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Pay and promotion discrimination for women continues in the United States. Women earn less than similarly qualified men, tend to work in occupations and job titles that pay less, and are underrepresented in senior management ranks, including CEO and board positions. Although the extent of gender-based career discrimination has declined somewhat over the past several decades, its persistence raises fundamental questions as to why women are apparently disadvantaged. This note seeks to understand women's underrepresentation in senior management ranks by exploring the relationship between gender and power dynamics. An important question about attaining power is how the rules of the game differ, if they do, for men and women. If the rules are different or operate in ways that disadvantage women, what should or could women do to build a path to power? There is extensive research on women's attaining positions of power and also quite a bit of evidence to understand the underlying mechanisms that partly explain why women are, on average, not as successful as similarly qualified men in getting to senior level positions or earning comparable salaries. This note reviews some of the most relevant data on these questions. It provides a brief summary of the existing social science theory and evidence that helps elucidate the interrelated issues of gender, power, and career success.

Five year old Matty died at Children's Hospital Boston as a result of elective neurosurgery to "cure" his epilepsy. The organizational system, not the surgery, had failed. During post-operative recovery, he experienced a prolonged seizure that resulted in his death. Confused leadership, organizational differentiation, structurally induced silence, and organizational mis-alignment contributed to the death. How could this happen in such a world class medical facility?

Despite shocks such as the Gulf oil spill and the global banking crisis, corporations still treat the world as a predictable place. Instead, they should emulate the UK's Royal Marines, an organization whose success has much to do with its agility in the face of unexpected adversity. For the Royal Marines, planning a mission is about shaping strategic thinking and figuring out how to reach the desired end state while allowing for improvisation. As the UK's amphibious commandos, they don't always know what they will find when they arrive on land, yet they must achieve their mission regardless of conditions. They must also be prepared to change plans when disruptive events occur. For those reasons, it's essential that individuals can fall back on common procedures in response to the unforeseen-and can rely on their colleagues to do the same. So the organization uses a military planning technique called the Seven Questions. All members apply it, which means they all approach and analyze their missions in the same way, no matter where they are in the hierarchy. Planners develop a working understanding of the situation on the ground and their mission by answering the first three questions and then decide how to proceed by answering the remaining four. They revisit the questions as events unfold, to see if they need to change anything or even abort the mission. To illustrate the technique, the authors describe how Royal Marine Brigade planners used the Seven Questions to put together a mission plan for an assault on Iraq's Al Faw peninsula.

According to long-held U.S. Army tradition, leadership is based on a rigid hierarchy. Are you a young officer not sure what to do? Look one level up. But in modern warfare, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, teams of soldiers are distributed across-and embedded in-an entire population. This has sparked a movement toward leadership training that encompasses not only the skills of single individuals, but the effectiveness of the teams they lead. The U.S. Army's Center for the Advancement of Leader Development and Organizational Learning (CALDOL) at West Point has drawn on internet technology and social media to connect company commanders and platoon leaders informally-enabling them to learn from one another in real time. Through discussion forums, blogs, videos, and a Facebook-like "wall," these new leaders are exchanging ideas and experiences. Knowledge that was once concentrated near the top of the hierarchy is now "powering down" to the team level.

In 2005, the host unit of North Dakota's Grand Forks Air Force Base had to reinvent itself to stay relevant. Its large fleet of tanker aircraft was being replaced with a much smaller number of unmanned aerial vehicles. So, the base was left with a vast amount of infrastructure and a capable workforce-but an uncertain future due to its pending change in mission. Morale plummeted, and both military and civilian personnel exhibited an increase in destructive personal behaviors, such as alcohol abuse and suicide. Clearly something had to be done. The base's leaders took a page from positive leadership philosophies in business-most notably positive psychology, positive deviance, and appreciative inquiry. The idea was to energize people by appealing to their sense of purpose, encourage them to build mutually beneficial relationships internally and externally, and thus position Grand Forks to compete for additional mission opportunities. In a matter of months, the ailing culture began to recover: The DUI rate and the number of suicides dropped. Although the staff was cut by more than a third, voluntary involvement in base activities shot up. Perhaps most important, Grand Forks found a new mission as a federal center of excellence for remotely operated aircraft. The base learned to partner with universities, businesses, and others to achieve its goals and is now poised to lead the aviation community's fastest-growing segment: unmanned aerial vehicles.

Raj Gupta had led the specialty chemical company Rohm and Haas without drama for years when some of its most important shareholders asked him to orchestrate its sale. Surprised but determined to do his best for the company, in July 2008 he arranged an $18 billion deal with competitor Dow Chemical, which the industry press called "the deal of the century." But Dow was relying on cash from a planned joint venture of its own with Kuwait Petroleum, and when the stock market plummeted, the joint venture-and Dow's financing-fell through. Then things got really interesting. Would Dow try to walk away from the deal? Could Rohm and Haas insist that it go through in spite of the unforeseen global meltdown? How airtight was that agreement? Gupta, who learned he had cancer in the midst of all this, had to find a way through the complicated financial and economic issues. In this first-person account he talks about the most difficult deliverable ever asked of him-seeing through the sale of his company as the world economy was collapsing.

When responding to a complex, fast-moving crisis, leaders must constantly adapt their mental models and create a "unity of effort," argues Allen, a retired U.S. Coast Guard admiral and the national incident commander for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. That's a much bigger management challenge than approaching the job as a military operation and drawing on unity of command, and it can require nuanced and creative strategies, such as deciding to go "off book" when standard protocol simply won't work. In this edited interview, Allen-who also brought post-Katrina New Orleans back from the brink of anarchy and headed the Coast Guard's response to the September 11 attacks along the eastern seaboard-stresses the need to lead both from headquarters and on the ground. He discusses how the phenomenon of publicly available, real-time information has affected crisis management in recent years, addresses the challenges of managing multiple public and private stakeholders, and shares his thoughts on how to lead when an anxious public is counting on success.

Americans have long believed that U.S. military officers-trained for high-stakes positions, resilience, and mental agility-make excellent CEOs. That belief is sound, but the authors' analysis of the performance of 45 companies led by CEOs with military experience revealed differences in how the branches (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps) prepare leaders for business. Those differences reflect the trade-off between flexibility and process that each branch of the armed services must make. Army and Marine Corps officers operate in an inherently uncertain environment. They define the mission but then give subordinates the flexibility to adjust to realities on the ground. This leadership experience tends to turn out business executives who excel in small firms, where they can set a goal and then empower others to work toward it. Navy and Air Force officers, who operate expensive, complex systems such as submarines and aircraft carriers, are trained to follow processes to the letter, because even small deviations can have large consequences. In corporations, these leaders excel in regulated industries and in firms that take a process approach to innovation. The larger lesson that the military can offer the business world is that fit matters. Different circumstances demand different leadership skills. Hire the person who fits the job.

The armed services have been in the business of leadership development much longer than the corporate world has. Today's military leaders need tools and techniques to face a fast-changing and unpredictable type of enemy-so the armed services train their officers in ways that build a culture of readiness and commitment. Business leaders need to foster an adaptive culture to survive and succeed, given that they, too, face unprecedented uncertainty-and new types of competitors. Michael Useem and his colleagues at the Wharton School incorporate exposure to military leadership into MBA and executive MBA programs. Highlights include direct contact in the classroom with leaders in the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the Department of Defense, along with field-training exercises and battlefield visits. The programs are designed to help students connect viscerally to essential leadership lessons. Four are featured in the article: (1) Meet the troops. Creating a personal link is crucial to leading people in challenging times, (2) Make decisions. Making good and timely calls is the crux of leadership, (3) Mission first. Focus on common purpose and eschew personal gain, (4) Convey strategic intent. Make the objectives clear, but give people the freedom to execute on them in their own way.

Social media are changing the way we do business and how leaders are perceived, from the shop floor to the CEO suite. But whereas the best businesses are creating comprehensive strategies in this area, research suggests that few corporate leaders have a social media presence-say, a Facebook or LinkedIn page-and that those who do don't use it strategically. Today's leaders must embrace social media for three reasons. First, they provide a low-cost, highly accessible platform on which to build your personal brand, communicating who you are both within and outside your company. Second, they allow you to engage rapidly and simultaneously with peers, employees, customers, and the broader public-in order to leverage relationships, show commitment to a cause, and demonstrate a capacity for reflection. Third, they give you an opportunity to learn from instant information and unvarnished feedback. To formulate your personal social media strategy, it helps to clarify your goals (personal, professional, or both), desired audience (private or public), and resources (can you justify using your company's?). You must also consider the risks of maintaining a large number of connections and of sharing content online. Active participation in social media can be a powerful tool-the difference between leading effectively and ineffectively, and between advancing and faltering in the pursuit of your goals.

Michael Wallent, twice married and the father of three, had been working at Microsoft for more than 11 years when he decided-with the full support of his wife-to transition to living as a woman. Rejecting the standard approach at big companies, whereby the HR department announces a transgendering (often at a meeting from which the affected employee is absent), Wallent chose to inform his superiors and his direct reports himself. He also urged them to ask whatever questions were on their minds. In large part as a result of the intimate conversations that followed, Megan Wallent's management style is quite different from Michael's. In the words of one employee, "She's becoming more of a coach, instead of a general."

The CFO of a plastics company has been asked to moderate a heated internal debate over a revolutionary technology. The head of R&D thinks the company should use it to break into a whole new industry, while the VP of the firm's most profitable unit believes it's a pipe dream that should be abandoned. The company's future could be riding on the decision. Is it time for the CFO to stop facilitating and take a strong stand promoting one choice over the other? Two experts comment on this fictional case study in R1011N and R1011Z.

The neurologist and best-selling author talks about career crossroads and gaining people's trust through empathy.

The CFO of a plastics company has been asked to moderate a heated internal debate over a revolutionary technology. The head of R&D thinks the company should use it to break into a whole new industry, while the VP of the firm's most profitable unit believes it's a pipe dream that should be abandoned. The company's future could be riding on the decision. Is it time for the CFO to stop facilitating and take a strong stand promoting one choice over the other? Two experts comment on this fictional case study in R1011N and R1011Z.

The CFO of a plastics company has been asked to moderate a heated internal debate over a revolutionary technology. The head of R&D thinks the company should use it to break into a whole new industry, while the VP of the firm's most profitable unit believes it's a pipe dream that should be abandoned. The company's future could be riding on the decision. Is it time for the CFO to stop facilitating and take a strong stand promoting one choice over the other? Two experts comment on this fictional case study in R1011N and R1011Z.

For too long, boards have relied on rules of thumb and conventional wisdom when picking CEOs. New research offers some surprising insights that will better guide succession strategy.

Though we'd like to think that it always pays to be honest, new research from Harvard proves that it doesn't necessarily. A new study that compared viewers' reactions to a candidate's answers to questions in a debate reveals that when the candidate dodged a question eloquently, people liked and trusted him nearly as much as when he gave a direct response. What's more, they preferred artful dodges to honest but less articulate answers. That finding presents an interesting quandary for any leader who has to field difficult questions.

Sanford C. Bernstein, a premier sell-side research firm, is expanding globally, and has recently opened an office in Hong Kong. Global Director of Research Robert van Brugge must consider how best to organize the firm's research department to enhance cross-sector and cross-geography collaboration among the senior research analysts in order to adapt to the challenging realities of global expansion in the financial services industry.

Sanford C. Bernstein, a premier sell-side research firm, is expanding globally, and has recently opened an office in Hong Kong. Global Director of Research Robert van Brugge must consider how best to organize the firm's research department to enhance cross-sector and cross-geography collaboration among the senior research analysts in order to adapt to the challenging realities of global expansion in the financial services industry.

China Data Group (CDG) is a leading business processes outsourcing company based in Beijing, China. Roc Yang, Chairman of CDG had to confront a dilemma when he discovered that one of his senior managers gave a gift to a potential client in an effort to win a large business deal. Although this practice was pervasive in the China business context characterized by heavy reliance on personal relationships or guanxi, it went against the founding principles of CDG - professionalism and service quality. Yang had to decide where to draw the line between adherence to principles of professionalism and local norms in a country caught in the midst of rapid economic transformation.