Kick Butt. Do What's Right. Go Home.

On Winning in the "Chicks" Division

Why are there so few female CEOs?
MM I’ve been on record that being CEO is a bad job, and maybe people don’t want it [laughs]. Short tenure, dangerous job.

When I was in my 20s, I can remember studying sports stats so I could function at lunch. In contrast, when I was in my 30s, head of the Green Giant business and participating in a focus group, there was a group of women from the ad agency, a bunch of women from my team, and one of my team leaders who was a guy. He turned to me and said, ‘Oh, my God, this is the very first time I’ve been in an entire conversation about shoe shopping.’

The thing that makes the glass ceiling real is not that people are actively prejudiced against women or other groups. Rather, it’s not generally understood how excluded some women can be from a culture. The Green Giant culture years ago was a fishing culture. All the guys would go on a three-day fishing trip once a year. And you get to go no matter what. The Pillsbury culture was a golf culture. On Friday afternoon, all the guys went to play golf. That doesn’t necessarily feel like a bad thing. There’s nothing evil about it. But what it means is that some of the relationships that make business more comfortable, that make you think more highly of someone, don’t necessarily happen in meetings where you’re showing great results.

Also, people—women and men—go where they are appreciated. They end up getting out of places where they have to make huge compromises to who they are personally.

So why were you different?
MM I’m such a tomboy—that’s a huge help. I’m outspoken. As I told one of the long-standing board members at CNS who was stressing about the company’s performance, ‘I’m like the first-born son of a Catholic military guy. I’m driven to succeed. Terrified of failure. You don’t have to worry about anything.’

So, now you’re at the age where you give back. Your advice to a young woman?
MM I sometimes see people who are too worried about the next job rather than what are they learning from this one. If you’re fully engaged and doing your best, you can’t help but be successful. Second, early in your career, accept a job at the best company where you get an offer. A big company that is hard to get into, full of smart people. At this stage, you’re learning your craft, earning your stripes.

If you ran a large company, where it’s harder to impact the culture, how would you promote the careers of women?
MM I’m a little uncomfortable with the question. Not because I don’t think that women need help. Rather, to me, it’s finding and nurturing great talent. I would rather create an environment where great female talent wins out in a genderless race, as opposed to winning in the ‘chicks’ division.

What about boards of directors? How do we get more women on boards?
MM Boards have to go and find women. Boards need to be intentional about adding lots of kinds of diversity to their ranks.  

—S. A. W.