How Star Women Build Portable Skills (Fox - AFR)

An interesting article by Catherine Fox "Being head-hunted is often too good to be true" (AFR Tuesday 22^nd, June 2010), reporting on research by Boris Groysberg of Harvard Business School.

The research reveals the extent to which high-flyers, or stars within companies are able to repeat or better their performance when shifting employers.

"Too frequently, high-flyers have their heads in the clouds when it comes to their own ability, new US research shows. The result? Top executives who switch jobs not only fail to make the transition but come crashing back to earth," writes Catherine Fox. (But) "that drop in performance is only applicable to men. It's the risky business of hiring men ... For star women it's different."

Key idea: Men build "intra-organisational" relationships, while women build inter-organisational relationships, making them more portable.

See BNET's excellent summary of the article:

When stars switch firms, their performance actually dims, along with their new company's market value, author Boris Groysberg argues. Everyone loses.

Except when the stars are women. According to Groysberg, talented women who switch firms maintain their stardom, and their new employer's share price holds steady. Groysberg provides two explanations for this discrepancy:

• Unlike men, high-performing women build their success on portable, external relationships--with clients and other outside contacts.
• Women considering job changes weigh more factors then men do, especially cultural fit, values, and managerial style.