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NEW YORK — Women’s History Month was a fitting backdrop for the latest Conversations with WE event this week. Founded in 2018, WE’s mission is to enhance the future and shape the next generation of female leaders in the health and wellness industry.
During a virtual panel discussion themed “Accelerate Action Advancing Women Leaders in Health and Wellness,” industry pacesetters shared their experiences. They discussed how they can help open doors for the next generation of women. Kristine Urea, general manager at MPG Strategic Intelligence, served as the moderator.
The panelists were: Lauren Snow, senior director of global inventory management at Dollar General; Michele Muhammad, founder and principal of Vanderpool Strategy, and Lisa Kent, founder of Market Performance Group FleXforce and Dauntless LeadHERship Podcast.
Women’s perspective in leadership can usher in simple yet meaningful changes. For example, earlier in her career, Kent was appointed to manage Johnson & Johnson’s baby business. “There were no new moms on the franchise, so I raised my hand and asked if anybody was coming back from maternity leave. Please automatically rotate them to Johnson’s baby because who better to have than someone who was in the thick of it? And that was the beginning of thinking differently,” she said.
Dollar General’s Snow agreed simple gestures make a difference. Inspired by a TED talk from Sheryl Sandberg. “She mentioned the need for maternity parking spots at Google when pregnant. I sent a note to my human relations and was able to get parking spots on every level of our parking garage many years before I needed one,” she related.
Snow advised women looking to advance their careers to take advantage of any opportunities to make connections. Early in her career, she had the chance to participate in special projects and attend store trips. “I was able to be around senior leadership and really get exposure to those leaders that I wouldn’t normally meet or interact with. These were organic networking opportunities, and they improved my executive presence and comfort level. Take advantage of opportunities.”
She carries that forward in her role today. “It really makes a difference when you include people in meetings and discussions who otherwise wouldn’t be invited to join,” Snow said.
Kent agreed with the importance of “pulling up other women with you, particularly young women.”
Women encounter myriad barriers as they ascend to the corporate ranks. “The ones I think about are the ones we can control, the self-imposed barriers,” said Muhammad. She cited a statistic from The Wall Street Journal that indicates 50% of men get advice that they should go into P&L roles when they are young in their careers, while only 15% of women get that same advice. The P&L role is so important because that’s how you are going to get up the management track — in order to be a leader, you have the understand that track and what companies value, what they are spending their money on. Women need to know that,” she advised.
Muhammad noted another roadblock for women is that they tend to be rule followers as opposed to men, who only see rules as guidelines. “So, if you are looking at a job with 10 requirements, a woman would say she has eight of them and ask if I am qualified. A man would say I have two, so I’m definitely qualified,” she laughed. “Something I think we can own is more risk-taking.” She added that taking risks can have rewards or become a learning experience if the gamble fails. “Risk-taking is something women need to do more so they can show their value to an organization.”
The panelists concurred that female leaders should seek out opportunities for training in financial operations. Snow shared that she attended a P&L meeting early in her career that she wouldn’t have typically attended, which allowed her to listen in and understand the big picture of running a major retail operation.
The discussion delved into how the health and wellness industry fares versus others in regard to advancing women. “Our industry is actually doing pretty well. There are a lot of women CEOs,” said Kent, who acknowledged Haleon’s North America president Lisa Paley. “We can always do better — only 10% of the Fortune top 500 companies are run by women,” she said. She gave a shoutout to technology, financial services businesses and entertainment, which have put a focus on female leadership.
Kent called for improvements in training and development, mentorship and offering flexible work policies that help advance women.
Flexibility was a word mentioned frequently during the chat. Snow shared the importance of creating an environment that’s not only flexible, but empathetic and understanding. “Business partners you work with are navigating different stages of life, whether it is aging parents or you are the parent of small or school-aged children,” she said.
Not everybody’s workday looks the same. “I use the example that if you need a recap that needs to be sent out by the following morning, and you need to understand some people on your team want to stay until 7:00 and knock it out, log off, and be done. Others need to get out the door and can spend a few hours with their children and finish up after bedtime,” Snow said. “You shouldn’t have to explain or justify or defend that. I’m going to get it done by the deadline.” Hybrid workplaces have helped transform progress to understanding flexible schedules.
“Don’t apologize, deliver what you promise —in fact, over-deliver,” said Muhammad regarding work hour demands. “This is something often uniquely feminine that we find that we have to apologize if we want to log off and then log back on. Do the work, deliver the results, show that you can do it and don’t focus on the how.”
Muhammad offered advice on presenting experience on resumes or LinkedIn posts. “One somewhat controversial thing is that when people ask me to look at their LinkedIn or resume, they’ll very often write part-time or interim. I say why is that on there? Did you do the job? Did you learn the things that you said in the bullet points underneath the job? And can you do this for someone else? Why is it relevant if you did it 60 hours a week or six hours a week if you did it? So, for all of us who may have taken a break, including running a PTO or PTA, put what we delivered and not when or how on your resume.”
Mentoring is a huge component of advancing women, the panelists agreed. “I would encourage everybody to find somebody they admire and ask them to mentor you. And, by the way, don’t forget that you always have something to offer them as well, whether you’re younger or you’re from a different industry,” Kent said.
Muhammad added that having a mentor can come in handy, especially when it comes to understanding how to negotiate raises or promotions. “Mentoring is really about filling those gaps and talking to people who’ve probably been in your shoes or been in close to your shoes, or also can see it from the 10,000-foot level when you’re looking at it from the 5,000-foot level,” she said.
Urea invited the participants to provide tips for emerging leaders on how to build networks to leverage personal growth. “When you start to network with people and get to know each other, you can really start to teach each other about your roles in a very natural, organic way. I’ve really benefited from networking with people within my organization who work in different functions, talking about our roles and processes, and collaborating,” Snow said.
Kent added that she is a big supporter of networking and mentioned how she and fellow panelist Muhammad have advocated for each other, dating back to her role at J&J. Muhammad applauded the impact WE has on helping women network, especially at industry gatherings.
Don’t be afraid to seek mentors, the group said. Concluded Kent, “When I have asked women I admire to be a part of my learning, they almost always say yes.”
