14-05-2025
I'm working in a ‘boys club' – how can I thrive?
Question: I have started working in a new industry and my new workplace is nearly all men. While no one has been directly unkind, it feels like a 'boys club' and not a place that is very welcoming for women. How can I thrive here?
We asked Timea Jakab, studio director and senior associate at architecture and design firm Gensler, to tackle this one:
I work with developers and on construction sites where I'm often the only female in the room, and the first thing I would say is: You're not imagining it. It feels very singular in the moment, but from university classrooms to the boardroom, this is a real thing.
My advice is to anchor yourself in competence. Show up prepared. Know your job, deliver strong work and that will let your credibility speak for you. It will build your inner confidence to where some of the external factors won't matter as much because you will know that you are good at your job.
Find your allies, male and female. Look for people who are open, who treat you with respect, who listen to you, who you really connect with. You just need one person. It could be your manager, it could be someone in another department, but it's someone [who can help you] increase your trust in your company. E-mail them, 'Can we have a coffee?' 10 out of 10 times they will say, 'Absolutely. How's tomorrow?'
Then, just have a conversation. Tell them, 'I'm new to this company, I'm looking for some allies.' Be open about that. You're not looking for a promotion, you're looking for comfort, and those are very different conversations.
Outside of your company, seek out community. When I became a director, I joined the Women's Leadership Initiative at the Urban Land Institute which has programs like the Book Club Without Books and softer networking events. I've made many friends through there. In connecting with other women in your industry, you'll find perspectives, support, strategies and the more open you are, the more you'll get out of it. Sometimes people ask me to give a piece of career advice, and I always say, 'I wish I had started networking earlier.'
My last piece of advice, which is what I tell my kids every day, is, 'be yourself.' Part of that comes with being confident in your skillset, knowing you have at least one ally in the room and having a community. That really opens the door to being yourself and just letting yourself shine.
Why is there a Chat feature? The bad habits of online meetings
'The postpandemic hybrid work environment has spawned some bad habits, especially around online meetings,' says Eileen Dooley a talent and leadership development specialist based in Calgary.
'While some could be forgiven a few years ago, some disrespectful ones are now being accepted as normal, which is not only eroding the effectiveness of online meetings but of basic meeting etiquette. For example, the pesky Chat feature.
'It's essentially an outlet for side conversations or impulse comments which, quite frankly, have no place in work meeting. It's the equivalent of talking on top of others, passing secret notes or making hand or facial gestures across a physical meeting table.'
Canada's Best Executives 2025
Five years ago, Report on Business magazine introduced the Best Executive Awards to hail the executives who toil just outside the corner office and do the work that helps move a company forward.
This year, leaders in finance, tech, operations, human resources, sustainability and more were honoured from across the country. Honorees include Rachel MacAdam, VP marketing at Skip (Winnipeg); Sarah Chapman, global chief sustainability officer at Manulife (Toronto); Monisha Sharma, chief revenue officer at Fig Financial (Montreal, Que.); Angie Ng, VP, people and organization at Novo Nordisk Canada (Mississauga, Ont.) and Meaghan Whitney, chief people officer at Blackline Safety (Calgary).
The new line of defence: women in cybersecurity
Cheryl Hayes has witnessed the impact of poor digital literacy on kids first-hand, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
'We had friends with a nine-year-old daughter who ended up getting groomed on a [social media] platform,' says Ms. Hayes, co-founder and chief business development officer at Cyber Legends, Inc. '[There were] also kids down the street who had passwords and game tokens they spent years accumulating stolen because they befriended someone online.'
Ms. Hayes is one of the growing number of women working in cybersecurity in Canada. It's an industry where women are under-represented – global cybersecurity member association ISC2 estimates that women make up 25 per cent of cybersecurity jobs globally, but they expect that number to increase as more young people enter the profession. LinkedIn's Economic Graph found that women make up 21 per cent of cybersecurity jobs in Canada.
