Elevating Women at Work, with Kristy Wallace

Episode Summary

Diversity in the workplace is top-of-mind for my MBA students and senior leaders alike. In this episode of The Sydcast, I want to profile one organization that’s on the front lines, creating opportunities for women in particular to fulfill their career potential. Kristy Wallace, up until very recently head of the Ellevate network, talks about unequal pay between men and women, transparency at work, imposter syndrome, and how to help women in the workforce break through these barriers.

Sydney Finkelstein 

Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the Global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein’s research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life.

Kristy Wallace

Kristy Wallace is the former CEO of Ellevate Network, where she was responsible for executing Ellevate Network’s mission to close the gender achievement gap in business by providing professional women with a global community to lean on and learn from. She directed the Network’s staff, was responsible for business growth and strategy and worked closely with Ellevate's chapter leaders, business partners, and champions to further Ellevate's impact. She stepped down as CEO in July 2022 to pursue new opportunities. 

Insights from this episode: 

• Details about Ellevate network
• Kristy’s thoughts on the stakeholder capitalism idea
• Effects of COVID-19 on employees
• What a social movement is
• Insights into activism
• How we can impart change in the world
• Differences between women and men in the workplace
• Diversity in the workplace
• Why women are still being paid less in the workplace
• Overcoming the imposter syndrome

Quotes from the show:

• “As we go through our career, oftentimes the people within our networks might not have the expertise or the insights that we need” —Kristy Wallace [9:36]
• “As a leader myself, I recognize that the greatest strength for us as a business is our employees” —Kristy Wallace [16:50]
• “Each of us individually do have some degree of agency, some power, some influence. If a billion people speak up and start talking, and caring, and asking, more progress could be made” —Syd Finkelstein [19:49]
• “I think if people believe that they actually have the opportuni