Why It’s Time for Mine The Gap
by Mine The Gap Founders, Kristin Haffert & Jessica N. Grounds
We both are very fortunate to have found our career passions early in life. For Kristin, it was during her studies at Douglass College at Rutgers University where she learned that the National Institutes of Health clinical trials to find a cure for heart disease (the leading killer of women) included only men. Women’s bodies were believed to simply be another version of male bodies, complicated by biological factors, and therefore excluded from research. And for Jessica, it was her junior year in college when she worked on her first political campaign in California for a woman running for the state assembly. She quickly fell in love with politics, and also gained the knowledge that few women held seats in elected office across the country. In each instance, we wondered, how was this lack of women's representation impacting our leadership structures and decisions everywhere?
We were inspired to this work for different reasons and now after over thirty-five years of combined experience working in the U.S. and globally to advance women’s leadership, and develop approaches to incorporate gender differences into policy and leadership strategy, we find that we are still stuck.
Mine The Gap was created in a climate where we continue to see that gender is not seen as strategic advantage. What we mean by that is that the research is clear: when there are more women in leadership, companies do better. When men and women understand and respect each other more deeply in their professions, productivity flourishes and retention improves. When an organization works to build a gender inclusive environment, the organization is more innovative and nimble. But most industries have a long way to go to see this in practice. There is a competitive advantage to advancing a climate where gender differences are seen as a benefit, not a liability. We have built a firm to assist industries across sectors and around the globe.
As this month’s Scientific American cover page explains, This is Not a Women’s Issue. This is an issue that is disrupting the workplace today. We are limiting the potential of our workforce. We are underutilizing our talent and we are losing ground. The potential is there if we are aware and strategic.
Mine The Gap is advising companies both large and small. We are supporting and consulting organizations domestically and globally, including countries. We are incubating new ideas to advance the many challenges related to gender – to solve problems more quickly, and to inspire more to lead.
At the heart of Mine The Gap, we mine and bridge gender gaps. We’re here to help you, so call us or email us with your ideas and challenges. We’re here to listen, expose and mine the gaps – and help your industry flourish.
Mine The Gap
80 M Street SE
Washington, DC 20003
United States
info@projectminethegap.com
202-494-7624