Rotman Prof Talks Gender Equality and More – Toronto News
Toronto’s finest business schools have been doing their part to improve the landscapes of work environments and executive education. We’ve laid out this week’s highlights below.
Companies Find One-Stop Shopping for Executive Education – The Globe and Mail
Western University Canada’s Ivey Business School recently launched The Ivey Academy, a full-service learning and development center for executive education. This is good news for companies like Bruce Power LP, as they have been partnering with Ivey for years on leadership development education. Now, Ivey can also offer them services like corporate retreats and talent assessments.
“It would be nice to be able to [undertake executive education] with someone who knows us really well and knows a lot of our leaders really well and knows what our issues are,” says Cathy Sprague, Bruce Power LP Executive VP of Human Resources.
“We’re not the experts at everything,” Mark Vandenbosch, Dean of Ivey Business School, says in a recent interview in The Globe and Mail. “So … let’s figure out who are the people that we believe are up to the standards that we preach…so that when you put the parts together it’s more of a journey than a set of interactions.”
You can learn more about The Ivey Academy here.
Gender Equality In the Workplace: How Men Can Move the Needle – The Telegraph
Sarah Kaplan, Director of the Institute for Gender and the Economy and Strategic Management Professor at University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, interviewed two executives about the role of male executives in increasing workplace diversity (specifically, gender).
Kaplan spoke to Richard Nesbitt, President and CEO of Global Risk in Financial Services and adjunct professor at Rotman, and Kevin Lobo, Chairman and CEO of Stryker Corporation, and Director on the board of Parker Hannifin. The executives agreed that creating resources for women and determining their needs in the workplace is essential to creating an inviting environment.
“It’s important to have an official women’s network with an executive sponsor,” Lobo says. “I would advise people to put a thoughtful structure behind the initiative, give it a budget and empower people to run it effectively.”
Lobo emphasized that this course of action was a game-changer for Stryker. Stryker now has a mentorship system, so that women in the company have someone to talk to about their career path.
Sarah Kaplan, Rotman School of Management professor and Director of the Institute for Gender and the Economy.
“In academia,” Kaplan writes, “there’s a concept called ‘belonging uncertainty’: If you’re in an environment where you’re not sure that you belong—for example, if you’re a woman working in capital markets—you’re constantly looking for signals that you do belong.”
You can read more from Kaplan’s interviews on workplace gender equality here.
20-Years-Old, 20 Percent Down On A House. It’s Possible – The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail recently dug into the housing market, citing the story of a 20-year-old man who saved enough money to buy himself a house; a modern rarity. The man is an exception in the Canadian market, where the average price of a home is $475,000 CAD, and obtaining a mortgage is increasingly difficult. Moshe Milevsky, Finance Professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business, weighed in on Gen Y’s housing issues.
“People have to twist themselves into a pretzel to get themselves into houses,” Milevsky says. The article recommends utilizing options like the Home Buyers’ Plan, which lets buyers withdraw a certain amount from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) with 15 years to repay it.
Check out the rest of the article here.
Millennial Men Taking on Parental Leave, and More – Toronto News
Toronto’s finest business schools have been contributing to social, political, and scientific advances this week. We’ve laid out the highlights below.
How Testosterone May Be Influencing Men’s Purchasing Decisions – The Globe and Mail
Nature Communications recently published research from Western University Canada’s Ivey Business School that explored the relationship between testosterone levels and luxury brand purchases in men. The study finds that levels of the hormone, typically associated with sex drive and masculine features, could play a role in predicting shopping choices.
The study involved 243 men between the ages of 18 and 55, divided into two groups. The men in one group were given doses of testosterone, and those in the other group received a placebo. Those with higher levels of testosterone were more likely to purchase high-end brands than those with lower levels of the hormone. Researchers posited that this is due to an evolutionary drive to demonstrate high social status, and therefore a high mate value.
According to the study, testosterone, “elevates men’s desire to promote their social status through economic consumption.”
You can read more about the study here.
How Millennial Men Can Champion Workplace Equality – Forbes
Though, externally, it seems society has made remarkable strides toward gender equality, subconscious bias is more difficult to measure. Harvard’s Project Implicit study, however, attempts to gain data about implicit gender bias. Nearly 80 percent of participants were more comfortable associating men with the work and public spheres and women with the domestic spheres than vice versa.
According to the research, working mothers tend to be faced with skepticism surrounding their commitment and ability to do their jobs when they return from parental leave. However, millennial fathers, may have the chance to help alter this perspective. In her Forbes article, Mary Beth Ferrante sites the work of Erin Reid, Associate Professor at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business. Her work explains the concept of breadsharers, or, “husbands who value enabling each partner to pursue their work and family goals.”
Erin Reid, Associate Professor at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business, notes that the more millennial men take parental leave, the more normalized the practice becomes / Photo via gsb.stanford.edu
Milliennial fathers are more open to breadsharing, and could thus influence the way new mothers are seen in the workplace. Ferrante insists that it is essential for men to take their full parental leave in order to challenge implicit bias surrounding the roles of men and women in the workplace and at home.
You can read Ferrante’s full piece on millennial men influencing parental leave here.
What is the Most Democratic and Effective Way to Govern a City the Size and Economic Import of Toronto? – The Globe and Mail
Richard Florida, professor at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities and Rotman School of Management, and Alan Broadbent, Chair of Avana Capital and Maytree, recently co-authored an article for The Globe and Mail that explores Toronto’s future in the wake of Doug Ford’s announcement that he plans to drastically reduce the size of Toronto’s city council.
With different parties vying for a say in how Toronto ought be governed moving forward, the co-authors insisted that, “The province and the country as a whole can’t afford to have an economic entity of this size and economic importance kicked around like a proverbial political football.” Florida and Broadbent advocate for finding a system that would empower the city rather than dividing it.
The two say:
“We need to create a new governance system that enables Toronto to truly govern itself, act on its strengths and address its many problems and challenges. The future prosperity of our city, province and nation depends on it. It’s an issue that must be front and centre in this mayor’s race and beyond.”
You can read more about Toronto’s economic future here.
3 Rotman Grads Named Canada’s Most Powerful Women
If there’s one thing that everyone can agree on, it’s that women are necessary for business. In fact, companies with a female on the board of directors, on average, have a 53 percent higher return on equity. The issue is that though women represent 47% percent of the workforce, they only represent 17 percent of boardrooms, and 4.8 percent of CEOs among the Fortune 500 companies, according to the Forté Foundation.
That’s why University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management has made it a priority to promote women in business. And their efforts have recently been rewarded with both a Rotman professor and two alumni named to the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) list of Canada’s Most Powerful Women for 2016. The list featured 100 women in total, including several graduates of the Rotman School’s Judy Project and Executive Programs. Continue reading…
Lerner Professor to Speak on the Resilience of Women Entrepreneurs
The University of Delaware’s Lerner College of Business has an event scheduled later this month likely to be of particular interest to female MBAs seeking a future in entrepreneurship. Lerner Assistant Professor of Management Amanda Bullough will lead a talk entitled “Women Entrepreneurs: Building Resilience and Reducing Fear through Business Ownership” on October 26th.
Imperial College Business School Recognized for Combatting Gender Inequality
Gender inequality in higher education is a common issue, which is why the Imperial College Business School has been working to support equality and diversity for staff and students. And recently, the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) recognized its efforts by awarding the school with a Bronze Athena SWAN award. Continue reading…
When Women Rise, Business Thrives
A recent report in Fortune Magazine stating that women comprise 40% of students in the nation’s top MBA program sounds like good news. But what is the real face of gender diversity, both in business school and beyond?
Lehigh University College of Business and Economics Professor Corinne Post’s research aims to shed light on this question.
