Companies Must Clear the Path to Power for Women.

The economic impact of women is undisputable, with women accounting for most of the spending in the U.S.; receiving the majority of the college degrees; being the majority of users of social media; and they have even taken over as the majority of casual gamers! And many women do all this while managing homes and families and a job. If women stopped tending to their families, stopped spending, stopped sharing and stopped playing, the economy would grind to a halt. Cutting such a broad swath across the economy, one wonders why women are not represented more on corporate Boards and in company upper management, since they are so important to most companies' bottom line. Having women on Boards has been shown to increase a company's performance, and in some cases avoid layoffs. Companies often use the excuse they just can't find a woman to fill that board chair or c-suite opening. I say they just aren't doing enough to break through. What they need to do is clear the path to power for women. And here's how. The first thing needed is better succession planning. In most companies, internal C-Suite candidates are identified early on. Management traditionally identifies who are their best people and gives them the right experiences to handle senior level jobs, including running big divisions with big budgets and working on development of new products and projects that will increase the bottom line of the company in the future. Who gets put in these jobs has a direct correlation with who will be moving up the corporate ladder. Are women adequately represented in these plans? Companies need to make succession planning really work, but to do that there also needs to be adequate training and mentoring, so as not to promote people into jobs for which they are not prepared. And companies must adopt a policy of flexibility. Flexible programs are often sited as creating a better work environment and happier employees. So there it is, a way to clear the path to power: appropriate training, proper mentoring, flexibility and above all, succession planning. And let women do the rest.