Stacy Cunningham, first woman NYSE President, Doesn’t Want to Talk about Gender. Here’s Why She Should Reconsider.

The first woman anything still matters.

And I can’t wait until it doesn’t.

The NYSE recently appointed Stacy Cunningham as its President.

The NYSE, which had its first president in 1934.

The NYSE, founded in 1792.

The NYSE, which until 1967 didn’t have any women on the trading floor. (Muriel Siebert was the first. I’ll talk about her in my book, but until then, read about her. She’s incredible.)

That’s a big deal.

But Stacy Cunningham doesn’t want you to focus on her gender. And I get that.

Serena Williams famously quipped that she didn’t want to be remembered as the greatest female athletes of all time, but that she preferred “one of the greatest athletes of all time.”

And I get that too.

Here’s why talking about Stacy Cunningham’s gender matters:

Unless and until all of the firsts in the business world have been conquered by women, we need to see and laud and celebrate the women who achieve those.

Unless and until we are in all of the big rooms with the big budgets where the big decisions are made, we need to cheer on the women who are there, or are on their way there.

Particularly in the highly male dominated fields of finance, tech, and manufacturing.

Mary Barra — CEO of GM — just announced that the new CFO of GM will also be a woman, as of September 1 2018. And a woman of color. That’s still so rare, that we need to keep talking about it.

I’m currently working on a research project where I’m looking at who exactly is running the top companies. How many women. How many people of color. How many people in positions of influence and power. And the results are exactly what you think they are.

These are preliminary findings but looking at them in aggregate is startling.

This is why we need to talk about women’s achievements, women’s success, women’s firsts.

I look forward very much to the day when we don’t have to talk about these achievements, when they aren’t remarkable, when there is absolutely no demand for the services I offer through The Rising Tides.

But until then, please keep talking about successful women in positions of power.

For the record, the complete Stacy Cunningham quote was this, and I agree 1000% with it:

I think where we really need to be focused is making sure you’re building teams that have different viewpoints and perspectives. When you do that, and you focus on having people of different backgrounds and different experiences, you’re much more likely to have a visibly diverse team as well. That’s really the key.

It’s not just about gender. Different people have different dynamics, and you have a much more well-balanced view as a leadership team if you’re focusing on making sure you’re not all talking with the same voice.

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The Rising Tides is a global consulting firm that advises clients on making the workplace better for women. After twenty years working in and around high tech companies, my passion for strengthening the roles women can play in each other’s success became my business. As women, not only are the demands on our professional lives extending but as our personal lives are continuing to flourish, I believe we need to move closer to a business culture that appropriately supports both.

My work with The Rising Tides helps clients identify and prioritize the areas of greatest impact across their organization through data gathering, analysis, comparative benchmarking, and best practices.

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