In honour of International Women’s Day we share our thoughts on founding Eden McCallum as a female-led firm and the role of women in consulting and business, in a short video.
We are proud to have so many senior women working with Eden McCallum and asked them to share their thoughts as part of IWD.
"We celebrate lots of effective female board members today. But the talent was there, invisible and ignored until ten years ago. We need to keep pushing to uncover the talent that should be taking up CEO and Chair roles in far greater numbers than today."
"The calibre of women in consulting is incredibly high and it is a fantastic career for women. The work is intellectually stimulating, your colleagues are equally high calibre and increasingly firms recognise the need for flexibility, which is enabling women to thrive on their own path, based on their own professional and personal priorities."
"There are so many talented women in companies today but too few coming through to Executive positions. The real issue is promotion – women want flexible working and so often this counts against them. The COVID crisis has taught us all how much we can achieve through remote working – this should revolutionise views on flexible working and how to be a leader in the modern workplace."
"Women make great consultants and we are delighted to be meeting and welcoming more talented women into our analyst programme at Eden McCallum each year. They tell us how important it is to see strong female leadership in the firm and to have the opportunity to work with senior women who are not only successful as professionals, but also as human beings living a full life."
"It’s a real shame a lot of women still leave consulting early and it doesn’t have to be that way. I’ve seen that independent consulting allows talented women to continue what they love doing, but in a way that they can manage their own work and lifestyle better."
"An increased focus on social and environmental sustainability across the corporate world is one of the silver linings of the last year. Whilst there is still much progress to be made, I welcome the growing recognition that diversity is fundamental to our personal, economic and societal success."
"Melinda Gates said, 'We are sending our daughters into a workplace designed for our dads' and I agree. Let's not guess what works best for women today. Let's engage them in meaningful, safe conversations to redesign a workplace where everyone can thrive. We can't solve the problem of gender diversity if we continue with outdated models. If we offer an adaptable employee experience, we will get more women advancing along the talent pipeline."
"Our research shows female independent consultants tend to move into freelancing earlier in their careers and are more likely to have done so as a deliberate choice. They value the flexibility and control they have over which work they undertake, for whom, when, and where – saying the best things about independent consulting are ‘being master of my own destiny’ and ‘on my terms.’"
"What makes consulting exciting is the varied nature of client issues that you get to tackle and having diverse teams ready to address these challenges is a prerequisite for success. Representation is a key part of getting us to where we all know we need to be, so that a future in leadership is made to feel like a real possibility for all applicants and employees."
"It is inspiring and liberating to work in the company of so many talented women—smart, hard-working, pragmatic but also empathetic and kind. Eden McCallum shows it is possible to think, act and succeed in a different way."
"It is my firm belief that talent is equally distributed across the sexes and all markers of diversity. If you want more women in senior roles, significant representation at the top matters. The selection panel, the people making the decision about who gets which role, needs to reflect the diversity that you want. And you need to use data and shine the light of day on issues.."
"When I hear that boards are setting targets of 30% for female NEDs, or consulting firms are targeting 30% of their senior leadership to be women, I wonder why they are being so unambitious. Why would you consciously aim to short-change your organization of the abundant talent that resides in the 50% of the population that is female?"