Jennifer McCollum: Why work isn’t working for men either

The same workplaces that have held back women aren’t working especially well for men either. That insight reframes the whole conversation about gender at work.

My guest is Jennifer McCollum, CEO and president of Catalyst, one of the world’s leading organisations dedicated to advancing women and building workplaces where everyone can thrive. She is also the author of Men at Work: The Roadmap to Gender Partnership, a practical and timely book on men, women, power, fear and change.

We explore the man box, the narrow set of expectations around strength, competition and control that creates real anxiety for 84% of men, and why fear is the biggest thing stopping men from advocating for others and for themselves. Jennifer explains what gender partnership looks like in practice and which organisational systems leaders need to examine to achieve real change.

If you lead a team or run an organisation, this conversation will change how you think about performance, culture and who gets to thrive. Where in your world are old expectations still limiting people?

You’ll hear about:

• Why workplaces aren’t working well for men
• The man box and its 84% pressure statistic
• Fear as the biggest barrier to speaking up
• What gender partnership really means in practice
• How advocating for others benefits men too
• Pitching gender partnership to a new CEO
• Key talent systems every leader should examine
• Why trust must come before truth
• The Walk the Line exercise and its surprising results

More about Jennifer

Jennifer McCollum is a recognised CEO, speaker, and leadership expert on a mission to build more inclusive workplaces by advancing women and engaging men as partners in equity.

She is the author of the book Men at Work: The Roadmap to Gender Partnership, a powerful call for men to move beyond passive support toward shared leadership. She also wrote In Her Own Voice: A Woman’s Rise to CEO, which explores the challenges women face on the path to leadership through data and personal storytelling.

She is president and CEO of Catalyst, a global non-profit dedicated to accelerating progress for women at work. Previously, she was the first female CEO of Linkage, a leadership development firm focused on changing the face of leadership, where she successfully led its acquisition by SHRM. Her insights have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Forbes, and Psychology Today, and she’s spoken on hundreds of stages worldwide.

She lives in the Washington DC, area with her husband and three children, and is a passionate tennis player and skier.

• The non-profit Catalyst
• Jennifer’s profile
• Her book