A Brand For All Seasons

No doubt about it, it’s easier to succeed in a hot economy when revenues and budgets are high. In a tough economy, like this one, you need to make sure your brand is in tune with the current market conditions. By “in tune,” I don’t mean feeling down like the down economy – a sentiment I’ve faced with some of my coaching clients. It takes some visioning to see light at the end of the tunnel, but it is there. And there will be times in the future when the business prognosis is sunny.

In the meantime, here are some tips on how to thrive and succeed in the periods when belt tightening is the order of day.

1. Have a reputation for results.

Be a producer who gets results, and look for ways to cost-effectively improve your department’s performance. It’s also important to communicate the results of your successful projects and initiatives.

2. Resist the complain brigade

Morale can plummet in difficult times, especially if colleagues have been downsized and you have a bigger workload. Vow to keep positive. Complaining only makes things worse unless it’s done in a constructive way to come up with a better solution. As hard as it is to believe now, the economy will improve at some point in the future and if you are like most people, you’ll look back upon this challenging time as a period of growth.

3. Raise your hand

This is the time to step up to the plate and volunteer for extra projects or suggest ways to do something more efficiently or cost-effectively. You may even have the opportunity to expand your area of responsibility and even get a title change to reflect that. It’s happened to me in downturns.

4. Be visible

This is not the time to hide in the tall grass. Be a visible member of your department or company. Participate in meetings. Stay connected personally and virtually.

5. Be perceived as a cost cutter

Most managers are asked to come up with cost savings in tough times, so don your green eyeshade and come up with ways to increase productivity and cut costs at work. You get extra points for coming up with ways to increase revenue without spending a lot of money.

6. Align your brand with your company’s brand

During tough times, smart leaders focus the company on winning strategies and new innovations. Make sure your brand is in alignment with the company’s focus on innovation and results.

Let me know your thoughts on how to thrive in a challenging environment. 

By Jennifer Myers
So says author Catherine Kaputa, who believes that innate female attributes can offer an edge in today’s economy.

For years,women have believed that, to succeed in business, they have to act like men. But really, women just need to be women to get ahead, contends Catherine Kaputa, author of The Female Brand: Using the Female Mindset to Succeed in Business.

Click here for full interview

Excerpts:

Women have innate attributes that give them an edge in business, particularly in today’s economic climate in which team-building and superb communications skills reign supreme.

Women have all the talent and ability of men, but we have a different style and different preferences in our way of looking at things.

Women have very good social-perception skills and we have very strong empathy. That’s a useful tool in the business world – understanding other people, negotiating with people, and an ability to bring people together to reach consensus.

Companies today are downsizing and they need to be flexible. They’re putting together ad hoc teams that are cross-functional, that may bring together people that normally don’t work together or you may work with people you’ve never met in a virtual environment.

So this female style that is more inclusive, that isn’t as hierarchical, where you have an environment that says that anyone  can have a good idea, is coming to the forefront.

Click here for full interview

I was at a women’s leadership development event recently and an executive – we’ll call her Marisa – pulled me aside for a private talk during the networking period. Marisa was a relationship manager at a large company handling some of the most important clients. In the branding workshop I led, Marisa had defined her personal brand identity as “a sales superstar who offers clients first class attention and personal service.”

Marisa loved her job, but she confided, “the problem is my boss, Jonah.” Marisa felt that he was driving her too hard, pushing for increased sales and demanding lots of paperwork chronicling her every move. “It’s a tough economy and I’m sure he’s under a lot of pressure to increase sales,” she said, “but he’s a frightful taskmaster constantly asking for updates and pushing me to increase sales. Frankly, I’ve really come to dislike him and avoid him as much as possible.”

I asked Marisa how she would treat Johan if he was one of her most important clients. “Oh, I would regularly keep in touch with him,” she said. “I speak to my clients frequently, sometimes daily when we are in the midst of a project. And I keep detailed business and personal notes about each of my clients, sometimes running dozens of pages long. When I send a gift to mark a special occasion such as a promotion, I send something special and meaningful to each client – even if it is a small gift.”

Then I asked Marisa which clients are treated like that. “Well, clients that represent a large part of my revenue would qualify – say 20, 30, or 40 percent of my sales revenue,” Marisa said.

I suggested that she look at Johan as a client or “customer” too. After all, Johan representa 100% of Marisa’s revenue yet rather than reaching out to him like she did with her clients, she went out of her way to avoid him.

Is that smart for someone who wants to be a sales superstar at a large company?

From a branding perspective, you always want to think in terms of “markets’ like brand managers do. Key “customers” for Brand you include your boss, senior management, clients, colleagues, direct reports, outside vendors, industry contacts and the like. You should also prioritize your markets in terms of importance to your personal brand success.

And for most of us, if we work in a corporation, our # 1 target market is our boss (closely followed by our clients if we have a sales role).

Forbes.com Careers
Smart Woman’s Guide To Getting Hired
Jenna Goudreau, 08.14.09, 7:00 PM ET
Despite what some think, landing a job during a recession is not an impossible feat. There are openings out there, and the search for top talent is ongoing. Increased competition may slim your chances, certainly, but it won’t stamp them out. You can get an offer, with a few smart strategies and a heavy dose of hard work.
Just ask Kendra Trahan of Winter Garden, Fla. A regional sales director for four years at Bausch & Lomb until the lens company’s recent reorganization (it has been shedding jobs globally after moving out of the public sector in 2007), Trahan says she saw the writing on the wall long before she was officially laid off in June. She had already been reading up on 2.0 resume-building and job-hunting tactics.
Trahan also hired a personal marketing service, ITS of Denver, Colo., to develop a job-search business plan and refresh her resume. Instead of a chronological listing of her previous positions and responsibilities, agent Larry Michele advised her to create a new CV that focused on her skills and accomplishments. He also suggested she use specific keywords in her resume to optimize search software on employment Web sites. Trahan uploaded her revised resume to about a dozen sites and sent it out in targeted mailings to companies with open sales or training manager slots.
In Pictures: Top 10 Tips To Land That Job
One hit. An HR manager of Salix Pharmaceuticals in Orlando, Fla., scheduled her for an interview for a sales manager position on July 10. Trahan was one of seven top candidates, and impressed by her confidence and background, the manager asked her to attend a series of interviews at the North Carolina headquarters a few days later. Trahan got the names of the six people she’d be meeting with and got busy. She researched the company, its products and the interviewers, wrote up questions for each person and outlined a business plan for the position.
Trahan performed brilliantly in the interviews. She got an offer that week to start the following Monday, leaving her out of a job for less than a month.
“It is a different playing field now,” says Eric Winegardner, a vice president of Monster, a top job search and recruiting Web site. “It was a candidate marketplace, and now it’s an employer marketplace.”
However, Winegardner also believes that there are still “hundreds of thousands of jobs in every sector,” allowing plenty of chances to find one that works for you. He suggests approaching the job hunt as a competitive challenge rather than a losing proposition.
Step 1: Customize Your Pitch
Winegardner says the days of sending out hundreds of the same resume with cover letters addressed “To Whom This May Concern” are past. Networking will help you discover job openings–and get your application on the right desk–but it only goes so far.
To catch a recruiter’s eye, a winning resume will highlight your greatest accomplishments at previous jobs rather than your routine workweek responsibilities. And a concise cover letter should read like a carefully crafted marketing pitch, reflecting your knowledge of the company.
The same research and precision should be exercised in the interview process. “Don’t go on blind dates,” says Nancy Keene, a director of Stanton Chase International, an executive search firm. She believes that preparation is the best and easiest way to nail an interview.
That means learning about the company and the interviewers so that you can tailor your message to their needs. It also means knowing yourself. “Command the statistics of your life,” Keene says, including all of the key facts and numbers about your previous work experience.
Step 2: Show Results
“In an interview, results are the bottom line,” says Jill Smart, chief human resources officer at Accenture, the management and technology services giant. “Everybody can talk about experiences and skills. Translate that into an impact.” Added 10 new high-profit clients last year? Mention it. Saved dollars by recommending a new tech system? Now’s the time to share.
One way to prove that you’re a results-oriented worker is to provide supplemental materials showcasing hard evidence. Trahan put together a “brag book” that detailed the solid numbers of her past performance. She also went one step further, creating a business plan for Salix that stated her goals 30, 60 and 90 days into the job. The combination of previous results and a plan for future impact helped tip the scale in her favor.
Step 3: Get Inside
Experts agree that understanding the corporate culture will help you land the job. All top candidates will fit the job requirements, but interviewers want to know that they’ll fit in.
Trahan recognized this and sifted through her contacts to find someone who worked at Salix. She discovered that an acquaintance on LinkedIn was connected to a Salix employee. Through her contact, she set up a phone call and asked the employee questions about the corporate atmosphere, style and value system. She discovered that the company was, in fact, results-driven. Trahan says she was more confident going into the interview because she already felt knowledgeable about the internal environment.
Another key item to remember about culture, warns Monster’s Winegardner, is that people will talk. Smart candidates realize that the interview begins the moment you’re on the company campus. One off-hand remark, perhaps grumbling about the pace or traffic of an unfamiliar city, may get back to the boss and hurt your chances. View everyone–from drivers to receptionists and executive assistants–as people you hope to impress and someday work with.
Step 4: Make a Winning Impression
Your appearance and presence contribute to the tone of an interview. Catherine Kaputa, author of The Female Brand, believes that, in many respects, women have important business advantages over men, namely communication and empathy skills. On an interview, women should tap into these attributes by reading the environment and using corresponding body language. Kaputa believes a winning first impression begins with a confident entrance, walk and greeting.
Trahan agrees that women are generally more adept at mimicking others, which will put an interviewer at ease and show respect. She made sure to lean slightly forward in her chair and maintain eye contact to show engagement in the conversation.
But beware. Women can also be the targets of ingrained stereotyping. They often have a reputation of being too chatty, says Keene of Stanton Chase. Whether that’s true for you or not, the label may hurt you. Be concise and try to keep answers to a minute, she advises. If the interviewer looks distracted or impatient, it’s time to wrap up.
Since Trahan began her new job about three weeks ago, she’s been on the other side of the desk. She’s already hired eight new sales people. She looks for many of the same things that she’s mastered herself: knowledge, work ethic and confidence. About her latest interviews, she says, “I ask them to bring their resume to life for me. I’m looking for them to sell themselves.”
It worked for her.
In Pictures: Top 10 Tips To Land That Job

Posted in August 11th, 2009
Dailybusinesssolutions.com

Guest Post By Catherine Kaputa
Ever since a certain assertive female decided she wanted to eat from a certain forbidden tree, influential women have been loved, hated, glorified, vilified, and misunderstood.

Our modern time is no different.
Yes, we’ve come a long way from the fifties and early sixties, when career women were viewed as a lesser version of men, and urged to pursue service-oriented “pink jobs,” such as nursing and teaching. However, today our ranks in the corporate workforce still thin out above midlevel. Today, women comprise less than 3 percent of senior executives in Fortune 500 companies. So, whether we are boomers, Generation X, or Gen Y, we’re still not where we want to be.
Do you know this woman? She could be in your office, she could be a friend, or she could be you. She doesn’t lack talent or work ethic, but her life and career aren’t on track. It can be hard for her to strike the right tone in the office. If she’s too nice, she’s viewed as weak and not up to the job. If she’s too assertive, she’s criticized for being severe. She seems to work harder than the men—for less rewards. She’s suffering from an ailment that mainly affects women that I’ve dubbed “Female Behavior Confusion Disorder.”

So what’s a woman to do? Well, for one, we have to stop trying to act like men in the workplace. Strong brands—products or people—are always built on authenticity. Don’t fight your nature. Instead, build on your innately female strengths and inclinations.
Research in gender studies points to key aptitudes that can propel career success for women —what I call “The Top 5 Female Aptitudes for Branding and Business Success.” Not all women have these qualities, and many men have these qualities as well. However, these are areas in which women tend to be stronger. You can use these five aptitudes to help you in the workplace.
Aptitude # 1: Social Perception.

Women are wired for empathy, the ability to read and identify the emotions and feelings of others through a sense of similarity—to walk in their shoes, as it were. MRI studies show that most women use both hemispheres of the brain to process emotional messages, while most men use only one hemisphere, giving women an advantage in picking up subtle non-verbal clues. Many women are also strong in intuition—it’s called women’s intuition for a reason.
How to use it in the workplace.

Intuition can give you another source of information beyond rational analysis. Pay attention to what’s going on behind the scenes. In meetings, for example, if something feels incomplete or not talked about, act on your hunch and initiate a follow-up, clarifying phone conversation. Empathy can be particularly helpful in business during tough economic times. Work on listening to others and asking questions. When people feel listened to and understood, they will pay you back by liking you and supporting you in return.
Aptitude # 2: People Power.

A lot has been written about the fact that women have the social gene, and it’s something that starts early. In one study, even one-day old baby girls were more fascinated by faces (or organic things) and boys more fascinated by inorganic things, such as mobiles. Playground studies of boys and girls point to interesting differences in how boys and girls play and relate with each other. Girls tend to pair off and play together one-on-one or with a small group. Boys tend to play with one group and then move to another larger group.
How to use it in the workplace.

Women are born to network and make strong emotional connections. Use your social skills to build as many professional alliances as possible. Leverage your “social gene” to get well-known around the office. Be a mediator and an influencer. In terms of your personal career goals, you can use your strong people skills to land new opportunities and positions in your company—and get noticed, recognized, and rewarded.
Aptitude #3: Communication Agility.

The female verbal edge is strong across the board. Girls, on average, start talking a month earlier than boys. Girls use a larger vocabulary at an earlier age, are better spellers and readers, score better on verbal memory or recall of words are markedly stronger writers. Women generally have better listening skills.
How to use it in the workplace.

Use your wordsmith mastery to develop a virtual identity for yourself and for your company: blogs, websites, wikis, online newsletters, and so on. Solicit feedback early and often at work, and find mentors with whom you can discuss your ideas and development. Be an idea bridger and a meetings facilitator. Become known as someone who can grasp—and restate—others’ points of view. Get practice as a presenter, and use your communications agility as a valuable business tool for promoting your great ideas and accomplishments.
Aptitude # 4: Vibrant Visual Identity.

Brand managers use product design and packaging to develop a strong visual identity for their brands, and women have more tools available to them than men do for creating a strong visual identity in the workplace. While men wear a relatively boring uniform to work, women have a variety of “imaging tools” in clothes, colors, accessories, hairstyles, jewelry, and make-up.
How to use it in the workplace.

Michelle Obama is the poster girl for what a powerful tool visual identity can be. She has a casual, American elegance, yet her clothes convey subliminal messages too. Her striding self-confidence, fit body, and clean American designs with bold colors result in inspirational magic. She favors immigrant American designers, a choice that reinforces the President’s political message. You can do the same. If you don’t have the body of a fashion model, then do something wonderful with your hair and clothing. Work on your posture and gait. Think about what your visual image conveys, and find visual “props” that add originality and a confident, powerful statement.
Aptitude # 5: Leadership that Includes and Empowers.

One study of male and female group dynamics involved groups of pre-pubescent boys and girls, segregated by gender and given tasks to accomplish cooperatively. The girls used their social skills and worked together and formed a kind of committee. The girls all took part in discussions about how to accomplish the task, while the boys jostled about and picked a leader, who then directed the group on how to get the job done. Both had positive outcomes, but each gender used very different models. Women’s inclusive, collaborative style of leadership is increasingly valuable in today’s complex and interconnected global business environment.
How to use it in the workplace.

Recent episodes of Celebrity Apprentice pitted women against the men—and displayed how their unique group dynamics gave the women a decided advantage. In the real workplace we can see the effect of these different leadership tendencies, too. Men tend to have a more directive management style, and women tend to have a collaborative style with shared decision making. Leverage your more inclusive leadership style so you can lead in a way that doesn’t seek to have power over people, but empowers others instead. Consult others on important decisions. Create teams and a “personal board of directors” who can advise you—and be sure to include men too. Conduct brainstorming sessions. Give public credit to people when they contribute. Such a leadership style will result in loyal, committed, hardworking colleagues and employees and will give you a distinct advantage and reputation as a problem solver.
* * * * *_Catherine Kaputa is a writer, speaker, and the founder of SelfBrand LLC (www.selfbrand.com), a NYC-based personal branding firm. Her newest book is The Female Brand: Using the Female Mindset to Succeed in Business (Davies-Black, 2009, www.femalebrand.com).

Top 10 Ways to Use Your Female Advantage in Business

By Catherine Kaputa, Author “The Female Brand: Using the Female Mindset to Succeed in Business”

The conventional wisdom has been that women have trouble succeeding because they don’t act like men. But playing it like a man doesn’t work because it brands you as tough and aggressive. And it’s stupid for the most basic reason. We’re not men. And that’s an advantage.
It’s common sense to be authentic, and it’s smart branding. Your personal brand must come from who you are and what makes you tick — including your strengths and aptitudes as a woman.
Here is my top 10 list of how to use your female aptitudes to increase your success in business:
1. Turn up your empathy quotient (EmQ)_Women are strong in empathy thanks in part to higher levels of estrogen and oxytocin. So it’s no wonder that when President Obama cited “empathy” as a key factor in his selection of a Supreme Court justice, the four finalists were women._How to leverage empathy: Be approachable and empathize with the feelings of others. People will feel understood even if you are giving them bad news! You can use empathy to build consensus around a common goal.
2. Create an appealing package_Studies show that attractive people not only make more money, they are viewed as smarter, more productive, and even kinder than others. Women have an advantage because we have more “visual packaging tools.” _How to package yourself: Don’t mimic the male model — that’s so 20th century. Use the French women’s model: Dress like a woman and accentuate your best features. If you don’t have the body of a fashion model, do something wonderful with your hair and clothing. Develop a distinctive look with a signature color, accessories and so on. Work on your posture and how you move.
3. Reach out and connect
Women have the social gene and an innate ability to build relationships and connect with people, studies show. Women are natural-born networkers, team builders and relationship mavens.
How to use people power: The larger your network, the more career capital you’ll have. So don’t just use your people power to develop deep relationships with a few; use it to also develop a broad network of more casual acquaintances with all types of people.
4. Speak with panache
Women routinely outscore men on oral and written tests because they use both hemispheres of the brain — left and right — to process verbal and emotional messages.
How to use your verbal agility in the workplace: Use your verbal skills to speak up: Ask great questions and listen actively. Hone your business conversation and presentation skills. Pitch yourself for a move up or a lateral move with interesting “stories” about your past performance.
5. Be inclusive
Choosing inclusion over exclusion is a powerful female strength. In today’s modern, global companies, the ability to work well with diverse groups will set you apart.
How of leverage inclusiveness: Encourage different perspectives and offer goodwill to everyone — friends and foes. Cultivate strong alliances and be loyal.
6. Read between the lines
MRI imaging and other brain research show that women are much better at picking up subtle emotional messages than men are. Women can pick up body language and are able to detect unspoken signals of unhappiness, frustration, and confusion.
How to leverage emotional intelligence: Look beyond verbal messages to the real message people are conveying in meetings. If something feels uncomfortable or incomplete, act on your intuition and follow up with a phone call.
7. Empower others
Studies show that women tend to work together collaboratively, empowering different members of the team to contribute and accomplish tasks. So rather than seek power over others, the female leadership style seeks to empower others.
How to leverage the female leadership style: Create teams and a personal “board of directors” who can advise you — and be sure to include men too. Give public credit to other people when they contribute.
8. See the big picture
Women tend to take in various perspectives and consider a larger framework when solving a problem or making a decision, while men’s style of problem solving tends to be more linear and transactional.
How to leverage big-picture thinking: Use your problem-solving style to uncover risks and opportunities, and bring more creativity and innovation to your work.
9. Be likeable
Women’s gifts for relationships, compassion, connection and empathy make them the more likeable gender. And let’s face it, the workplace is a personality contest too, so likeability is a key factor in success.
How to leverage likeability: Smile and be positive — as opposed to being serious and stern — and you will win over business fans and be more influential in your work.
10. Brand yourself
Use the nine female aptitudes listed above to brand yourself for success.

Catherine Kaputa is a brand strategist, speaker and the founder of SelfBrand LLC (www.selfbrand.com), a NYC-based personal branding firm. Her newest book is “The Female Brand: Using the Female Mindset to Succeed in Business” (Davies-Black, 2009, http://www.femalebrand.com/). Her previous book, “U R a Brand! How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success,” won the Ben Franklin Award for Best Career Book, 2007.
Copyright 2009 Catherine Kaputa. All rights reserved. The information contained in this article may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without prior written authority.
Story Filed Wednesday, July 29, 2009 – 10:18 PM

Judith West Interviews Catherine Kaputa about her new book, The Female Brand

Men don’t leave their gender at the door, so why should women? Women are accustomed to making stuff: women make the meals, make the house “homey”, make babies — so why not MONEY? Listen to Catherine Kaputa tell Judith West on Getting Your Money’s Worth how to leverage the female mindset to succeed in business.

Best Practices in HR

Women in HR: How to Brand

Yourself for Career Success

TheHRProfessional

Women professionals aren’t always

good at self-promotion, and female

HR professionals may find it even

more of a challenge, according

to Catherine Kaputa, leadership

development speaker and workshop

leader.

“Women in HR often see their roles

as supportive—building other

people up, developing staff, filling

the needs of [organizational] leaders

and department managers,” says

Kaputa, author of The Female

Brand: Using the Female Mindset

to Succeed in Business.

“It is self-deprecation—thinking of

other people first, thinking that the

business world is just and fair, and

that if you build other people up, you

will be rewarded,” she says.

“Men are more likely [than women]

to promote themselves and negotiate

for more money,” Kaputa explains.

“Research often shows that men can

exaggerate these accomplishments

(the ‘male hubris’ effect). If you, as

a woman, downplay what you do, be

careful—people will believe you.”

“If you want to succeed [in your

career path], you have to carve out

time for yourself,” notes Kaputa.

“Women must spend time looking

at themselves as a brand and figuring

out what they’ve done and what they

stand for. Your job as an HR leader

is one of the most critical jobs in

the company because talent is the

most important asset of a company,”

she asserts.

Key Aptitudes of Women

To increase career success, start by

identifying your strengths and then

build on them to craft your image in

the organization (your brand), suggests

Kaputa. To help you, she outlines

the key aptitudes at which most

female professionals excel.

First, women are very strong in social

perception, explains Kaputa. This

includes being empathetic; building

relationships; having the ability to

read nonverbal cues, as well as

verbal cues; acquiring strong listening

skills; and developing the ability

to build consensus and get people

on your team, she says.

Communication agility is another

strength that the majority of female

professionals possess, and it’s particularly

important for HR professionals

because they do training, make

presentations, and work with teams.

The ability to articulate ideas and

having speaking prowess are important

for people in general, and

women in particular, to get ahead.

“Women have ‘people power’ social

skills and are excellent at building

deep and meaningful relationships,”

says Kaputa.

“After all, HR is about people and

relationship-building skills and

building consensus. Rallying people

around your point of view, listening,

and persuading are key chief people

officer skills.”

Finally, the leadership style of

women is more collaborative and

inclusive in nature than in men,

Kaputa contends.

“A female leader is more likely to

know that a good idea can come from

anyone, and that no idea is a bad

idea. The key to being successful is

listening to ideas from the front line.”

Thinking Like a Brand

Once you have identified the aptitudes

and skills that you have and

can build on, you need to think

and act like a brand, says Kaputa.

“Stand for something different from

other brands [people], an area of

expertise in HR, a point of view

that’s special. What’s your point

of view? What do you stand for?

What’s your philosophy?”

Next, you must develop a plan to

market yourself as a brand, explains

Kaputa. Identify your goals and

create specific actions that will help

you achieve those goals.

These are specific actions that you

can take to build your brand, to build

your visibility, both internally and externally,

she explains. “As an HR

professional, you have many forums

in which to build your networks.”

Develop your brief “elevator” speech

(2 minutes or less) that describes

what you stand for, suggests Kaputa.

“[Another suggestion is to] take your

ideas and expertise and write an article

for your company website or use

your point of view to build consensus

and solve problems.”

Acting like a leader is also important,

Kaputa maintains. “Speak in front of

industry groups [and your peers].”

In whatever you decide to do to,

heighten your exposure as a brand—

what you stand for—and remember

that the physical packaging of your

brand is important as well, notes

Kaputa.

“Women have an advantage over

men. Men wear a uniform [suit and

tie] to work. Women have a wide

variety of clothes, hairstyles, colors,

accessories, and jewelry that they

can use to stand out. You need to

look professional and appropriate,

but you have choices. To a large extent,

first impressions are important

and from a branding perspective can

be very useful. We can all be packaged

to our advantage to create a

visual impression.”

To find out more about how women

can better brand themselves for

career success in your career, visit

www.femalebrand.com.

London Evening Standard

How women are ahead in recession jobs race

Philip Delves Broughton

03.08.09

During previous recessions, the classic evacuation policy applied to job losses: women and children first, men last. The most disposable employees were seen as those with the least important jobs, which tended to be the young and the female.

In the past year, however, 80 per cent of the jobs lost in the United States have belonged to men, despite the fact that women now make up 50 per cent of the workforce. In the UK, the pattern is similar. The number of unemployed men has increased by 45 per cent in recent months, the number of women unemployed by a quarter.

Women, for all kinds of reasons, are turning out to be the more recession-proof sex.

Partly it is because the heaviest job losses have been in industries where men predominate: construction, manufacturing and finance. Women are more strongly represented in the public sector and in more flexible, part-time work which can be adapted to the economic times.

But there is evidence of a more remarkable story surfacing in the recession: the convergence of economic and social trends redefining the role of women in business.

“Everyone’s looking for value these days,” says Catherine Kaputa, a former Wall Street banker and author of the book The Female Brand: Using the Female Mindset to Succeed in Business. Suddenly, the fact that women have been shamefully underpaid over the years compared to men is proving to be an advantage. When the cost-cutters go over the compensation figures, women look like a bargain.

According to Kaputa, who interviewed 150 senior women managers for her book, women have been having an incremental influence on business leadership for years, chipping away at traditional hierarchies, to foster a more collaborative environment.

“Women are more interested in building consensus and harmony,” she says. “In global companies, where people are often working in ad hoc teams around the world to solve a problem, those skills are incredibly valuable.” Women also tend to have less regard for organisational structure, picking up ideas wherever they find them, another major asset in turbulent times.

When it comes to the now highly valued sphere of emotional intelligence, she says, women have all kinds of natural advantages. During President Obama’s recent search for the next Supreme Court Justice, he stressed the need for a judge who possessed both a fine legal mind and a deep understanding of people. He wanted a judge who understood how people felt and could in turn make them feel understood. All of his leading candidates were women.

When he eventually picked Sonia Sotomayor, he emphasised how she rose from poverty in the Bronx, went through the best universities, to reach the heights of the legal profession. But above all, she could empathise.

Women also tend to be more sophisticated communicators than men, claims Kaputa, a pattern which begins in early childhood as girls talk and read at a younger age. And, like good team management, good communication is a coveted skill for modern managers.

Claims that women are better empathisers and communicators are often attacked as unfounded stereotypes. Kaputa, however, cites evidence from recent studies of brain scans of boys and girls that suggest girls are hardwired to care about one-on-one relationships, while boys are more interested in competition and group dynamics.

When a woman has to fire someone, Kaputa found, she tends to do it in a more caring way than a man, being more interested in the effect on the individual rather than the group. Consequently, people prefer to be fired by women.

And whereas men tend to have lots of shallow professional relationships, women will have fewer, deeper ones. When the knife is being wielded, depth rather than breadth is what counts.

This reversal of fortune has been a long time coming — from a world in which men assumed women simply weren’t as good as them at business, to one in which women claimed equality, and dressed like men to prove it. For a while, female management skills were insidiously described with words like “nurturing” and “intuitive”, which meant too soft-hearted or muddle-headed for the top jobs.

Now the assumption is that there is no difference in ability between the sexes, only differences in mindset, motivation and preferences. A healthy business finds ways to encourage men and women to learn from each other. Men tend to be much better at self-promotion, say, while women are inclined to downplay their achievements.

When she worked on Wall Street, Kaputa noticed that men would make sure to brag about their achievements around bonus time while women would quietly wait for their work to be recognised. Inevitably, the men received larger bonuses. This is something a woman could easily fix.

On the other hand, what were seen as minefields for women, such as how to dress for work, have become advantages when the economy turns sour. It is a question of creating a “visual identity”, says Kaputa. Whereas men tend to wear a uniform whatever the dress code, women draw on a broader set of tools to establish a clear identity within an organisation.

When companies cut jobs, the first targets are those whose role is unclear. A strong visual identity conveys that you stand for something non-replicable. The splashy dresser stays. It’s all the indistinguishable guys in suits and ties, or chinos and blue shirts, who have to go.

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Probably the women are paid less than their male counterparts. I find the majority of women managers mostly agressive and non-sympathetic and prefer to work with male managers.

- Lin, London England

The big challenge for women will occur when the markets do eventually pick up and everyone is running hard to secure the best jobs. Women will have to compete very hard. Confidence, strategy, a fantastic CV, and a brilliant network are going to be even more critical for women. The thing to watch will be whether women simply avoid the companies with bad reputations and make a beeline for the better ones!

- Glenda Stone, London, UK

Women have to talk themselves up. It’s called “good c ommunication”.
You cannot blame them for that as long as they don’t take offence when men do the same.
But today’s media is so hen-pecked…

- Peter Seekings-Foster, Mildenhall, Suffolk.

Of the five people I know who have been made redundant in the last nine months, four of them are women in their 40’s. None of them have found another job.

- Thalia, london UK

There also cheaper…

- Paul B, London

It is far too prescriptive to suggest that the disproportionate growth in unemployment amongst the male population is as a result of the types of industries being affected by the current economic downturn. Whilst it is true to say that industries such as construction are male dominated, other areas of the economy such as retailing and high street banking, which have also been very badly affected by the economic crisis, have very significant female workforces. 

Sad but true, all the efforts to create equality in the workplace over the past 30 years but in particular the past decade, which has seen an unprecedented amount of employment legislation passed, has left one very vulnerable section of the workforce; male, indigenous and white. 

Employment tribunals are currently swamped with cases based on some kind of discrimination and this section of the workforce simply have less recourse to the law on these grounds. In a dog eat dog world where companies are making commercial decisions around who stays and who goes, these sorts of issues do play their part. 

Diverse, proportionate and representative are words we commonly see used to describe the demographic of the workforce of today. A reality of the current recession is that many companies will be closer to hitting those targets following the redundancies they make. And so it should be in the ‘modern’ world but certainly not very fair for those unfortunate enough to be affected.

- Norman Burden, True North Human Capital, London

Whilst I think that there is a greater appreciation of the more intuitive skills needed in business (and deep understanding of people that women can bring) and whilst many (senior) women are certainly not being side lined any more I, as a leading human capital player, still fear that prejudice exists. 

However, the more important issue, is not the male/female argument. We need to stop drawing comparisons and differences on gender basis and look more at the behaviours of the people that are being recruited in this current market. 

I am seeing a strong trend of shying away from candidates that cannot handle change and constant ambiguity. 

Also talking to a number of very senior executives at present I determine that boards are reluctant to take any extra risks. An MD or HRD who is known for sweeping through businesses and causing waves will be overlooked at present in favour of someone that can steer a steady ship until economic conditions improve.

- Jo Dalton, London UK

Biz Books
(Column for 08/09/09)
By Jim Pawlak

“The Female Brand – Using the Female Mindset to Succeed in Business” by Catherine Kaputa, Davies-Black, $24.95. Success isn’t about working hard and getting the job done – most of your coworkers work hard and get their jobs done, too. “Soft power”, Kaputa’s name for branding power, separates those who climb the ladder from those who just do their work and wait to be rewarded.
Think of yourself as a product. The Self-Branding Test (page 29) gives you an idea of where your brand stands on your product life cycle curve (i.e. introduction, growth, maturity, decline). Then define your target markets with branding in mind. Your primary target market includes your boss and decision makers. Colleagues, clients, your staff and network are secondary targets. Think outside in: What others need from you, rather than what you need from others. Becoming the solution to their problems builds your brand.
You also have to decide who isn’t a target. Example: The hip guy in the Mac commercials is 180 degrees from his nerdy PC counterpart. He’s not trying to convince the PC nerds to buy Mac; he’s appealing to those who don’t think of themselves as nerds. When self-branding, you have to agree to disagree with some people.
Here are a few of Kaputa’s self-branding techniques: Reach out – Ask for help, advice feedback and input. Just don’t ask from I-don’t-know weakness; that’s a brand killer. Approach from a you-want-to-learn standpoint with an icebreaker like: “I’m interested in learning more about… You’ve been there and done that. Can I pick your brain?”
Tell stories. Why? People remember stories better than they remember cold, hard facts. As long as they’re not peppered with I-I-I, stories provide the opportunity to tell someone about you without sounding like you’re bragging. And they must have a takeaway – and the moral of the story is…
While Kaputa targets women, her advice is gender neutral.