How The Coca-Cola Company Is Encouraging Women in Leadership

By Helen Weaver Heartman

At the Women's Foodservice Forum's Annual Leadership Development Conference earlier this year in Orlando, Florida, The Coca-Cola Company Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent spoke about ongoing initiatives of The Company to put more women in leadership roles. In the last eight years, The Coca-Cola Company has increased representation of women in leadership to about 30 percent on a global scale ‒ including at the board of directors level ‒ and increased its hiring of women at senior levels to 40 percent. Participation of women in internal development and assessment programs has doubled as well.

In 2007, when Mr. Kent became president of The Coca-Cola Company, he took note of the fact that women make 70 percent of all household purchasing decisions ‒ decisions worth an estimated $20 trillion ‒ yet women represented only 23 percent of leadership roles at The Coca-Cola Company. A deeper dive into internal data of The Company revealed women representation at the pipeline level one tier below a leadership role was 28 percent globally and 40 percent at the next pipeline level down. Internal assessment and development efforts lacked specific gender focus. External recruiting efforts also lacked specific gender focus on sourcing and attracting best talent.

"This was a huge mismatch between The Company's purchasing base and the decision makers in The Company," Kent told his audience at the conference.

Armed with this information, Mr. Kent set about making strategic changes to increase focus on gender equity throughout The Company to better serve external customers and ensure The Coca-Cola Company full access to the best talent. The Company began working on initiatives to accelerate the development and movement of female talent into roles of increasing responsibility and influence.

Those initiatives included:

• Separating women's issues out of the diversity program
• Forming a Global Women Initiative to develop female leaders inside The Coca-Cola Company system and female entrepreneurs in developing markets outside the system
• Creating a Women's Leadership Council comprising 17 leaders from across The Company to focus on recruiting and advancing women through assessment and development programs

Though such efforts are positive, there is still much to do, Mr. Kent told the conference audience. The ultimate goal is to create a multiplier effect that will expand opportunities, strengthen families and build communities. And according to Kent, the 21st century will be all about women and their power to shape the world ‒ not just at work but also in their families and communities. That's why, in addition to expanding leadership roles within the company, The Coca-Cola Company also has an outside initiative ‒ 5by20, which aims to empower 5 million female entrepreneurs across the value change of The Company by 2020.

About the author: Ellen Weaver Hartman is president and CEO of Hartman Public Relations in Atlanta. A 30-year media relations veteran who specializes in consumer and B2B communications, she has worked with such major brands as The Coca-Cola Company, Popeyes, Arby's and Chili's.