Photo by AJ Canaria/HousingWire’s The Gathering
Even as as real estate talent pipelines overflow with qualified women, data shows little has changed in female representation at the highest executive levels over the last several decades, Wendy Forsythe told attendees at HousingWire’s The Gathering last week in Austin, Texas.
In a session titled “The table wasn’t built for us: How to get more women into the C-Suite,” the eXp Realty chief marketing officer opened with the story of Anne Boden, who had a nearly 30-year career in banking in the U.K.
Boden rose from an entry-level position to become COO of the country’s largest bank.
Around the late 2000s, she saw changes coming to the banking industry and pitched an idea to her CEO and board of directors.
“That idea was shot down,” Forsythe said. “We’ve all been there. We’ve had ideas. They get shot down. She continued to do the research and she thought this was really a big opportunity. And she pitched again. And the idea was shot down again.”
Boden noticed she was being left out of meetings. Eventually, her boss called her into his office and said the board thought it was probably the right time for her to think about retiring.
Boden retired at age 54 — and then founded Starling Bank, the first digital bank in the U.K., which later sold for a billion dollars.
Forsythe said the middle part of Boden’s story holds the most lessons.
“We’ve all been talked over. We’ve all been passed over. But we still showed up,” she said. “We’ve still pushed for those ideas. We’ve been in those places where our ideas have not been given the full merit. Or worse, our ideas have been taken by somebody else.”
The lie of ‘I’m too old’
Forsythe argued that women have been told a lie — one that starts with imposter syndrome and self-talk.
“I’ve observed that there’s a certain stage we start to tell ourselves, ‘I’m too old. I have the wrong background. I’ve missed my chance,’” she said. “I think we have to change that narrative of self talk. We’re not too old. And it doesn’t matter what our background is.”
Research cited by Forsythe showed that 53% of 200 female founders started a business in an area where they had no background or education.
Female founders over 40, she added, are creating incredible opportunities.
“You guys have all navigated the transactions, the HR issues, the situations that only your intuition got the team through,” Forsythe said. “That experience matters. That experience cannot be pushed down.”
Three moves to change the game
Forsythe outlined three actions women should take to advance.
Those started with ‘building your own table’ — advising listeners to avoid fighting for a seat at a table that wasn’t designed for them, and instead build their own rooms for others to join.
“Find the community of people that you share the values with,” Forsythe said. “Find the community of men and women that you want to build with. Build your own room, build your own table and start to build businesses and initiatives and ideas around that table that will get bigger.”
Mentors vs. sponsors
Move two called for making a clear distinction between mentors, who offer advice, and sponsors, who actively open doors.
“A sponsor advocates for you, and that is a big, big difference,” Forsythe said. “Men do this for each other. If you really think about men around you, they are in networks of sponsors. They are calling each other, and they’re saying, ‘Oh, did you hear this is happening? You need to know about this. You need to make this connection.’
“Women do not do that the same way for each other. They do not sponsor each other the same way, and I think we need to change that.”
She added that sponsorship doesn’t require being high up the food chain, and can be accomplished from any level.
Be bold
Move three was simple; be more bold and don’t wait for the easiest moment to make a move.
“We need to step into taking those chances for ourselves,” Forsythe said. “We need to be okay with potentially being rejected and take those swings. We need to ask for those opportunities before we feel ready. Because that’s how we will get more of those opportunities.”
Forsythe closed with a direct challenge.
“The rules about who gets to build something great were not written for us,” she said. “But the future is being built by us. So stop asking for a seat at a table — it was never designed for you. Build a better room. Bring other women into it. Sit down at that table together. Be bold enough to start before you’re ready.”
She added a final note on Boden’s story.
“If somebody ever tells you to retire before you’re ready to retire, be like Anne and do the exact opposite and go show them exactly what you can do,” Forsythe said.
Forsythe recently published her first book, “Leverage Your X Factor,” with all proceeds going to support eXp’s Extend a Hand program, which helps real estate agents in times of crisis due to medical issues or natural disasters.
