How Four Women Executives Landed Line-Management Jobs
By: Perri Capell

Originally published in the November 2006 Issue of Link & Learn. 

Managing a profit area -- a line job -- is viewed as a prerequisite for women wanting to get ahead in business, so just how should women chart a course that will lead to one of these coveted roles?

This question is important as women are challenged to seek roles in which they are in charge of a revenue line if they want to move upward. A 2003 survey by research group Catalyst shows that women held only about 10% of line corporate-officer jobs in the largest corporations in the U.S., but two-thirds of chief executive officers surveyed say women who lack such experience face barriers to advancement. A 2004 Catalyst survey of men and women vice presidents shows that 79% of the women and 63% of the men view not having general or line-management experience as the biggest factor holding women back. Given this emphasis, here are tips from women line managers at large public companies on how to get this all-important experience.

Become an expert.

Kathy Cronin, vice president of North American Imaging Services for Xerox Corp., says she learned all she could about the health-care field while working in marketing for the company in 1992. Because of this expertise, when Xerox began forming "vertical" industry units in 1995, she was tapped to be the first vice president and general manager of the health-care business-services unit, she says. "Making myself an internal expert on health care allowed me to be considered," she says. "It was a great example of being in the right place at the right time."

Ms. Cronin didn't stay in the line-management role. She took a staff job as vice president of marketing and strategy for global services, which consisted of several vertical units. This was harder, she says, because "in staff roles, you get things done through influence, not because someone reports to you." After that, she moved to another staff job and then took a short-term line job as a stepping stone to her current position, which she started in June. "I was finding that being in a staff role was a barrier, and if I didn't get back into a line role, I might not get the opportunity in the future," says Ms. Cronin, who is 44.

Get to know the right people.

Figure out who you need to know to move your career along. Terry D'Allessandro, a market CEO for Sovereign Bank, says making key internal and external contacts has been critical to her upward mobility in line roles. "You need to know the people to connect with and find a way to get some face time," she says. "Sometimes that might mean going up to the president at a Christmas party."

Ms. D'Allessandro, 54, started as a teller for Main Line Bank in Philadelphia and was doing retail administration and managing branches when Sovereign purchased Main Line in 1997. She then held a series of regional roles. Whenever she took a new job, she says, she made sure to learn what was required to get to the next level. "I would ask what I needed to do, but not in a demanding way," says Ms. D'Allessandro.

Expressing interest and being prepared helped, she adds. She now oversees commercial and retail banking and 500 employees in the metro Philadelphia and South Jersey region. Of the 10 market CEOs at Sovereign, she is the only woman.

Go beyond your comfort zone.

Donna Conover, executive vice president, customer operations, for Southwest Airlines Co., has held 15 different jobs in her 28 years at Southwest. Many, she says, weren't easy and required her to work long hours. "One of my greatest challenges was being offered positions in areas I didn't have any knowledge of," she says. "I had to get up to speed quickly."

Among other things, Ms. Conover has been a reservations sales agent, reservations supervisor, manager or director of several training areas and head of customer service. She is now responsible for all of Southwest's airport operations and 20,000 employees. Being willing to take responsibility, get involved quickly and learn on her own have been key factors to her success, she says. Being genuine, she says, has been another.

"If people believe you are doing something just to get ahead, it's a disadvantage," says Ms. Conover, 52. "When you are going into a new area, people might think you want their job, but you have to say, 'No, I just want a clear understanding.' "

Perform above expectations.

Lisa Schoenberg, a vice president, specialty care, at drug maker AstraZeneca US in Philadelphia, says that, during her 12 years with the company, she has alternated between staff and line jobs to gain the needed experience to be effective in bigger revenue-management positions. Most recently, she was a vice president for marketing operations before landing her current line position overseeing three drugs.

Doing an outstanding job has been critical to her career progression, says Ms. Schoenberg, 39. "I had to work harder in the staff role, because it was so different for me," she says. "If my performance stunk, I would not have had the opportunity to move into this role."

See the big picture.

Before you'll be asked to manage a revenue center, you must have a broad understanding of your organization as a whole, and that can sometimes come only from holding a staff role. "In a support role, the knowledge that you gain for the company in seeing the really big picture is incredible," says Ms. Conover. Once you land that prized line-management job, don't get tunnel vision. When you're in charge of a profit-and-loss center, Ms. Conover says, it's easy to "get so involved that you forget the peripheral things [required] for the company to operate."

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About The Author: Ms. Capell is a senior correspondent for CareerJournal.com. Email your comments to frances.capell@dowjones.com. -- October 28, 2005

This issue of Link&Learn was published in November 2006, by Linkage, Inc. (http://www.linkageinc.com). Please direct copyright and additional questions and comments to LinkandLearn@LinkageInc.com