HBR Guide for Women at Work (HBR Guide Series)

CHAPTER 2

Disrupt Yourself—and the Way You Work

by Whitney Johnson and Tara Mohr

Academic institutions are churning out more female graduates than ever. But the very skills that propel women to the top of the class in school are earning them middle-of-the-pack marks in the workplace. Indeed, a Catalyst study found that women account for 63% of middle- and senior-level managers in the United States but only 5.2% of Fortune 500 CEOs.¹ Based on our experience, those numbers will continue to improve—but only incrementally—until bias against women is reduced and women recognize that the boardroom is not the schoolroom. To be successful, we must now do the very thing we were always taught not to: be disruptive.

In business, disruption is a proven path ...