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05

Oct

Women at the Wheel: Dow Jones Study on the Impact of Women Leadership at Venture-Backed Companies From the Executive Summary: 1.3% of privately held companies have a female founder, 6.5% have a female CEO, and 20% have one or more female C-level executives. The most common positions held by female executives were within Sales & Marketing roles, accounting for 27% of the total population sample. The overall median proportion of female executives is 7.1% at successful companies and 3.1% at unsuccessful companies, demonstrating the value that having more females can potentially bring to a management team. By industry, we identify the median proportion of female executives at successful companies as higher than that of unsuccessful companies in the IT, healthcare, consumer services, and business and financial services industries, which are the four largest sectors. We see that a company’s odds for success (versus unsuccess) increase with more female executives at the VP and director levels. For start-ups with five or more females, 61% were successful and only 39% failed.

Women at the Wheel: Dow Jones Study on the Impact of Women Leadership at Venture-Backed Companies

From the Executive Summary:

1.3% of privately held companies have a female founder, 6.5% have a female CEO, and 20% have one or more female C-level executives.

The most common positions held by female executives were within Sales & Marketing roles, accounting for 27% of the total population sample. The overall median proportion of female executives is 7.1% at successful companies and 3.1% at unsuccessful companies, demonstrating the value that having more females can potentially bring to a management team.

By industry, we identify the median proportion of female executives at successful companies as higher than that of unsuccessful companies in the IT, healthcare, consumer services, and business and financial services industries, which are the four largest sectors.

We see that a company’s odds for success (versus unsuccess) increase with more female executives at the VP and director levels. For start-ups with five or more females, 61% were successful and only 39% failed.

7 months ago Short URL

diversity/leadership/financial communications/

25

Apr

April is Financial Literacy Month. Helping to educate is this brief and direct video with tips on financial literacy basics from USA Today.

1 year ago Short URL

financial literacy/financial communications/

13

Apr

In honor of Financial Literacy month, I wanted to share the fireside chat from the Council of Economic Education’s Visionary Awards dinner last fall. Very powerful statements on financial education were made by the evening’s honorees — Harold Burson of Burson-Marsteller, Maria Bartiromo of CNBC, and Dr. Henry Kaufman of the Kaufman Foundation.

Simple statements that speak volumes for parents, teachers and children. 

(Disclosure: Lucky to have the double honor of working for Harold Burson and serving on the Board of the CEE.)

1 year ago Short URL

financial literacy/financial education/financial communications/corporate social responsibility/

19

Mar

The 2012 Gorkana Survey of Financial Journalists was released today. A couple of interesting findings below on the economy and the profession. 1) Financial journalists as a whole are neutral at best and cautious on their outlook for the U.S. economy and the U.S. financial services sector over the next year. Nearly half (46.1%) of the journalists surveyed have a neutral view on the economy with another 35.8% holding a negative outlook. Journalists are somewhat more negative on the financial services sector, with 44.4% negative on the sector and 40.4% neutral. 2) Survey respondents feel better about the health of their own profession than the U.S. economy or financial services sector. Almost four out of five journalists (77.8%) have a neutral or positive outlook on the health of financial journalism over the next year. More are positive (33.4%) than negative (22.2%) on the outlook for financial journalism. This may indicate that financial journalists believe the worst is behind them as a field.

The 2012 Gorkana Survey of Financial Journalists was released today. A couple of interesting findings below on the economy and the profession.

1) Financial journalists as a whole are neutral at best and cautious on their outlook for the U.S. economy and the U.S. financial services sector over the next year. Nearly half (46.1%) of the journalists surveyed have a neutral view on the economy with another 35.8% holding a negative outlook. Journalists are somewhat more negative on the financial services sector, with 44.4% negative on the sector and 40.4% neutral.

2) Survey respondents feel better about the health of their own profession than the U.S. economy or financial services sector. Almost four out of five journalists (77.8%) have a neutral or positive outlook on the health of financial journalism over the next year. More are positive (33.4%) than negative (22.2%) on the outlook for financial journalism. This may indicate that financial journalists believe the worst is behind them as a field.

1 year ago Short URL

financial communications/corproate/corporate communications/

17

Sep

NYT video w/ Goldman Chairman Lloyd Blankfein at the 3rd anniversary of the Recession on leadership and employee engagement.

debraflanz:

It’s the third anniversary of the Great Recession and the discussion now is about Europe’s financial crisis.  On the bright side, it’s noteworthy that a number of global financial institutions have been weathering the storm successfully by using strong leadership principles.   

Here is a video interview of Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, from 2009 talking about how he successfully led the company through the initial crisis.  Some key points: “talk to your people frequently”, “walk around”, and  “answer questions.  Sounds like great advice whether or not there’s a financial crisis going on.

1 year ago Short URL 1 note

debraflanz via debraflanz

financial communications/economic empowerment/Deidre H. Campbell on financial literacy/

13

Sep

Be serious. Social media is not synonymous with silliness. It does bring clarity, accessibility and transparency to savvy communications. The New York Times Dealb%k posted an article this week reporting the fun that Google had with the acquisition announcement of Zagat: ”New-Form Press Release in Blog, Tweet and Haiku.” Google may be able to get away with this style, but very few can. Even fewer should think it’s worth the risk. Just ask Groupon CEO Andrew Mason. Some thought it was cute when he famously announced that they had made “like a billion dollars.” That form of unsophisticated language came back to bite hard when the SEC took issue with company missteps and the IPO was pulled. Social media and digital opportunities make information more easily findable, search-able, digestible and shareable. These are all good things, especially when grappling with weighty issues and financial disclosure. Still, a savvy corporate demeanor (even for those aspiring to be corporate) with an articulate executive position is required for interacting with capital markets and investor audiences.  Just having a message that resonates with investor interests and a solid balance sheet are pretty fun, in and of themselves. Image: Google Images

Be serious. Social media is not synonymous with silliness. It does bring clarity, accessibility and transparency to savvy communications.

The New York Times Dealb%k posted an article this week reporting the fun that Google had with the acquisition announcement of Zagat: ”New-Form Press Release in Blog, Tweet and Haiku.” Google may be able to get away with this style, but very few can. Even fewer should think it’s worth the risk.

Just ask Groupon CEO Andrew Mason. Some thought it was cute when he famously announced that they had made “like a billion dollars.” That form of unsophisticated language came back to bite hard when the SEC took issue with company missteps and the IPO was pulled.

Social media and digital opportunities make information more easily findable, search-able, digestible and shareable. These are all good things, especially when grappling with weighty issues and financial disclosure. Still, a savvy corporate demeanor (even for those aspiring to be corporate) with an articulate executive position is required for interacting with capital markets and investor audiences. 

Just having a message that resonates with investor interests and a solid balance sheet are pretty fun, in and of themselves.

Image: Google Images

1 year ago Short URL

financial communications/corporate communications/Deidre H. Campbell/