Speech
Career Issues Facing Women -
A Personal Journey
Notes for an address
by Françoise Bertrand, Chairperson
Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission
to the Treasury Board of Canada
Secretariat Symposium
Westin Hotel, Ottawa, Ontario
November 29, 1996
(CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY)
Building a career that's right for you
[Thanks to presenter, individual and general greetings (mention Louise Roy)]
I have only one objective this morning: to teach you to become just a bit
delinquent. Of course, 30 minutes for a training session in delinquency is only a
small part of your life, but it can do you a lot of good. Another advantage is
that the morality squad won't be waiting for you when you leave!
On the contrary, I hope you will enjoy this session, and that it will put you
in an even better mood, filling you with optimism and energy to tackle your day
of workshops, and with the desire to build a career that's right for you.
The only practical exercice I will ask you to do during my intensive
mini-course is to turn the "glass" of your life around so that you see it as half
full rather than half empty. That is what will require a little delinquency. You
may be wondering what I mean by delinquency. For me, delinquency means:
- getting off the beaten track;
- finding your own way;
- being genuine and true to yourself;
- obeying your intuitions;
- enjoying and finding laughter in your work;
- having a love of learning;
- letting yourself be guided by your curiosity, and discovering all sorts of
fascinating things;
- being afraid, but not letting yourself be paralysed by fear;
- carrying on regardless;
- not giving up in the face of obstacles; and
- above all, understanding once and for all that nothing is impossible, that
"can't" is not in the dictionary, and that it is only in the dictionary that
the word "success" comes before the word "work". Here I have just summarized
what I learned about work from my mother and my grandmother.
In any case, this is the type of delinquency I have practised throughout my
professional life, and I am happy with my experience. Above all, do not expect me
this morning to make you feel sorry for yourselves about the pitfalls strewn
along women's career paths, to exhort you to grin and bear it, or to denigrate
men who are too powerful, too visible or too highly placed.
I would not know how to comment on that attitude, because I don't believe in
being resigned to our fate, taking a defeatist attitude or showing misplaced
aggressiveness. What I do believe in is being energetic, taking a positive
approach, and being bold and enthusiastic. Those are things I can talk to you
about.
I have had the opportunity to read Looking to the future, by the
Consultation Group on Employment Equity for Women. This study is well done and
thoroughly documented, and its recommendations are most worthwhile. There is only
one small thing wrong with it: it lacks enthusiasm. While I respect all studies
that advocate measures to improve the lot of women in the workplace, I am equally
convinced that each of us must take matters into our own hands to progress, or,
in the case we are concerned with this morning, each of us must take charge of
our own career to make it go where we want it to go.
Just between us, don't get the idea that I was born Chairperson of the CRTC.
When I began working in my early twenties, after studying sociology and the
environment, I had one single ambition: to lead an interesting professional life.
For me, that has always meant a professional life where:
- I can learn, because I am curious about everything;
- I am happy. In other words, a life that gives me satisfaction and pleasure,
because I am better at being happy than being unhappy.
Even if I did not have the position or the title I have today, I would still
say, quite frankly, that I have achieved my ambition. I have had, and I am
continuing to have, an interesting professional life.
Let me point out right away that "interesting" is not a synonym for "easy" or
"problem-free". Like everyone else, I have had my share of difficulties, both
small and great - dismissal, plateauing. But they have never stopped me. On the
contrary, they have motivated me to find ways to overcome them. I have always
refused to see my glass as being half empty. That approach has worked for me, so
there is no reason why it should not work for you. That is why I invited you, a
few moments ago, to do this exercise.
Obviously there are high points and low points in any career, a woman's or a
man's; sometimes there are even painful setbacks. Career paths that are straight
and free of obstacles are rare, but that does not prevent people from succeeding.
That is the important thing to remember. Life is full of nuances. There is a
right time for every dimension of our lives: a time for love, for children, and
for a professional career; and thank God that these high points do not all come
at once.
Here I want to stress that success is defined primarily in personal terms. By
that I mean that beyond the pressures of family, peers or society, you must above
all set for yourself the objectives you want to achieve, and they must be in
harmony with your true nature. What one of you defines as a successful career is
not necessarily the same as what your neighbour (man or woman) hopes to obtain
from the efforts he or she invests in his or her work. This is a choice you make
for yourself, or, as the main title of this conference so aptly puts it, a career
is a "personal journey" that forces you to consider all the stakes, make
decisions, take risks and create a sound, practical and effective strategy.
There will be favourable and unfavourable circumstances, opportune and
inopportune moments, lucky breaks and setbacks, helps and hindrances; all those
things will mark your path, but you will always be the only one to make the
choices in your career.
There are a number of ways to do this. You can choose promotion, lateral
transfers, enrichment of your present job, realignment, which is also called a
downward transfer, or even resignation. Some people quit their jobs, voluntarily
or not, and make careers elsewhere. I have done it five times in my life, and I
am no worse off for the experience.
I want to emphasize that there is a vast array of career possibilities out
there. If your long-term goal is to rise to a level that satisfies your ambition,
remember that there might be more than one way to get there. You may get ahead by
way of lateral transfer or by taking on additional responsibilities in your
present position. In the first case, you stay at the same level but you work in
another part of your organization, perhaps another office, or another department.
In the second case, you will have a chance to accomplish more and gain in terms
of stimulus and job satisfaction.
The main thing to remember is that if you just wait your turn, you'll wait a
long time. To show you what I mean, let me tell you about two experiences I had.
When I was at the Université du Québec at Montreal (UQAM), I was the dean in
charge of allocating human and financial resources. After four years of making my
garden grow, I wanted a promotion to vice-rector of communications. The rector
didn't want to promote me because I had no doctorate and I was doing a good job
where I was. I had the blues for 24 hours, then I started to look for another
position. Nine months later-wait for it-I was President of Radio-Québec.
Second experience: When I left Radio-Québec, I started another job search that
lasted 6 months and landed me the position of senior director in the consulting
firm of KPMG. Many people thought this was a step down. And because I no longer
carried the title of president, some people decided to stop saying hello to me or
spending time with me. I'll confess that I was hurt, but I was not surprised. I
knew who were and would remain my true "friends". In my new job there was so much
more to do than just wallow in pain and let it wear me down. So I jumped into my
new situation with both feet, and I learned how to build a customer base, offer
my services, and work up proposals to provide those services to customers who
became clients of KPMG through my efforts.
Of course I was nervous; of course I was afraid. Of course I worked long hours
and often on weekends. But that never prevented me from learning to do things I
had never done before.
So you see, the step-by-step method should not be rejected out of hand. These
different experiences are often the perfect opportunity to upgrade your
qualifications, learn new skills, work with different groups, or get involved in
projects that give you a chance to be recognized and appreciated. Each time this
happens, you will gain a little more confidence. And that, my friends, is the
greatest gift you can give to yourself. I would even say it's your first
promotion, the one you give to yourself!
I think that gaining this self-confidence is critical for us women. We haven't
necessarily been brought up to think of ourselves as being able to achieve, to
make things happen. Women usually won't try unless they feel they are absolutely
perfect. We are often our own harshest critics, pointing out our flaws or
mistakes sometimes even before they are noticed.
Have you ever encountered this attitude in men ? Rarely, I'm sure... Men do
not act that way. They may feel doubt, anxiety or uncertainty, but they manage to
rise to the occasion and they do face the challenge. Why, then, don't women have
the same amount of self-confidence?
Let's imagine for a few seconds the different scenarios of a woman and a man
getting ready for a job interview. The woman will change her skirt, her blouse,
her stockings, her shoes a million times. The guy takes his «best» suit out of
the closet and puts it on. Period. The woman thinks her hair is an absolute mess
- the ultimate bad hair day. The make-up is worse: no amount of blush or
eye-shadow seems to make her face look right. Well, for men, make-up and hair are
usually non-issues. We could go on with this little caricature of our attitudes
and behaviors that reflect our anxieties and our "I'll never-make-it" feelings.
I've learned one thing over the years and that is to save myself the pain and
agony of feeling "inadequate", "unauthorized" or "unable". It doesn't mean that I
never made mistakes or that things always worked out the way I planned, but I
sure gave myself the right to try. When I was faced with the unknown or with
difficulties, I never let fear paralyze me. My curiosity, my desire to try new
things was always stronger and compelled me to action.
Knowing how to take "calculated risks", risks that carry a high probability of
success, means seizing every available opportunity to move toward our goal. If we
can't get there in a straight line, we can always find another way. We must be
daring and find our own path. There is no single magic formula. There are many
different means, and we have to learn to use each one to the extent that it meets
our own needs. One of the most important pieces of advice I can give you is to
dare to be inventive! And that means you've got to reject blind conformity.
Just a little aside to tell you a story about my 25-year-old daughter who,
nonetheless, does not have a conformist wallflower for a mom. A few years ago
Julie was doing a practical work term at Monitor, an international management
consulting firm. At the year-end meeting to evaluate her project, she told her
fellow students, all young men and women her age, that she was fearful all year
that she could not measure up. As it turned out, every single student confessed
having the same self-doubt. I knew it. I had told Julie but she would not believe
me.
We had often discussed these issues. It was clear to me that she was selected
for the project because she had the skills they needed. But no! She was not
convinced that she should talk about her fears and apprehensions at the start of
the project so she could focus totally on her work instead of squandering part of
her energies by worrying about her hypothetical shortcomings and, even worse,
exaggerating out of proportion the merits of her colleagues, especially the men.
This should give you some idea of the scale of the problem ...
Now let's come back to the present. The world of work has changed enormously
since I had my first job 20 years ago. Today's world accepts new ways of doing
business and offers many features that women find more comfortable than in the
past. These include structures that are less authoritarian, less autocratic;
flexible hours, telework; multidisciplinary teams that are self-managing or
designed for total quality; and much more.
The mere fact that more women are now in the workforce has changed things,
perhaps not as fast as we would like, but even the most obstinate men have not
been able to resist these trends, in one form or another, or the changes in
labour legislation. Don't forget that growing numbers of men are even learning to
share responsibilities in family life and in raising children. Many of my male
colleagues have requested parental leave or taken time off to drive a child to
the doctor's, or assumed the daily task of dropping children off at day care and
picking them up after work. Twenty years ago, that wasn't happening. And even for
women: I remember a friend who never admitted to taking half an hour off work
every Tuesday afternoon at 4:30 to drive her daughter to ballet lessons. Her
secretary covered for her, and her colleagues never found out ...
But it's true that more women are in managerial positions today; they are less
isolated, they create their own networks, they support one another, and they
agree to serve as mentors for younger women.
In a study conducted a few years ago by Carole Simard, a political science
professor at the Université du Québec at Montreal, she identified the
characteristics of women who have succeeded and held high-profile positions. I'd
like to discuss some of those characteristics and tell you what I think of each
one. Now, I don't want to destroy the study, which I think is excellent, and
besides, Carole is a friend. But I encourage you to think critically about each
item.
First characteristic: Women in high-profile positions are intensely
career-oriented. In other words, they want to succeed and are absolutely
determined to pursue their chosen course and never lose their resolve under any
circumstances. That's OK, but you must not adopt that attitude if it means you
sacrifice your authenticity and stop being true to yourself. And it's allright to
devote different levels of energy to your career at different stages of your
life.
Second characteristic: They plan their careers and develop a strategy that
leads to their goal. I tend to think that this career model is adopted by women
who buy into the male approach. That might work for some women, but not for all
of us. Not for me, anyway, because I have always preferred to live in the here
and now and commit myself totally to what I'm doing at the time.
Third characteristic: They have all had and continue to have mentors in their
professional lives and solid family support. That is indispensable, and I'll come
back to it later.
Fourth characteristic: The higher they go professionally, the less often they
change jobs because they don't feel alienated. That is true for some women, but
others will move to different positions, different companies, or different
fields. I have had seven different employers in my 20-year career.
Fifth characteristic: Whereas the first women who advanced to senior positions
were older and single, today's women managers are clearly younger. Many married
women with young children are succeeding in professional life as well as family
life.
I had to make choices to raise my daughter. When she was a child and needed me
closer to her, I chose to leave consulting. UQAM offered me a more settled life
than I would have led if I had stayed in consulting. When she became a teenager
and preferred to spend hours of her time on the 'phone, in front of the TV or
with her friends instead of with me, I knew that I could afford to accept a
position where I would have more responsibilities and less free time. Today when
I look at Julie, who will be graduating in a month's time with a master's degree
in international administration, she is working, travelling and exploring the
paths of love, and I tell myself that our closeness has helped us both.
Thinking about the young women of her generation - and there are some here in
this room -, I would like to remind you that, while tremendous progress has been
made in the advancement of women in the working world, and while they have a
place there and hold their own in the top ranks of hierarchies, it would be
dangerous to think that the issue of equity, of the equality of women, is
settled, and that we can relax our vigilance. The second generation of effective
women managers now establishing themselves and their successors from the next
generation do not and will not have any more chance than we had to rest on their
laurels.
I pay homage to the women of the generation that went before me for opening
the way. They broke down many barriers.
When I am asked if I am "militant" about the presence of women in management
or the business world, if I am for promoting them, if I hope to see more women
executives or more women in positions of command, I unhesitatingly say Yes, with
the following qualifications.
Life and the real world are always bigger, more complicated and more diverse
than any goal set or any percentage to be achieved. I distrust ready-made recipes
and universal models that have to be followed to the letter.
When it comes to making room for women, it must be seen that no enterprise,
public or private, will be either better or worse if it welcomes more women. But
by opening itself up to the difference, it will better reflect the real world,
will be better nourished by its diversity and hence richer. I am convinced that
everything possible must be done to seek out and welcome others. For in our
professional environments we need to know that we can draw on a reservoir of
information contributed by a variety of people whose skills, resources and
experience enrich us and open up new horizons for us.
Men and women on a team learn to share without feeling threatened. This
learning is not always easy and obvious, but in the end it promotes balance and
harmony. I need these two elements to function. I could also add a third, and
that is the perseverance that makes it possible to change things without
disrupting everything everywhere all the time.
If I look at the course of my own life, I have never gone against the grain of
my (highly gregarious) instincts. I am a team player, and I hate shutting myself
up in an ivory tower. I haven't changed anything about this aspect of myself in
coming to the CRTC. The management style that suits me is to manage with people:
I like to be with people, to talk with people, to share with them how to get
things done. Not to mention that managing with people is, in my opinion, a much
greater source of solutions than problems.
Another thing to remember from my way of doing things is the need to have one
or more mentors and to create a network. Men and women who are models to follow
or who agree to be our mentors or who join our network of relationships to enrich
and diversify it all bring us invaluable help, each in their own way.
It can never be emphasized strongly enough how useful creating a network is.
Depending on the people that you have chosen to be part of yours, you can count
on them to mentor you, advise you, teach you new skills, tell you what is going
on inside and outside the organization, support you when you need someone to talk
to frankly and in confidence, or open doors for you. And do not forget that you
can return the favour. A network works both ways. Do not be afraid-you are not
without resources. You will always have something to offer, if only an idea or a
little help.
Admittedly, you have to put some effort into creating a network. It doesn't
just fall from the sky. Sometimes luck also lends a hand. I won't pretend that
being in the right place at the right time with the right people doesn't play a
role in the course of a life or a career. You must trust your lucky star and
follow your intuitions.
I have kept one last stone in my pocket. Just to have the fun of shattering
the "Glass Ceiling". I'll be blunt: it never existed for me. I have always
refused to see it hanging over my head.
I am perfectly aware that numerous studies have proven it to be real, even in
very progressive organizations. [Ann M. Morrison, quoted in Looking to the
future, p.86]. I have also read the literature and know that the extent to
which these invisible obstacles are present can vary and they usually include:
prejudices, biases, negative sexual stereotypes, exclusion from groups,
hostility, lack of cooperation, unfairness, etc.
But if you lay yourself open to all these behavioural and attitudinal barriers
and take them lying down, you will hinder your own progress on your career path
and you will prevent yourself from moving forward and accomplishing what you
intend.
What I'm talking about here is not magical thinking. I'm saying that you need
to make something positive out of a possible stalemate situation. You need to
break away from it psychologically.
As I have stressed several times in my talk, there is no one, ready-made and
infallible recipe for a successful career. You need good health and stamina. I
fought case by case. When one path closed before me, I looked for another. I
didn't want to know there was no way out of an impasse; I always wanted to know
where the exit was. Solutions can be found!
I am confident that, if you give yourself the means to take the best possible
advantage of all your personal resources and of all the other resources that may
exist around you, you will succeed in building a career that's right for you.
It's time to get started. Get busy doing things, learning and being proactive,
and please have fun doing it! I wish you an excellent workshop and every success
in all your endeavors.
Thank you for your attention, and I shall be happy to answer any questions you
may have.
- 30 -
Contact: CRTC Public Affairs, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2
Tel.: (819) 997-0313, TDD: (819) 994-0423, Fax: (819) 994-0218
Date Modified: 1996-11-29 |
