Insights: Women's Mentoring

[MUSIC PLAYING] Our company is 15 years old. And in the first year of our business, The New York Times wrote an article-- a journalist wrote an article and asked me if I was ambitious. And I thought that was a very rude question. And the way he asked it was very rude. So I wasn't imagining it. And after the article, a dear friend of mine called me up and said, great article, but you shied away from the word ambition. And I realized from that moment on, I was buying into a very harmful stereotype. And it's something that I wanted to address. It took me 15 years to do it, or actually, 13 years. But two years ago, we launched with our foundation a public service announcement about ambition and women, and why is it OK for a man to be ambitious and it's not for women. I hope that's changing, but certainly, it's still a very harmful stereotype that we need to really change. Working with some of our entrepreneurs, some of them would google, how do I look less pushy? How do I look less ambitious? How do I look-- and I say to all of the women, we have to embrace that. But we need women and men to be part of this conversation. That's one thing our foundation is working on. If we're just women talking about women's issues, we all agree. But we need to get men to be part of this conversation and to really make it OK for women to embrace their ambition, whatever it is. If you're a stay-at-home mom or an executive, live how you want to live, and be proud of that. 

Insights: Tory Burch Challenges Women to Embrace Ambition

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She regrets shying from the word early in her career.

Tory Burch Challenges Women to Embrace Ambition

The fashion mogul regrets shying from the word early in her career. (October 2019)

our company is 15 years old and in the first year of our business, The New York Times wrote an article. A journalist wrote an article and asked me if I was ambitious, and I thought that was a very good question and the way he asked it with very word. So I wasn't imagining it. And after the article, a dear friend of mine called me up and said, Great article. But you shied away from the word ambition on I realized from that moment on I was buying into a very harmful stereotype. And it's something that I wanted to address that took me 15 years to do it or actually, 13 years. But two years ago, we launched with our foundation at a public service announcement about ambition and women on. And why is it okay for a man to be ambitious? And it's not for women. I hope that's changing that. Certainly it's still a very harmful stereotype that we need. Thio really changed. Working with some of our entrepreneurs. Some of them would Google. How do I look? Less pushy? How do I look? Less ambitious? How do I look? And I say to all of the women. We have to embrace that. But we need women and men to be part of this conversation. That's one thing our foundation is working on, and we're just women talking about women's issues. We all agree. But if we need, we need to get men to be part of this conversation and and really make it okay for women to embrace their ambition, whatever it is, if you're stayed home, Mom or a new executive, live how you want. Wanna live and be proud of that?

[MUSIC PLAYING] You're, as you said, the first college graduate in your family. And I've certainly seen how you've taken your experience. I've watched the advice you've given my children as they've grown over the past eight years. We're at a conference for women. This is a lean in crowd. These women have-- these women have leaned in hard in lots of ways to support themselves, support their families, and get into this room. What's your advice for women and girls out there on how to lean in? I think the most important piece of advice that I've heard from you as well, encouraging all women to lean in, is you-- and I have to remind myself of this-- you are capable beyond your wildest imagination. And whatever you want to do, do it now. There's going to be a village to help support you-- the village. And you'll be great. 

Insights: Priscilla Chan’s Advice to Women

Priscilla Chan’s Advice to Women

Lean in to the community around you. (October 2016)

college graduate in your family, and I've certainly seen how you've taken your experience. I've watched the advice you've given my Children as they've grown over the past eight years. What were at a conference for women? This is This is a lean in crowd. These women have. No. These women have leaned in hard in lots of ways to support themselves, support their families and get into this room. What's your advice for women and girls out there on how to Lena? Uh, I think the most important piece of advice that I've heard from you as well, um, encouraging all women to lean in You and I have to remind myself of this. Um, you were capable beyond your wildest imagination. And whatever you want to do, do it now. There's gonna be a village to help support you, the village and great

[MUSIC PLAYING] My advice for the woman in the program is to take the leap and to go into new situations where you'll learn and develop and expose yourself to new things. Wipe all of the noises in your brain that tell you, you can't do something, the things that said you've never done that before, so it's going to be hard and you might not be good at it. And go and learn things that are new and completely different. And then learn that you can actually figure out in multiple situations how to lead and how to succeed. All you have to do is take a step, and something amazing is going to happen. And if you just keep taking steps forward, you'll get there. Follow your passion. Don't follow the money. The money will come. Be true to who you are and what you are, and persevere and never give up. Make sure that you are considered for the things that you feel that you're capable of achieving. Somebody has got to be there advocating for you. And you have to find that person. If you have female mentors, it's proven that having someone who you can relate to really helps you advance in your own career. And it will allow you to advance more quickly and to have better economic prosperity and to get to a position where you can actually help other women do the same. It's going to be really brutally hard at times, and you're going to think you can't go on. But you can go on, and just really, really, really try to stay in there because a better day is always right around the corner. [MUSIC PLAYING] 

Insights: Top Women Execs Give Advice to Their Mentees

During Fortune's Global Women’s Mentorship Program.

Top Women Execs Give Advice to Their Mentees

During the Fortune / U.S. State Department Global Women’s Mentorship Program. (May 2017)

the way the woman in the program eyes take the leap and to go into a situation where you learned and developed an explosion wife all of the noise in your brain that tell you you can't do something, things that you've never done that before. So it's gonna be hard and you might not be good at it and go and learn things that are new and completely different, and then learn that you can actually figure out in multiple situations. Howto lead and all you have to do is take a step on Dhe. Something amazing is gonna happen. And if you just keep taking steps forward, you'll get there. Follow your passions. Don't follow the money. The money will come true who you are and what you are and persevere and never give up. Make sure that you are considered for the things that you feel that you're capable of achieving. Somebody's gotta be there advocating for you and you have to find that person. If you have female mainstream schooled in that having someone who you can really thio really help shoot funds in your kid here on it will allow you to work quickly to eventual economic unity. And to get a position for you can actually help other women. It's gonna be really brutally hard at times and you're gonna think you can't go on. But you can go on and just really, really, really try to stay in there because a better day is always right around the corner.

Insights: Female Founders Talk Fundraising, Mentorship, and Advice

Zola cofounder and CEO, and The Wing cofounders. 

Female Founders Talk Fundraising, Mentorship, and Advice

Fortune sits down with Zola cofounder and CEO Shan-Lyn Ma, and The Wing cofounders Audrey Gelman and Lauren Kassan. (August 2018)

My name is Shanna Lynn Ma, and I am the CEO and co founder of Lola Goalie is the fossils growing wedding registry and wedding planning company in the country today. Like many successful startup, Zola was one out of personal needs. All my friends got married at exactly the same time, and I found the shopping experience on the registry websites to be one of the worst comma shopping I have ever seen. So we set out to create a wedding registry where you can register awful everything you want, usually in the one place we got a solo with two of us, and we now have over 130 employees. Five years later, in the earliest stages, investors really looked at who was the founding team. And we're we've the right team for this particular product and problem and market my advice to any found ribs. The funding and the people that take a bet on you will often end up referring to your previous work. And so the best thing that you could do to secure great funding for your kind business have a great track record of producing quality work. Previously, I'm Audrey Gelman and I'm a co founder and CEO of the way, and I'm Laurin Captain, and I need a battery. The Wing is a network of co working community for women. On our mission is the advancement of women's community Grand room. So just starting the morning here at the wing, people are using work meetings to read a book from our library, Really the sanctuary here, my working Democratic politics. I just had somebody like any experience on 6 a.m. t. Like putting on a food and trying to apply with Keira in like a moving train car back on. I just felt like there has to be a better way and a face like the wing. We wanted to lighten his load. The thing I continue to hear when I walk into the wing, I just get a sense of relief and calm. In the beginning, there were so many specifically male investors who had their idea of what the wings should be until that not all money is the same color green, and that really resonated with us. So I think finding people who really believe in you and your mission just taking any check is important thing to do. And when we started the wing way met the founders of full cycle on. They've been incredible mentors, really, having people who been in your shoes before started business operated business is so incredibly helpful having that support group of other people that you can really say jaded top pitching to a room of 20 guys when you're the only woman in the room and being able to say that to someone else and then saying, Yeah, I felt that, too is actually a relief. A few months ago, we closed the Series B round here. Azula. We raised a total of 100 million on DDE. We're now launching the next product, which is wedding invitations and save the day. We decided that we wanted to raise capital quickly. You were to be opening on the west coast of John Away. We're gonna London in Chicago, Karen for world domination

[MUSIC PLAYING] What is Lean In's message to men? I'm so glad you asked because I think the least understood thing about my book is that people think it's a book for women, and it's not. It's a book for all of us. And if we're going to get to equality in the workforce, where men have 86% of the top jobs, men are going to have to be a huge part of that equation. The book has four main messages for men. The first is help women sit at the table; help women reach for opportunities. The second is to really push back on the success and likeability gap. The third is let's have the honest conversation about mentorship and sponsorship no one's having. And the fourth is we need to actually help women navigate through the child rearing years. So this is all in your book, but I would like you to describe briefly the success and likability gap for women. The success and likability gap is a really big deal because the data shows this actually stronger than it shows anything else, which is that as men get more successful, they are better liked by men and women. And as women get more successful, they are less liked by men and women. And I have watched this happen over the last 10 years, and I'm seeing it happen in every meeting I'm in. What happens is when it comes time to promote, when it comes time to pick the person running the division or who's the next CEO, they get to the men, and they talk about their strengths and weaknesses. And then they get to the woman and they say, she's really good at her job. She's just not as well liked by her peers, or she's a little aggressive. It's very clear that we see people's through stereotypical lens. And in order to succeed at work, you need to be aggressive, and you need to hit goals, and you need to be assertive, and you need to help organize things. And those characteristics are ones we expect from men, so we cheer them on. And we repel from them in women. Men get to be successful and liked, and women have to peck. And the reason that holds women back in the workforce is in order to get promoted, you need to be successful and liked. What does your brother think of Lean In? My brother-- my family's amazing. My brother actually did something really incredible. He read obviously an early draft of the book. Just a couple of weeks ago, he just moved to Houston. He's a surgeon. I got to see him. I went there to visit for the first time. And he said, you know, I learned something from your book. And he made an offer to a woman to join his team. And he said to me, I noted she was in her late 20s, just got engaged. So when he made the offer, he said this to her. He said, I hope you can join my team. I'm really excited to work with you. I note that you may want to have kids one day. I want you to know you never have to talk to me about that. That's your business. But I also know that I have two sisters-- I'm one of them-- and a wife who struggled with this, who didn't want to tell anyone they were pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant or worried their jobs would be taken away. I don't want you to go through any of that too. So if you come work on my team, my door is open. You come talk to me about it anytime. I don't want you to worry I'm not giving the good surgeries to someone else because you're pregnant. And if you want to have children, take a maternity leave, and come back, I'm going to work on all of that with you. I've never heard of anything like that. The only person that does that is me. Facebook, right? But that conversation needs to happen in every company in America because we know we are losing our high potential women. Everyone's terrified-- terrified to say the word pregnant. I don't know how we get through this without talking about it. And I want to be clear what I don't mean. I do not mean that every employer in America should start giving women a time card to say, when's your pregnancy? That's not what I mean. But I do mean that an open-door policy where you say, I'm here to help you if you choose to talk to me, that's got to be part of the solution here. [CHIMES] 

Insights: Sheryl Sandberg Says Men Need to Champion Women at Work

Facebook COO's advice for men in the workplace.

Sheryl Sandberg Says Men Need to Champion Women at Work

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on her advice for men in the workplace. (April 2014)

What is leanings? Message to men. I'm so glad you asked, because I think the least understood thing about my book is that people think is a book for women, and it's not. It's a book for all of us. And if we're gonna get to a quality in the work force where men have 86% of the top jobs, men are gonna have to be a huge part of that equation. Ah, the book has four million messages for men. The first is help women sit at the table, help women reach opportunities. The second is to really push back on the success and likability gap. The third is. Let's have the honest conversation about mentorship in sponsorship. No one's having, and the fourth is we need to actually help women navigate through the child bearing years. So this is all in your book, but I would like you to describe briefly the success and likability Gavin. For women, the succession likability gap is a really big deal, because the data shows this actually stronger than it shows anything else, which is that men get more successful. They are better liked by men and women and women get more successful. They are less like my men and women, and I have watched this happened over the last 10 years, and I'm seeing it happen in every meeting I'm in. What happens is when it comes time to promote, when it comes time to pick the person running the division or who's the next CEO. They get to the men and they talk about their strengths and weaknesses, and then they get to the woman and they say she's really good at her job. She's just not well liked by her peers or she's a little aggressive. It's very clear that we see people through stereotypical lens, and in order to succeed at work, you need to be aggressive and you need to hit goals and you need to be assertive and you need to help organize things. And those characteristics are ones we expect from men. So we cheer them on and we repelled from them. In women, men get to be successful and like and women have to peck, and the reason that helps women back in the workforce is in order to get promoted. You need to be successful and like what does your brother think of Lena, my brother and my family is amazing. My brother actually did something really incredible. He read, obviously, an early draft of the book. Just a couple weeks ago, he just moved to Houston. He's a surgeon. I got to see him. I went there visit for the first time and he said, You know, I learned something from your book and he made an offer to a woman to join his team and he said to me, I noted She was like in her late twenties. Just got engaged. So when he made the offer, he said this to her. He said, I hope you join my team. I'm really excited to work with you. I note that you may want to have kids one day. I want you to know you never have to talk to me about that. That's your business. But I also know that I have two sisters. I'm one of them and a wife who struggled with this, who didn't want to tell anyone they were pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant or worried that jobs would be taken away. I don't want you to go through any of that, so if you come work on my team. My door's open. You come talk to me about it any time. I don't want you to worry. I'm not giving the good surgeries to someone else because you're pregnant. And if you want to have Children, take a maternity, even come back. I'm gonna work on all of that with you. Never heard of anything like that, right? The only person it does that is me. Facebook. Right? But that conversation needs to happen in every company in America because we know we're losing our high potential women. Everyone's terrified, terrified to say the word pregnant. I don't know how we get through this without talking about it, and I wanna be clear what I don't mean. I do not mean that every employer in America should start giving women a timecard to say, When's your pregnancy? That's not what I mean. But I do mean that an open door policy where you say I'm here to help you. If you choose to talk to me, that's got to be part of the solution here.

[MUSIC PLAYING] I do believe that women don't take enough risk. Not every woman, certainly some do, but same thing. The men are just foot on the gas pedal, career motivated. The data says very clearly that at every stage starting in college, in a high educated part of our workforce, men are more ambitious than women. And I really believe we're not going to close the achievement gap until we close the ambition gap. And so the ambition gap has to do with risk. I think the most common mistake I see people make-- and men make this mistake, too, but women do a lot-- is they're too worried about the upward trajectory and not worried enough about growth. So the two corporate jobs I've taken-- I went from Treasury to Google, and then I went from Google to Facebook-- had one thing in common, which is that they were more junior-- other people's words, not mine-- than other jobs I was offered. When I went to Google, Google was like 250 people. I was going to be a business unit general manager, except there were no business units. Susan Wojcicki is here. She helped recruit me. This was the non-job of all time. I mean, there was no job there. And I was offered, like, senior sounding, more senior roles at more established companies. But I really believed in what Google was doing. And Eric Schmidt gave me great career advice. He said go for growth. Growth moves everyone up. It's growing. It works. And so I went to a smaller company with a very more junior, less defined job. You know, when I came out of Google, it seems obvious now to come to Facebook, but at the time, a lot of people asked me, right-- you remember this-- what are you doing? You're going to work for a 23-year-old, you know? No one knows if Facebook is going to be the next Myspace or Friendster. And you're not CEO. You could be CEO somewhere else. And what I saw was something that mattered-- Facebook mattered, the authentic identity-- and an opportunity for growth. And so at each stage, I've cared less about my level-- I kind of think it's silly-- than I have about the underlying growth. And I do think this is really important for everyone to know, particularly women. 

Insights: Sheryl Sandberg - Why You Must Take Risks to Grow Your Career

Why You Must Take Risks to Grow Your Career

Sheryl Sandberg talks about the importance of focusing on personal growth in your career -- not just the upward trajectory. (October 2011)

I do believe that women don't take enough. Not every woman. Certainly some do, but same thing. The men are just put on the gas pedal. Career motivated the data cells very clearly that at every stage, starting in college, in the high educated part of our work force, men are more ambitious than women. And I really believe we're not gonna close the achievement gap until we close the ambition gap. And so the ambition gap has to do with risk. I think the most common mistake I see people make and men make this mistake to. But women do do a lot. Is there too worried about the upward trajectory and not worried enough of that growth? So the two corporate jobs I've taken, I went from Treasury to Google, and I went from Google. Facebook had one thing in common, which is that they were more junior other people's words, not mine. Another job that was offered when I went to give old people with like, 250 people, I was gonna be a business unit general manager. Except there were no business unit. Susan was just here. She helped recruit me. This was a non job of all time. I mean, there was no job there and I was offered, like, seeing you're sounding Seymour senior roles at more established companies. But I really believed in what Google was doing. An Eric Schmidt gave me great career advice. He could go for growth, growth moves everyone up. It was growing. It works. And so I went to a smaller company with a very more junior, less defined job. You know, when I came out of Google, it seems obvious now to come to Facebook. But at the time, a lot of people ask me, Right, You remember this. What are you doing? You're going to work for a 23 year old. You know, no one knows that Facebook's gonna be the next. You know. My seats are friends her like and you're not CEO. You could be CEO somewhere else in what I saw was something that mattered. Facebook matter, the authentic identity and an opportunity for growth. And each stage I've cared less about my level. I kind of think it's silly. Then I have about the underlying growth, and I do think this is really important for everyone to know, particularly women

Insights: Women's Mentoring

Insights: Tory Burch Challenges Women to Embrace Ambition

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The fashion mogul regrets shying from the word early in her career. (October 2019)

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Insights: Tory Burch Challenges Women to Embrace Ambition

Insights: Priscilla Chan’s Advice to Women

Insights: Top Women Execs Give Advice to Their Mentees

Insights: Female Founders Talk Fundraising, Mentorship, and Advice

Insights: Sheryl Sandberg Says Men Need to Champion Women at Work

Insights: Sheryl Sandberg - Why You Must Take Risks to Grow Your Career