Celebrating International Women’s Day: Raising Each Other Up
Mentorship plays a vital role in professional development. Good mentors will use their personal experience and sector-specific knowledge to help today’s mentees become tomorrow’s leaders and influencers.
However, when it comes to mentorship here in the U.S., there’s a gender gap: a 2019 survey showed that more than 80 percent of men have had male mentors, while less than 70 percent of women have had female mentors. Research shows that mentoring programs significantly improve promotion rates for women — so why aren’t more women mentoring other women?
Back in 2015, when I was working at USGBC, I had the honor of hosting the Women in Green breakfast at the annual Greenbuild Conference & Expo.
Diversity and equity champion Kimberly Lewis — who is now one of the Co Chairs on IWBI’s new Health Equity Advisory — conceived the event, which was a runaway success from the very first year it featured on the program. Women would get up well before dawn to make it to the meeting — which, perhaps, explains why there was always amazing energy and a warm feeling of collegiality in the room!
I wanted to use my role as convenor to speak frankly about mentoring.
On the one hand, I had benefited from tremendous support and sponsorship from my early days when people had recognized my potential, reached out and given me opportunities to succeed. On the other, a number of negative experiences had dismayed me — especially where some women in leadership roles had not only failed to extend a helping hand but had actually attempted to undermine my progress.
It was devastating for me to realize that these women, who were in leadership roles, with the titles and salaries to match, seemed to be viewing other women not as collaborators but as competition. One very senior female executive actually went as far as advising my then (male) boss to fire me, claiming that “no school facilities officer will ever take her seriously”.
Reflecting on my experience, I accept that what I learned through these encounters, although painful, was also valuable. Over time, I’ve been able to better understand the dynamics at play in those scenarios. I can see the fear, driven by the notion of scarcity, that my success would detract from the success of other women. That by improving my chances, they believed they would be limiting theirs. That sponsoring me could take away their opportunity for a seat at the table.
This doesn’t need to be true. At IWBI we’re working to reverse this trend of personal competition, to lift each other up as collaborators and partners and to demonstrate that there’s enough space for all. Interestingly, the IWBI executive team is majority female, as is the entire organization. Is it because well-being and sustainability are topics where women feel a greater sense of inclusion? Or because having women at the top attracts more female candidates as they see themselves reflected in the leadership landscape? It’s hard to be definitive but I’m proud that it’s the case.
I’m even prouder that we have a culture — not specifically tethered to gender — of helping one another. Collaboration is baked into our business model. Our budgets and plans are integrated: we work together and we win together. Because success is shared, rather than hoarded and coveted, there’s room for everyone to grow. We practice a strengths-based leadership model that allows individuals to progress along less conventional pathways. With this culture deeply embedded, we are discovering that it has a momentum all its own.
We’re also committed to embracing the values that we put forth by way of the WELL Building Standard (WELL). Many WELL features address gender equity in the workplace, like support for mothers breastfeeding, equity in pay, maternity and paternity leave. (Offering and encouraging the use of paternity leave is one of the most important pathways to creating gender equity in the workplace because when men take paternity leave it levels the field for women). We predict that our new WELL Health Equity Advisory will drive even greater advances.
It’s important that we acknowledge the power of collaboration in our personal and professional growth. Some years ago, as part of a course I was taking at the Center for Creative Leadership, I was asked to draw a picture to illustrate where I was at that moment and to draw another of where I wanted to be tomorrow (see above and please don’t judge my artistic capabilities!).
In the first image I’m sprinting up a staircase and have just climbed the steepest step of them all. In the second, I’m pausing my upward climb to extend a hand to lift others up. Today, when I think of the many mentors, advisors, coaches and champions I’ve had who have assured me “you can do this”, I’m more determined than ever to pay it forward, to embrace my leadership role and use it for good. One way that I actualize this is by never turning down a request for an informational interview from someone looking for advice for the future.
I’m proud and privileged to help women by providing mentorship and sponsorship and encouraging them to do the same. It’s not a zero-sum game. If women establish themselves as mentors, they have the opportunity to elevate their own success, as well as that of their colleagues and companies. It’s a steep climb but well worth it. On this International Women’s Day I want to give thanks to my mentors and sponsors (both male and female) and express my deepest gratitude for the incredible, powerful and brilliant women whom I have the good fortune to work with every day at IWBI.
Rachel Hodgdon is President and CEO of the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), a public benefit corporation and the world’s leading organization focused on deploying people first places to advance a global culture of health.
