Male Executives Discuss their Role in Supporting Women in their Careers

By Jim Pytell, Managing Editor On Sep 19, 2025

To this day, women still face unique challenges in the workplace. While some progress has been made in uplifting and supporting women, many are still forced to deal with a lack of leadership opportunities, gender bias, discrimination, grappling with societal expectations and more. During a panel discussion at NJBIA’s 11th annual Women Business Leaders Forum, four male executives explored how men in leadership positions such as theirs can help advocate for and advance women in their careers. 

“I think we’d all be making a mistake not to understand that these are real challenges,” said Rick T. Thigpen, senior vice president, corporate citizenship, Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG). “Talk is cheap and actions speak much louder than words. It absolutely is an essential requirement [for leaders] to not just articulate the words, but actually walk the walk.”

Clifford F. Lindholm, III, president & CEO at Falstrom Company, echoed this sentiment and said that personal growth for those in C-suite positions is vital.

“It has been a part of my journey as the CEO and president of a small family business to try and push myself and grow. There are pictures of my relatives on the wall of my building and all of them are men. But recently, I’ve had the pleasure of having my wife come and work with us and take on a leadership role. That has allowed me to really see and take action, and understand the value of having women in leadership roles in a very traditionally male-dominated industry such as sheet metal manufacturing.”

Lindholm added that the diversity of skills that women can bring to the table play a key part in strengthening an organization.

“Men and women are different. We have different priorities and demands in our lives,” said James W. Horne, Jr., president and CEO, Junior Achievement of New Jersey. “As a leader, you need to be able to expand your understanding of how different people interact.”

He said that this understanding is important when bringing people on board to help them grow and reach their potential.

“One of the things I try to do is identify people on my team – whether they are male or female – that have the talent, the drive and the aspirations to succeed,” Horne said. “What I have found over the years is that if you have those ingredients, it is really just a matter of me as a leader to cultivate your abilities to help you be successful.”

David Pearlmutter, vice president and chief product officer of the Direct Group at Plymouth Rock Assurance, highlighted the need for a deeper understanding of one of the more subtle challenges that women deal with when rising to leadership positions – pursuing perfection.

“It’s not necessarily about the challenges of possessing the skills to be in [these] positions – those are challenges that we all face,” Pearlmutter said. “It is the perceived need for women to be perfect at everything. Men are typically given more leniency and grace to make mistakes, and when they do, they aren’t characterized by them.”

For women, there is often a heightened sense of needing to be perfect in order to be seen as competent. 

This pursuit of perfectionism has other negative consequences as well, often leading to discouraging women from pursuing stretch assignments, applying for a new job, or asking for a raise. It can also be a major driver of burnout.

“We all have things that we do really well, and we all have some things that we wish we could do a little better,” Pearlmutter added.

He explained that as leaders, we should view these mistakes or areas of weakness through the lens of, “Oh, this is something that you need to work on,” as opposed to characterizing individuals as ill equipped for the job because of who they are. 

Lori Roth, global managing partner, Prager Metis, who moderated the panel, said that ultimately, it is about giving people a platform to display what it is they are capable of and what those strengths and advantages are that they can bring to a given role.

“It is not really about hiring a woman or somebody of some diversity just for the numbers,” Roth said. “It is about getting the best candidate – the best people – and different perspectives in the room.”

To access more business news, visit NJB News Now.

Related Articles: