Friends in high places
Alison Wheaton has the curriculum vitae of a classic high-flyer: a degree from Cornell, an MBA from Wharton, and a career that encompasses Morgan Stanley, Pepsi-Cola International and Bass. But Wheaton, an American who has made her home in the UK, lacks one thing that would set the seal on her distinction: a directorship with a leading company on the London Stock Exchange.
So, on a hot early autumn day, she is travelling across London by taxi to see a well-connected man at the top of British business who can help her achieve her goal.
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Neatly dressed in a brown trouser suit, complemented by discreet pearl earrings and necklace, Wheaton admits to feeling "a little nervous... but mostly just really looking forward to it". The business leader on whom she is about to call is Sir John Parker, 64-year-old chairman of National Grid, one of the world's largest utilities companies. In his other big corporate post as chairman of P&O, he led the sale of the shipping and ports operator to DP World of Dubai earlier this year. Sir John has been Wheaton's mentor for the past two years. "To be honest I couldn't believe my luck in getting him," says Wheaton, 42, who is director of property and information technology for Mitchells & Butlers, Britain's largest managed pubs group. "He is very warm and easy to talk to and very structured in his thinking, which is why we hit it off at our first meeting. It's people like him who will help to make the difference."
The "difference" she is talking about is a redressing of the gender imbalance in Britain's boardrooms. Wheaton is part of a unique experiment that will help determine whether voluntary measures can be as effective as quotas in feminising the white, middle-aged male profile of top boards. It will be a challenge. In Norway, where quotas are being introduced, the number of female board directors in top companies has jumped from 22 per cent to 29 per cent in the past two years, according to a survey by the European Professional Women's Network. Over the same period, leading UK companies have seen only a slight rise from 10 per cent to 11.4 per cent.
The driving forces behind the UK initiative, known as the FTSE 100 Cross-Company Mentoring Programme, are two professional women who together decided that action was needed: Peninah Thomson, a partner at Praesta, an executive coaching firm that is funding the programme; and Jacey Graham, an independent consultant and former head of diversity strategy at Shell International.
With support from government ministers and business schools, they have persuaded 29 chairmen and chief executives of FTSE 100 companies - including Niall FitzGerald of Reuters, Peter Sutherland of BP, Baroness Hogg of 3i and Philip Hampton of J Sainsbury - to mentor up-and-coming women in non-competing companies with the aim of helping them secure suitable directorships. Launched two years ago, the programme has attracted attention from Australia, Canada and the Netherlands and is being modelled in France. The World Bank has shown interest in the initiative as a means to further equal rights for women.
The mentoring sessions are by their nature private. Today, however, Wheaton and Sir John have agreed that I can be a fly-on-the-wall at their meeting. Wheaton has had reservations about going public, but decided it was important to show how useful a "tremendous mentor" could be. "I also try to think about it from the point of view of: If I were a bloke, what would I do? A bloke, presumably, would stick his head above the parapet."
We arrive around noon at the headquarters of National Grid, just off Trafalgar Square, and are shown to the waiting area outside Sir John's office. There is a party atmosphere as a group of other women arrive, greeting each other enthusiastically. It transpires that they are personal assistants whose bosses are all members of the same committee, and they are gathering for an all-female get- to-know-you lunch. Given our rather different reason for being there, it is an ironic reminder of the gender segregation that persists in significant parts of the jobs market. Wheaton has her mind on other things. She has a typed list of subjects she wants to raise: what size of company and what sector should she be aiming for? How can she best approach the chairman of her own company for advice? Is this a good moment to renew her rounds of the headhunters?
She is ushered in for a preliminary chat. Ten minutes later, I am invited to join them in Sir John's unostentatious office overlooking the National Gallery. He runs the 45-minute meeting in a calm, businesslike manner, inquiring in his soft Northern Irish accent what progress she has made since their last session in May.
They briefly discuss the failed bid for Mitchells & Butlers by Robert Tchenguiz, the property investor. Then she explains how she has gained useful experience from her company's recent acquisition of 240 Beefeater and Brewers Fayre pub-restaurants from Whitbread. She speaks briskly, using her hands for emphasis.
Sir John asks what she has learned from her experience on the board of the London Development Agency (LDA), which is responsible for the economic development of the capital. Has she avoided the trap that many executives fall into of being too hands-on? She believes she has, by offering feedback rather than solutions and by focusing on governance.
Then they broach the all-important subject of networking, at which women are often said to be at a disadvantage since so much of it takes place in the pub, over evening dinners or on the golf course.
"I know I suggested you visited two or three headhunters," says Sir John, whose notes on the table in front of him are hand-written. "I think it's time to follow that up. My experience is you need to keep visiting and talking to them about opportunities and how the lessons you've learned from the LDA are equipping you to be a more rounded non-executive director."
Wheaton says: "The other thing I'd like to do is refresh my cv, given what's been going on in my day job and at the LDA, and if you don't mind I'll send that back through."
"I'll be very happy to run my eye over it," he says. "I encouraged you to look at the target sectors that you were interested in. Has that changed?"
As well as retail and consumer products companies, she says she is now thinking about property and construction.
"I think that's a very natural sector to add on," Sir John concurs. "If you can set the camera lens a bit wider, that's a good thing. I think the FTSE 250 or 350 is a great place to start. Then you can gravitate towards the FTSE 100 in due course. You've some very exciting companies in the 250, and you get almost closer to the business, which is very good learning experience."
Has she been on a development course for non-executives, he asks. "There are also some good conferences that gather together a lot of people from the sector, be it retail or property... I guess you haven't done a lot of that." Wheaton says she has not, although she has represented Bass and M&B at the Confederation of British Industry and made helpful contacts that way.
Without Wheaton having to ask, Sir John then suggests she also seek the advice of Roger Carr, who not only chairs Mitchells & Butlers, but also Centrica, parent of British Gas, and is deputy chairman of Cadbury Schweppes. Carr is mentoring another woman in the cross- company programme, so he is known to be sympathetic.
Wheaton says she has bumped into Carr in the lift and they have compared notes on his role as a mentor and hers as a "mentee". He has already offered to meet her when she feels the need. "So I think now is probably the right time... I was keen to get your views on how to best approach that with Roger," she says.
After discussing this, Sir John seems pleased. "In the short time we've known each other, I really feel you've become much more focused on what you're after. You're preparing yourself well. There are no quick fixes. You have to wait for the right opportunity and be prepared to keep knocking at the doors of a few headhunters. I'm absolutely confident you are a great fit, for a consumer-facing organisation in particular."
The mentoring session is over. There has been no time for small talk, but they chat while the photographer takes some pictures and discover they are both keen sailors. I ask Sir John if his role extends to putting in a good word to his contacts on her behalf. "In introducing Alison to a few of the headhunters, I've made my views about her known and will continue to do that," he replies. "And I will be very happy, when she's in close contact with a particular company, at the interview stage, to be a referee."
Does he think the old boys' network lives on? "No, I think the whole recruitment process for boards has become much more transparent. Most searches for non-executive directors involve a headhunter, so it's not left to a few chaps getting into a corner after a board meeting and saying: Would Joe Able-body be a suitable choice to come on this board?"
Nonetheless, he accepts it is hard for women to gain access to male-dominated networks. "That's why the females have to get in amongst us, make themselves known and let people be aware that they are interested in becoming non-executive directors."
Sir John expects Wheaton to find a suitable directorship in 12 to 15 months. Other women on the programme are also gaining visibility, according to Peninah Thomson. One has been short-listed for a FTSE 100 board. Another has been appointed to her own company's board and a third has won a big promotion to a global operations role. Two have taken up public sector appointments. Several headhunting firms are offering feedback and career- management.
A couple of the women have decided they do not want non-executive directorships after all. Given the time and effort it takes, not to mention the risks and challenges that now face anyone appointed to a big board, perhaps that is not surprising.
Wheaton is not one to baulk at barriers, however. Before heading to see Sir John, we meet for a cafe latte on the waterfront near Tower Bridge and she explains how she arrived at her current job in the very male world of pub estates and IT. "I've always had to work hard, so the idea of having to work hard to get a non-executive position doesn't put me off," she says.
Wheaton was born into a lower middle-class family in Colden, an appropriately named town in upstate New York "where winter starts in October and ends in April". She was the first person in her family to go to university, winning a place at Cornell that was funded by scholarships and loans. While studying government and economics, she came to the UK on an exchange programme with the London School of Economics and did a stint as an unpaid assistant to Margaret Beckett, then Labour's shadow health minister, now UK foreign secretary.
Having sworn she would never work in banking, she then did just that, joining Morgan Stanley during the 1980s Bonfire of the Vanities era on Wall Street. Rather than the traditional analyst route, she entered on a programme for Ivy League graduates to work in the back office, acting as a counterweight to the risks involved in the financial instruments that were emerging at the time. She was one of only two women.
After her MBA, she joined Pepsi and settled in the UK with her British husband, a chartered accountant, whom she had met at the LSE. They have no children, but enjoy the company of their young nieces and goddaughters. "Time just got away from us. I did an MBA. We were both trying to establish careers, and the next thing we knew we were in our mid-to-late 30s." Living in the UK also meant she was 3,500 miles from home and the support of a family network.
She joined Bass in 1997 as strategic director of its pubs division for the challenge. She quickly gained operational experience and was offered the property portfolio just before M&B was spun off from Bass in 2003.
"I had men working for me who were older than me and didn't appreciate having to work for a woman who didn't know anything about property. I won them over slowly, mostly by helping make their objectives clearer. One very senior guy who'd worked there for 22 years said the last two years were the most enjoyable because he'd been able to be so effective."
A little more than two years ago, she was approached by Jacey Graham to take part in the cross-mentoring programme. It was good timing. "I was feeling I'd like to stretch my wings."
After the session with Sir John has finished and we have left his office, I ask her why she is so determined to secure a non- executive post on a big company. "For two simple reasons," she says. "One, because it will add to my skillset, and the other because I think I can make a contribution. I once spoke to a headhunter who said there are two types of non-executives, one after money, and the other after influence. He said: I think you're after influence."
Not everyone likes the idea of the mentoring programme. Some female observers have raised concerns that it is a bunch of male big shots talking down to women about the best way to make progress. Wheaton's view is that it would be good if more female non- executives were involved as well, but that women have to take advantage of what is on offer. "We're going to have to be mentored by men until more women are in these positions."
Does she believe the programme will result in a rebalancing of Britain's boards? "I don't think it's the whole answer," she says, before heading off into the busy traffic for her next meeting. "But it's an important piece of the puzzle."
打造公司董事(上)
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她的简历可以看出，艾利森?惠顿(Alison Wheaton)是一个典型的成功者：她在康奈尔大学(Cornell)获得学士学位，在沃顿商学院(Wharton)获得MBA学位，并曾在摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)、百事国际(Pepsi-Cola International)和Bass供职。但这位已在英国安家的美国人，缺少一件令她证明自己卓越才能的东西：在伦敦证交所(LSE)的上市大公司中担任董事。
因此，在初秋炎热的某天，她搭乘出租车横穿整个伦敦，去拜访英国商界高层一位人脉深广的男士――他能够帮助她实现这一目标。
惠顿穿着非常干净利落，一套褐色的西裤套装，加上简洁的耳环和项链。她承认自己“有些紧张......但基本上只是充满期待”。她即将拜访的这位商业领袖是约翰?帕克爵士(Sir John Parker)，今年64岁，现任全球最大的公用事业公司――英国国家电网(National Grid)的董事长。他曾担任P&O董事长，今年早些时候，牵头负责将这家运输和港口运营商出售给了迪拜世界港口(DP World)。过去两年，约翰爵士一直是惠顿的导师。惠顿表示：“说实话，我不敢相信我能有幸得到他的帮助。”今年42岁的惠顿现任英国最大酒吧集团Mitchells & Butlers地产和信息技术部门主管。她表示：“他非常热情，平易近人，思路非常有条理，这就是为什么我们第一次见面就谈得拢。正是他这种人将带来变化。”
她所说的“变化”是指消除英国企业董事会中的性别失衡现象。惠顿参与了一项独特的试验，帮助确定自愿举措是否与配额制同样有效。这里的配额制，就是在充满中年白人男性的董事会中，规定女性董事必须达到一定比例。这将是一项挑战。根据欧洲职业女性网络(European Professional Women’s Network)的一份调查，在实行配额制的挪威，过去两年，顶尖公司女性董事的比例已从22%跃升至29%。同期，英国领先企业中的女性董事比例仅从10%略升至11.4%。
英国的这一计划名为“富时100成份股跨公司辅导计划”(FTSE 100 Cross-Company Mentoring Programme)，其背后的推动力量是两位职业女性：该计划赞助商、高管培训机构Praesta合伙人佩尼娜?汤姆森(Peninah Thomson)和独立咨询顾问、壳牌国际(Shell International)多元化战略部门前任主管杰西?格雷厄姆(Jacey Graham)。她们一致作出决定，认为有必要展开这一行动。
在政府部长和各家商学院的支持下，她们说服了29名富时100成份股企业的董事长和首席执行官――包括路透(Reuters)的斐杰德(Niall FitzGerald)、英国石油(BP)的彼得?萨瑟兰(Peter Sutherland)、3i的霍格女男爵(Baroness Hogg)和桑斯博里超市(J Sainsbury)的菲利普?汉普顿(Philip Hampton)，请他们辅导非竞争对手企业中有潜质的女性，帮助她们获得合适的董事职位。这项计划两年前发起，吸引了澳大利亚、加拿大和荷兰的注意，随后，法国也效法施行。世界银行(World Bank)已对这一计划显示出兴趣，认为这一计划可以作为进一步推动妇女平等权的途径。
这种辅导课程本来是不对外的，但我征得惠顿和约翰爵士同意，可以旁听他们今天的会谈。惠顿原本对于公开会谈内容持有保留意见，但她意识到，有必要展示“了不起的导师”能起多大作用。“我也尝试着从另外一个角度考虑这个问题：如果我是男人，我会怎么做？男人大概会勇于抛头露脸吧。”
我们在中午时分抵达距离特拉法加广场(Trafalgar Square)不远的英国国家电网总部，并被带到约翰爵士办公室外的等候区。当另外一群女士到来时，她们相互热情地打招呼，使得这里充满了聚会的气氛。从谈话中得知，她们都是私人助理，而她们的老板全都是同一委员会的成员，她们聚在一起是为了参加一个完全由女士参加的交友午餐会。鉴于我们来这儿的原因大不相同，这讽刺性地提醒我们：在职场中的很多地方，性别隔离仍然存在。惠顿将她的精力集中在其它方面。她有一份打印出来的清单，例举了她想提出的问题：她应该瞄准什么规模的公司？应该瞄准哪些行业领域？如何最恰当地向她自己公司的董事长征求意见？目前是重新寻求猎头帮助的好时机吗？
惠顿被领进约翰爵士的办公室，进行初步谈话。十分钟后，我被邀请加入。这是间朴素的办公室，能眺望国家美术馆(National Gallery)。约翰爵士以一种冷静、专业的举止，主导着45分钟的会谈，以他略带北爱尔兰口音的英语，询问了惠顿自5月份上次会面以来的进展情况。
他们简单地讨论了地产投资者罗伯特?特岑加斯(Robert Tchenguiz)竞购Mitchells & Butler失败的案例。之后，她解释了在她的公司最近向Whitbread收购240家Beefeater和Brewers Fayre酒吧餐馆的案例中，她是如何得到有用经验的。她讲得生动活泼，并且时常借助手势来强调重点。
约翰爵士问她，在伦敦经济发展署(London Development Agency, LDA)理事会的工作经历让她学到了什么？她是否躲开了许多高管人士都会陷入的过于事必躬亲的陷阱？她认为答案是肯定的，其方法是提供反馈而不是解决办法，并聚焦于管治。伦敦经济发展署负责英国首都的经济发展。
随后，他们开始讨论非常重要的关系网问题，在这一点上，女性往往被认为处于劣势，因为这方面的大部分活动都发生在酒吧里、晚餐上或高尔夫球场上。
“我知道我曾建议你走访两三家猎头公司，”约翰爵士表示。他面前摆放着手写笔记。“我认为现在是继续跟进的时候。我的经验是，你需要继续走访，继续和他们谈机遇问题，以及你从伦敦经济发展署学到的经验如何令你成为一位更全面的非执行董事。”
