Research & Resources

From day one, Ceresa was grounded in research and data.

The founding mission of Ceresa is to address the lack of representation in leadership – and along with initial academic research we have spent years collecting data to inform the design of our programs.

Here you will find much of the data and research that continues to inform Ceresa.

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Leadership gap: what does representation look like in the workforce?

Leadership gap: what does representation look like in the workforce?

Gender representation:

Women make up 5 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs 2

As of 2023, there were 41 out of the S&P 500 CEOs that were women, which is 8%.

When we started Ceresa, the infamous statistic was that there more CEOs named John, than CEOs that were women. As of 2023, this is more than CEOs named John/Jon or CEOs named Tom/Dick/Harry…. Progress, but not very much!

19 percent of U.S. congressional members 2 are women

20 percent of full-time, full professors in STEM 1 are women

28% of those holding 1 corporate board seat, and only 8% of those with multiple seats 12  are women

Women make up 49% of the global workforce, yet 33% of organizations globally have NO women in senior management roles 17

While women make up more than 45% of entry-level positions, this falls to less than 18% of SVP and C-suite roles 18

This is not driven by women dropping out of the workforce. Women and men have similar intentions – with 60% planning to stay at current organization for 5+ years; and of those planning to leave, 80% intend to find a job elsewhere. Only 2% say they will leave to focus on family – same rate for men and women 18

At the entry-level women are 18% less likely to be promoted to first-time manager role than their male peers 18

Racial representation:

8 Black chief executive officers (CEOs) led companies on Fortune's 500 ranking in 2023, which is the highest since the 500's debut in 1955. 1 But black CEOs still account for less than 2% of companies in the S&P 500.  26

Black professionals held only 3.2% of all executive or senior leadership roles 25

Just under 1 in 5 (19%) Black professionals believed that someone of their race/ethnicity would never reach the top position of their organizations, compared to only 3% of white professionals who felt the same way 25

Despite Latinx and Hispanic individuals being the largest racial or ethnic minority group in the United States, making up 19.1% of the population according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, the Crist|Kolder Associates report shows an increase to 27 Latinx/Hispanic CEOs (Fortune 500 and S&P 500) in 2023 26

LGBTQIA+ representation:

Academic estimates have found that 5.1 percent of US women identify as LGBTQ+ as do 3.9 percent of US men – but with only 0.6% of senior leadership being LGBTQ+ women and 2.0% of senior leadership being LGBTQ+ men 28

LGBTQ+ women, for example, are more underrepresented than women generally in America’s largest corporations. Just four openly LGBTQ+ CEOs head these corporations, only one of whom is female and none of whom is trans 28

Research also finds that LGBTQ+ women face increased rates of sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender and orientation 28

Why does lack of representation in leadership matter?

Business Impact

Research shows gender diverse executive teams are 25% more likely to outperform, and racially/ethnically diverse teams are 36% more likely to outperform financially 29

The amount of diversity also matters – with the most diverse organizations 48% more likely to outperform than the least diverse 29

For every 1% rise in the rate of gender and ethnic diversity, there is a 3% and 9% rise in sales revenue respectively 20

Economic Impact

Rigorous research at a societal level also shows the economic and productivity impact from greater gender inclusion and equity in the workforce

For the bottom half of the countries in our sample in terms of gender inequality, closing the gender gap could increase GDP by an average of 35 percent. Four fifths of these gains come from adding workers to the labor force, but fully one fifth of the gains are due to the gender diversity effect on productivity 30

One frequent pushback is the impact DEI has on the existing population, and in fact this same IMF research shows that men’s wages actually increase on average when there is higher participation of women in the workforce – due to the higher overall productivity 30

Mentoring gap: why does Ceresa provide mentoring?

Mentoring Impact

Mentoring for women

63% of women never had a formal mentor5, and most women are not comfortable asking for mentorship 4

Only 54% of women have access to senior leaders who also function as mentors 19

Women are less likely to receive advice from managers and senior leaders on career advancement, yet employees who do are more likely to be promoted 18

Access to mentorship lowers with age, suggesting that if women do not reach a professional threshold by a certain age, either they stop tapping into these resources or their companies no longer make them available 19

Men tend to build broader networks, and naturally understand that you must “give before you get”; giving men a wider range of resources for knowledge & professional opportunities 6

Women’s mentors tend to have lower organizational clout than men’s mentors, yet the more senior the mentor, the faster the mentee’s career advancement 9

Mentorship women receive tends to be less focused on planning career moves and taking charge in new roles, and more on their personal style of operating and how that might need to change 9 
More than 50% of women have been asked only a few times to be a mentor, 20% have never been asked 5 
Another survey found less than 50% of women overall have been mentors, but the burden falls on women, where that goes up to 80% 19 
When mentored by men, rather than feeling confident and empowered, most women tend to feel intimidated because they see men as authority figures. Women mentors are able to relate to and are better equipped to guide women through their particular challenges, and serve as role models and inspiration to aim high 4   
Male mentors are not well-experienced to coach on double-bind issues 9

Mentoring for other under-represented groups

Only about half of LGBTQ+ respondents said they saw people like themselves in management positions at their organizations, while fewer than 25 percent of respondents reported having an LGBTQ+ sponsor 27

More than half  of Black Americans, 55%, say they’ve never had a career mentor 31

Only 31% of black employees have access to a senior leader in the workplace compared to white employees (41%) 32

67% of black professionals have no access to sponsors or allies to help their career growth 32

59% of black women claimed they never had access to interact with upper management 32

Mentoring impact for individuals

Mentoring can increase promotions and salary grade changes 5-6X 16

75% of executives indicate that mentoring played a key role in their careers 17

In a major women-focused mentoring program 17

87%  report feeling empowered by their mentoring relationships

76% of mentors and mentees said their mentoring relationships provided them with valuable time to think about themselves, their challenges, their aspirations, and personal and professional development

84% reported that their relationship provided two-way inspiration for both mentor and mentee

Outside of the business world, in academia, women with mentors publish more frequently and are more likely to receive grant funding 1

Mentoring Impact for Organizations 

RETENTION & RECRUITING: 

Mentoring programs can drive increase in retention by 40-50% for mentees AND mentors 16

35% of employees who do not receive regular mentoring look for another job within 12 months 17

Availability of a formal mentoring program for new hires sends a strong message to potential candidates about a company’s commitment to its employees 17

80% of graduating students list mentoring as criteria for selecting an employer after graduation

86% of female and 74% of male millennials consider employers’ policies on diversity, equality and inclusion when deciding which company to work for

PRODUCTIVITY & SKILL-DEVELOPMENT 

95% of mentoring participants said the experience motivated them to do their very best and 76% reported the program helped them develop core transferable skills that they applied in their current role or to help progress their career 17

When an organization reaches a tipping point in number of people exposed to formal mentoring, the quality of informal mentoring also increases dramatically. Formal mentoring is one of the most effective ways to help line managers adopt a coaching style because it is a safe place to practice developmental dialogue 17

Management productivity increases 88% when mentoring is involved, relative to 24% when only training is invovled 17

Formal mentoring programs have taken their place as imperative talent management tools that cutting-edge organizations are using to gain significant competitive advantage – with 82% of mentoring participants feeling valued by being engaged in a formal mentoring program 17

There has long been a narrative that only ‘organic’ mentoring can work… formal mentoring programs got a bad reputation. In the first hundred or so interviews as we were researching Ceresa, “mentoring” had almost become a dirty word amongst women –sullied by innumerable formal mentoring experiences that were more effort than they were worth.

And then there was Sheryl Sandberg, who famously wrote in Lean In “Instead, of telling young people, “‘Get a mentor and you will excel, we need to tell them, ‘Excel and you will get a mentor.’”

How does Ceresa ensure mentoring at scale is impactful?

This idea that only organic mentoring can work was like wildfire. But just think about that. If you must excel first, to organically attract a mentor and benefit from a mentor – that means only people that are already deemed to be high performing will get mentoring.

That was our mission. To deliver leadership development -and specifically mentoring – that works at scale for everyone.

A few guiding principles are critical to how we deliver impact at scale

1. Technology helps scale the experience. Ceresa has always been delivered virtually – ensuring we can make the best possible mentor match, and make this an efficient use of everyone’s time – rather than driving back and forth to coffee shops etc.

2. Participants need to understand their strengths, development areas, professional and personal goals, before we can think about matching them with a mentor. That is why all Ceresa participants undergo executive coaching, self-assessments and 360 feedback during the first 2 months. This provides over 70 data points used to select a mentor.

3. The first mentoring session follows a carefully crafted agenda, to help mentor and mentee get to know each other, and discuss how to optimize their mentoring relationship.

4. Beyond that, a small amount of preparation goes a long way – so participants submit a quick reflection and agenda ahead of every mentoring session.

5. The mentoring sessions are pre-defined in length and duration, so that both parties can commit to that specific relationship. While some may choose to continue, there is no obligation or expectation.

6. Ceresa’s team also does extensive program management, helping ensure participants stay on track and addressing any challenges that come up.

Feedback gap: why does Ceresa always provide a 360 feedback tool?

There is a consistent issue with the quality of feedback received. A recent study shows that Black people, Latinx people, workers over 40, and women receiving significantly less actionable feedback than their coworkers 22

For example:

Women receive 22% more feedback about their personality

Asian people get more feedback than people of any other race—25% more than white people—and Black men get the least feedback of all

Black women receive nearly 9x as much feedback that’s not actionable compared to white men under 40

Other research has shown that women are more likely to receive inflated feedback, and less likely to receive actionable feedback, than men are 23

To address both access to feedback, and the kinds of feedback received, Ceresa offers our 360 tool to all participants in all program.

Aspirations gap: why does Ceresa incorporate a vision statement?

Framing learning within broader purpose and aspirations helps to create more motivation, as well as a framework for setting goals and making choices. Furthermore, grounding people back in their why, helps people to remember why they make trade-offs and sacrifices – helping to sustain their career ambitions – critical to our ultimate mission to have more representation in leadership.

One US survey found that half of new women employees aspire to top management but, within 5 years, only 16 percent retain that ambition 3

Another global survey found that 74% of women aspire to executive leadership positions, but that falls to 57% at the senior manager level. This drops significantly with age too – 70% of women ages 18-22 aspire to a senior role, compared to 20% of women ages 51-60 19

Women lack meaningful recognition and support from managers during the critical mid-level career period, when women crystalize their aspirations and build – or erode – their confidence 3

Curriculum gap: what curriculum does Ceresa cover and why?

Ceresa covers 3 primary types of areas in our core learning focus areas and curriculum:

Well-being and thriving as a whole person

Human skills in the workplace

Strategic skills in the workplace

Most leadership programs tend to focus on a narrow set of topics 2 or 3, rarely both, and almost never 1

At Ceresa, we understand and fully believe that in order to thrive at work, you have to be able to meet your needs, interests and commitments outside of work. While there can be a healthy segmentation of this parts of our lives, you can not isolate the impact of one on the other.

From an inclusion and equity perspective, research shows that women and BIPOC communities face by far the highest burden of unpaid caregiving responsibilities in the home – making these trade-offs and juggling acts more complicated 24

Women provide a significantly higher share of unpaid caregiving for both children and adults than men, across race and ethnicity. In an average week, women spend seven and half more hours on childcare than men

Black and Hispanic women are the most acutely affected by this phenomenon, showing higher involvement in unpaid caregiving when compared to other ethnic and racial groups and when compared to their male counterparts

The impact of this is real, with 1 in 4 caregivers in the US spending more than 22 hours providing unpaid care each week

References: 

1 https://orwh.od.nih.gov/resources/pdf/ORWH-Mentee-Factsheet.pdf 

2 http://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/about/news/2016/why-so-few-women-hold-positions-of-power.html 

3 http://www.bain.com/about/press/press-releases/professional-women-lose-confidence-ambition-as-they-reach-mid-career.aspx 

4 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/if-you-think-you-dont-need-a-mentor-think-again_b_5557437.html 

5 http://www.ddiworld.com/ddi/media/trend-research/womenasmentors_rr_ddi.pdf?ext=.pdf 

6 http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/leadership/centered-leadership-how-talented-women-thrive  

7 http://fortune.com/2014/05/31/mba-popular-masters-degree/; http://fortune.com/2015/11/09/women-mba-40-percent/ 

8 https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/17/study-finds-first-time-enrollment-graduate-school-35-percent 

9 https://hbr.org/2010/09/why-men-still-get-more-promotions-than-women 

10 https://www.bcg.com/publications/2017/people-organization-behavior-culture-proven-measures-hidden-gems-improving-gender-diversity.aspx 

11 https://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/leadership/why-leadership-development-programs-fail 

12 McDonald and Westphal Academy of Management Journal, 2013, Vol 56, No.4 “ACCESS DENIED: LOW MENTORING OF WOMEN AND MINORITY FIRST-TIME DIRECTORS AND ITS NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON APPOINTMENTS TO ADDITIONAL BOARDS” 

13 https://trainingmag.com/top-spending-trends-training-2016-2017 

14 https://www.conference-board.org/pdf_free/councils/TCBCP006.pdf 

15 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/04/why-is-silicon-valley-so-awful-to-women/517788/ 

16 http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/workplace-loyalties-change-but-the-value-of-mentoring-doesnt/ 

17 http://www.women-ahead.org/turning-the-gender-diversity-dial-through-mentoring/ 

18 women in the workplace, 2017. McKinsey & Company 

19 Leaders & Daughters Global Survey 2017, EgonZehnder 

20 American Sociological Society Study, April 2009 

21 Bloomberg S&P 500 as of Jan 1 2023

22 https://textio.com/blog/job-performance-feedback-is-heavily-biased-new-textio-report#:~:text=Women%20also%20receive%2030%25%20more,the%20least%20feedback%20of%20all.

23 https://hbr.org/2023/01/women-get-nicer-feedback-and-it-holds-them-back

24 https://www.oxfamamerica.org/press/press-releases/women-of-color-shoulder-unfair-share-of-caregiving-a-new-oxfam-and-prosperity-now-report-highlights/