Through the glass ceiling

The opportunity for women in the marketing and advertising community to earn a place in the boardroom is still relatively untapped, but several recent initiatives should make it easier. Janet Hull reports

Helena Morrissey, founder of the 30 Percent Club, mother of nine, and CEO of Newton Investment Management, wants to change the shape of Britain’s boardrooms. Speaking at a drinks reception and forum at the House of Commons entitled ‘The Shape of Things to Come’1 on 26 October, she called for a paradigm shift in thinking, among CEOs and chairmen of FTSE companies, when it comes to the appointment of directors and non-executives.

Morrissey predicts a future where there is a ‘kinder capitalism’; where the whole framework of doing business successfully will be challenged. And this will call for a new type of business director.

Alysoun Steward, founder and director of business consultancy Oxygen8 Solutions Ltd,2 tends to agree: ‘The impact of recession cannot be underestimated. Beleaguered companies have realised that they have to do things differently if they are to survive and find competitive edge – having boards that continue to think and act in the same old way will be a high-risk strategy.’

There is now pressure on executive search consultants to open up the talent pool for executives and non-executives, in particular, to candidates who have no previous experience of the boardroom, and to set selection criteria which give greater transparency to the process.

How far have women come?

In 2009, of the 14 women hired as FTSE directors for the first time, one was British, and of the five female FTSE 100 CEOs in 2011, just two were British and three American.3

In 2010, women occupied just 242 of the 2,742 board seats of FTSE 350 companies. Within FTSE 100 companies, of the 1076 board seats available, only 135 of these were held by 116 women.4

But change is afoot. In February 2011 Lord Davies conducted a large-scale investigation for Government, ending with a report putting forward a ten-point plan to get more women into UK boardrooms. Encouragingly, since then, of the 250 board appointments made in FTSE 350 companies (excluding investment trusts) almost 20% have been women, with a bias to non-executive appointments (almost 25%).

More women needed

The pool of women is still limited, and UK women are not as well represented as they might be. And there’s always the risk that ‘alpha’ business women tend to have the same traits as alpha men. Saxonbury Executive Search director Sandy Meadows talks about women who have followed a male career: ‘Entering the old boys’ club were the old ladies.’ She complains of a history of ‘lazy hires’ in non-executives ‘in the model of the incumbents. You don’t get paid as much, so it’s a way of paying back people who have helped you.’

Tokenism is not the answer. The Davies Review recommends a minimum of three women per board to create balance and cohesion. The 30 Percent Club goes further in calling for a full third of the board to be women.

Change agents for board Behaviour

According to the Davies Review, where governance is weak, female directors exercise strong oversight, and can have a ‘positive, value-relevant impact’ on the company.5 A Canadian study quoted in the report, and entitled ‘Not just the right thing, but the bright thing’, found that gender-balanced boards were more likely to identify criteria for measuring strategy, monitor its implementation, follow conflict of interest guidelines and adhere to a code of conduct.

Whereas the 2003 Higgs Review of Corporate Governance called for greater professionalisation of boards, encouraging a focus on candidates with significant prior financial responsibility, the Davies Review argues that, although there is a need to be financially literate, financial responsibility, just like sector expertise, can be taught and should not be a prerequisite for appointments. ‘Greater emphasis should be placed on a broader mix of skills and experience.’6

Given the aspirational target of 25% to 30% women and broader representation, the Davies Review identifies two different populations of women who are well qualified to be appointed to UK Boards, namely:

executives from within the corporate sector, for whom there are many different training and mentoring opportunities; and women from outside the corporate mainstream, including entrepreneurs, academics, civil servants and senior women with professional service backgrounds, for whom there are considerably fewer opportunities to take up corporate board positions.

Boardroom review firm, Bvalco7, points to the behavioural styles that make for boardroom effectiveness: thinking, involving, inspiring and performance behaviours. Dig deeper and it’s obvious that women have a role to play in developing open and collaborative dialogue.

The challenge

You would have thought that women in marketing would be the holy grail for businesses, but, although there are notable precedents – the late Patricia Mann, Dr Liz Nelson, Dianne Thompson, Rita Clifton, Carolyn McCall, Stevie Spring – this is still far from the case.

"The review recommends a minimum of three women per board to create balance and cohesion. The 30 Percent Club goes further in calling for one-third of the board to be women"

Perhaps it is Amanda McKenzie who represents the epitome of success for women CMOs today. Not only has she broken through the glass ceiling to reach the executive board at her main employer, FTSE 100 company Aviva, but she has also achieved a non-executive role at Mothercare in the past year.

But what hope is there for the rest of us? Simon Marquis, ex-CEO of Zenith Optimedia, was headhunted, eight years ago, for a top non-executive position at PLC printing company St Ives. He says: ‘I was brought on board as a media person. They wanted that skill set; a working experience of the marketing world.’

When Marquis completes his third term of office towards the end of next year he is certain that he will be replaced by a marketing person, and, possibly, a woman. ‘There were two women on the board, but through happenstance there are none at the current time and the board are rather conscious of that. It has certainly been a topic of discussion, and while tokenism would be totally inappropriate, it would be rather satisfying to replace me with a marketing woman.’

Annette King, current CEO of OgilvyOne, is just starting out on her road. She says: ‘I made it a new year’s resolution to get on the non-exec ladder, and it’s taken me just under nine months.’ King has recently been appointed a non-executive board member of London First, a business organisation and service provider to FTSE 100 companies, which seeks to make London the best city in the world in which to do business.

King attributes her success to three things: dogged determination, networking and specialist knowledge. ‘I sought advice from friends and colleagues with more experience and a broader network, and contacted eight different headhunters. I was advised to tell all of my senior clients I was looking. With each move I gained more understanding and more confidence. My CV changed dramatically to make it fit for purpose. Commercial achievements, yes, but it contained less about what I had done for client companies than the quality of the company I had kept. A bit about marketing and about being female. A lot about the digital thing. Most boards are still scared of digital.’

When King finally landed her first appointment, it came through a referral, a consultative lunch, then a formal invitation to interview with the nomination committee. It helped, perhaps, that she was the first nominee to represent the creative industries and marketing, rather than accountancy, legal, property or IT, services.

I too have just completed an interview process for a non-executive position at the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), and have received notification that I have been accepted for the post.

The feedback I received was indicative of the challenge facing marketing: ‘Because you came from an advertising background it was expected that you would be brash, pushy and shallow. But the panel were bowled over by your honesty, your reflective style, and your intelligence.’

What more can women do to help themselves?

King developed a strategy for her personal search and suggests that other women do it too. Her roles on industry committees such as WACL, IPA and IDM had taught her the value that these external roles could bring to her business. ‘External networking helped give me space for ideas, and make better decisions, in the day job.’ But she needed to take that networking further, beyond the reaches of the immediate industry.

"When King finally landed her first appointment, it came through a referral, a consultative lunch, then a formal invitation to interview with the nomination committee"

‘I dropped in for a cup of tea with a guy I knew who was MD of the Financial Services Authority. He opened my eyes to a new way of looking at things, and of presenting my credentials.’

Marquis argues that, irrespective of gender, it’s important to be realistic about one’s suitability to the role. ‘If you’re a hands-on executive it’s very difficult to transfer effectively to an independent board position, where your primary function is to challenge, question, robe, cajole, not execute, command and control.’

For Marquis, diplomacy is a core skill. ‘The relationship has to work at a human level. When things get difficult, you may become a go-between, the neutral territory between the executive and shareholders or venture capitalists, having to broker peace talks.’

Executive Search can help

Not surprisingly, the recruitment industry is responding to the opportunity. Bird & Co Board & Executive Mentoring8 co-founders Isabel Bird and Kathleen O’Donovan were early to recognise the weakness of the marketing sector when it came to financial acumen. The Glass Ladder Academy provides one-to-one mentoring and small-group seminars for senior executive women to find their first boardroom position, including tuition in ‘lingua banca’.

Catquin9, an exclusive personal representation agency for senior business women, headed up by Garry Bullard, has recognised the opportunity for widening the talent pool to include professional services and founders of successful entrepreneurial businesses. It offers access to an extensive network of appropriate chairmen and nomination committees.

Saxonbury10 is possibly the most enterprising of the smaller groups at the current time, with a new initiative to get chairmen to think about more diverse options: breaking down what is needed in a NED with capability frameworks which analyse knowledge, skills, experience and behaviours. Says director Sandy Meadows: ‘Otherwise it’s chicken and egg – people with board experience choose people with board experience.’

They’ve had some recent successes: Louise Makin to Premier Foods; Margaret Johnson and Lucy Kellaway to Admiral; Sarah Jane-Thompson to Blooomsbury. Now they’re looking for sponsorship to create an online register of women from all backgrounds, and asking Chairmen of FTSE 500 companies to put their money where their mouth is.

With aggressive targets being set by the Association of British Insurers, and consultation under way at the Financial Reporting Council about whether or not changes should be made to the UK Corporate Governance Code on board diversity, it might just work.

Janet Hull is director of marketing and reputation management at trade association and professional institute, the IPA.

Email: [email protected]

References:

1. Wed 26 October 2011, House of Commons, Helen Grant MP and Carol Bagnald, Regional Director, HSBC London.

2. Critical Eye blog; Are women on board? 06 April 2011.

3. Crunch time as firms seek women directors, Elizabeth Fournier, writing in CityAM 12 October 2011.

4. Female FTSE Report 2012, Cranfield School  of Management, December 2010.

5. Diversity and Gender Balance in Britain plc: a study by TCAM in conjunction with The Observer and as part of the Good Companies Guide, London, UK: TCAM, 2009.

6. Women on Boards, Board size, The Davies Review for BIS, Feb 2011.

7. www.bvalco.com

8. www.bird-co.com/board&executive mentoring.html

9. catquin.co.uk

10. www.saxonbury.com