Mr Business Golf

As unfounded as Kay Hays’ statement is on golf , I can understand her point of view on not breaking the so called glass ceiling by playing golf with the boss. That may have been the case years ago, but those days are long gone.

One word as to why I’ll never break the glass ceiling: Golf

I hear these statements all of the time and I can confirm that there are very few glass ceilings left in business today.  My questions is if a business keep producing the image of having a glass ceiling is it really a place you want to work for?

Businesses that produce an image of having a glass ceiling or appearing to keep women from top positions will probably not be around for long.  There are some old firms that still play the games, but like I said, they are old and their days will be numbered if the practice of screening women out of the board rooms and C Suites continues.

Years ago the bullet proof glass ceiling that was between the mid-management worker bee women (in an all men business) and the C Suite Good ol Boys was a HUGE issue. Women were purposely being kept from top executive positions for what really were bullshit reasons.

But going back to the Golf and women playing golf with the boss…there is a growing army of women executives and business owners who are learning to play golf…why?…mainly because they want to, but most feel it is a great healthy activity they can carry on for a lifetime.

There are thousands of business women coming on board each year to learn to play golf so they can play with other business women as well as the men who are now their peers.

I now see the golf courses filled with men and women playing together, groups of women playing golf together and entire tournaments of women business golfers all playing golf as part of their business. A very large portion of the rounds of golf played are business related.   85% to be exact.

What I find with women who make similar statements as Ms Hays’ is they lack an understanding of golf. Just watching golf does not offer any explanation of what the allure is to golf. Only after someone learns to play golf, not just attempted to play and then give up, but learned to play golf, that they can fully understand the attraction of golf.

Many of the women business executives I talk to started out smashing golf as being a waste of time or frivolous.  They saw it as a Men only activity.   However, once they learn to play golf as a recreational activity they started to understand what attracts people to the game and it quickly moved into their everyday business life.

The notion of having to play golf with the boss to get ahead is just that, a notion. True, it appears sometimes the reason some men are promoted over the women is because they golf with the boss, but overall those too are just coincidental.

Business owners today have to build a solid team of executives to lead the business to where it was set up to be. To place someone in a position just because they were Male and played golf would not be smart business. Years ago, this type of crap more than likely went on and if it is still going on today it is in businesses finding they are going nowhere quick.

In reality, women make excellent executives. I spent thirty years working for women executives and I enjoyed their eye towards detail and high quality standards.  I placed them high above some of the C Suite Generals I worked for a few years ago.

But back to golf for a minute. When my children were very young I too put golf on the back burner.  I also had a ‘What’s the big friggin deal with golf’ attitude then even though I played golf.

I wish I had not done that now and played the golf when I was asked to by my superiors instead of going around bashing golf as something I did not understand the allure towards. I feel having that attitude, not Golf, held me back from getting a little higher on the corporate ladder.

Turning back the clock, I would have found ways of balancing the golf with my family duties.  I should have placed some to take my teenage daughters with me to play golf. Now that they are in their 30’s and out in the workplace they ask me frequently…

“Dad, how come you never took me to play golf? I could be playing with my Boss now if I learned golf when I was younger”.

Oh, from the mouths of babes.… Golf can really make a difference in a person’s life, can’t it?