Day: November 18, 2019

The gender wage gap isn’t a female or people of color issue. It’s a business issue that needs male partnership at all levels. A great way to start is to build gender wage gap awareness with male leaders. The first group of men could be male leaders with daughters. From here, companies can position male allies not as heroes, but rather partners with women and affinity groups to create processes and programs that address issues together.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael O’Brien. Michael is the Chief Shift Officer at Peloton Coaching and Consulting. He elevates successful corporate leaders by preventing bad moments from turning into bad days. His award-winning memoir Shift: Creating Better Tomorrows chronicles his Last Bad Day and near-death cycling accident recovery journey. He has shared his inspirational story and transformation from human DOer to human BEing, on the TEDx stage, with multiple Fortune 1000 companies, ABC, Fast Company, Real Simple, and many wonderful podcasts.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us the “backstory” that brought you to this career path?

Back in 2001, as a new father of two amazing daughters, I wanted to do something to create a better environment for when they entered the workforce. After attending an inspirational women’s leadership event a few years later, I committed to doing more to support today’s female leaders as well as those in the next generation like my daughters.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?

I was excited when I landed at O’Hare in November 2006. I was there for the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association’s Annual Conference. At the time, I was a National Sales Director and wanted to discover how to create more opportunities for our female leaders.

But my excitement quickly turned to nervousness when I walked up to get my badge and credentials. I thought everyone was looking at me and wondering, “What’s this guy doing at our conference?” In truth, nobody was looking at me, but I thought they were. As a white male, I was the “only” in the room, which was rare. As a result, I played small at the meeting. I snuck into the back on the general session and avoided the breakouts sessions because I didn’t want to be seen.

On my flight home, I regretted my behavior. As I thought more on my experience, I started to develop more empathy for the “onlies” back at the office. My experience changed how I lead, strengthen my empathy, and sparked a greater focus on creating a culture that valued every voice and person.

Can you share a story about the funniest or most interesting mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I began my speaking career, I thought I had to be like all the other high-testosterone motivational speakers I had seen over the years. During one of my first opportunities, I tried to be like them and was a disaster. I had to stop and take a break during my speech because I was so in my head that I couldn’t get my words out. I had forgotten my speech because I had forgotten who I was. I was mortified and thought my speaking career was over before it truly began.

On my drive home, I wallowed in my poor performance and eventually realized, I was trying to be someone I wasn’t.

Now when I speak, I show up as me and commonly get feedback on my relatability which is priceless considering my early speaking career hiccup.

Ok let’s jump to the main focus of our interview. Even in 2019, women still earn about 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. Can you explain three of the main factors that are causing the wage gap?

When I started my work on closing the wage gap, I thought we would have made more progress by the time my daughters entered the workforce. They are now 18 and 21, and we haven’t made much progress. We are still dealing with dated perspectives on gender roles specifically around child and elder care, bias (conscious and unconscious), and a lack of courage to act now.

Research has shown that children-less men and women have almost no wage gap. As children come into the picture, a wage gap develops as more women than men take time away from their careers to raise their children. It coincides with a time that they could be on the cusp of a promotion and wage increases. As a result, as women stay home, men advance, and a wage gap develops.

The second factor is the lack of promotion opportunities for women. It’s common to see 50% or more of entry-level positions filled by females, but the percentage drops as you move up the org chart. In addition to childcare concerns, bias (conscious and unconscious) also contribute to our current wage gap.

Finally, even with more awareness, we need to demonstrate the courage to act. We may not be able to close the gap tomorrow, but there are things that corporations and society can do today to help close it faster. It requires leadership, courage, and action.

Can you share with our readers what your work is doing to help close the gender wage gap?

During my corporate executive career, we systematically elevated our gender mixture to 50% female/male at all levels within my sales team. Today I serve as the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) first male chapter President. The HBA’s mission is to pursue gender parity from compensation to opportunity. Further, I work with my executive leader clients on how they can build male allies within their organizations.

Can you recommend 5 things that need to be done on a broader societal level to close the gender wage gap. Please share a story or example for each.

1. It’s a Business Problem not an HR problem: In too many companies, the wage gap is considered an HR issue. It’s time for the business leaders to own solving the wage gap just like they own driving revenue and profits. During my executive career, we consistently reviewed our hiring, promotion, and compensation metrics to ensure accountability.

2. Begin at Home: We need to continue to challenge limiting beliefs on gender roles. Too often, the responsibility for child and elder care fall on women and housework is divided into traditional female and male camps. These attitudes ripple into the work environment and contribution to how we see women and men. Companies should build work-life flexibility for all employees that will help balance responsibility at home and keep more women in the workforce during the time they are building their families.

3. Make the Unconscious, Conscious: To slay selection bias, we must move our bias from the unconscious to conscious. It’s essential to diversify interview panels, use objective assessments, and create an environment where it’s safe to challenge perceived bias. One of my clients’ sales leadership teams was 93% male and commonly promoted people just like them. They took steps to diversify their interview panels across gender, background, and functional area. They also implemented a validated personality assessment during the selection process. As a result, they promoted 40% more female leaders over the last eighteen months.

4. Conduct a Salary Audit: People crave data that they can trust and it’s relatable. Only 26% of companies track salaries between male, women, and diversity groups. Recently, one of my clients conducted their first salary audit and were very surprised to see how wide their pay gap was. Today they are taking steps to change their practices, and demonstrating that awareness is always the first step in creating change.

5. Develop Male Allies: The gender wage gap isn’t a female or people of color issue. It’s a business issue that needs male partnership at all levels. A great way to start is to build gender wage gap awareness with male leaders. The first group of men could be male leaders with daughters. From here, companies can position male allies not as heroes, but rather partners with women and affinity groups to create processes and programs that address issues together.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

On July 11th, 2001, I had my Last Bad Day when I was hit head-on by an S.U.V. going 40 m.p.h. when I was on a bike training ride. My recovery has been a miracle. I now believe that one of the reasons I lived that day is to help a 1,000,000 people have their Last Bad Day and live life and build their career with awareness, purpose, resilience, gratitude, and community. I believe my Last Bad Day can help others live their best days.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

I first heard this quote from my Little League coach as a ten-year-old. It’s been my favorite quote ever since. I love its forward-moving energy and how it speaks to the value perseverance, resilience, and tenacity to make things happen. I referenced it frequently as I was recovering from my Last Bad Day, and we need these same qualities to close the gender pay gap.

Thank you for all of these great insights!

“5 things we need to do to close the gender wage gap”, with Michael O’Brien & Candice Georgiadis was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Paid family leave. It is crazy to me that the United States is still the only industrialized nation without paid maternity leave. The craziest part, there is so much research outlining how paid leave supports our economy. If we factor the cost of hiring when someone quits and the amount of money people spend on their children, we’ve got boom not bust! We can’t penalize women for being the gender who makes babies. In 2018,the New York Times reported, each child a woman has chops 4 percent off of her hourly wages.

As part of my series about “the five things we need to do to close the gender wage gap” I had the pleasure of interviewing Ayla Peacock, Director of Digital Strategy at Spire Digital in Denver, CO. A Creative Writing major turned SEO expert, Ayla’s path to marketing was built from very real experience helping enterprise B2B companies kickstart content strategy, demand gen, and marketing automation initiatives, with a keen focus on driving profitable revenue “Fluffy marketing statistics about awareness or impressions don’t float my boat; let’s get to the good stuff,” she says. “When I have my way, there are no long meetings about button placement, headline text, or page structure. We have A/B tests, Google Analytics, and clickmaps to answer these questions…faster and with less drama.” Originally from Cleveland, Ayla is unapologetic in a crusade to convince real Denver natives she’s one of them. Her weekends are spent skiing or hiking with 2 poorly behaved rescue dogs. She also serves on the board of Together Digital (fka Women In Digital) as Speaker Chair. Ayla has lived in rural China, southern France, and on a boat in the Caribbean. Needless to say, these experiences have changed the way she does most things, including her job.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us the “backstory” that brought you to this career path?

I had a sexist boss (this is how all great stories start, right). I was a junior salesperson on a team with all men. The sales director would not delegate leads to me. Instead, he’d overwhelm my male counterparts with leads, some of whom had been at the company only weeks compared to my multi-year tenure.

At the start, I was confused, angry, confrontational. But realizing these hurdles are faced by most women in the workplace, I found motivation. If my boss didn’t see me as part of his team, as worthy of opportunity, I would find my own. So, I became a marketer out of necessity. I ran email campaigns, incorporated marketing automation, learned PPC, and mastered content marketing. Eventually, I made a case to be promoted off of the sales team and started my own marketing practice. A few months later, I was noticed by a bigger firm who offered me the chance to their marketing department from the ground up.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?

I started my career at Spire as one of two marketing strategists. My counterpart was male, same title, same level of experience. On day one, I worked up the courage to ask him about his compensation plan. Surprisingly, he was totally open to the conversation and thankfully, we were making the same amount. I now make it a practice to talk about my compensation with my team, with strangers, with my mom. It makes everyone feel valued and comfortable. No shady business!

Can you share a story about the funniest or most interesting mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Early in my career, I worked for a well-known magazine in Denver. Before events or on behalf of advertisers, I ran errands, usually to pick up a bottle of wine or drop off a gift. I made almost no money so to save on parking I frequently walked to work.

One sunny day, I was asked to pick up crackers at 34 Degrees Crisps. Having walked to work and not wanting to disappoint my boss, I accepted the task and set out on a 2.1 mile trek to the 34 Degrees warehouse. I arrived to 1,000 boxes of crackers, literally. Flustered and embarrassed, I told the cracker people I’d have to come back. Almost immediately their marketing director volunteered to drive me and the crackers back to my office. It took us a good half-hour to get all the crackers into her car and I hung my head out the window to navigate.

Here is what I learned: No one, no matter their title, schedule, or stature, is too busy to help someone out. In the publishing world (and everywhere, really) people are proud of saying no, being “too busy.” All the while, the director of this important company was willing to get her hands dirty and drive a lowly intern across town during rush hour. In my work and life, I try never to say I am too busy. Instead I might politely say, “that isn’t a priority for me” or “let me get back to you next week.” Making time to support people is important to me. The equity in being a good person comes back around.

Ok let’s jump to the main focus of our interview. Even in 2019, women still earn about 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. Can you explain three of the main factors that are causing the wage gap?

1. No paid leave. I’ll say this one bluntly, I have been turned down for a job because I am “of childbearing age.” The words were not explicit but the message was clear. I don’t plan to have children soon but because I am capable and might require 3–6 months off, I am a risky hire. If they hire too many women in my age bracket and we all take maternity leave, the company is underwater. Because our bodies are built to bear children, we alone carry this “risk” to employers when, in fact, the risk is to our careers. Being away from work when our male counterparts are in the office getting ahead is risky and the risk compounds with every child a woman has. Without paid leave for everyone, men and women, we will never have equal footing.

2. Limited wage transparency. Most companies depend on employees hiding their salaries. Then, if someone is paid unfairly, they’ll never find out. Moreover, if someone is underpaid in their first job, that pay follows them every time they’re asked about salary history in an interview. Harvard Business Review revealed that only 7% of women negotiate their first salary compared to 57% of men. So, I share my compensation plan with whoever wants to hear. How else do we know the worth of our roles? I am impressed with Denver’s new governor who recently signed the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. Colorado employers will be required to announce to all employment advancement opportunities and the pay range for the opportunities. This will change everything.

3. The confidence gap. As noted by The Atlantic, Hewlett-Packard was recently working to bring more women into leadership positions. And they couldn’t. It was discovered that women would only apply to internal postings when they met 90% of listed qualifications, while men applied when they met 60%. Women are more likely to work hard to get noticed, while men get noticed because they ask to be promoted, acknowledged, paid more, invited to a meeting, given an office, etc, etc. This behavior is ingrained and we must notice it so we can solve for it.

Can you share with our readers what your work is doing to help close the gender wage gap?

Every time I negotiate my salary I tell myself I am doing it for “womankind.” If I feel nervous or ambivalent about asking for a raise, this helps me feel confident and motivated. For me, in this way, knowledge is power. My awareness of the wage gap, of unfair treatment in the workplace, and of bias toward women has made it possible for me to confront it. I make it my mission to educate the people around me about how I want to be treated and I am lucky to work for a company who is willing to listen. Spire has flexible work, breast-feeding rooms, and unlimited PTO, all things that support working mothers and women in the workplace. More importantly though, this company is willing to have the conversation and hear criticism. For example, a coworker once started off a casual internal email with “Hi ladies.” Even though the three people the email was addressed to are all women, I explained that it’s not necessary or appropriate to identify people by their gender in a salutation. He respected my feedback, and is now more likely to start such an email with “Hi people.”

Can you recommend 5 things that need to be done on a broader societal level to close the gender wage gap. Please share a story or example for each.

Paid family leave. It is crazy to me that the United States is still the only industrialized nation without paid maternity leave. The craziest part, there is so much research outlining how paid leave supports our economy. If we factor the cost of hiring when someone quits and the amount of money people spend on their children, we’ve got boom not bust! We can’t penalize women for being the gender who makes babies. In 2018,the New York Times reported, each child a woman has chops 4 percent off of her hourly wages.

Male advocates. Men still dominate the C-suite in America. Until women can infiltrate the boys’ club, we need their help. We must have conversations with men about their influence, good and bad. In the wake of #metoo, it’s been found that men are less likely to have closed door meetings with women and so, less likely to mentor them. Without a mentor, it is difficult to make it to the C-suite. Without women in leadership, the cycle continues.

Raise boys and girls the same. On the playground, girls are told to be careful. Boys are told they’re strong. Boys are asked to speak up in class. Because boys are more likely to speak up, they’re more likely to experience rejection and learn resilience, skills that help tremendously in the workplace. I am endlessly grateful for my single-sex education at Laurel School where my teachers had us take math tests with pencils that said, “GIRLS ARE GOOD AT MATH.” They believed that if we knew the stigma, we could fight it.

Equal representation in leadership. Businesses do better when women have a seat at the table. Even if companies can prove wage parody, they often can’t justify the rate at which men are promoted versus women. Worse even, they don’t realize there is a problem. It wasn’t until 2011 that US cars were tested with woman-sized crash test dummies. Still in 2019, that crash test dummy is a scaled down version of a male who sits in the passenger’s seat 1 out of every 10 tests. I am certain this would not be the case if women were equally represented in leadership.

Press the buttons. This stuff is heavy, which makes solutions feel far off. They’re not. If a wage gap is discovered in a company, big or small, the CEO needs to press the buttons on their computer to correct the problem. Yes, we have a lot of work to do. Sometimes we have to convince the CEO that a problem exists. But if we have good data and we have good conversations, it is up to leadership to do the right thing. And in this case, the right thing makes life better for everyone, including shareholders.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

Everyone woman has been there, sharing an idea in a meeting when a man interrupts her to change the topic, criticize the idea, or even take credit for it. The best way I’ve discovered to combat this: find an ally. If you hear a colleague get interrupted, support her, or better, parrot her idea and give credit to its author. For example, “Lauren’s idea about the company retreat was interesting, I’d love to hear more.”

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“If the elevator goes up for you, send it back down.” Empowering the people around me to do better makes me better.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂

I spend my commute listening to podcasts. My most favorite podcast is How I Built This with Guy Raz who interviews important entrepreneurs about how they started their companies. I would love to share breakfast with Guy Raz, he has talked with, in my opinion, some of the world’s more important people and has their wisdom in his mind. Asking for breakfast with him is kind of like wishing for more wishes.

This was really meaningful! Thank you so much for your time.

“5 Things We Need To Do To Close The Gender Wage Gap”, with Ayla Peacock and Candice Georgiadis was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A change in mindset. Current societal laws label working mothers as less productive than their male counterparts, typically due to shortening their working hours after having a child. Businesses need to change the perception of motherhood in the workplace; often employers favour individuals who bank more hours in the office and refuse to accept non-traditional working practices. To bridge the wage gap, businesses need to improve their flexible working practices and embrace unconventional hours to accomodate all genders.

As part of my series about “the five things we need to do to close the gender wage gap” I had the pleasure of interviewing Debbie Lentz. Debbie joined Electrocomponents plc, a global multi-channel provider of industrial and electronic products and solutions, as the President of Global Supply Chain in 2017. Debbie is responsible for leading the further development of the Group’s supply chain capability to provide an innovative and sustainable market-leading service for customers and suppliers. RS Components is a trading brand of Electrocomponents plc, a global multi-channel provider of industrial and electronic products and solutions. We offer more than 500,000 industrial and electronics products, sourced from over 2,500 leading suppliers, and provide a wide range of value-added services to over one million customers. With operations in 32 countries, we ship more than 50,000 parcels a day.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us the “backstory” that brought you to this career path?

It wasn’t a linear path, that’s for certain! I studied at Pennsylvania State University which, at the time, was the number one programme for the Supply Chain in the USA. In all honesty, I didn’t really know what Supply Chain and Logistics was at this time — but I went for it, and got a degree in it. From there, I secured a customer service based role with a food and beverages manufacturer, which placed a big value on understanding the customer — something that became a significantly important experience for me.

It was a few roles further down the line where I had my biggest and most pivotal career change. To progress in my career, I knew I needed to have project management skills under my belt. I worked out the next position I should go after in order to grow these skills and I was open with my leadership team about my goals. This also included my goals for my family and my desire for them to experience diverse cultures; I was noisy within the company about wanting to work internationally and this led me, my career and my family to Zurich.

Throughout my career, I’ve found it extremely valuable to keep myself in a position where I’m continually learning and networking. Who I have met on my career journey so far has played a key role in me becoming a member of senior management teams and reporting to the CEO of a FTSE 250 business.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career? –

I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint one single story that sticks in my mind as there have been so many, however my move to Zurich to lead the Supply Chain organisation for Kraft Europe was one of the most impactful moves of my career and experiencing a different culture was a great experience. My children were able to attend Zurich International School which I feel provided them with an experience they may never have had otherwise.

Not only was it exciting and interesting for me, but my whole family experienced and learned new things, too — all because I took a leap of faith and said yes to a career in a new country.

Can you share a story about the funniest or most interesting mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first started in Zurich, just there for a week or two, I had pulled my team together that was made of people from multiple countries across Europe. We were discussing a problem we had in Spain and I was asking for urgent focus to fix our challenges. What I didn’t realise, is that I was using American slang — “All Hands on Deck” “Let’s get a SWAT team together and deploy them….”. Thank goodness- One of the members of my team, this one from Germany raised his hand and said quite frankly- “ Debbie I have no idea what you mean when you say “All hands on Deck” and “SWAT team”. It was embarrassing and a great learning. Don’t speak in slang so people can understand!

Ok let’s jump to the main focus of our interview. Even in 2019, women still earn about 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. Can you explain three of the main factors that are causing the wage gap?

Research shows that only 5% of women are within senior positions in the supply chain industry, however, these low statistics are reflected across multiple industries. As senior people tend to get paid more than junior, this has a clear effect on the gender pay gap. However, as one of the 5%, it is achievable!

I believe stereotypes surrounding motherhood is largely to blame for the gender wage gap, as research shows that working mothers earn 75% of what their male counterparts make. The gap appears to be the most prevalent for women in their late 20s to mid-30s, or in other words when lots of women have children. The stigma of parenting has continued to rise — employees will pay more for individuals that will work longer hours and are more likely to stay in an organisation for a long period.

Working mothers often shorten their hours after childbirth or stop work altogether and, this common occurrence labels females as noncommittal and, therefore, less desirable to employers. However, to narrow the gap, changes need to take place in workplaces and social laws that put less of an onus on working hours and more on talent and ability for both men and women.

Over the past five years, we’ve seen large organisations such as The BBC and Virgin Atlantic take the limelight for unequal pay and, as a result, the government made it compulsory for large companies in the UK to publish their differences in pay between their male and female employees. Whilst reporting on these differences is a great step forward in raising awareness for the gender pay gap, more can be done to improve and narrow the gap.

Can you share with our readers what your work is doing to help close the gender wage gap?

The challenge is for businesses to inspire the next generation. We aim to encourage more and more children, particularly girls, towards choosing STEM subjects and pursuing a career in engineering. For example, we have a proactive STEM programme.

In providing educational programmes that help future generations, we are fostering stronger relationships between schools and companies, resulting in courses that deliver the skills required by the industry.

Those already in your teams are crucial players in closing the gender wage gap. In order to ensure we’re developing and training our workforce, especially women to the best of their ability, we’re continuously developing our training schemes and doing all we can to encourage career growth for our employees, especially females.

We’ve also reviewed our hiring efforts to ensure that the employee benefits we provide are attractive to women. A desirable work-life balance is not just a case of offering earlier starts or late finishes, It’s about putting your employees’ needs first — working around schedules, sick children, and school plays. As long as the work is being produced, employees and mothers, in particular, should not be penalised for trying to have both a career and a family.

Can you recommend 5 things that need to be done on a broader societal level to close the gender wage gap. Please share a story or an example for each.

My time spent on the International Women’s Foundation board provided me with insights and inspiration for how the gender pay gap could start to close — it’s really about paving the way for women of the future. However, there is much more that we can do as a society to crack down on it.

1. Ensure all companies support childcare or encourage flexitime. The cost of childcare can be extortionate and put a strain on families — the average part-time nursery now costs up to £6,000 a year. Companies should be paying or providing parents with free childcare or subsidising it — this would then take the pressure off parents — particularly new mums — who are taking holiday days as they can’t afford childcare.
2. Get more girls into studying STEM subjects. STEM careers often pay better than many other industries — but are dominated by males. We’re only just starting to see females learning that studying STEM subjects are an option for them — this awareness needs to increase even more! If girls and women of all ages continue learning and progressing in those subjects from a young age, we will see an increase in females applying for and leading the way in senior roles in years to come.
3. Promote women into managerial and executive roles. Females can often lack the confidence to apply or look into managerial and executive roles. A study by Harvard Business Review revealed that, of the 57 female CEOs they interviewed, two-thirds said they didn’t realise they could be CEO until someone else told them. It’s important that women within your organisation are receiving the right career development in order to progress. By investing in a stronger internal mentoring and support programmes you could spark long-term goals amongst the female employees you already have. Companies need to put a strong focus on recruiting and retaining women in senior and critical roles in order to start bridging the gender pay gap.
4. Enforce paternity leave. In Sweden, fathers are entitled to 90 days paternity leave, compared to 2 weeks in the UK. If you make the workforce friendlier to parenthood and allow fathers to take longer paternity leave, mothers will have an opportunity to return to work sooner.
5. A change in mindset. Current societal laws label working mothers as less productive than their male counterparts, typically due to shortening their working hours after having a child. Businesses need to change the perception of motherhood in the workplace; often employers favour individuals who bank more hours in the office and refuse to accept non-traditional working practices. To bridge the wage gap, businesses need to improve their flexible working practices and embrace unconventional hours to accomodate all genders.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

The value of mentoring is a significant one, for me. If everyone mentors at least one person to help them develop, build their confidence and reach their potential, the impact would be phenomenal.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favourite quote is “As you rise, you must lift”. It ties in well with my answer above, as it essentially is all about paying it forward. For me, it’s about helping other women reach their career potential.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this, especially if we tag them.

If I could go back in time, it would be Martin Luther-King. He was such an inspirational leader who stood by his beliefs and ultimately changed the United States. I’ve always been so inspired by his ‘I have a dream’ speech.

Thank you for all of these great insights!

“5 Things We Need To Do To Close The Gender Wage Gap”, with Debbie Lentz & Candice Georgiadis was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Awareness and speaking out are the main things. Many people are afraid to speak up and many people don’t believe there is an issue. But I’m one who is sounding the alarm, letting audiences know that the problem is a problem, and showcasing the talents within the person — not the gender of the person.

As part of my series about “the five things we need to do to close the gender wage gap” I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Renee Sunday. Dr. Sunday provides coaching and advice to over 197,000 followers and growing via www.ReneeSunday.com, her social media channels, and her GOOD DEEDS Radio show a part of her Media Company. Dr. Renee Sunday at her core is a humanitarian and has always been deeply inspired by helping others from all walks of life. Dr. Renee Sunday is an award winning 16 year practicing doctor in the area of Anesthesiology, Media Coach, Self-help and Motivational Speaker, also known as a Grief and Loss Counselor as an Ordained Minister.By the time Dr. Renee was in her teen years she had experienced life ugly side; bullied and nicknamed “Olive Oil” for her tall statue and clothing appearance because everything she wore was simply too short. Her deep drive for humanity was born out of this place where she felt humanity needed more.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us the “backstory” that brought you to this career path?

Anyone that knows me knows that my mantra is service. And as a Board Certified Anesthesiologist, I’ve always wanted to ease the minds of my patients and bring peace to them. So my career path in medicine was strictly to be a source of tranquility for others. When it comes to my entrepreneurial efforts, I was once faced with losing my 6-figure salary in a matter of 24 hours. And I had to figure out what to do to sustain my financial stability. That’s when I began to dig deep within and found that I had more in me that could help the world and set me up to be seen, be heard, and get paid. In turn, I’ve shown others how to live the life of their dreams, while reaching their goals and making a profit — keeping service and joy at the forefront of everything.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?

Interestingly enough, being a serial entrepreneur has allowed me to be on various platforms across the globe. And there have been several instances where a patient recognizes me from social media or tv and they immediately lighten up and are excited to meet me in person. Those moments make this journey worth it all. Also, there are times when I’m contacted by students that I’ve coached or I run into them after they’ve entered their residency for medical school. Every story like that is touching.

Can you share a story about the funniest or most interesting mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

This may not be a funny response, but its certainly a mistake with a lesson. And that is simply this — I expected certain people (family & friends) to support my efforts. When I started to become successful, I found out that everyone won’t always celebrate your success and happiness. The mistake I made was in believing that everyone had the heart and passion I did. But it didn’t make me bitter; is just made me better. Now, I know that I may have to be my own cheerleader sometimes. And that’s ok. But there are certainly more people for me than against me.

Ok let’s jump to the main focus of our interview. Even in 2019, women still earn about 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. Can you explain three of the main factors that are causing the wage gap?

The wage gap between men and women I happening because of male dominated careers, lack of exposure in certain areas, and racial biases. Many careers have become gender specific and not everyone is welcomed in them. For instance, there was a time when men were deemed to be doctors. But many women, including myself, are killing that stigma. Also, there are some demographic areas that still live in the “stone age.” This simply means that they hold the male gender in higher regard and rarely take time to grant exposure to all people that are doing a great job. Racial tensions are rising. And while minorities are definitely doing more, they are still respected less in most cases. This causes an unfortunate gap in wages because dollar amounts are being put on the person instead of the production.

Can you share with our readers what your work is doing to help close the gender wage gap?

Awareness and speaking out are the main things. Many people are afraid to speak up and many people don’t believe there is an issue. But I’m one who is sounding the alarm, letting audiences know that the problem is a problem, and showcasing the talents within the person — not the gender of the person.

The population of women alone misses out on millions of dollars yearly for doing the same thing as a man, but making much less. But how can we stop this problem? First, acknowledgment that there is a problem. There’s an array of men who don’t believe this issue exists. Second, speak up! Women can’t be the only ones who take this issue seriously. Support is needed from men, also. Third, stop making occupations gender specific. If a person goes to school and is properly trained, they should be respected for their expertise — male or female. Fourth, demand respect. Many women have become comfortable with being silent and end up allowing others to manipulate them. Lastly, women must be ok with being themselves in a male dominated world. Entrepreneurs are rising and there are more women stepping out than men. This proves that they are ready to be seen, be heard, and get paid. Women don’t have to settle when they are equipped to earn the money that they deserve AND desire!

Can you recommend 5 things that need to be done on a broader societal level to close the gender wage gap? Please share a story or example for each.

The unfortunate reality is that there is a gender wage gap. The population of women alone misses out on millions of dollars yearly for doing the same thing as a man, but making much less. But how can we stop this problem? First, acknowledgment that there is a problem. There’s an array of men who don’t believe this issue exists. Second, speak up! Women can’t be the only ones who take this issue seriously. Support is needed from men, also. Third, stop making occupations gender specific. If a person goes to school and is properly trained, they should be respected for their expertise — male or female. Fourth, demand respect. Many women have become comfortable with being silent and end up allowing others to manipulate them. Lastly, women must be ok with being themselves in a male dominated world. Entrepreneurs are rising and there are more women stepping out than men. This proves that they are ready to be seen, be heard, and get paid. This is the message that Dr. Renee Sunday promotes and teaches. Women don’t have to settle when they are equipped to earn the money that they deserve AND desire!

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

My movement would be #GratefulEveryday — this is the attitude that everyone should take on. Many people shoe their gratefulness in the month of November, in preparation for Thanksgiving. But my heart and mind are to not only start there, but continue it every month. No matter what we’re dealing with, someone else is always worse off. We have to learn to be grateful for what we have, where we are, and even where we’re not.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My life lesson quote would be, “If I can help somebody then my living shall not be in vain.” Even from childhood, servanthood was instilled in me. My parents made sure that I knew what it meant to live my life in such a way that others could be blessed by it. And that’s what living is about. Yes, we’re living for ourselves. But more so, we’re living to help others.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂

I would love to sit down with someone like Oprah Winfrey , Michelle Obama , Ellen Degeneres or Michelle Gates. Each woman is powerful and wise, in her own right. They have hearts to serve and have proven that reaching your goals and living your dreams are possible. They stand for what they believe and are amazing examples. I’d love to glean from any or all of them and I believe it will happen.

This was really meaningful! Thank you so much for your time.

5 Things We Need To Do To Close The Gender Wage Gap, with Dr. Renee Sunday & Candice Georgiadis was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.