Part of the series “Women, Leadership and Vision” Serving on a corporate board offers many key benefits, including that it can elevate both the executive who is serving on the outside board, as well as the organization where they are currently employed. But the pipeline to women filling board member seats remains challenged, and many executive women face serious obstacles in connecting with and landing suitable, career-elevating board positions, and understanding how best to vet them. Accordin

American Banker asked WIB’s CEO Sheila Ronning to comment on the lack of women on boards at financial institutions. Even with some representation among upper management, there is research that shows that having more women in the boardroom, leads to better decision making and more favorable financial outcomes. Ronning adds that “Gender diversity in the boardroom gives companies more of a competitive edge in the market. Companies with more women in leadership consistently outperform those with fewer women. Ultimately, those with a better representation by women on the board of directors tend to see better financial returns.”

While it is true that the most recent presidential election cycle highlighted deeply rooted divisions lying in our American democracy, there is more to this separation than politics. Globalization and polarization have acted as catalysts, in part, to the decline of neighborliness and citizenship in America. I argue that a return to the “public” sphere in local communities can remedy this. This paper tests this theory by strategically selecting public policies and civic engagement activities that attempt to accomplish this goal of returning to the public and evaluating them on their ability to do so.

All of the people listed below, and so many more that could not be fit on this list, deserve more than a month’s recognition for their hard work and perseverance. Yet, none of these powerful people are doing what they do for the fame. 2018 will be history in the making because of their work and their wish to make a difference and accomplish greatness, one Olympic medal/court case/rally at a time. Over 10 years ago, Tarana Burke coined the phrase “Me Too” as a way to help women share their exper

2017 saw more than its fair share of ugly politics, party line divisions, and inappropriate politicians, and has certainly not been America’s brightest, smoothest year in that regard. But even amidst the disagreements and unfavorable policy decisions, there were some pretty amazing moments and stories that gave us light in the seemingly constant darkness.

I am not sure about you, but my weeks are busy! Depending on who you are and what you do, your work weeks could be filled with never-ending meetings, writing reports, and crafting emails. This means that a lot of your time is taken up by these day-to-day activities, leaving little time for much else. But if you are not practicing effective time management, your work and your productivity could suffer. Think about it. In addition to losing time by generally taking longer to complete a project, do

June 14, 2016 By Zachary S. Kester, JD, LLM, CFRM and Kylie Schreiber, at Charitable Allies To their detriment, many nonprofits believe the new overtime rules going into effect on December 1, do not apply to them since they are not business “enterprises.” But this overlooks the reality that “individual” employees may qualify for overtime because of their job duties. The majority of employees who make less than $47,476 in annual salary will be entitled to overtime. Any individual employee wh

Increased expectations for municipalities to provide services, a push for updating and maintaining the services already provided, and simultaneous dealing with strained budgets and less federal funding opportunities have led some communities to adopt alternative service for delivery of public works systems. This research project creates a new data set of localities and investigates what characteristics increase the likelihood a political subdivision will choose an alternative service delivery sy

“What is the #1 reason your members do not have success with your program?” This was a question recently asked of me by a prospective member, and it was a excellent question at that. My answer to her was, “Because they don’t do the work.” I also added, “It takes more than a credit card to get you on a corporate board. You cannot just join an organization and expect to be handed a seat at the table because you paid the membership fee. When you join WIB, not only do you have access to our experti

Whether fighting for civil rights or giving a voice to those in need, these kids are doing more than most of us have in a lifetime. Some days, it feels like the world is full of divisions that drive people apart. Yet occasionally, a ray of hope shines through some of the youngest members of society. Their voices, their activism and their protest of injustice demonstrate a bravery that is venerable and ought to be replicated on every societal level. Community action, environmental protection and

Recently, a piece written by a former CIA officer went viral and circulated several websites and social media platforms. In this article, the woman made a plea to Americans, asking us to take a deep look inside and come to terms with the most real, existent threat to the democratic dream. Ourselves. When Quartz published this story written by Yael Eisenstat, she communicated that these were the same ideas and notions that she had been expressing for years. Eisenstat served in a variety of natio

16-year-old Ayrton Little has become a viral sensation after a video of his acceptance into Harvard began blowing up Twitter. The video above depicts Ayrton surrounded by fellow classmates who erupt with joy when he opens the email and realizes he’s been accepted. Since that tender, heartwarming moment, millions have viewed the video and replied with thoughtful, encouraging messages to the soon-to-be Harvard student. The original video is captioned “All the hard work was worth it,” and friends

Industries often benefit from taking inventory of their target market at a given time. The real estate market is no different. Understanding what the average buyer and seller look like is helpful for developers, agents, and attorneys to find their niche in an ever-changing audience. Understanding the demographics at play is useful for more targeted marketing efforts and developing products and services that work well for these people.