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Most companies say they're committed to advancing women into leadership roles. What they may fail to recognize, though, is that systemic barriers are holding women back. As a result, women remain disadvantaged at every stage of their employment and underrepresented in positions of power. Drawing on their own research and the scholarship of others, the authors describe common forms of gender discrimination in seven key areas of talent management: attracting candidates, hiring employees, integrating newcomers into the organization, developing employees, assessing performance, managing compensation and promotion, and retaining employees. Companies can level the playing field by identifying patterns of gender bias in the way they treat people and then systematically making appropriate changes. They can, for example, avoid loaded language in job postings, anonymize the resumes of applicants, cultivate an inclusive culture, increase women's access to mentors, set clear criteria for salary offers and raises, and destigmatize flexible work arrangements. Research has shown the value of all these practices in fully leveraging women's talents.

Ros Atkins launched the 50:50 Project on a BBC news program he anchored, deciding with his team to start tracking the gender of the contributors and experts featured on the show. Before long, it was clear that monitoring the data led to increased awareness of a gender gap which in turn spurred action - the representation of women and men equalized. Atkins knew the simple process could have a significant impact, so he worked with colleagues to implement the project throughout the BBC. Rather than try to institute a mandate or directive from the top, Atkins took a grassroots approach, sharing the process and its success with colleagues personally. More and more programs adopted the effort, and ultimately the head of the BBC publicly endorsed it. Over time, 50:50 became a self-sustaining program adopted across the entire organization and beyond. Atkins dedication to gender equality in the media offers a compelling example of the potential that lies with male allies.

Jack Rivkin's innovative approach to hiring, developing, and retaining employees created opportunities for female analysts to thrive at the equity research department he led, and also made the entire department more effective. Rivkin fostered a culture of gender inclusion and focused on developing the unique strengths of every employee, rather than expecting women to fit a rigid masculine norm. His efforts led to an increase in the department's female analysts and also resulted in more analysts (both women and men) achieving star-ranked status. In just a few years, the department jumped from 15th to 1st place in industry rankings. However, when Rivkin departed, the overarching culture and practices of the firm undermined the inclusive environment he had fostered; high-performing analysts departed and the department rapidly tumbled in the rankings.

Barbara Hackman Franklin was one of the first women to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School. She went on to break barriers in the private and public sectors, rising to leadership positions in business and government. In the 1970s, she led a successful White House initiative to hire more women into high-level roles, helping to change the makeup of the federal workforce and advance the national conversation about women's roles in public life.

Michele Hooper joined the board of the Dayton-Hudson Corporation when she was in her late thirties, becoming the company's youngest director as well as the only woman and the only person of color in the boardroom. Such "firsts" were not unusual for Hooper, who had been tapped to lead the Canadian subsidiary of Baxter International a year earlier, one of very few women moved from a staff to a line role at the company. More board opportunities continued to come Hooper's way, and over time she gained expertise and experience across all aspects of corporate governance, often serving as a lead director or committee chair. Seeing that too few women, and far too few men and women of color, were breaking into the boardroom, Hooper cofounded the Directors' Council to help companies diversity their boards. Widely acknowledged as a leader in corporate governance, Hooper dedicated herself to serving as a role model and mentor for Black professionals aspiring to leadership.

Ana Paula Pessoa built a career at the largest media conglomerate in Latin America, combining a passion for digital transformation with a commitment to doing work that had a positive impact on society. Having grown up during a dictatorial military regime in Brazil, the value of a free press was clear to Pessoa. She ultimately rose to become CFO of the company's print media arm, before making a career shift to invest in technology startups and later to serve as CFO for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Throughout her varied career, Pessoa sought out connections with interesting people across industries, a practice that paid dividends when she was recruited to join the board of a large public company, which led to additional board appointments. Following her passions and building relationships enabled Pessoa to craft a fulfilling career spanning multiple industries and issues.

Ilene Lang started her career in technology at a time when the tech sector was new and women had only recently entered the workplace in large numbers. Over the next thirty years, she built a career spanning large and small tech companies, leading global teams and overseeing products such as AltaVista, an early search engine. After leading three dot-coms in the late 1990s, she was ready for a new chapter and joined Catalyst, a global nonprofit focused on women in the workplace, as CEO. Lang led Catalyst through the aftermath of September 11 and the Great Recession, all while expanding the organization's portfolio and reach, before retiring in 2014 and continuing her advocacy as a corporate director and advisor to organizations focused on increasing women's economic power and leadership.

As world-renowned chef Franck Giovannini contemplated his future and the future of The Hôtel de Ville Restaurant, he wondered how would he handle the transition of leadership at the restaurant when it came time for him to step down. The Hôtel de Ville Restaurant was the first restaurant ever to earn three Michelin stars under four consecutive chefs. How did Giovannini and his three predecessors manage to maintain the restaurant's status through these transitions, which were both planned and unplanned? What steps could Giovannini take to give his eventual successor the best chance for continuing the restaurant's legacy of excellence?

After hitting an all-time low in 2008, Domino's Pizza underwent a vigorous rebranding, product development, and embraced innovative technologies to become the world's leading international fast-food retailer. Domino's considered itself as much a tech company as it was a purveyor of fast food, with digital orders accounting for a high percentage of sales. Domino's was run more like a Silicon Valley company than a fast food chain and was described by CEO Patrick Doyle as "a technology company that delivers pizza." As it bested rivals like Pizza Hut and Papa John's, Domino's declared itself "The Official Food of Everything." In 2020, as much of the world remained in lockdown Domino's, which offered delivery options from drones to driverless vehicles, saw a jump in sales. How did Domino's become the world's leading restaurant?

By aligning executives' financial incentives with company strategy, a firm can inspire its management to deliver superior results. But it can be hard to get pay packages right. In this article four experts break down the key elements of compensation and explain how to put them together effectively. When designing packages, boards must make decisions about the proportion of fixed versus variable pay, short-term versus long-term incentives, cash versus equity, and group versus individual rewards. Many look at the copious data available on executive pay and benchmark their plans against those of their industry peers. The mix is also driven by company size, region, culture, and risk appetite. A good plan always begins with a firm's strategic goals, however. Is the company striving for profitable growth, a turnaround, or a transformation? Is it trying to compete with public companies as a private entity? Each scenario calls for a different plan design. The Covid-related economic crisis may also alter plans. If targets become unachievable, incentives will lose their power and need to be revised--offering firms a chance to incorporate measures that serve stakeholders' interests better.

Chef Joan Roca, sommelier Josep Roca and pastry chef Jordi Roca were three brothers based in Girona, Spain whose complementary skills, collective ability, and relentless drive for innovation had brought worldwide fame and awards to their restaurant, El Celler de Can Roca. In 2020, their innovation skills were tested as they strategized ways to manage their restaurant and a growing list of other projects in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Amazon was one of the first entrants in e-commerce. Under the leadership of founder Jeff Bezos, Amazon had expanded beyond books to manufacturing and selling a wide range of products and services globally. Bezos had built a customer-centric culture that permeated all aspects of the company. As Amazon continued to grow and expand into new business areas, would it be able to maintain its culture and practices? How much of Amazon's success depended on the cult of Bezos? As the company continued to diversify beyond Bezos's immediate oversight, what could Amazon do to ensure that it stayed relentless?

In 2020, Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 28 medals in various swimming events, was now retired. As he looked back on his 20+ year athletic career, he considered what had gone into making him the greatest of all time-the highs and lows, successes and struggles. He had lived with mental health issues for much of his life, going public with his struggles in 2015, when he talked about his depression and suicidal thoughts. Mental health was a major focus for Phelps in 2020. He was working on removing the stigma associated with mental health issues, improving access to care, and preventing suicides. But as a professional athlete who was used to the rigor and routine of daily workouts and measurable goals, how could he ensure he was having the greatest possible impact in this new mission?

In 2020, Olympic goal medal winning boxer and former heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko had built himself a "second ring" to continue his career after retiring from professional boxing. He was a hotelier, boxing promoter, author, teacher, speaker, and had built an organization to train businesspeople on his "Challenge Management" philosophy. He believed that any problem could be turned into a challenge to be overcome, and he taught a method based around F.A.C.E.-Focus, Agility, Coordination, and Endurance-to do so. Some major European firms, including SAP and Deutsche Telekom, had begun using Klitschko's methods to train their teams. Given the new realities of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, how could Klitschko use his method to help people around the world adapt?

For Siba Mtongana, South African celebrity chef, the year 2020 was fraught with challenges and unknowns. Her brand was strong and she was certain it would survive. But as she fine-tuned her growth and innovation strategy in a shaky, unpredictable economy in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic, how should she plan for the future, in both the short-term and long-term?

In the summer of 2020, Jan Swartz, President of Princess Cruises, was persevering to lead her company back from the depths of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Diamond Princess, one of Princess Cruises' 18 ships was the site of one of the earliest large outbreaks of COVID-19 outside of China. The outbreak led to hundreds of cases, at least a dozen deaths, media scrutiny, government investigations, and legal proceedings. In early March 2020, Swartz made the decision to pause all global operations of her company, the first cruise company to do so. Six months later, how could Princess Cruises restart operations safely and profitably?

Dennis L. Via, was a retired four-star U.S. Army general and one of the world's foremost experts on logistics, crisis management, supply chains, and maintaining a state of readiness at all times. As he reflected back on his career and leadership experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, he considered: What are the most important leadership qualities in responding to a global pandemic? Beyond a grasp of science and logistics, how important were character traits such as empathy and integrity in the task of leading frightened populations through uncertain and dangerous times? And how could leaders-of nations, armies, businesses, families-prepare for inevitable, yet unpredictable, crises?

In 2020, The Honor Foundation (THF), a nonprofit dedicated to helping U.S. military special operators to transition into civilian careers, was facing a series of strategic challenges. THF had been founded in 2013 by former Navy SEAL trainee Joe Musselman, who observed a disturbing pattern: once special operators left the military in their mid-30s or 40s, they tended to end up in jobs in which they were overqualified, underpaid, and unfulfilled. Musselman attributed this to fundamental disconnects between the world of special operations, whose members had unique and deep skill sets but little experience articulating them in the civilian world, and the world of business. THF's programs gave transitioning special operators space to reflect on what they wanted out of their transition, and hard skills for interviewing, resume writing, and networking. Over seven years, its three month program had grown to serve over 200 transitioners per year on three campuses plus a virtual campus. But in early 2020, THF was not yet serving America's largest contingent of special operators: the U.S. Army Special Forces. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged, THF CEO Matt Stevens was evaluating how best to incorporate Army special operators and fulfill THF's mission of serving all the U.S. special ops community. Should THF build another physical campus? Should it use its virtual campus to incorporate Army special operators instead? Or should it take on government funding to scale quickly? Students who read this case will evaluate this strategic problem while becoming familiar with the unique skills of the Special Operations Forces community.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook had begun to wonder whether it might be time to rethink their opportunistic approach to the expansion of their small restaurant empire in Philadelphia, CooknSolo. The pandemic, however, caused an abrupt and intense change of focus-the goal was no longer expansion, but survival. Solomonov had overcome much in his life, including addiction and the death of his younger brother; these experiences had given him the perspective to take on great challenges in his career, the COVID-19 pandemic being the greatest challenge yet. As the economy cautiously started to reopen in June 2020, how should Solomonov and Cook proceed? How should they think about their business in terms of survival through the duration of the pandemic and set themselves up to come back even stronger in the post-pandemic world?

On June 13, 1963, Valentina Tereshkova of the USSR became the first woman to fly in space on Vostok 6. Soviet leaders publicly espoused gender equity, but also sent Tereshkova on her mission in order to be the first country to send a woman to space, a milestone they reached before the U.S. did. Five Soviet women were in the initial group chosen to train as cosmonauts, but of the five, only Tereshkova would make it to space. The case explores why Tereshkova was selected from the group and her mission and subsequent career. It also discusses the successes of the women cosmonauts and astronauts in the Soviet and U.S. space programs decades later. By 2020, women remained a minority of space travelers, but the inclusion of both genders had become commonplace. Had women reached gender equity in space faster than on Earth?