What would you do?

After reading chapter 13, and the very interesting cases, I started to wonder what I would do if I was in those situations. The case that interested me the most was the case of Lisa Weber, the portfolio manager of the Wall Street firm. I thought it was interesting that she was aware of what went on in the firm but at the meetings with the CEOs she never stated that or the fact that she actually advised some of the people in the room.

It was stated in the case that she was content with giving advice and feeling like one of the boys. I personally think that this is the issue with us women advancing in the workplace. We seek acceptance and do not always challenge situations like these because we want to be viewed as team players. That is why we remain in the positions we are in and the men advance.

Once again I think this happens because women are sometimes too bashful to recognize their leadership qualities. As stated in the book, "women are more likely to take informal, as opposed to official, leadership roles, and use terms such as facilitator or organizer instead of leader." Therefore, women are okay with being the person behind the scenes and when they finally decide that they need to be up front in the spotlight they are turned down. Women, I feel, create the "glass ceiling" for themselves when they don't speak up and go through the motions just because they want to be accepted.

Back to the case, I question what would I do? My response to my own questions is that I would speak up at the meetings and let the CEO know that I have been advising the partners. Then again that is just me personally because I don't like to sit back and pretend just to be accepted. In this case Lisa ended up quitting and starting on her own investment firm. I think that I would have tried a little harder to prove to the CEO that I had the potential before starting my own firm because by walking away you only continue to leave the door closed for other women.

My question is, what you would do? and do you think that we help create that image of women being incapable of serving in leadership roles?