Sallie Krawcheck is one of Wall Street’s most successful female players, so when she’s got something to say about women and leadership, people listen.
A former CEO of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and Smith Barney, she’s now chair of the Ellevate Network and founder of a new digital investment platform for women, Ellevest. Krawcheck is also one of LinkedIn’s most followed ‘thought leaders’, and a regular media contributor.
She’s had an incredible career, but writing in Fortune this week she says she’s still come up against the ‘Queen Bee syndrome’. Indeed, she believes it is obstacle number one when it comes to advancing women’s careers.
So what’s a Queen Bee? According to Krawcheck, it’s, “the senior woman who doesn’t help other women advance, who may even actively kick the ladder out from under her when she reaches a top job.”
Krawcheck believes almost any woman in leadership could share a story about a Queen bee battle. “I was ‘Queen Bee’ed’. I put a great deal of trust in a senior woman in one of my jobs and often went to her for advice. When her counsel felt wrong, I reminded myself how fortunate I was to have her around … Right up until the day she sat across the table from me when I was taken out of my job.”
She believes the Queen Bee is still buzzing due to a number of factors. In summary:
- That we’re less compassionate if we’ve experienced the same challenges others have faced. “Our response is likely to be: Buck up, it’s not that bad!”
- That there’s only ever been one or two seats at the leadership table for those who’re not part of the majority, so women don’t want to help someone who might take one of those few positions available.
- That female workers are subconsciously told advocating for other women isn’t welcome. Krawcheck cites research that’s found Caucasian men who advocate for minorities see their professional reputation improved, but when minorities do the same thing they do not see such an uptick.
- Women can sometimes struggle to navigate mixing personal and business relationships. Krawcheck shared her own experience with this, noting her female friends in her industry rarely requested work-related help, but men frequently did.
- As for female-led businesses built for the women’s market, Krawcheck says some people dislike the idea of a business for women. “When we originally tested the idea of a “digital investment platform for women,” some 45% of women we polled said they didn’t like it,” she said
So what can we do?
Krawcheck believes we must start discussing, examining and debating how and why the above issues occur. She believes we should share research and open dialogues challenging stereotypes and assumptions.
Meanwhile, she wants to see more women mentoring women — to help them through these challenges — and more women mentoring men, to help them better understand their female colleagues.
We might not want to talk about Queen Bees or believe they exist, but according to Krawcheck getting such discussions out in the open is the only way to move forward.