When women succeed, we all win. Breaking Through explores the mentoring relationship, and unravels its effects on women, businesses, society, and the economy. In 2010, author Martine Liautaud founded the Women Business Mentoring Initiative (WBMI) to support women entrepreneurs with the targeted advice and personalized guidance that can only come from a mentor. In late 2015, she set up the Women Initiative Foundation to broaden her action in favor of women in the business world. This book encapsulates the WBMI mission and other similar experiences inside international and US corporations, showing how mentoring and sponsorship can take many forms—and how each form benefits women in business. Through evidence-based narratives, you'll learn what real women have gained from both sides of the dynamic, and why they credit mentoring with the strength of their business success. These stories show how mentoring yields increased efficiency, improved financials, more effective management, increased innovation, a broader talent pool, and increased revenues, and how helping women succeed in business leads to increased philanthropy and improves community sustainability. Gender equality has made huge strides in the US and Western Europe, but this progress is only apparent in the junior levels of the workplace. This book shows how mentoring women entrepreneurs and women managers provides the key that opens the door to the new economy. Understand why mentoring is key to women's economic advancement Learn how mentoring yields tangible benefits beyond the workplace Delve into the experiences of real mentor/mentee pairs Consider the effectiveness of various types of mentoring Despite the increasing opportunities for women in business, statistics and pervading stereotypes suggest that true gender equality is still far on the horizon. Mentoring and sponsorship can be tremendously helpful to women looking to achieve great things—the wisdom of experience is a powerful asset in business strategy and decision-making, and the mentor/mentee relationship benefits everyone. Breaking Through makes a compelling case for the effectiveness of mentoring, with real women's stories of success.

Table of Contents:
FOREWORD xiii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv PREFACE xvii PART I Overview CHAPTER 1 Women and the New Economy 5 The New Economy: Opportunities for Women 6 Women in Corporates and Finance 8 Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) 10 Women Entrepreneurs 12 CHAPTER 2 Mentoring and Sponsoring: The Keys to Success 15 Mentoring and Sponsoring Women Employees 16 Mentoring and Sponsoring Women Entrepreneurs 18 PART II Voices ofWomen Business Leaders CHAPTER 3 Obstacles to Success and Solutions for Overcoming Them 23 The Obstacles 24 The Solutions 26 CHAPTER 4 Role of Women in the Global Economy 30 Interview with Irene Natividad, Founder and President of Global Summit of Women 30 CHAPTER 5 Career Strategies for Women 36 Interview with Professor Margaret Neale, Adams Distinguished Professor of Management at Stanford Graduate School of Business 36 References 42 CHAPTER 6 Inclusive Leadership 44 Interview with Deborah Gillis, President and CEO of Catalyst 44 CHAPTER 7 Improving the Place of Women in the Economy 50 Interview with Audra Bohannon, Senior Partner at Korn Ferry’s Leadership and Talent Consulting 50 CHAPTER 8 Overcoming Women’s Obstacles 54 Interview with Christiane Bergevin, Executive Vice President at Desjardins Group 54 CHAPTER 9 Women’s Spirit of Enterprise 59 Interview with Valérie Bernis, Executive Vice President at ENGIE, in Charge of Communications, Marketing, and Environmental and Societal Responsibility 59 PART III Designing Mentoring and Sponsoring Programs CHAPTER 10 “Mentoring by ENGIE” 69 Interview with Gérard Mestrallet, Chairman of ENGIE 69 “Mentoring by ENGIE,” A Structured Program to Train Women as Leaders 71 CHAPTER 11 Oracle Women Leadership (OWL) Mentoring Program 77 Interview with Leopoldo Boado, Chairman of Oracle Spain 77 Oracle’s Mentoring Program and Intercompany Experience 79 CHAPTER 12 Viva Women! Program 82 Interview with Maurice Levy, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Publicis Groupe 82 At Publicis Groupe, the Main Aim of Mentoring Is to Retain Talented Staff 83 CHAPTER 13 Mix City and Women’s Leadership Initiative 87 Interview with Marie-Claire Capobianco, Head of BNP Paribas French Retail Banking 87 BNP Paribas as a Proactive Supporter of Women in Business: A Mentoring Program 89 CHAPTER 14 Women’s Initiative Network and Reverse Mentoring Program 94 Interview with Karen Peetz, President of BNY Mellon 94 Interview with Jean Wynn, Managing Director and Chief Administrative Officer of BNY Mellon’s Office of the President 101 PART IV Mentoring Program Success Stories CHAPTER 15 BNP Paribas Corporate & Institutional Banking (CIB) 109 Interview with Tabitha Coombe (Mentee) 109 Interview with François Freyeisen (Mentor) 111 Interview with Marguerite Burghardt (Mentee) 114 Interview with Constance Chalchat (Mentor) 117 CHAPTER 16 ENGIE 120 Interview with Mathias Curnier (Mentor) 120 Interview with Paola Vezzaro (Mentee) 123 CHAPTER 17 Oracle 128 Interview with Nicoleta Apostol (Mentee) 128 Interview with Giovanna Sangiorgi (Mentor) 132 Interview with Paula Craythorne (Mentee) 136 CHAPTER 18 Publicis Groupe 141 Interview with Michele Gilbert (Mentor) 141 Interview with Charlotte Guillabert (Mentee) 143 CHAPTER 19 BNY Mellon 146 Interview with Regina Meredith-Carpeni 146 Interview with Yoon Park (Reverse Mentor) 150 Interview with Jeff Kuhn (Reverse Mentee) 154 PART V Ways to Help Entrepreneurs to Succeed CHAPTER 20 Mentoring and Sponsoring Programs 163 Mentoring Women Entrepreneurs 163 Interview with Emilie Creuzieux, Founder of Monbento (Mentee) 166 Interview with Jean-Jacques Berard, Co-Founder of Executive Interim Management (Mentor) 169 Interview with Muriele Roos, Founder of Femme Majuscule (Mentee) 172 Interview with Eve Magnant, VP at Publicis (Mentor) 176 Interview with Jane Chen, Co-Founder of Embrace 179 Interview with Abigail Holsborough, Founder of Route Map 183 Interview with Clara Shih, Founder of Hearsay Social 187 CHAPTER 21 Networking 191 Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network 191 Interview with Stéphanie Cardot, Founder and CEO of TO DO TODAY 192 ASTIA: A Different Kind of Network Performing in a Different Kind of Way 195 The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative 198 CHAPTER 22 Training 202 Women Entrepreneur Program at Stanford 202 INDEX 207