The time has come. Women are being promoted, being named CEO, and even serving on boards.
Who gets promoted? How are they different from others? The panelists share how they did it and offer advice on how you can do it.

Yoko Ishikura, Professor Emeritus of Hitotsubashi University, facilitated this session. She opened by introducing the panelists and asking them to share their advice on how to get promoted.

Ms. Chino, of ITOCHU trading company, is a very high-profile businesswoman and lawyer in Japan as she made it to top management in a male-dominated business. She told the participants that she never thought about a promotion, but just focused on doing good work. Her boss told her that she needed to get on the corporate ladder to succeed at ITOCHU, so she became a team manager. After being promoted, she realized that her opinion suddenly carried more weight. She offered sage advice about climbing the corporate ladder, its benefits, and why it is worth it.

Shie Lundberg, Google, talked about her “aha” moment, which came after the second of her nine promotions in her career: “Promotion is the word for your future potential, rather than your past achievement.”
She realized that she could not wait for her contribution to be recognized, but had to go find gaps that she could fill and show she could do more. She advised the participants to look for opportunities themselves. She shared her approach to getting promotions and also gave valuable advice about the skills they should work on so they would be ready when an opportunity arose.

Sachin Shah, CEO of MetLife and the only male panelist in this roundtable, was a very inspiring speaker. He described how he talks to employees about their career and described the mistakes he sees people make the most often. He said, “Think not about a promotion, but about creating experiences that make you more valuable.” He answered a question from a participant about what to do when you're passed over for a promotion. He also told the participants what steps to take to gain control of their career and also how to recognize when it was time to find another employer.

Lori Henderson, from the British Chamber of Commerce, returned as a panel member this year. She offered specific advice on how what information to gather in advance and what to do to get a promotion. She told a few stories about her own career and advised the participants what they should do to be ready when an opportunity becomes available. She said “Don't be small. Take your space at the table.” Her last piece of advice was to take advantage of networking opportunities, like those presented at this Conference, to meet people and expand professional horizons.

In the Question & Answer portion of the sessions, Ms. Chino gave her opinion on whether she believed that women have to work harder to get ahead. Ms. Lundberg shared interesting research showing that the rate at which men and women ask for promotions and the differences in the salaries they ask for. Ms. Ishikura advised women to not imitate what men do, but try to increase the value of your experience. She encouraged the participants to “do it your way.”