TalentTuning

Research Reports

Catalyst's longitudinal project, The Promise of Future Leadership: A Research Program on Highly Talented Employees in the Pipeline, develops timely reports on the retention and advancement of high potential women and men. The project surveys graduates of leading business schools in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, with the intent of assessing their career values, goals, and expectations, the developmental opportunities afforded them, and their strategies for managing work and family life. The reports highlight the differences in women's and men's career experiences and satisfaction; some feature perspectives from global leaders and other experts.

The second report, Pipeline’s Broken Promise, examines the conventional wisdom of the past two decades in which leaders have counted on parity in education, women’s accelerated movement into the labor force, and company-implemented diversity and inclusion programs to yield a robust talent pipeline where women are poised to make rapid gains to the top. Findings reveal that instead of women and men being on equal footing and their career trajectories gender-blind, inequality remains entrenched. Among high-potential graduates from elite MBA programs (Respondent Profile)—those companies count on for future leadership—women lagged men in advancement and compensation starting from their first job and were less satisfied with their careers. This report includes perspectives from CEOs and other senior leaders, who considered the findings a wake-up call and made recommendations for corrective action.

A Statistical Appendix is available.

Author: Nancy M. Carter, Ph.D., and Christine Silva