2009
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox Named as Thought Leader in The Economist
December 30, 2009
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of 20-first, was referred to in The Economist in its New Year’s 2010 edition as one of today’s most prominent exponents of the ‘new’ feminism, calling on companies to adapt their organisations to the modern reality of the female economy. The Schumpeter Column of December 30, 2009, said: ‘But some of today’s most influential feminists contend that women will never fulfil their potential if they play by men’s rules. According to Avivah Wittenberg-Cox and Alison Maitland, two of the most prominent exponents of this position, it is not enough to smash the glass ceiling. You need to audit the entire building for “gender asbestos”- in other words, root out the inherent sexism built into corporate structures and processes.’
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox Writes in WomenLegal Magazine
December 29, 2009
Writing in WomenLegal magazine, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of 20-first.com, explored why it is so many partnerships, and especially law firms, try so hard and yet fail so spectacularly at building gender balance within their offices. (Full article)
20-first's New Core Metric Catches On
W0menomics 101 in the Press
- Chris Thomas, a partner based in the Melbourne office of Egon Zehnder International, refers to Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO, 20-first, in his latest article, Boardroom bias an urban myth, published online for the Australian Financial Review.
- Referring to Wittenberg-Cox as “one of the leaders in world thinking” on the topic of gender balance, Thomas quotes her recent comments following the publication of 20-first’s WOMENOMICS 101 Survey on the need for a new core metric to measure a company’s gender balance – the proportion of women on the Executive Committee.
- Thomas agrees with this view and goes on to say: “We need to go deeper into the gender issue in leadership if real progress is to be made.” He says that it is unrealistic to think that there are “hoardes of able female executives” who are being under-utilised. Instead, he says, “it is the historic inability to date” of corporations and professional firms to “facilitate the advancement” of women to senior levels.
- The website, Glass Hammer, has also published an article on 20-first’s WOMENOMICS 101 Survey, in which the writer, Elizabeth Harrin, welcomes the arrival of the annual survey from 20-first, pointing to the new and critical measure of gender balance it reports on.
- In the article, Female Execs: The New Metric, Harrin writes: “There’s been a lot written about getting more women on to boards,” adding later: “but it’s rarely the case that having more women on boards means that lower down the organisation women are being promoted and supported in more senior management positions.” Then she writes: “Enter a new study – Womenomics 101. This survey, from the consultancy 20-first, looks at a different metric: women on the Executive Committee.”
- 20-first’s WOMENOMICS 101 Survey, which tracked the percentage of women on the Executive Committee of the top global companies, was picked up by Human Resources Magazine, which is read by 17,000 HR directors in Europe. The New York Times also reported on the survey on October 27.
WHY Women Mean Business Named a Business Book of the Year
Conference Board Review's top picks includes Wittenberg-Cox book
WHY Women Mean Business, by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox and Alison Maitland, was named a business book of the year by Conference Board Review, the quarterly magazine of The Conference Board, the world’s preeminent business membership and research organization.
Linda Tarr-Whelan, author and distinguished senior fellow at Demos, summarised why the book was picked among this year’s best business titles:
‘Why Women Mean Business by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox and Alison Maitland succinctly summarizes the smart business case for having more women in management and on boards: They represent half the talent and half the market, and they generate a better bottom line and better corporate governance. The authors’ “gender-bilingual” breaks the mold on “why can’t a woman be more like a man” and shows ways to achieve the advantages of balanced leadership with more women at the table as both equal and different partners with men. It’s the wave of the future.’
Other books selected for best of the year by the quarterly included “How We Decide” by Jonah Lehrer, “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness” by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler, and “The Omnivore’s Delight,” Michael Pollen’s treatise on the food industry (which was published in 2006).
On The Tube
October 2009
In October, the new paperback version of WHY WOMEN MEAN BUSINESS by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox and Alison Maitland is being advertised to busy London commuters on trains across the underground system.
Article by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox and Alison Maitland Published By Sky News
October 14, 2009
An article by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of 20-first and Alison Maitland, both authors of WHY WOMEN MEAN BUSINESS, has been published by SKY NEWS. The article entitled, Women Mean Cash, So Adapt and Cash In, was published on October 14, 2009.
Why Women Mean Business - Top Business Book
Why Women Mean Business by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox and Alison Maitland has been listed with a select range of top selling business titles – called The Best of Jossey-Bass (an imprint of Wiley, the main publisher). Why Women Mean Business has recently been launched in paperback with important new updates.
Recent comments on Why Women Mean Business
CHERIE BLAIR
“A fascinating analysis.”
THE FINANCIAL TIMES
“An innovative and stimulating book”.
Coverage in India for the book, Why Women Mean Business
getAbstract, a website that provides summaries of popular business books, is featuring Why Women Mean Business by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox and Alison Maitland.
The book also appeared in the main section of India’s second largest English language newspaper MINT. The newspaper, launched in collaboration with the Wall Street Journal, has a circulation of 120,000 in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.
The book was also featured in the newspaper’s online publication, LiveMINT, which has an audience of 1.2 million people.
Why Women Mean Business has been fully updated and is being released in paperback this month. Further information.
BBC World News Programme - "A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom"
September 2009
The BBC series, THINKING BIG: A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom, aired for the first time during September 12th-13th.
The new series which homed in on the big ideas of the 21st century looked at the recent Norwegian quota which compelled listed companies to increase the proportion of women on their boards.
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of 20-first, was one of the experts interviewed by the BBC.
Diverse and decisive, Financial Times
June 9, 2009
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox explains why gender balance is a strategic business issue, which (if implemented successfully), will have a signifcant impact on the bottom line. Writing in the Financial Times (June 22, 2009), Wittenberg-Cox highlights the importance of the CEO in driving the policy through.
For the full article: Diverse and decisive, Financial Times, June 9, 2009
Vivienne Cox to Leave BP, Financial Times
June 9, 2009
Following the news that Vivienne Cox, BP’s head of alternative energy, was to retire at the end of June 2009, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox was interviewed by Ed Crooks of the Financial Times on the significance of the move (in addition to other recent departures of women in senior positions in BP and Shell). Wittenberg-Cox, author and publisher of 20-first.com (the website that uncovered the news about Cox’s retirement) said:
“We find that while some companies respond to crisis by ‘innovating forwards’ and push women into new roles, others ‘hunker down backwards’ and focus on the core businesses and teams that made them successful… yesterday. This is not favourable to women or to innovation for the 21st century.” (Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, quoted in the Financial Times, June 9, 2009).
Vivienne Cox to leave BP, Financial Times, June 9, 2009
Stirring debate
Wittenberg-Cox’s article stirred a much needed debate on the issue of retaining senior women at BP. Nine comments were posted on her blog, mostly from current or former BP women.
One of them said: “It is a question of cutting costs, which we all understand and agree with. However, why do women have to be cut? Unfortunately, I was one of them at the end of 2007. Brilliant article, especially the reference to the end of Lord Browne’s era.”
What is happening with the women in the oil and gas industry? By Avivah Wittenberg-Cox
Ignore 'womenomics' and be doomed" by Insead Knowledge
April 08, 2009
Business leaders ignore gender issues at their peril. That is the view of CEO of gender consultancy 20-First and Insead alumna Avivah Wittenberg-Cox. In a new book, Why Women Mean Business, Wittenberg-Cox and her co-author Alison Maitland say organisations that become savvy about “womenomics” will win in the war for the best talent and leadership and the war for customers.
How to sell to women
March 30, 2009
Report on Small Business spoke to the authors at their recent Canadian book launch in Toronto to explain why many current approaches to gender have not worked and why business needs a new perspective.
It’s all the men’s fault
March 7, 2009
_“It’s all the men’s fault: Lehman Brothers should have been run as Lehman Brothers and Sisters”, by Christie Loh, Deputy Business Editor
That the world is now suffering from a partly testosterone-fuelled economic malaise is a view held by Mrs Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, a Paris-based management consultant and author — with much emerging research to boot.
“This crisis began as a financial crisis in a section of a sector that is particularly male-dominated,” she told Weekend Xtra during a phone interview.
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