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JAMIE CLAIRE KISER, from page 1
responded to our survey has considered leaving this industry. Every. Single. One. ❚ ❚ 0 percent. That’s the number of women who were given any portion of their ownership for free. One in three men (33 percent) answered yes to this survey question. Not a sin- gle woman was seen as contributing enough to be awarded ownership, while one-third of men passed the test for an ownership gift. After receiving this data, we set out to move from concept to execution of this platform. And that’s when I panicked. Again. I have a hard time articulating my reservations about ElevateHer, but I think the most honest way to say it is that I have worked my entire career to be a respected professional, period. I have never been a member of a “women in business” organization; I passed up on the “ladies in law” groups, and I don’t want to be divided from my peers based on the presence of ovaries. That isn’t what I am about. I’m about closing deals and getting results. Hell, I didn’t even join a sorority (they weren’t exactly begging for my membership, either). What I am about is using my visibility to counter the number one challenge identi- fied by principals of Hot Firms: recruiting and retention. The talent shortage in this industry is real. Women are entering engineering and architectural programs at higher rates than ever, but they aren’t staying. And the ones who stay and who grow into principal roles have thought really hard about leaving (every single one). We have to find a way to make this industry one that appeals to every bright mind. Women need to feel that they can have a meaningful career as engineers or design- ers or surveyors or CAD techs. To me, ensuring that those who enter this industry stay in this industry is tantamount to addressing this problem in real time. “At a recent, small round table event that we hosted, I was the only female participant out of the group of 30 or so. I was introduced to a CEO of a firm, who, upon hearing my title, replied by saying that he just assumed I was attending as Mark Zweig’s personal assistant.” My vision for ElevateHer is not one of divisiveness or “women first.” It is a practical acknowledgement of the 100 percent of women who have considered exiting the AEC industry, confronting this challenge, and doing everything that we can to fix this system. We need women in our firms to speak up when they feel alienated. We need others who are advocates for women to be thoughtful in how they speak and to correct actions that undermine the career opportunities available for women. The industry is incredibly busy. So busy that when we talk to firm leaders, we hear that they are reluctant to get rid of the under-performers because even the little they do helps. The solution to the talent gap is often buying a company or investing in recruiting. But as we are doing these things, we are not taking the opportunity to engage women and to encourage them to stay in this industry. Finding the next generation of women and employing them until they join the 100 percent ranks is an unacceptable, repetitive cycle. How do we break this cycle? We cannot afford to lose educated, trained staff. We have to become companies that truly support the careers of women if we want to build companies that appropriately reflect the com- munities we serve. I can say all of this, I can cite statistics, but the truth is that I was not ready to bring ElevateHer to fruition without a strong measure of hand-wringing and intro- spection. There is something about a movement that is by definition exclusive that I find unfortunate. My profound sense of discomfort with ElevateHer centers on the lack of control inherent with launching any movement. I cannot control how people will interpret ElevateHer. Back to that late Thursday night, though, is a story that evidences the cracks in the façade of the women in leadership roles in this industry. The “breaking point” moment for me that sparked an insomnia-fueled draft of the roughest framework
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THE ZWEIG LETTER July 22, 2019, ISSUE 1305
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