High Power and High Heels

That's the title of a Wall Street Journal (subscription only) article this morning about women in corporate settings finding new ways of networking. This is how it starts:

No one thought it the least bit silly.

After all, networking over shoe shopping at a Manhattan boutique is no different for women than playing golf and sharing cigars after a steak dinner is for men. For the 53 shoppers who attended a "shoe event" sponsored by law firm Bryan Cave LLP on a recent Tuesday evening -- all of them female lawyers and their female corporate clients or friends -- getting to know one another while browsing designer shoes was a refreshing change from being the lone woman at a client dinner or sports event.

"The shoes were an icebreaker for starting conversations," says Elizabeth DaSilva, managing director, Global Trust Services, Americas at Bank of New York. She mulled a pair of high-heeled evening pumps but quickly turned her attention to the other shoppers. "It was the first opportunity I'd had to talk to lawyers my firm uses about something other than an immediate work assignment," adds Ms. DaSilva. She didn't buy any shoes but found the shopping and dinner after at a Turkish restaurant relaxing, and says she came away feeling more comfortable with attorneys from Bryan Cave and with names of other executives for her contact list.

Such women-only networking events are proliferating at law firms and an array of other companies, including Ernst & Young LLP, Merrill Lynch & Co. and General Electric Co. There are spa retreats, conferences at resorts, evenings at art galleries and cooking demonstrations, all organized by women who want to network and socialize with clients in their own way -- at least some of the time.

This stirred up my thinking about our office. The First Cousin and I are the two female representatives; perhaps there could be some distinctly feminine public relations ideas that we could plan in order to get to know the women with whom we are in contact. Let's see, now, The First Cousin is on the board of RWCD, a water conservation district. Oops, all her fellow board members are men, and probably not interested in a shoe-shopping spree. The First Cousin is also part of the team that presents our commercial centers at the conferences for retailers; hmm, that team is also completely male.

My duties often take me to our CPA's office to discuss accounting matters...where the CPA's I deal with are men. We do enjoy a spirited conversation about tax law now and again, but frankly, I can't envision any of them joining me for a spa day.

Well, it was a good thought. I guess The First Cousin and I will have to maintain the feminine PR together; I think checking out some of the newest Gilbert retail centers might be a nice start. Right after tax season.