Breaking Through Stories and Best Practices From Companies That Help Women Succeed

Breaking Through explores the mentoring relationship, and unravels its effects on women, businesses, society, and the economy. In 2010, author Martine Liautaud founded the Women Business Mentoring Initiative (WBMI) to support women entrepreneurs with the targeted advice and personalized guidance that can only come from a mentor. In late 2015, she set up the Women Initiative Foundation to broaden her action in favor of women in the business world. This book encapsulates the WBMI mission and other similar experiences inside international and US corporations, showing how mentoring and sponsorship can take many forms?and how each form benefits women in business. Through evidence-based narratives, you'll learn what real women have gained from both sides of the dynamic, and why they credit mentoring with the strength of their business success. These stories show how mentoring yields increased efficiency, improved financials, more effective management, increased innovation, a broader talent pool, and increased revenues, and how helping women succeed in business leads to increased philanthropy and improves community sustainability.

Gender equality has made huge strides in the US and Western Europe, but this progress is only apparent in the junior levels of the workplace. This book shows how mentoring women entrepreneurs and women managers provides the key that opens the door to the new economy.

• Understand why mentoring is key to women's economic advancement
• Learn how mentoring yields tangible benefits beyond the workplace
• Delve into the experiences of real mentor/mentee pairs
• Consider the effectiveness of various types of mentoring

Despite the increasing opportunities for women in business, statistics and pervading stereotypes suggest that true gender equality is still far on the horizon. Mentoring and sponsorship can be tremendously helpful to women looking to achieve great things?the wisdom of experience is a powerful asset in business strategy and decision-making, and the mentor/mentee relationship benefits everyone. Breaking Through makes a compelling case for the effectiveness of mentoring, with real women's stories of success.

FOREWORD xiii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv

PREFACE xvii

PART I Overview

CHAPTER 1 Women and the New Economy 5

The New Economy: Opportunities for Women 6

Women in Corporates and Finance 8

Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) 10

Women Entrepreneurs 12

CHAPTER 2 Mentoring and Sponsoring: The Keys to Success 15

Mentoring and Sponsoring Women Employees 16

Mentoring and Sponsoring Women Entrepreneurs 18

PART II Voices ofWomen Business Leaders

CHAPTER 3 Obstacles to Success and Solutions for Overcoming Them 23

The Obstacles 24

The Solutions 26

CHAPTER 4 Role of Women in the Global Economy 30

Interview with Irene Natividad, Founder and President of Global Summit of Women 30

CHAPTER 5 Career Strategies for Women 36

Interview with Professor Margaret Neale, Adams Distinguished Professor of Management at Stanford Graduate School of Business 36

References 42

CHAPTER 6 Inclusive Leadership 44

Interview with Deborah Gillis, President and CEO of Catalyst 44

CHAPTER 7 Improving the Place of Women in the Economy 50

Interview with Audra Bohannon, Senior Partner at Korn Ferry’s Leadership and Talent Consulting 50

CHAPTER 8 Overcoming Women’s Obstacles 54

Interview with Christiane Bergevin, Executive Vice President at Desjardins Group 54

CHAPTER 9 Women’s Spirit of Enterprise 59

Interview with Valérie Bernis, Executive Vice President at ENGIE, in Charge of Communications, Marketing, and Environmental and Societal Responsibility 59

PART III Designing Mentoring and Sponsoring Programs

CHAPTER 10 “Mentoring by ENGIE” 69

Interview with Gérard Mestrallet, Chairman of ENGIE 69

“Mentoring by ENGIE,” A Structured Program to Train Women as Leaders 71

CHAPTER 11 Oracle Women Leadership (OWL) Mentoring Program 77

Interview with Leopoldo Boado, Chairman of Oracle Spain 77

Oracle’s Mentoring Program and Intercompany Experience 79

CHAPTER 12 Viva Women! Program 82

Interview with Maurice Levy, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Publicis Groupe 82

At Publicis Groupe, the Main Aim of Mentoring Is to Retain Talented Staff 83

CHAPTER 13 Mix City and Women’s Leadership Initiative 87

Interview with Marie-Claire Capobianco, Head of BNP Paribas French Retail Banking 87

BNP Paribas as a Proactive Supporter of Women in Business: A Mentoring Program 89

CHAPTER 14 Women’s Initiative Network and Reverse Mentoring Program 94

Interview with Karen Peetz, President of BNY Mellon 94

Interview with Jean Wynn, Managing Director and Chief Administrative Officer of BNY Mellon’s Office of the President 101

PART IV Mentoring Program Success Stories

CHAPTER 15 BNP Paribas Corporate & Institutional Banking (CIB) 109

Interview with Tabitha Coombe (Mentee) 109

Interview with François Freyeisen (Mentor) 111

Interview with Marguerite Burghardt (Mentee) 114

Interview with Constance Chalchat (Mentor) 117

CHAPTER 16 ENGIE 120

Interview with Mathias Curnier (Mentor) 120

Interview with Paola Vezzaro (Mentee) 123

CHAPTER 17 Oracle 128

Interview with Nicoleta Apostol (Mentee) 128

Interview with Giovanna Sangiorgi (Mentor) 132

Interview with Paula Craythorne (Mentee) 136

CHAPTER 18 Publicis Groupe 141

Interview with Michele Gilbert (Mentor) 141

Interview with Charlotte Guillabert (Mentee) 143

CHAPTER 19 BNY Mellon 146

Interview with Regina Meredith-Carpeni 146

Interview with Yoon Park (Reverse Mentor) 150

Interview with Jeff Kuhn (Reverse Mentee) 154

PART V Ways to Help Entrepreneurs to Succeed

CHAPTER 20 Mentoring and Sponsoring Programs 163

Mentoring Women Entrepreneurs 163

Interview with Emilie Creuzieux, Founder of Monbento (Mentee) 166

Interview with Jean-Jacques Berard, Co-Founder of Executive Interim Management (Mentor) 169

Interview with Muriele Roos, Founder of Femme Majuscule (Mentee) 172

Interview with Eve Magnant, VP at Publicis (Mentor) 176

Interview with Jane Chen, Co-Founder of Embrace 179

Interview with Abigail Holsborough, Founder of Route Map 183

Interview with Clara Shih, Founder of Hearsay Social 187

CHAPTER 21 Networking 191

Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network 191

Interview with Stéphanie Cardot, Founder and CEO of TO DO TODAY 192

ASTIA: A Different Kind of Network Performing in a Different Kind of Way 195

The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative 198

CHAPTER 22 Training 202

Women Entrepreneur Program at Stanford 202

INDEX 207

MARTINE LIAUTAUD is an investment banker, entrepreneur, and investor specializing in mergers and acquisitions and financial engineering. A recipient of the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, she is chair of Liautaud et cie, which specializes in mergers and acquisitions, financial engineering, and consultancy to major French groups, as well as founder of Women Business Mentoring Initiative, a non-profit supporting women entrepreneurs. She recently set up the Women Initiative Foundation (www.women-initiative-foundation.com) to promote and boost the role of women in the business world.