PH power women flex CEO muscle

Work-life balance is a myth.

At least that’s what some of the country’s top Filipino women executives believe.

“There is no balance; it’s just a matter of setting your priorities,” said Rosario Cajucom-Bradbury, former CEO of SGS Philippines, a company which provides inspection, verification, testing and certification services.

Bradbury is a member of the newly formed Filipina CEO Circle (FCC), an organization composed of “power women” who worked their way up the corporate ladder to reach the top spot.

It’s exactly this skill—setting priorities, a feat that can be quite a challenge for those juggling many roles, as women do—which helped these ladies get to where they are. Now, the members of FCC, headed by BPO International Inc. CEO Maria-Cristina Concepcion, are on a mission to create more of their kind by becoming mentors to other women aspiring to become CEOs themselves.

Inspirations

Although formed last year, the FCC formally introduced their group to the public on Sept. 15 by also launching their coffee table book, “Inspired,” and hosting the day-long forum “Inspired Conversations: From the Now Gen to the Next Gen” at the Shangri-La at The Fort. The book features the success stories of some of the members, complemented by their portraits taken by Denise Weldon. The forum touched on topics such as Executive Presence, Transitioning the Filipino to Global Leadership, Women Leaders of the New Economy, and, of course, the Myth of Work-Life Balance.

FCC came about after a meeting among three of its members—KPMG R.G. Manabat & Co. vice chair and head of audit Sharon Dayoan, Convergys Philippines chair Marife Zamora and John Clements Consultants Inc. CEO Carol Dominguez—left them with the realization that they shared the same desire to help other women get a leg up in the corporate world.

“The three of us had been there: At the bottom, new employees fresh from school, and we know the challenges that go with it,” said Dayoan.

Their first task: Find out who and where the Filipino CEOs in the country were, “starting with our personal directories,” said Dayoan. From there, the three looked at almost 800 of the top companies in the Philippines and found 68 that were being led by women.

Discovery

“That’s about 8 percent, and we said, that can’t be right. We need to do something about this,” said Dayoan. “Another surprising discovery was most of the supporting [staff] of male CEOs were women—in sales, human resources, different parts of the organization—but when it comes to the CEO post, something happens; the women don’t get there. So we thought that there should be reasons for that, and that’s what we wanted to address.”

Many calls and meetings later—which Bradbury said they expected to be a challenge because of their busy schedules, but turned out to be no problem at all—FCC was able to invite 43 members to its cause. The ladies are a diverse bunch, with many coming from the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, said Susan Dimacali, CEO of creative agency Aspac Group. Others are leaders in professional services, real estate, insurance firms, fast-moving consumer goods companies, and even the automotive industry.

“It didn’t matter which industry; as long as you’re a woman and a CEO, you got invited,” said Sharon.

“But it has to be women who rose through the ranks, through the meritocracy. You can’t be the owner of the company. This is really for the corporate women,” added Dimacali.

To discover exactly why there was a huge disparity in the number of women versus the number of men in CEO posts, FCC members initially conducted a mentoring program among their own female staff just to get insight as to how they viewed their role in the workplace.

Fallout

“In my accounting firm, we start with so many staff, and little by little the number becomes smaller—and the fallout would usually consist of women. That would be because they take family as priority,” said Dayoan. “But we [in FCC] say, it’s hard, but your career doesn’t have to stop. It could actually work both ways, but it’s not going to be easy.”

Their biggest tip for those trying to build their career and family at the same time: Work out the nonnegotiables.

For Bradbury, it was as simple as making sure she prayed with her son before he went to bed—even when she is abroad [they would do it over the phone].

For Concepcion, who started her career as a single mom working in New York City, it was making sure she was there for her daughter during times she needed her the most.

“[The choice to give up one’s a career] is perpetuated [by our culture], but hopefully, FCC will have a different voice on the matter,” said Dimacali.

Aside from mentoring working women, Dayoan said they also plan to reach out to the younger generation. They started last year with a talk at the Technological Institute of the Philippines, where FCC members sat with female Engineering students.

“We had the FCC members, the Engineering graduates, share their experiences, and draw the path that they took to show the students that they could get there. No roses, no flowers; just the real hard stuff,” said Dayoan.

Dayoan added that the Philippines isn’t alone when it comes to the differing paths of leadership of men and women. Citing a KPMG survey of working women in the US, she said that “when these women were younger, 84 percent said they remember being told to ‘be nice.’ Forty-five percent remember being told to be effective leaders, and only 34 percent remember being told to speak their mind.”

Ultimately, FCC’s goal to mold more female CEOs isn’t just for the benefit of the working women, but also for their daughters who will look to them as role models—and, of course, of the companies they’ll be steering.

“There are certain traits of women that complement and strengthen team leadership and boardroom management,” said Bradbury.

Added Concepcion: “It is companies and firms which have diversity of thought—from diversity of background, gender—that truly excel in the workplace.”