Michelle P. King - The Fix: Overcome the Invisible Barriers That Are Holding Women Back at Work

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Copyright 2020 by Michelle King

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First Atria Books hardcover edition March 2020

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Interior design by Timothy Shaner, NightandDayDesign.biz

Jacket design by Laywan Kwan

Author photograph Erica Knecht

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN 978-1-9821-1092-5

ISBN 978-1-9821-1097-0 (ebook)

For any woman who feels like they are not good enough, I hope you read this book and realize just how truly exceptional you are.

A s women, the message we often receive is that we need to try harder if we want equality. We need to lean in further, do better, and juggle with greater dexterity. We need to change how we look and change how we feel. This can leave us with the inaccurate perception that it is us, not the workplace, that needs fixing.

The truth is that the world of work wasnt designed for women. It was shaped around a predominantly male workforce that historically (and often currently) wasnt recognized as having caring or parenting responsibilities. As a result, it doesnt meet the needs of us as women, nor ironically the needs of the men that so often still dominate it. As women, we want equality, but we want equality in a system that is designed to meet the needs of all of us as we really arewhatever our race and gender.

In We: A Manifesto for Women Everywhere, we laid out a path for individual transformation that would enable us to come together to shape our world for the better. Individual transformation and systemic change are intimately linked. And, as Michelle King so powerfully lays out in the pages that follow, the world of work is ripe for some very profound changes.

It is not enough to pay lip service to equality. Tokenism and bolt-ons to our existing systems wont work.

The solutions we seek must look beyond a point of gender parity to one where our society, economy, and workplace are designed to meet the needs of all of us as humansreal, rounded, flawed, complicated human beings. Not ones that need to pretend to be perfect or pretend not to need, fear, desire, hurt, and care. Ones that recognize that we are not human doings but human beings and that our current me-first culture has endangered the threads that bind our communities and nations together.

Our binary system of first-past-the-post winners and losers serves none of us. Real, meaningful success isnt about accumulation and reaching the finish line first. Its about acknowledging that we are all connected and ensuring that we are all okaywherever we are born, live, and work. It is time for a way of measuring our progress that isnt based on our economic worth but on our collective well-being and our planets. Happiness cant be bought, sold, or manufactured. Real happiness is a by-product of right living. And, at the heart of right living is the knowledge that we are all humans of equal worth and value. Together we can, will, and must change our world to make sure it reflects that.

Gillian Anderson and Jennifer Nadel

I t was a hair clip and reading glasses that stood in the way of Sarah getting her promotiononly she didnt know it. Sarah was a white, forty-something senior manager who worked in the same large multinational company that I did. I was working in human resources, supporting the chief operations officer (COO) with managing and developing his team. Sarah was smart, capable, experienced, well-educated, and one of the best leaders I knew. Every year, as part of my role to facilitate the COO with his succession-planning process, I would help his leadership team decide who to promote. And every year Sarahs name came up. And every year, the suggestion for her promotion was denied. I never agreed with the final decision, but it was inspiring to see Sarahs resilience and determination, even after she had been given the news of not this year.

The first year Sarah was passed over, she accepted the rejection and used it as an opportunity to get feedback, put in the work, and do whatever she could to become the next vice president. After all, that is what all the leadership books told her resilient and successful people do. Sarah stayed late at work, read all the popular books on women in leadership, and attended development training for women executives. Sarah applied everything she was taught, by being more assertive, speaking up more in meetings, not apologizing as much, and asking for what she wanted. Sarah even perfected her handshake.

The second year, again, her direct manager was the bearer of bad news, this time he acknowledged Sarahs efforts, but gave her the corporate script, saying something like, Management doesnt want you to think your initiatives have gone unnoticed. Quite the contrary. Keep doing what youre doing. You just need more time in your role to round out your experience and judgment. You are just not quite ready.

Sarah was more than ready for a promotion; it wasnt her judgment or experience that was holding her back. Unbeknownst to me, just not quite ready was corporate speak for workplace sexism. After all, I had spent my entire life believing the cardinal rule of meritocracy. Whether in school or work, our achievements are rewarded with accolades like verbal praise, high honor role, outstanding performance appraisals, promotions, and raises. The harder we work, the more we are rewarded. Somehow, as a woman, this formula wasnt working for Sarah, but this didnt stop her from tryingyet again. Sarah found a mentor and hired an external executive coach. She doubled her efforts at work, often spending more hours in the office than at home. She took on extra projects and participated in every work-related social event. She attended womens conferences and spent hours networking internally to ensure she was on good terms with all the senior leaders. To further her expertise, Sarah enrolled in a masters program at a university, which she undertook part-time so as not to disrupt her working life. Sarah did everything she could to be perceived as a leadershe even changed the way she dressed by adopting the pantsuit.

Finally, after three years of being considered and then passed up, Sarahs performance was so outstanding she could no longer be overlooked for a spot on the leadership team. Sarah was overdue the promotion, especially as the company was supporting candidates that had nowhere near her capability.

At the annual succession-planning meeting, her manager made the obvious case, with me to support him. We thought we had it. Sarah was finally going to become a vice president, making her the only female leader in the department. That is what I had been hired to do after allensure the best people got promoted.