71% of US high school valedictorians are women.
41% of leading business school students are women.
60% of college grads in America are women.
4% of America’s CEOs are women.
Yes, 4%. You read that correctly. So what are we going to do about it?
Jenna Fisher, one of the country’s leading executive recruiters, has a plan.
She believes we will get to 50-50 at the top when work and family are seen as compatible—not irreconcilable.
That’s why she’s launching Up Not Out, an initiative to spark conversation about the persistent challenges that prevent women from getting to the top and how we can conquer them.
Who is Jenna Fisher?
Jenna Fisher is an executive, a thought leader, and a mother who has spent her career placing women and men in top jobs and on boards at the country’s most powerful organizations, including Visa, Amazon, Ford, Adobe, and Lyft.
From her perch as a senior partner at Russell Reynolds, Jenna sees companies clamoring to hire women in leadership roles.
The problem is that there aren’t enough women to satisfy the demand.
That’s why she is launching Up Not Out: an initiative to broaden the conversation about the tensions between work and family that prompt so many women to exit or push pause on their careers.
Up Not Out is about rethinking what it takes to be successful professionally and as a parent.
Jenna knows the personal and professional stakes are too high for so many educated and qualified women to leave the workforce—or settle for less—at the rate they do now.
She also knows that society’s expectations of what it means to be a “good parent” can seem irreconcilable with what it takes to make it to the senior level.
Up Not Out brings together Jenna’s insights as an executive and a mother with the experiences of dozens of other women who have solved the simultaneous equation of work and family.
Jenna’s Plan
Jenna’s 10-point plan goes beyond traditional professional platitudes.
Jenna believes women can simultaneously be professionally successful—even at the highest levels—and be present, engaged parents. Getting there means shifting expectations and being intentional about choices.
Her plan talks about how, from getting smart about fertility and choosing a career with serious earning potential to ditching ideals of perfectionism and treating your time like the valuable asset it is.