Required Reading for Executive Women--and the Companies Who Need Them (HBR Article Collection)

At the height of the recent labor crunch, one-quarter of women with professional degrees weren't working. It wasn't that they lacked ambition. Rather, they were forced out of their jobs by family demands, punishing hours in the office, and unrewarding work. U.S. industry can't afford to waste expensively educated, accomplished women--especially with additional talent shortages looming. Like it or not, numerous high-performing women need to take time-outs over their working lives. To ensure future access to their talents, companies must establish new policies--especially those supporting working parents. For example, create positions offering promotion possibilities and reduced workloads. Help "off-ramping" women stay connected, by paying their professional associations dues and tapping them for advice. Women must also make changes--actively claiming recognition for their achievements and cultivating relationships with people who can help them advance their careers. This HBR Article Collection describes steps organizations and women can take to reverse the female brain drain afflicting U.S. business today. The three Harvard Business Review articles in this collection: "Executive Women and the Myth of Having It All" by Sylvia Ann Hewlett (HBR reprint R0204E), "Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success" by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Lucke (HBR reprint R0503B), and "Do Women Lack Ambition?" by Anna Fels (HBR reprint R0404B).