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New Cornell Certificate Provides Women Essential Framework and Negotiation Tools to Break Through Barriers to Leadership Success

–Groundbreaking online program combats unconscious bias with a new approach to help women advance and organizations address gender dynamics —

January 18, 2017 (Ithaca, NY) – Women today are half of the workforce at the beginning of the corporate talent pipeline, yet barely 19 percent at the CEO level—and underrepresented everywhere in between. To help organizations everywhere close this gap, eCornell is now offering a unique online program that provides women with a highly personalized approach to achieving their leadership goals. Designed by award-winning Cornell University professor Deborah Streeter, the new Women in Leadership certificate gives professional women in every industry and function actionable tools and influencing tactics to transform unseen barriers to success into open doors.

“Professional women today have access to lots of leadership materials, but few consider how gender interacts with organizational culture to block advancement. This certificate is a rare resource for women, giving them a private space for self-reflection paired with research and real-world insights. And, it can also help all organizational leaders, including men, better understand the gender dimensions of leadership,” said Deborah Streeter, Ph.D., faculty author and the Bruce F. Failing, Sr. Professor of Personal Enterprise and Small Business Management at Cornell’s Dyson School.

The five courses comprising the Women in Leadership certificate examine the core determinants of leadership success in the context of “the double bind”, a pervasive cultural bias involving assumptions about how women should look, think, and act. Streeter starts by exploring research on how women are often penalized for using stereotypically masculine leadership behaviors but seen as weak if their behavior is deemed too feminine.  For example, according to LeanIn.org and McKinsey, women today are “leaning in” more—by negotiating for raises, promotions, and challenging assignments nearly as much as men—but are 30 percent more likely to get negative feedback that they’re “bossy” or “too aggressive,” and still lag men in promotion rates.[1]

The remaining courses cover essential negotiation skills, emotional intelligence, performance feedback, and work/life balance—all giving women tactics they can quickly apply to influence positive outcomes in conversations at work. Throughout, students use self-assessments and targeted activities to build confidence, become more aware of their individual tendencies, and gain new perspectives through video interviews with women leaders from a cross-section of industries—a small sampling of the thousands of interviews Professor Streeter has collected to bring authentic voices from the workforce to her classrooms.

Designed to be completed in 3 months, eCornell’s Women in Leadership program is relevant to women at any career level, but especially valuable for those in early management roles—where studies show the greatest gender disparity in promotion rates—as well as those who aspire to leadership positions and have at least three to five years of professional experience. The program also offers organizations an applied, personalized learning and development option to fill a gap in gender diversity efforts at a price point usually seen for generic one-day programs.

Students who successfully complete this certificate program receive a Women in Leadership Certificate from Cornell University’s College of Business, one of 11 Leadership and Strategic Management certificates offered by Cornell University, in partnership with eCornell.

 

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About Cornell College of Business
Cornell University has created a reimagined model for business education that reflects the future of business itself: flexible, collaborative, and cross-disciplinary. The Cornell College of Business unites the strengths of three business schools—The Hotel School, Dyson, and Johnson—so that every student can benefit from the combined power of business at Cornell: more degrees, faculty, resources, and expertise. Whether your focus is creating great customer experiences, solving real-world challenges, or deeply immersing yourself in a particular industry, each of Cornell College of Business’ schools offers something unique and meaningful to help you achieve greater impact sooner in your career.

About eCornell
As Cornell University’s online learning platform, eCornell delivers online professional certificate courses to individuals and organizations around the world. Courses are personally developed by Cornell faculty with expertise in a wide range of topics, including hospitality, management, marketing, human resources and leadership.  Students learn in an interactive, small cohort format to gain skills they can immediately apply in their organizations, ultimately earning a professional certificate from Cornell University. eCornell has offered online learning courses and certificate programs for 15 years to over 130,000 students at more than 2,000 companies.

[1]  2016 Women in the Workplace survey

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Climbing Higher: How Higher Education Can Get You Promoted

If you’re feeling stalled at your company, a certificate could be your best way up the ladder. It was for eCornell graduate John Gleich, who now serves as Director of Supply Chain and Logistics at a biotech company after graduating from our Executive Leadership Program. Here is his first-hand story, which was recently published within USA Today, in a special feature on today’s working adult learners:

Earlier in my career, I kept getting passed over for promotions by people who had MBAs. But I have two kids and commute two hours to work — there was no way I could afford the time to do a full-blown MBA program.

Rookie Gleich Arivale PhotoI decided to try an online certificate program in Executive Leadership because it fit my life and provided me with an Ivy League credential.  While I was a little unsure what to expect with learning online, it turned out to be the best decision I could have made.  The instructors and other students were really dialed in. They always pushed you to the next level, provided unique insights, and answered your questions with real breadth and depth.

One of the best courses I took was on how to influence within an organization and build a network both inside and outside your company. I always thought my career was stalled because I didn’t have the right degree, but I soon realized this was the piece I was missing as a leader. That was a game-changer — I was promoted from manager to Associate Director, to Director within less than a year. Now I run Supply Chain for a biotech startup that’s on track to double its growth next year.

If you’re thinking about an online certificate program, here’s my advice:

  • Pitch the idea to your company as a win-win and see if they are willing to help pay for it. Many organizations would be happy to subsidize all or part of the cost as part of your professional development.
  • The flexibility alone is a great reason to go for it. I was able to spend my commute and business travel time more productively doing coursework — and could even push pause to spend summer vacation with my family.
  • When you’re stuck at the same level for a long time, a certificate program can give you that incremental edge to set yourself apart. It shows your company that you want to go beyond the required training and do something more meaningful that will make a lasting impact. And that can really take you as far as you want to go.
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Cornell University Launches New Service Excellence On-Demand Training

Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and eCornell have launched new on-demand training in service excellence targeting front-line employees. The training consists of eight online lessons, all of which are available 24/7, and is complemented by a Workshop Guide to promote onsite, face-to-face discussion and application of the online lesson concepts. The training explores the foundations of service delivery and empowers employees through practical tools that can be applied to any situation involving internal or external customers.

Service Excellence On-Demand Training provides groups and organizations with a straightforward framework to increase effectiveness for all customer interactions. It provides employees with the skills needed to connect service excellence concepts to the execution of their daily duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Individuals who successfully complete all eight lessons will receive a recognition of their achievement from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.

“Amazing service experiences are the result of relationships built between the organization, its employees, and its customers. Every interaction counts, and for employees to be successful they must possess tools and strategies to deliver excellent service. Cornell’s online training creates a low-cost, scalable approach that will elevate an organization’s ability to deliver consistent, high-quality customer service.”
– Kate Walsh, Interim Dean and E. M. Statler Professor, School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University

The training was authored by School of Hotel Administration alumna Elizabeth Martyn ’07, in collaboration with a Cornell faculty advisory committee. Martyn helps learners understand the important role they play as service providers within their organizations and introduces the Cornell Service Experience Cycle to guide customer interactions.
“The new Service Excellence program gives organizations a simple and effective way to deliver the highest quality training to customer-facing employees distributed around the world. As you would expect from Cornell University, the on-demand training goes beyond a to-do list and encourages critical thinking to exceed customer expectations.”

– Paul Krause, eCornell’s CEO and Associate Vice Provost of Online Learning for Cornell University

This Service Excellence On-Demand Training can be used by any group or organization with team members who are responsible for delivering service, including organizations focused on hospitality, healthcare and senior living, financial services, retail, and consumer services. To learn more or to speak with an enrollment expert, visit sha.cornell.edu/service-training.

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About the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University

The School of Hotel Administration (SHA) at Cornell University is shaping the global knowledge base for hospitality management through leadership in education, research, and industry advancement. Accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the school provides instruction in the full range of hospitality disciplines, educating the next generation of leaders in the world’s largest industry. Founded in 1922 as the nation’s first collegiate course of study in hospitality management, the Cornell School of Hotel Administration is recognized as the world leader in its field.

For more information, visit sha.cornell.edu.

 

About eCornell | Cornell University

As Cornell University’s online learning subsidiary, eCornell provides many of the world’s leading organizations with online professional development in the areas of finance, healthcare, hospitality, human resources, leadership, management, and marketing. eCornell has delivered flexible, engaging, and immediately applicable learning experiences crafted by Cornell University faculty to over 90,000 students in more than 200 countries.

For more information, visit www.eCornell.com.

 

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Leadership Communication – Power Up Your Presence

Professional presence is a combination of how you look, act and speak. Presence helps others around us quickly decide whether they want to work with us or trust us with greater responsibility. Many people are unaware of behaviors they exhibit that detract from their professional presence. This webcast will make you aware of some simple things you can do to power up your presence and improve the opportunities provided to you at work.

In this interactive session, Angela Noble-Grange, Senior Lecturer of Communication at the Johnson School, will help you identify your own shortcomings and outline how you can overcome them to communicate and act with confidence, authority and a powerful presence.

In this fast-paced discussion, you’ll learn:

  • How to correct your communication style to be more effective and get results.
  • To develop your own personal pitch and communication style.
  • How to capture a listener’s attention and elevate your standing as a leader.

 

Here’s a 5-minute excerpt from our recent WebCast with Angela Noble-Grange of the Johnson School at Cornell.

Would you like to see the full-length presentation? Then go here to sign up for your free 30-day trial and view the entire presentation on the Women in Leadership Channel.

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The Triple Bottom Line In an Entrepreneurship Enterprise

Entrepreneurs have a unique opportunity to structure their businesses in a way that achieves balance in the “Triple Bottom Line” (TBL). To find this balance in the TBL, you must manage the competing, as well as complementary, business interests of people, planet and profit. This one-hour webinar will highlight the value of a strong TBL strategy that promotes environmental and social initiatives while optimizing the financial health of the enterprise.

By the conclusion of the discussion, attendees will understand:

  • Why entrepreneurs should integrate this strategy throughout their enterprise
  • The framework and conditions necessary for establishing a Triple Bottom Line
  • Key factors for implementing a successful TBL strategy and how this strategic approach creates value for the entire business enterprise.

Click here to preview this WebCast. Sign up for a 30-day trial of our Entrepreneurship WebSeries Channel to attend for free!

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Can We Really Have it All? Work-Life Balance Your Success

We have three HR webinars on the calendar already. On Friday, 6/24/16, you’ll learn what makes a productive and meaningful collaboration and how teams work best across boundaries and organizational silos with Professor Michele Williams. Professor Williams teaches courses on negotiation, organizational behavior and women in leadership at the graduate and undergraduate levels at Cornell University. She has led numerous executive workshops on high performance work relationships with an emphasis on communication, trust, and conflict.

On Thursday, 7/14/16, Cornell’s Associate Professor John Hausknect will discuss analytics in HR, including what leading companies are doing to strengthen the impact and reach of workforce analytics. He’ll discuss how “big data” will shape the field in years to come as it can reveal deep insights that help improve retention, efficiency, and productivity.

On Tuesday, 8/16/16, Cornell Associate Professor Beth Livingston talks about what does means to “balance” work and life. Though we often hear this term used in relation to the management of work and non-work responsibilities, it is also a source of consternation for many employees. Is it achievable? Should we change the way we think about work and life to better reflect the realities of today’s employees?

 Click here to preview this Webinar. Watch Professor Livingston discuss work/life balance above and sign up for the HR WebSeries channel here.

Test drive our new Human Resources WebSeries Channel with a 30 day free trial.  Click ‘Register Now’ to learn more. Channel subscriptions start at $39/month and $279/year.

 

 

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The Relationship Between Risk and Return

Risk and Return is one of the many concepts covered in our Financial Management certificate. Risk has a clear impact on almost everything a firm does. In this certificate, you will examine the relationship between risk and return, the impact of risk related to the assessment of projects and the market valuation of a company.

In this video, Professors Carvell and Gibson lay the groundwork for the exploration and discussion of risk, including what academics mean when they discuss the empirical evidence surrounding risk, how the market responds to risk, how risk affects your organization, and why people are “hardwired” to demand greater returns for greater risk.

Understanding the concept of Risk and Return is imperative when exploring your organization’s financial decision-making process. Our Financial Management certificate will equip you, as a non-financial manager, with this knowledge and much more. To find out more, visit the Financial Management certificate page.

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The Time Value of Money

As a manager, you may be asked to make financial decisions within your organization. However, the world of corporate finance can be an overwhelming one. There are a variety of new terms, concepts and tools to learn about in order to really understand your organization’s financial standing and to make a sound decision.

One of the primary concepts to understand is the time value of money (TVM); it is a critical element of financial management within organizations, and the principles being discussed below have relevance for personal financial management as well. As a non-financial manager within your company, you want to be conversant in the ways that the time value of money affects your company’s ability to borrow, invest, and expand in general, as well as to fund your projects. Professors Steve Carvell and Scott Gibson explain in this video.

eCornell’s Financial Management certificate will introduce you to the concepts and formulas you need to be able to understand, and speak to, the financial workings of your organization. Having a holistic understanding of this will allow you to more easily advance in your organization.

Tuesday, 5/17 at 1 pm EDT, we’ll be talking live with Professors Carvell & Gibson as they disucss key financial principles that are critical for every professional to understand – regardless of industry or level of experience. To attend for free, please sign up here. Learn more about our Financial Management certificate here.

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Do Women Lead Differently? Should They Lead Differently?

Most of us have seen it firsthand: The “double bind” that professional women face at work. They are derided for being forceful or assertive, but when they show compassion or lend support, they may be seen as soft or unfit to lead. Women are set up to face a no-win situation.

In our upcoming Women in Leadership WebCast on April 20 at 1:00PM (EDT), I will sit down with Professor Allison Elias from Cornell’s ILR School to learn about her research in this area and to explore potential solutions to this frustrating dilemma. I interviewed Allison this week to learn more about her research into the behavior, in women and men, around the “double bind”.

Chris: Tell me a bit about the “double bind”. How does it affect women who are aspiring or in leadership positions? Where did it come from?

Allison: The term “double bind” emerged from academic research in the 1950s; now the term has morphed into a way to describe a “no-win situation”. Scholars of women in leadership utilize this term to refer to the dilemma that emerging and current women leaders face at work. Research has shown that often women are penalized for behavior that seems assertive or forceful but also they are dismissed as weak or even incompetent if they display a warm and supportive leadership style. This body of research about the double bind reinforces two important points: tackling implicit bias and engaging men as allies, both of which will be explained further during the WebCast.

Chris: When we spoke the other day, you mentioned the idea of “creating your own definition of success?” If you’re doubly bound, how do you do that?

Allison: Research surrounding the double bind suggests that women are encountering unexpected obstacles—some interpersonal and some structural—in their quest for workplace equality. In fact, some scholars have referred to the movement of women into the workforce as a “stalled revolution”. In other words, the corporate policies, cultural norms, and state regulations that push for equality as sameness (women wanting the same treatment and the same opportunities as men) have severe limitations when moving towards more inclusive workplaces. Although we will explore these ideas in greater depth during the WebCast, women should honor themselves by pursuing a life path that fulfills their own values. And in turn, employers should move towards restructuring work and workplaces to accomodate a wider array of personal values.

Chris: Can social networks help advance the cause or play a role here?

Allison: Women should use interpersonal relationships to learn more about themselves when determining their ideal life paths. Having candid conversations with close friends or partners allows us to gain greater insight into our own talents and limitations. Asking for feedback can elucidate potential incongruities between our own self-perception and how others view us. Having information about our own strengths and weaknesses can help us to craft a personal and professional path that aligns with the value others see in us.

Chris: We have lots to discuss on April 20. See you then, Allison.

Allison:  I look forward to it.

GO HERE to register and to take advantage of our free 30-day trial subscription to the Women in Leadership Channel.

 

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The Startup Pivot: Changing Strategic Direction

On Wednesday 5/11 at 1 pm ET, we’re meeting with GiveGab CEO and Co-Founder Charlie Mulligan to talk about the pivotal maneuvers and strategic shifts that led to GiveGab’s rising success in recent years. Charlie will discuss lessons learned as an entrepreneur and offer advice on how you might apply them to your own startup. You’ll learn:

  • Why pivots are a common and necessary fact of life in startups.
  • How to decide when it’s the right time to pivot.
  • Best practices when changing strategy.
  • How to communicate around the pivot, both internally and externally.

I sat down with Charlie earlier this week to learn a bit more about him, GiveGab.com and his experiences.

Chris: What exactly is a pivot in the business sense?

Charlie: A pivot is a shift in strategy, which to me means you’re changing something significant (such as who your customers are or how you make money).

Chris: Is failure a necessary predecessor to a pivot?

Charlie: I would say failure is a common predecessor to a pivot, but not 100% necessary. If you discover a great opportunity in the mechanics of what you’re doing, it makes sense for a startup to pursue the bigger opportunity, even if the current one is doing OK.

Chris: I interviewed visiting e-ship lecturer Steve Gal from Johnson School at Cornell, and he described the pivot in the basketball sense: “You change your focus and direction, but you must keep one foot on the ground.” In GiveGab’s case, what was it that you gave up, and what was it that you gained in your organization’s pivot situation? What was the thing that kept you grounded through your pivot?

Charlie: Our pivot led us to change who our customer was (from universities to nonprofits) and how we made money (via fundraising vs. volunteer management), but it didn’t change our core as a connection portal between nonprofits and supporters. This allowed us to utilize a new strategy while still being able to build off our experience in the nonprofit world and our connections and partners.

GO HERE to register and to take advantage of our free 30-day trial subscription to the Women in Leadership Channel.

GiveGab, the Nonprofit Giving Platform, is an online fundraising and supporter engagement tool designed exclusively for nonprofit leaders. Charlie Mulligan has 25 years’ experience in entrepreneurship, corporate leadership, fundraising and sales partnerships. He has served as a speaker, mentor and consultant for businesses and nonprofits all over the world. His passion is helping mission-driven organizations gain the resources and skills necessary to succeed. Mulligan has a BA in Marketing from Penn State and an MBA from Cornell.