One of the people I admire most is Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of 20-first and a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review blog network. I want to turn you on to two recent posts she has done that will encourage you in your leadership and your hope for the future.

TITLE: Stop “Fixing” Women and Start Fixing Managers (2/12/14)

SNEAK PREVIEW: There is only one key success criteria for gender balancing organisations, and that is leadership. Not just the CEO’s commitment to change. But also top leadership’s recognition that they will need to educate, train and personally lead thousands of employees to have the management skills to be able to effectively work across genders….

The lesson beginning to emerge as companies’ progress on gender balance stalls is that we have relied on the wrong analysis of the problem. We have spent decades thinking that the lack of balance in business was caused by women doing the wrong thing or saying the wrong thing or even wearing the wrong thing. This led to an elaborate panoply of “fix-the-women” “empowerment” programs.

But now that women represent 60% of the educated talent on the planet, and half the incoming recruits of many companies, this argument is wearing thin. Half the population can’t be “wrong.”

To read the full post, click here.

TITLE: It’s Time for a New Discussion on “Women in Leadership” (3/28/14)

SNEAK PREVIEW: It is time to shift the discussion away from [gender imbalance as] a lingering women’s problem or an issue of equality, and instead focus on this as a massive business opportunity. Instead of continuing to discuss the problem, we ought to present solutions: roadmaps to businesses that are better balanced, arguments that help companies and managers understand and benefit from shifting global gender balances. The shift is away from wondering what is wrong with women who don’t make it to the top, and towards analysing what is right with companies and leaders that do build gender balanced leadership teams – and tap into the resulting competitive edge.

To read the full post, click here.