????姑且把它稱為“新女生網(wǎng)絡(luò)”(New Girls' Network)吧。在法律、會(huì)計(jì)和廣告等領(lǐng)域的專業(yè)服務(wù)公司，掌控最大份額收入的合伙人通常影響力最強(qiáng)。對(duì)于一心追求進(jìn)步的專業(yè)人士來說，抵達(dá)職業(yè)高峰的傳統(tǒng)途徑是，與高級(jí)合伙人緊密合作，一起經(jīng)營關(guān)鍵客戶，目的是熬到高級(jí)合伙人退休后順利接管這些資源。

????對(duì)于女性來說，這種情況很少發(fā)生。不過，雄心勃勃的女性職員已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了一條全新的晉升策略：造雨(rainmaking)，即利用她們在公司外的網(wǎng)絡(luò)招募新客戶——其中許多客戶也是女性。

????這是一項(xiàng)研究報(bào)告的最新發(fā)現(xiàn)，發(fā)表在本期《行業(yè)和組織》(Journal of Professions and Organization) 雜志上。其執(zhí)筆人之一是賓夕法尼亞州立大學(xué)(Penn State)史密爾商學(xué)院(Smeal College of Business)管理學(xué)和社會(huì)學(xué)教授佛利斯特?布里斯科。報(bào)告指出，鼓勵(lì)女性初級(jí)合伙人培養(yǎng)更多的客戶，可以增強(qiáng)高級(jí)合伙人層級(jí)的多樣性，同時(shí)還能夠?yàn)楣編砀嗟氖杖搿?/p>

????研究人員詳細(xì)分析了一家大型律師事務(wù)所1993年至2007年的內(nèi)部數(shù)據(jù)。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在通往高級(jí)合伙人的道路上，繼承客戶資源和培養(yǎng)新客戶都是險(xiǎn)招。要想從一位上司手中繼承客戶資源，往往需要花費(fèi)數(shù)年來經(jīng)營這些客戶，而且不一定能夠獲得回報(bào)，因?yàn)檫@位高級(jí)合伙人可能會(huì)將接力棒傳遞給別人。

????培養(yǎng)新客戶的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)更大，部分原因是它需要耗費(fèi)同樣多的時(shí)間和精力，但這些付出是不計(jì)費(fèi)的，除非一位新客戶愿意簽約。所以說，如果一位初級(jí)合伙人竭盡全力構(gòu)造和培育一個(gè)強(qiáng)大的外部網(wǎng)絡(luò)，他（她）“在短期內(nèi)的工作效率和盈利能力很可能面臨下降風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。”

????即便如此，出于眾所周知的理由，培養(yǎng)新客戶往往是女性唯一的選擇。大多數(shù)高級(jí)合伙人和他們的客戶依然是白人男性。如果讓這些人自主行事，他們往往會(huì)庇護(hù)其他白人男性，并將其培養(yǎng)成自己的接班人。

????“這并非一種故意歧視女性的決定，”布里斯科說。相反，這是一個(gè)被社會(huì)學(xué)家稱為同質(zhì)性的問題，“事關(guān)人們的‘舒適區(qū)’(comfort zone)”，他說。這種理論認(rèn)為，我們往往會(huì)被更像自己的人吸引，或是讓你想起年輕時(shí)的自己的人。

????幸運(yùn)的是，對(duì)于女性來說，同質(zhì)性效應(yīng)不單出現(xiàn)在公司內(nèi)部，公司外部也一樣。布里斯科指出，“現(xiàn)在有越來越多的女性擔(dān)任大公司的內(nèi)部顧問，或者為公司選擇專業(yè)服務(wù)機(jī)構(gòu)之責(zé)的其他角色?！边@種情況通常對(duì)致力于培養(yǎng)新客戶的女性有利。

????布里斯科給那些試圖革新（比如，改變客戶資源沿公司等級(jí)階梯的分配方式）的公司提供了兩個(gè)建議。首先，他說，“大型合伙制公司并非總是關(guān)注客戶資源如何被繼承。所以，仔細(xì)觀察公司如何做出這些決定，將是一個(gè)良好的開端?！?/p>

????第二，他說，公司可能會(huì)允許初級(jí)合伙人花費(fèi)更多時(shí)間建立外部網(wǎng)絡(luò)，以支持培養(yǎng)新客戶這條通向高級(jí)合伙人的路徑。這可能意味著承認(rèn)，現(xiàn)在更少的計(jì)費(fèi)時(shí)間意味著未來能夠獲得更高的收入，更多的女性高級(jí)合伙人。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：葉寒

????Call it the New Girls' Network. At professional services firms in fields like law, accounting, and advertising, the partners who control the biggest share of revenues wield the most influence. For those on their way up, getting there has traditionally meant working closely with senior partners on key client accounts, with the aim of taking them over when the partner retires.

????For women, that happens less often. So female fast-trackers have found a different strategy: rainmaking, or tapping their networks outside the firm to recruit new clients -- many of whom are women, too.

????That's the finding of a new study co-authored by Forrest Briscoe, who teaches management and sociology at Penn State's Smeal College of Business, and published in the current issue of the Journal of Professions and Organization. Firms that want more diversity at the senior partner level, the study says, can increase revenues at the same time by encouraging even more of the rainmaking that many female junior partners already do.

????The researchers analyzed detailed data from inside a major corporate law firm from 1993 to 2007. They found that both the inheritance and the rainmaking paths to senior partnership are risky. Hoping to inherit clients from a higher-up usually takes years of work on those accounts, with no guarantee of a payoff if the senior partner then decides to pass the baton to someone else.

????Rainmaking is even riskier, the study says, in part because it takes just as much time and effort but isn't billable unless and until a new client signs on. So a junior partner who invests in building and cultivating a strong outside network "will risk appearing less productive and profitable" in the short run.

????Even so, for women, rainmaking is often the only option, for reasons that are familiar by now. Most senior partners, and their clients, are still white males who, left to their own devices, usually take other white males under their wing and groom them as successors.

????"It's not a conscious decision based on discrimination," Briscoe says. Rather, he says, it's a question of what sociologists call homophily, or "a matter of people's 'comfort zones,' where we tend to gravitate toward people who are more like us, or who remind us of our younger selves."

????Luckily for women, homophily's effects operate outside their firms as well as inside. "There are many more women now who are in-house counsel at big companies, or who are in other roles where they're choosing professional services firms for their companies," Briscoe notes, and that often works in female rainmakers' favor.

????For firms that want to shake things up and change, for example, how clients get passed down through the ranks, Briscoe has two suggestions. First, he says, "big partnerships don't always look at how clients are inherited. So taking a close look at exactly how those decisions are made would be a good first step."

????Second, he says, firms might want to support the rainmaking path to senior partnership by allowing more time for networking outside the office. That may well mean recognizing that fewer billable hours now can mean higher revenues, and more women senior partners, down the road.