Lady Luck?

Likely like the rest of you, I live in a totally connected world. (Sometimes too connected, but that’s a different blog entry—see “The Rub Between Balance and Always On” for more on this topic.) With my two electronic appendages—a laptop and a blackberry—I can reach out and touch anyone anytime, and they, me. It is a good feeling to be so accessible. It’s also a great equalizer—I have the same virtual access to the people I work with as someone on their first day on the job. There’s something to be said about how technology enables that personal connection—that personal power of sorts.

But in the non-virtual world, things are a bit trickier. When you first start out in the corporate world, making connections in the workplace seems to come relatively easily. Young-and-eagers working together in the trenches tend to form some pretty strong bonds regardless of gender. But as you move up, it starts to change.

A study recently reported in Forbes found that as men and women move up, their views on what it takes to succeed diverge. Senior men are much more likely to think it’s about hard work while senior women say it’s about luck and connections. What do you think that’s about? How could it be that these senior ranks women see success so heavily influenced by the old boys network, while men see it so differently?

A series of studies over the years about the importance of mentors to career success reached similar findings: Many more men than women felt that they didn’t really have mentors. Since it is well established, though, that mentoring is a key to career success and since so many men are successful, it doesn’t stand to reason that men (on average, of course!) don’t have mentors. But perhaps what’s going on is that men respond in this way because mentoring is such an organic, natural part of their experience that they’re not even conscious of the relationships that they enjoy.

In my own experience—and through the observations and experiences of many others I’ve connected with in my travels—these relationships are not invisible for women. They don’t often happen naturally. And they are hard-won—strike that, hard-earned—when they do occur. Often just keeping our nose-to-the-grindstone doesn’t seem to do the trick. So we chalk it up to “luck and connections.”

Maybe men don’t see the old boys network because they’re part of it. And maybe women see it because they feel like they’re on the outside looking in—perhaps even waiting to be invited in (hmmm, sounds like a blog topic in the making).

What do you think? How lucky are you feeling these days?

Cathy

By blogger Cathy Benko, Deloitte LLP

Comments

[Margaret in Brisbane, Australia]

Luck is for games of chance not your career. A well structured career should be more than luck. The value of relationships and aligning yourself with people that can promote and champion your advancement cannot be overstated. Identify and stick with the winners in your organisation.

Communicate your strategies, highlight your strengths and promote yourself and others within circles of influence. Build relationships with advocates and be prepared to be an advocate for others. It is not about how much we can take out but how much we can contribute. Do as much to champion others as you would like a champion to do for you.

If you can mentor, coach and inspire others to achieve then you are successfully building your own career. Is it about men and women - who is successful and who is not? I don't think so it's more about inspiring all talent. There are definitely very real challenges for women but that's another blog.

[Ciara in Baltimore]

My comment is not in response to this post in particular, but rather a thought on an article I came across today.

As a 25 year old woman, and a female boss of 3, I think I and many of my peers often take perceived equity for granted and would be a little surprised to see the following quote from the article I came across:

"nearly one-third (30 percent of men and 37 percent of women) prefer working for a male boss, according to the survey MSNBC.com and Elle magazine conducted in January 2007"

The full article may be accessed here.

Great blog by the way, just discovered it last week through a link on the side of a Knowledge @ Wharton article. Your writing style is perfect for a blog and you make an important topic easy to read.

[Anonymous]

My first counselor was a woman but shortly after I joined the company she went on leave of absence and then never came back. After reading the blog I realized all my mentors picked up at my place of employment over the last few years are men. I am kind of bummed my first counselor didn't come back to the company as planned. Part of the reason for my situation, though, is likely caused by the fact that my group seems to be very heavily male populated at all levels vs. some other services lines in my division. Looking at a list of partners/principals/directors, senior managers and managers I only see one woman in our entire region. My good relationships with women are in other groups and I value these connections but the direct impact on my career is less because they are not in the same group and we are all at the same level in the company. Over the long term this may be more helpful when I participate in projects with other service lines.

I'd like to think I attribute my success to all of the factors mentioned in the blog: hard work, connections and luck, but most of all I would say connections. A manager once told me something I have carried with me since he shared it with me. He said "Everyone knows the saying: It's not what you know, it's who you know. Here, it's not who you know, it's who knows you." A subtle twist but I think it rings true here. Since I started here he has continually stressed the importance of networking. I'm on deck for a very good project and its entirely due to the fact I did a good job for a senior manager a couple years ago and have kept in touch with him ever since, even if it was only to talk about the latest episode of our favorite TV show.

[Anonymous in Chicago]

I've been working for over a year and as I see more and more the working culture, I agree with Cathy's statement about luck and connections. As I'm moving into being up for promotion to senior, talk has been that certain people will definitely make the promotion. I look at their client list and they're the ones with the best and biggest clients. My own client list is not as impressive. So when they were staffed on projects from the start the others were lucky and got the good, big projects that will lead to promotion while I sit with my small projects and wonder whether I can make the cut--whether I have the client load in order to make the cut. So I agree--it is some hard work of course, but luck and connections definitely play into it.

[Linda in Parsippany]

Progress in any form is as a result of work, whether it is planned or circumstantial. I don’t believe that there is a 'Lady Luck' out there who picks on a few individuals and 'makes' them successful. Any success is a deliberate result of hard work. Now let me clarify that. For men, who have the 'boys club' (which may be perceived as having gained them success), their network has been as a result of deliberate action on their behalf. For women, being in the right place at the right time, is also a result of deliberate action of being in the right place at the right time. Lady luck may be helpful in winning the lottery, but in my opinion, is not what I am basing my career journey on.

[Not your average Jo in Miami]

It is about connections. What's troublesome to me as a young female professional is that while equity is preached, the playing field is still littered with stumbling blocks involving more than gender but class and politics. I've worked in government consulting, law firms and state government offices and watched my peers in fields outside of politics grow baffled by office politics. This is where a mentor, connections and/or a leadership development program helps those of us acquire the "luck" needed to stay playing in our chosen field. Talent alone isn't enough. Do you play tennis like your senior partner? Did you vote for the same guy in past electoral cycle as your project manager?