Companies, who want to complete in today's global market, and women, who want to succeed in achieving their career goals, need each other and should come together as partners in maintaining a women-friendly work environment which supports both women's advancement and the achievement of a company's mission.

The Partners

In today's competitive environment, when technological advantages are short-lived, employees are no longer hired for life, and customers globe-hop and brand-hop for the best deal, it becomes critical for companies to be able to attract and retain the "best and the brightest" talent to generate and execute new ideas and solutions. Fifty per-cent of the best and the brightest are women, and global companies have a special need to attract and retain them as employees because women are the dominant customers worldwide and want to deal with businesses where women appear to be fairly represented.

At the same time, women need the right environment to be able to grow, develop their skills and judgement and achieve equitable advancement. You can't expect to rise like a shooting star in a company where the leadership believes women should be bringing them coffee, or dusting the plants or clings to outmoded stereotypes which no longer reflect the reality of working women today.

The Search For the Right Company

Be smart about selecting both the industry and the company which will have such a large impact on your finances, your daily work environment and your ability to succeed. Find a company that will appreciate your value to it. Identify rapid growth industries which are not so rooted in the past and which are growing so fast there is less concern with old stereotypes. Women today are doing particularly well in high tech fields; they have always fared better in some traditional fields such as advertising and publishing and less well in business cultures which glorify a certain type of male bonding.

Identify companies which appreciate women. This may require some digging and sleuthing in newspaper articles and company financial reports, all of which are readily available on the Internet. Find out how many women are in senior management and on their boards. Find out what their policies are on balancing work and family. Study, investigate, ask questions of women who work at companies in which you have an interest in working.

The Partnership

As authors Frederich W. Ball and Barbara B. Ball point out in Impact Hiring, "The new employment contract demands that companies offer challenging work, performance-based rewards, and opportunities for development in exchange for employees who are entrepreneurial, willing to develop skills the company needs and client-centered." In other words, if you bring the appropriate "new economy" skills to the table, and work hard to achieve the company's goals, you will find a "level playing field" and will be rewarded commensurate with your achievements.

Keep Up Your End of the Bargain

You have an implicit pact with your company, as well. In exchange for a company adopting women-friendly policies and support for your advancement, your side of the bargain is a latent promise to fulfill the requisites which will allow you to advance. You must continue to hone and sharpen your skills, to increase your capabilities and expand your experience, possibly through working in cross-functional teams in various departments within the company. You are promising to focus your energies on expanding and leveraging your skills and "buying into" the company's goals.

The Move Up The Ladder

If you have selected a "women friendly company" which is also the right company for you, as an individual, then you should find great synergy in the match-up between your ambition and your company's supportive environment.

Networking with insiders and experienced professionals who support women-friendly policies can help you in your move up the ladder and the pay scale, shaving years off that steep learning curve you confront when you finally do reach the upper ranks of business.

Both Succeed

With this kind of shared value and focus and the synergy between the company's supportive context and your recognition of your own commitment to both utilize their resources to advance your own career and their mission, you have the potential to make extraordinary strides in the truly women-friendly company.