The survey data allows us to develop a complex vision of what women actually want. At the top of the wish list are a series of career goals that speak to the quality of the work experience itself.21 Talented women very much want to associate with people they respect (82 percent); to “be themselves” at work (79 percent); to collaborate with others and work as part of a team (61 percent); and to “give back” to society through the work that they do, both inside their organization and outside in the larger world (see figure 2-15). They also value recognition from their company or organization (51 percent). In general, women tend to emphasize value sets rather than compensation or benefits. Access to flexible work schedules, the only employment benefit to make it onto the wish list of the majority of the women in the survey, is a priority for 64 percent of the women in the survey. Only 42 percent cite a high salary, and just 15 percent cite a powerful position as an important career goal.

Women’s priorities thus constitute a sharp departure from the conventional white male model and become yet another powerful reason why success within this model is so elusive for women.

A final word on altruism. As is evident from figure 2-15, a majority of highly qualified women find giving back to society a powerful motivator.

Jennifer Moreland, a senior executive at Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Systems, is a case in point. Moreland, who is of Jamaican descent, had been with her company for almost thirty years when a series of devastating hurricanes struck the Caribbean in August 2004. She had long been thinking of a way she could “give back” to her homeland and the timing seemed right for her to join the relief effort: her only child—a daughter—had been “launched,” as she put it; and she was newly able to put family responsibilities on the back burner. But when she went to management to tell them that she wanted to be part of the recovery effort she felt it was a huge risk: she imagined that she might have to leave her job, or, at best, take an unpaid leave of absence. Within Johnson & Johnson, as part of shared responsibility for career development each employee works with management to assess such opportunities. For volunteer opportunities management also considers the risk to the safety of each employee.As it turned out, her timing was perfect: Johnson & Johnson had just created a hurricane fund and Moreland’s boss saw a pivotal role for her. So Moreland spent six months based in Jamaica dispensing grants in the Caribbean region and otherwise driving the relief effort. She described it as “one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life—and one which cemented my loyalty to this company.” Moreland’s biggest surprise was that “far from forcing me out, playing a role in the relief effort actually gave my career new traction at Johnson & Johnson—I will always be grateful.”22

Upon returning, she was invited to make a presentation to senior management at company headquarters, which afforded great visibility for her but also great visibility for her “cause.” It was also good for the company. Moreland had, after all, been able to align her desire to “do good” with her company’s philanthropic interests in the Caribbean. The initiative she helped drive both burnished the company’s image in the region and won new loyalty among local employees and customers. In sum, it was a huge win-win. In February 2006,Moreland received an award from her affinity group at Johnson & Johnson. In her words, “It was in recognition for what I did—and what the corporation did.”

In focus groups women talked eloquently about the importance of giving back—to various communities. For some, their interest lay in their corporation or in their professional associations. Heading up a women’s network, acting as a mentor to young women, getting involved with “girl” power, and nurturing young talent were typical pursuits. For others, their passions lay in the wider community—fundraising for a charter school, volunteering in a meals-on-wheels program for elderly shut-ins, tutoring in the inner city. Focus group participants talked wistfully about how neat it would be if employers were to recognize this philanthropic work.

Stephanie is a young highflier with a bright future at her consumer products firm. A recently promoted brand manager, she could be contributing even more, however, if she felt comfortable sharing more of who she is with her colleagues.What does Stephanie keep to herself? The fact that she runs an award-winning Girl Scout troop in a local homeless shelter. She has been doing this for years, bringing warmth and strength to girls from destitute families. “These kids are not going to Harvard; they don’t have a place to live; they don’t know how many times they’re going to eat today; and they need to take care of siblings not much younger than they are,” she explains. But she’s teaching these girls real skills that may help them build better futures.

In the process of organizing the troop Stephanie is serving as an unofficial goodwill ambassador for her firm. But her work with the troop demands that she leave work at 5:30 p.m. a few times a month. This doesn’t bother her, but it does seem to bother her boss, despite the fact that she arrives at 7:00 a.m. on those days. Stephanie is acutely concerned about being thought of as less than fully committed to her job. So she refrains from talking about her Girl Scout program at work—even though the initiative earned her a Future Leaders Today award and a ceremony at the White House.23

In the few instances where bosses are supportive and celebratory of altruistic or philanthropic activity (such as in Moreland’s experience at Johnson & Johnson), the dividend to the company in terms of increased loyalty and engagement is big. Talented women are hugely appreciative of support on this front.

In terms of the big picture, what is the significance of the data presented thus far? Thirty-five years after the women’s revolution transformed female opportunities women’s work lives remain very different from men’s. Grouping together women who take off-ramps with those who take scenic routes, we find that a majority have nonlinear careers. A great many women just need to step out or step to the side for a period of time. Looking back at their work lives almost 60 percent of the highly qualified women in this survey describe their careers as nonlinear: they had not been able to “follow the arc” of a traditionally successful career in their sector. 24 An off-ramp or a scenic route had knocked them off course.

Obviously, what all this amounts to is that large numbers of talented women fail to fit the conventional career model. Emulating that male competitive model is simply a huge stretch for a great many women. Some obviously do manage to do it. Among them are women who sacrifice family life—childlessness is a problematic issue for high-level corporate women—and at least some superwomen who somehow or other “do it all.”25 But women who are successful within the confines of the male career model are a minority, and this book is not about them. It is about the other 60 percent, the ones who struggle with off-ramps and onramps and have a difficult time claiming or sustaining ambition.

For three and a half decades policy wonks and business leaders have waited for women to get with the program. The challenge was thought to be about providing access and opportunity and then allowing enough time to go by so that the pipeline could fill. The reasoning was simple: if you created a truly level playing field so that men and women had equal access to employment opportunities, then, over time, as successive cohorts of well-qualified female professionals filled the pipeline, women would eventually be fairly represented at the top. As we’ve already seen, this is not happening. Over the years, there has been so much leakage from the pipeline that progress has effectively stalled.While the proportion of partners at law firms who are women has climbed slightly over the last five years, the number of women CEOs at Fortune 500 companies has fallen slightly over the same time period. If progress moves along at this lugubrious pace it will be a hundred years before we have significant numbers of women in top jobs.

My advice—to policy wonks and business leaders alike—is to quit waiting. The pipeline as currently constructed won’t work, because it requires shoehorning women into the male competitive model—and most of them just don’t fit. What we need now is the development of second generation policies that provide alternative pathways for women with nonlinear work lives. As we will see from the next chapter, this challenge has become particularly urgent with the rise of extreme jobs. The goalposts, it seems, are shifting in ways that threaten women’s progress in heretofore unimagined ways.

Excerpted from “Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women On The Road To Success" by Sylvia Ann Hewlett . Copyright ©2007.  Excerpted by permission of Harvard Business School Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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