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When
Anne Taylor, Managing
Partner at Deloitte & Touche,
embarked on her career
in the mid-1980s, it
was not unusual for her
to
carry a screwdriver in
her pocket. Back then,
she was among the handful
of women engineers in
the male-dominated transportation
industry. One of Taylor's
first assignments was
training
bus drivers in how to
enter basic information
into
a computer. Finding themselves
being trained by a young,
female engineer took
the drivers by surprise.
But
Anne was in for a bigger
surprise when one of
them asked her why the
keys
on the computer keyboard
were not arranged in
alphabetical order. It
hadn't occurred
to her that some of the
drivers had never typed
before.
"Back
then, user interface with computers was not
that common," Taylor said in an interview
during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic
Forum Meeting in New York City. "And being
trained by a woman in her 20s was almost unheard
of. My age and gender threw people off all
the time."
Taylor says that, in the early days,
the immediate assumption was that she
must be there in some sort of subordinate
capacity, not in a leadership role. Also,
most men felt that she couldn't possibly
know anything about their world.
"Admittedly, I didn't know anything
about fixing a bus, but I did know what
I needed to know," Taylor said. "At
that time I took great pains to know
the names of the parts and those kinds
of things so I could establish credibility."
Technology and perceptions about women
in leadership roles have come a long
way since then. While innovations in
technology have outpaced most people's
expectations, opportunities for women
in senior management positions remain
at a dismal level. Today, just six of
the Fortne 500 companies are run by women.
They hold only 6 percent of the highest
titles (Chairman, Chief Executive Officer,
Chief Operating Officer, Senior Executive
Vice President and Executive Vice President)
and occupy just 4 percent of the highest-paid
positions in the Fortune 500 companies.
Taylor has been lucky to break the corporate
glass ceiling and rise to the top of
the ladder in one of the largest consulting
firms in the world; but it has been a
challenging process. Today, she is one
of the leading women in management and
technology. She has been a partner in
Deloitte since 1990 and serves currently
on its board of directors in the US.
Taylor frequently speaks on e-business
and IT issues and acts as Strategic Partner
Advisor for the World Economic Forum's
Technology Pioneers Program.
"I did not ask to be in this position,
but somehow I became a pioneer for women
in technology," said Taylor. "Now
I feel I have an opportunity and an obligation
to serve as a role model." Taylor
is the Managing Partner for Network Economy
Services at Deloitte & Touche LLP.
She heads a consulting practice focused
on Integration, Development and Infrastructure
(IDI) in the US. She also currently serves
as the Network Economy Leader for both
global and US firms. Taylor holds a Masters
in Civil Engineering and has completed
her PhD studies at Princeton University.
Taylor
admits that, even at Deloitte, in the
early years there were tremendous
challenges in being a woman partner. "There
were times when a male partner used to
find it uncomfortable to interact with
a female partner," said Taylor. "It
took me time to realize that there was
anything different about me being in
the room."
"I was in the early stages before
a lot of other women were there," explained
Taylor, "so there was new ground
to cover. I was the first partner ever
at the firm to go on maternity leave." Today,
she has three girls (a set of twins among
them) and one boy and lives in New Jersey
with her husband who is a corporate litigator.
Her oldest child is 10 and her youngest
a year-and-a-half. "I was also the
first partner who was a member of the
board of directors to have a baby at
the age of 44," she says with a
sense of accomplishment. "This time
over, it was very different. I could
not have imagined the kind of positive
support that I got. They said, of course
you are crazy, but go for it."
Taylor
has been lucky in some ways as she
works in a firm that has been consistently
rated since its inception as one of the
100 best companies to work for. No other
consulting firm has that record. One
of the criteria for getting ranked in
the top 100 is the companies' policy
of hiring minorities, including women. "We
have gone beyond the legal requirement
for maternity leave," said Taylor. "The
firm gives two weeks more than whatever
the legal limit is. And that really helps."
She adds that although policies are
not enough, they do help change the culture.
Taylor says another factor that has played
a part in providing women with opportunities
for employment and leadership is the
technology industry.
"The technology industry is one
of the first places in corporate culture," she
said, "that welcomed diversity--women
as well as immigrants."
Taylor believes that today there is
a new awareness of different style, needs,
and approaches in the business world.
Having more women in the field has become
self-propagating. She highlighted that
Deloitte adopted a very successful initiative
for the advancement and retention of
women, but it only dates back to 1993.
Taylor was already a partner at that
time.
"The key is not just hiring a higher
percentage of women," Taylor said, "but
developing more women leaders. That is
what will ultimately make the difference."
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