The head of the women’s networking group at Cardinal Health Inc. is a powerful executive who rose through the management ranks while balancing family and career. He’s also a guy.

Finance chief Mike Kaufmann’s unusual role highlights a significant shift in U.S. corporate diversity efforts: More big businesses are enlisting men in their push to attain gender equality and diversity at the top. Companies long viewed wom- en’s advancement as the women’s problem. But despite years of women-only corporate events, women have progressed slowly into the executive suite or stalled altogether, diversity experts say. Cardinal shifted gears after women said, “When men are involved with us, it turbocharges the system,” recalls George Barrett, chief executive of the healthcare services concern. About 60 male bosses from Car- dinal, Dell Inc. and three other major employers recently completed a six-month program organized by Catalyst, a non-profit group that tracks and advocates women’s advancement. Participants learned to improve women’s prospects partly by building alliances with men. “Guys listen to guys,” notes Catalyst President Deborah Gillis. The leadership consultancy that helped Catalyst put together its program, a firm called White Men As Full Diversity Partners LLC, says it advised 17 Fortune 500 companies last year to increase men’s involvement in advancing women. “Corporate leaders have come to recognize that men must work alongside women to create meaningful gender-equity improvements,” says Bill Proudman, a co-founder. The firm coaches men to examine their mindsets and shift behaviors so they can foster a more inclusive work culture, he adds.

The National Association for Female Executives also included executive men for the first time at its December meeting. Attendees pledged to urge male colleagues to become champions of women. Many men took immediate action,

such as creating mentorship pro- grams, association president Betty Spence says. These moves reflect research that suggests men carry consider- able clout but fear being called out for helping women to move ahead. “Having a guy lead our women’s ini- tiative seemed strange to some men I work with,” Mr. Kaufmann says. In addition, several female staffers opposed his 2010 appoint- ment. They said, “We don’t need men saving women,’” recollects Carole Watkins, chief human resources officer. Mr. Kaufmann contends that men must be highly involved to change the balance of power in senior management. Among other things, he has urged men to participate in the women’s networking group, and male members now exceed 125. Half of Cardinal’s six operating presidents are now female, com- pared with a third five years ago. In 2013, women held 14.6% of executive officer positions at Fortune 500 firms, virtually unchanged since 2010, Catalyst reports. But American businesses don’t see a financial payoff from gender diversity “until women constitute at least 22% of a senior executive team,” concluded a 2014 study by McKinsey & Co. Catalyst’s initiative, launched last May, teaches middle man- agers and senior executives to understand hurdles facing women, men’s privileged status and “uncon- scious bias”—everyone’s implicit preference for certain groups. Unconscious bias often influences important workplace decisions. Cardinal sales manager Jason Hamilton initially resisted joining the program because of his busy schedule. In hindsight, he says, “I found myself very moved” by the experience. Speaking at a Cardinal national sales convention in July, he described a “new man’s man” who stands up for gender equality. He expressed hope “that [model] will equate to more sales.” Mr. Hamilton says he now actively recruits internal female candidates for vacancies. Previously, he adds, “I didn’t pay as much attention.” Doug Hillary, a Dell vice president, says the Catalyst program made him realize he might unconsciously favor male staffers who log long hours at the office. So he asked a female lieu- tenant with two youngsters whether he adequately accommodated her family needs. He learned that he unwittingly scheduled many staff conference calls when she was dropping kids off at school. Since then, Mr. Hillary has tried to limit those calls, a move he believes benefits all working parents. He also joined Dell’s networking group for women and has encouraged his male colleagues to do the same. Rockwell Automation Inc. has sought to accelerate the advance- ment and retention of women and minorities by sending 800 mostly male leaders to multiday sessions conducted by White Men As Full Diversity Partners. One result: the emergence of “change inclusion teams,” which are nearly all run by white men. Some have devised tac- tics to curb gender barriers at the industrial-equipment maker. For instance, the inclusion team for U.S. field salespeople discour- aged the “old boys’ network” type of socializing at the bar after company conferences. Instead, it arranged chili cookoffs and other alternate events, recalls regional sales manager John Ahlborn, its first leader. Certain male team members confronted customers over unin- vited sexual advances toward their female coworkers. Between 2010 and 2014, the proportion of U.S. executive roles held by women climbed to 23% from 13%, Rockwell says. American Express Co. uses other tactics, such as mandatory one- time training for the top brass of the credit-card company about how men’s and women’s brains work differently. A well-developed area of wom- en’s brains regulates decision- making, for example. They fre- quently don’t pursue larger roles because they weigh various out- comes before acting. By contrast, men’s brain structure leads them to focus on “getting the job done,” says Valerie Grillo, AmEx’s chief diversity officer. Such insights helped Neal J. Sample, a division head, persuade vice president Rathi Murthy to consider a rapid promotion. “Am I ready?” Ms. Murthy remembers wondering. She won Mr. Sample’s prom- ise of continued full support in the position. “He knew that as a woman, I needed that small nudge,” Ms. Murthy says. She succeeded him as the division’s chief informa- tion officer in January. Questions Why is Mike Kaufmann leading the women’s networking group at Cardinal Health? What have some male managers learned from participating in Catalyst’s initiative for middle and top managers to understand the challenges faced by women in the workplace? What are some of the potential advantages of having white men participate in and/or lead corporate diversity efforts? What are some of the potential disadvantages of having white men participate in and/or lead corporate diversity efforts?

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1 Mike Kaufmann is leading the womens networking group at Cardinal Health because the company recognized the need for men to be actively involved in promoting gender equality and diversity They realiz... View the full answer