Lydia Dishman* says implicit bias is alive and well in the workplace, so she asks some successful women leaders how they have dealt with it.
When Kay Koplovitz (pictured), the founder, chairman, and CEO of the USA Network, was invited to a media lunch for the Augusta National Golf Tournament in 1982, she ran into a bit of a snag.
Women weren’t allowed into the dining room on the second floor of the club.
“I was talking to Hord Hardin, [then] chairman of the Masters Tournament and the Augusta National Golf Club, and we got to the top of the stairs,” she says, “and he looks at me and says, ‘Kay, we got a problem.’”
Koplovitz didn’t miss a beat and asked what they were going to do about it.
“What we did is we went down to the trophy room [where women were allowed] and we ate there — for the next 10 years,” she recalls.
The Club didn’t admit women as members until 2012.
Although this happened in the 1980s, Koplovitz, the founder and Chairwoman of the investment firm Springboard Enterprises, maintains, “It’s important for us to understand that these things still happen, and you’ve just got to figure out on the fly, at the moment, how to change that situation.”
She’s unfortunately right.
In the course of reporting this story, I learned that not only are women continually relegated to pick up office “housework,” but professional women at all levels are routinely talked over at meetings, have others take credit for their ideas, and get comments like, “You’re nagging me like my wife,” when they ask a male colleague to do something.
These and other microaggressions breed a toxic culture that can make female employees feel unsafe and want to quit.
Kaethe Schuster, a sales and marketing executive within DowDuPont Performance Building Solutions, was familiar with Koplovitz’s dilemma of being excluded on typically all-male excursions.
“In the construction industry, building relationships is foremost,” Schuster says, and many times those opportunities to connect happen during golf games or fishing.
“I absolutely had to step up to be included, making it clear that I was interested and willing, even if it was an activity that was new to me,” she says.
“I have found that they are often really fun, and no one is judging the newbie,” she says.
In fact, the others often try to help, and that begins to build rapport.
“If you are already skilled, make a lasting impression.”
Schuster has learned that being fully and consistently engaged is the first step to overcoming any potential gender bias.
“Show up. Every time. Do what you said you would do. And that holds true for men and women alike,” she explains.
That’s a place Heather Combs, the chief revenue officer of 3Pillar, found herself in for more than 20 years, working in male-dominated industries.
“I’ve witnessed my fair share of subtle and not-so-subtle aggressions,” she says.
“Often, I’d walk into a room and learn that I was no longer ‘Heather’ — but rather, ‘honey’, ‘sweetheart’, ‘babe’, or one of a dozen other diminutive nicknames,” Combs recalls.
Back then, her strategy was to simply smile, ignore the comment, and seize the chance to exceed expectations by speaking matter-of-factly through her agenda.
“The confidence was often rewarded with sales success,” she says.
“I don’t hedge my language when I’m presenting an idea or a product, I speak boldly and without equivocation.”
Combs says it’s important for women to look for roles where the culture and leadership consider their employees’ abilities before they consider their gender or race.
In addition, mentoring from others who’ve been there can shortcut having to figure out a workaround.
Amy Millman, the President of Springboard Enterprises, says inappropriate comments are often the result of men who’ve had little experience involving women, or are just ignorant.
Not long ago, she says, a lawyer took one of Springboard’s female entrepreneurs to Silicon Valley to pitch for funding.
One of the potential investors, on meeting the woman, quipped to the lawyer that it was Take Your Daughter to Work Day.
“The entrepreneur told me she had to hold her breath for a minute,” because she was momentarily thrown off balance.
Says Millman, “Know that you don’t have to do business with people who are not respectful of you.”
“There are plenty of others out there.”
That was similar to a lesson that stuck with Daily Burn’s CEO, Tricia Han when she took the helm as a first-time CEO.
Her former college roommate is a “brilliant” Asian-American woman who successfully climbed the executive ladder in the finance world.
“Even she had experiences of walking into meetings and having people assume she was the secretary,” recalls Han, “so I asked her what tactics she used to overcome bias and just as importantly, to avoid feeling demoralised.”
Han’s roommate simply said: “Not everyone will want to work with you.”
“But some will.”
“And you have to recognise the people that are willing to engage and cultivate those relationships.”
* Lydia Dishman is a regular contributor to Fast Company.
This article first appeared at www.fastcompany.com.
