necessity when that gardener is reading a popular garden blog or chatting with fellow vegetable enthusiasts in a Facebook group.

Implementing remarketing is fairly simple. First, a business owner must sign up with Google AdWords and create an advertisement. Once this ad has been created, the retailer can target different audiences for remarketing.  So instance, a retailer can serve ads to potential customers who have visited their website as well as those who have already purchased their product. Or they may even target the former, excluding the latter. With Google Adwords, a retailer simply needs to select the audience that it would like to seek out, pinpointing for greater success. 

Remarketing is an especially effective advertising tool for those people who wish to improve their shopping cart abandonment rate. It's an unobtrusive tool. Most people will not even register this gentle reminder, making it more like a note from Mom rather than a bounty hunter's chase. But, if used correctly, it will improve your conversion rate, and it should be employed by anyone who believes AdWords is an essential part of their marketing efforts.