How To Take Credit For Your Work | U.S. Women Lost 5 Million Jobs Last Year | Inside Netflix’s First Diversity Report | And More

Plus: 10 Easy Ways To Develop Strong Professional Relationships In A Virtual Working World

You would be forgiven if, in the midst of the torrent of stressful news coming out of Washington D.C., you’re having trouble focusing on other news (or, really, having trouble focusing at all).

And so, you might not have seen that Margaret Keane is retiring from her role as CEO of Synchrony Financial in April, at which point the S&P 500 will lose one of its 30 female CEOs. This fact is not lost on Keane, whom I spoke with on Tuesday. “The positive is I'm still going to be executive chair. And there's not a lot of women who are in an executive chair role,” she said.

We had a wide-ranging conversation, touching on everything from her first job (at the age of 10, for a costume-jeweler neighbor in Queens) to why her post-CEO gig could involve an olive oil venture. But she made both a prediction and call to action on female leadership that didn’t make it into the story, and which I want to share with you here:

“I think it's something we all have to continue to pay attention to, and we’ve got to make sure we're developing the talent to have women ready for the big roles. But I think the announcement from Citigroup of Jane [Fraser, who will become CEO in February] is a big boost for women. And I think we'll continue to see more women become CEOs.”

Cheers to that!
Maggie

P.S.: My favorite advice on the site this week looks at how to simplify your work and digital life, and reminds us all to “ruthlessly unsubscribe from promotional emails.” (I just hope this email is one you keep!)

ICYMI: Stories From The Week

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the December jobs report on Friday, reporting that U.S. women lost a net 156,000 jobs during the month and more than 5 million jobs in 2020 as a whole. But these headlines don’t tell the full, complicated story of women in the workforce.

Denise Woodard, founder of the allergy-friendly food brand Partake Foods, became the first woman of color to raise $1 million for a food startup: last week she announced a $4.8 million series A round of funding, led by investors including Rihanna and the Black Star Fund.

Netflix released its first-ever inclusion report, finding women now make up 47% of its workforce, including its senior leadership. Black employees in the U.S. doubled in the last three years, to 8% of the workforce and 9% of the company’s leadership. Inclusion officer Vernā Myers called the results good progress but said “we’re not where we want to be, and we need to do better.”

CNN rising star Abby Phillip is getting a chance to shine on her own: on Monday, the network announced that Phillip has been promoted to senior political correspondent and will be taking the reins of Inside Politics Sunday from John King.

Former Chanel CEO Maureen Chiquet is joining the board of clean beauty company Credo. She will become the fifth female director, shifting the composition to 70% female leadership for the first time since Credo was founded in 2014 by Annie Jackson and the late Shashi Batra.

Check List

#1: Start crafting your retirement story. We often talk about retirement in hard numbers, like ages and savings goals. But thinking about the narrative arc of how you want to spend your time can help with longevity planning.

#2: Put up some guardrails. If you’re trying to not do something—like, say, consume alcohol as part of Dry January—prevent the behavior before it starts. In the case of Dry January, this means not buying alcohol when you’re in the store.

#3: Admit when it was a big deal. How often have you replied to a compliment by saying, “oh, it was nothing”? It’s both okay and helpful to your career to take credit for your work, so next time accept the praise by saying, “thank you for noticing!”

Across Forbes