On the heels of Sheryl Sandberg's best-selling Lean In comes a new study, "Women, Power & Money" that finds 70% of Gen Y women describe themselves as "smart," vs. just 54% of Gen Y men.
That's a stunning level of confidence that young women can take to the bank. Compared to the Baby Boomers and Gen Xers before them, Gen Y women, born between 1979 and 1994, grew up after Title IX passed in 1972 and learned that they can do anything boys can do, maybe better.
Still, their older generations include pioneers—as we saw last week at Fortune Most Powerful Women: London. Joining a panel of women who serve on both U.S. and European boards, Harriet Green detailed how she snagged the CEO position at Thomas Cook last year: She cold-called the travel giant's chairman and said, "You need me." Green, who had been chief of electrical component distributor Premier Farnell, had no cred in the travel business, but she knew how to do turnarounds. Indeed, since she took charge at Thomas Cook, the share price has risen more than six-fold.
Former Avon (AVP) CEO Andrea Jung, who sits on the boards of Apple (AAPL), General Electric (GE) and Daimler AG (DDAIF), was also on the boards panel and echoed Green's advice: "Be proactive. Let people know you want to be on the board," Jung said. "Put your specialty skill out there."
Billie Jean King, at MPW London on day one of Wimbledon, noted how hard-won success(and confidence) once was for women. Forty years ago--on June 20, 1973—King was the reluctant leader of 63 women who met behind locked doors in London's Gloucester Hotel and created the Women's Tennis Association. The WTA secured equal prize money for women vs. men in tournaments. "This was a long time happening," King said, recalling how she plotted the coup. She asked each of her fellow women players: Who can you influence? "I broke it up that way: 'Okay, Rosie Casals, you're going to go talk to this person and that person. And Anne Jones, you're going to…' We did a lot of lobbying and work behind the scenes."
The King-led group of reformers held meetings until 4:30 a.m. that year and slept an average four hours a night. "Oh, we had some tennis matches to play, by the way," she said.
King was 29 and so exhausted that "I thought I wouldn't even get by the first round." But the thrill of empowerment carried her. "I won three titles that year, I was so excited. Singles, doubles and mixed."
That September, she beat Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes. "The best way to handle women is to keep them pregnant and barefoot," Riggs boasted at that legendary match. King whipped Riggs and went on to win a total of 39 Grand Slam titles. "Pressure is a privilege," King says. "Champions adjust." And now, as a documentary called "Battle of the Sexes" hits screens this month, she'll inspire a few more women to be leaders.
謝麗爾桑德伯格的暢銷書《向前一步》(Lean In)發(fā)售后不久，一項(xiàng)名為“女性、權(quán)力和金錢(Women, Power & Money)的調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，70%的Y世代女性認(rèn)為自己“聰明”，高于Y世代男性54%的比例。
仰仗如此強(qiáng)烈的自信足以讓年輕女性實(shí)現(xiàn)成功。相比之前的嬰兒潮一代和X世代，出生于1979年至1994年的Y世代是在1972年美國(guó)教育法《第九修正案》(Title IX)獲得通過(guò)后的年代中長(zhǎng)大的，她們知道，她們可以做任何男孩可以做的事情，甚至可能做得更好。
但在前面這兩代人中也不乏先鋒人物，就像我們上周在《財(cái)富》雜志(Fortune)“最具影響力女性”倫敦站活動(dòng)中看到的那樣。面對(duì)由歐美公司董事會(huì)成員組成的眾多嘉賓，哈里特格林詳細(xì)描述了去年她是如何拿下托馬斯庫(kù)克集團(tuán)(Thomas Cook)CEO職位的經(jīng)歷。她主動(dòng)打電話給這家旅游巨頭的董事長(zhǎng)說(shuō)：“你們需要我。”格林曾是電氣元件分銷商派睿電子(Premier Farnell)的負(fù)責(zé)人，沒(méi)有任何旅游行業(yè)經(jīng)驗(yàn)，但她深諳扭轉(zhuǎn)業(yè)務(wù)局面之道。事實(shí)上，自從她掌管托馬斯庫(kù)克集團(tuán)以來(lái)，這家公司的股價(jià)已經(jīng)上漲超過(guò)5倍。
前雅芳(Avon)CEO鐘彬嫻現(xiàn)在是蘋果(Apple)、通用電氣(General Electric)和戴姆勒(Daimler AG)的董事.她也是此次會(huì)議的嘉賓，她同意格林的建議：“要積極主動(dòng)。讓人們知道你想當(dāng)董事，”鐘彬嫻說(shuō)�！耙掠谡故咀约旱膶ｉL(zhǎng)�！�
比利簡(jiǎn)金在《財(cái)富》雜志“最具影響力女性”倫敦站溫布爾登首日活動(dòng)中指出，過(guò)去，女性要取得成功(和建立信心)是多么困難。大約40年前的1973年6月20日，有63位女性在倫敦格洛斯特酒店(Gloucester Hotel)舉行閉門會(huì)議，成立了女子網(wǎng)球聯(lián)合會(huì)(Women's Tennis Association)，金心不甘、情不愿地成為了這些人的領(lǐng)袖。經(jīng)過(guò)努力，WTA為女性爭(zhēng)取到了與男性相同的比賽獎(jiǎng)金�！斑@是一個(gè)漫長(zhǎng)的過(guò)程，”金回憶起當(dāng)年她是如何策劃推動(dòng)這一轉(zhuǎn)變時(shí)這樣講。她詢問(wèn)每一位WTA成員，詢問(wèn)這些女性運(yùn)動(dòng)員：你能影響誰(shuí)?“我是這樣分工的：‘好吧，羅斯卡薩爾斯，你找這個(gè)人和那個(gè)人談。安妮瓊斯，你找……’我們做了很多的游說(shuō)和幕后工作。
這一年，金領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的這群改革者曾經(jīng)開(kāi)會(huì)開(kāi)到凌晨4:30，平均每晚只睡4小時(shí)�！芭�，順便說(shuō)一下，我們那時(shí)還有一些網(wǎng)球比賽要打，”她說(shuō)。
那年，金29歲，她一度累到“認(rèn)為自己可能會(huì)在第一輪比賽中就被淘汰�！钡珡�(qiáng)烈的使命感激勵(lì)著她�！澳且荒辏夷昧巳齻�(gè)獎(jiǎng)，單打、雙打和混雙，我太高興了�！�
那年9月，她還在男女對(duì)壘的性別大戰(zhàn)中擊敗了男子冠軍鮑比里格斯�！皩�(duì)付女性的最好辦法是讓她們生完孩子待在家里�！崩锔袼乖谀菆�(chǎng)傳奇比賽上夸口道。結(jié)果，金橫掃里格斯，并在整個(gè)職業(yè)生涯中一共獲得39項(xiàng)大滿貫頭銜�！皦毫κ侨松奶厥舛Y遇，”金說(shuō)�！肮谲妭兌贾廊绾握{(diào)整�！彪S著本月一部名為《性別大戰(zhàn)》(Battle of the Sexes)的紀(jì)錄片上映，金將激勵(lì)更多女性成為領(lǐng)袖。