CULTURE CHECK
| than ignore because those areas were fine).
Managers were trained to scan their own feedback to ensure they didn't “fall back on male-dominated tropes,” Krentz said. Tropes such as, “You need to be more confrontational in meetings; you need to speak out more.” According to Krentz, “telling someone to do that and then watching to see if they can do it is poor development, but we default to that because most men will respond.”
Again, the result was dramatic. Within just four years, the number of women consultants grew 70%.
Most men I know want to see gender equality. They want to see more women business owners, more women executives, more women political leaders, more women in power everywhere.
But they often feel helpless in terms of how to do so.
It’s also important to call out the fact that Matt Krentz wasn’t alone in his efforts. He was an ally to his women colleagues, but he also had allies, both male and female. For example, when he enrolled other like-minded male executives in his plan, they jumped on board.
When he and others trained male managers about the critical feedback, its effects and how to shift it to make the environment a more welcoming place for women, many of those male managers responded.
They all worked together, and their focus was not on how women could change, but how they themselves could change their culture. Their own words. Their own team meetings. Their own emails.
It got personal.
They were willing to learn how to adjust their own ways of speaking and acting with women colleagues, and that conscientious action made a difference.
“Male leaders need to be engaged on this,” Krentz said simply. If we want to move the needle, “we have to behave differently.”