The Benefits Give You Permission to Do the Right Thing

Are you wanting to do more to advance women in your company, but feel like you can’t prioritize something that feels like a nice-to-have? Do you have other metric-based issues that bump it down on your to-do list, such as meeting quarterly goals, raising a certain amount of capital, or closing an acquisition?

I have good news for you: You can put advancing women on the top of your to-do list, because the benefits to your business are huge - big enough to trump your other initiatives, to grow your business, to secure investors, and to attract and retain great employees.

[Related: The Best Bosses Have These Three Skills]

Leaders I work with have such a great sense relief when we connect the dots between what they want to do to promote women and the very measurable and impactful benefits their company will achieve as a result.

Removing the barriers, big and small, that keep talented women from advancing into leadership roles goes a long way in driving innovation and deepening employee engagement. This leads to sales and margin growth, lower turnover, and the ability to attract great talent. It helps break apart the unconscious bias that limits creative thinking and attraction of diverse talent.

This creates opportunities with new clients and customers, and satisfies the demands of investors regarding percentages of women in leadership. Investors, in turn, are very happy because gender-balanced leadership yields a 26% higher return on invested capital. It’s a win-win for the company and the investor.

[Related: Why Diversity Should Matter to Investors]

The key is to focus on the right initiatives for your company, the things that will go a long way in building trust and retaining top talent. You have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. This needs to be strategic work that the leadership gets behind and really prioritizes. Once you do that, it won’t take long to see real results.

Advancing women is not only the right thing to do - it’s the smart thing to do. Advancing women advances your business.

[Related: Great Leaders Develop Others by Coaching]

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Throughout her twenty-five-year career, Michelle Bogan has mentored colleagues and clients, founded and led women's groups, and helped promote many women and men to leadership positions. In 2018, she founded Equity for Women to advance the mission of empowering women at work.