On 5 October 2016, Borderless Consultants Rosalie Harrison and June Nilsson will present at a dynamic Women in Leadership Forum during the CPhI Congress in Barcelona. In the lead-up we’re recommending essential reads which explore the issues.
In this week’s featured article, Teresa Briggs, vice chair and West region managing partner at Deloitte makes the case for sponsors rather than mentors. In the article for Fortune, Briggs argues that sponsors have more invested in the process as their success is intertwined with that of the person they sponsor.
She firmly believes sponsors are more likely to ‘go into bat for you’ – opening doors and actively lobbying on your behalf. By contrast, Briggs sees mentoring as a passive process which does not equip women with the skills and contacts they need to take on leadership roles.
Read: Mentoring female leaders
What has been your experience of sponsorship or mentoring, and which do you recommend? Let us know what you think via Twitter @borderlessexec #WomeninLeadership
CEOs are spending more time on making the business case for their environmental and social commitments, and they’re building more rigorous mechanisms for addressing thorny issues and mitigating PR risks. To avoid communications missteps, CEOs should ensure they have the organizational capabilities and tools in place to monitor and analyze emerging issues and to gauge the sentiment of key stakeholders.
The vast majority of business leaders responding to a recent survey said they’re concerned they can’t train employees quickly enough to keep up with AI and tech developments in the next three years. A similar amount said AI and other tech disruptions will require companies to rethink skills, resources and new ways of doing work.
If you were to ask a random person on the street what an HR professional does, their answer would probably be conflict resolution, or that HR folks deal with employee salaries and benefits. And while that is part of an HR professional’s responsibilities — to ensure employee safety, respect and accountability — that doesn’t even scratch the surface.
