Harvard Business Review - 2013.04.pdf

HBR.ORGFrom the Editorwhere AreAll the Women?Idont think Ive ever met a working mother who says shes happy with herwork-life balance.To a person,these women say they feel inadequate both asprofessionals(because they arent spending more time in the office)and asmothers(because they arent spending more time with their kids).Theres no reason why working fathers shouldnt feel equally conflicted.Butby and large,we dont,and that no doubt contributes to the unhealthy prepon-derance of men in leadership positions.Its one ofthe issues that Sheryl Sandherg,the COO of Facebook,addresses inher new book.Lean In:Women,Work,and the Will to Lead.She has an active par-allel career advising ambitious professional women on how to reach for the top.I met with Sandberg at Facebooks Menlo Park office shortly before the bookspublication to talk about her ideas and the challenges she herself has faced.Theinterview appears on page 84 and can be heard at hbr.org.Women in leadership is a topic that Harvard Business School,too,is address-ing in a big way.It was 50 years agoonly 50 years agothat HBS first admittedwomen to its full-time MBA program.To commemorate that anniversary andto examine critical issues relating to womens careers,HBS created an academicconference titled Gender and Work:Challenging Conventional Wisdom(Febru-ary 28-March 1)and the W50 Summit(April 4-5),a program focused on accel-erating the advancement of women leaders who make a difference in the world.Sandberg,an HBS alum,agreed to be part ofthe summit.And she is keeping theconversation going via her newly created Lean In Community,at leanin.org.HBR will continue to cover the topic as well.The Vision Statement in this issue(page 30)looks at the degree to which countries empower women in the work-force and the resulting impact on GDP;and our Spotlight next September will beon women and leadership.Adi Ignatius,Editor in Chief12 Harvard Business Review April 2013nteractionCEOs Who Have Deliveredover the Long RunHeavily basing the list of top CEOs on theircompanies shareholder return shows anobsession with that metric.Sure,share-holeder return is a key indicator,but whatabout CEOs with the courage to focus onother kinds of value?Krishna Gaddam,director of manufacturingtechnology,ChempreneHBR article by Morten T.Hansen,Herminia Ibarra,and Urs Peyer,January-February 2013Despite intense pressureto produce short-termresults,a number of CEOshave created exceptionallong-term value for theircompanies.The authorsrank the top lOO,focusingnot only on financialperformance but alsoon corporate socialresponsibility.The authors respond:We providecorporate social responsibility data asweil,and we rank some companies onthat basis.But it is very difficult to findobjective and systematic data on CSR.The CSR ratings are not as good as wewould like.Whereas maximizing shareholder wealthwas previously the sole criterion forevaluating performance,now CEOs mustalso be judged on how positively theirefforts have changed the lives of theircustomers.Muhammad Zubair Hayder,radio technologyspecialist,Telenor PakistanI couldnt help noticing that 98%ofthe CEOs on the list are male.Sujit Sadhu,senior manager.Ganga AcrowoolsThe authors respond:The sad fact is thatonly about 1.5%of CEOs of large publiccompanies are female.Company culture is an importantdimension of management.Ive seenstudies correlating better performancewith cultures of open communication.I wonder how many ofthe CEOs on thelist presided over positive cultures andhow many were bullies who shut downcommunication.Dana Theus,president&CEO,InPower ConsultingCreating jobs with fair wages is a kindof corporate social responsibility.Wolfgang Wuensche,CEO and president.Advisory Board InternationalBurberrys CEO on Turning an AgingBritish Icon into a Global Luxury BrandHBR article by Angela Ahrendts,January-February 2013Burberry refocused on ts heritagethe trench coatand,at the same time,targeted a younger customer.Burberrys decision to aim at millennials makes sense:They are the companys aspirational customers,and theirpurchasing power will rise as they age.But right now mil-lennials are not the companys core luxury audience.SoIm having trouble understanding howAngela Ahrendts can cite the decisionto focus on millennials as a reason forBurberrys higher transaction values,better conversion rates,and greaterdemand for its more elevated Prorsumand London lines.Instead,it seems thatthe company is resonating with its olderaudience and risks losing the customersof the future.Lizzie Komar,associate analyst,Forrester Research16 Harvard Business Review April 2013HBR.ORGInteract with UsThe best way to comment on any article is onH8R.ORG.You can also reach us viaE-MAIL:hbr_lettershbr.orgFACEBOOK: may be edited forspace and style.The authors respond:It would befascinating to measure CEOs on jobcreation,in other words,which chiefexecutives produced great performancewhile creating Jobs?The measurementwouldnt be easy,because it would haveto account for indire