女性在男权世界获取权力的新方式

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.
姑且把它称为“新女生网络

”(New Girls' Network)吧。在法律、会计和广告等领域的专业服务公司，掌控最大份额收入的合伙人通常影响力最强。对于一心追求进步的专业人士来说，抵达职业高峰的传统途径是，与高级合伙人紧密合作，一起经营关键客户，目的是熬到高级合伙人退休后顺利接管这些资源。
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.

对于女性来说，这种情况很少发生。不过，雄心勃勃的女性职员已经发现了一条全新的晋升策略：造雨(rainmaking)，即利用她们在公司外的网络招募新客户——其中许多客户也是女性。
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.

这是一项研究报告的最新发现，发表在本期《行业和组织》(Journal of Professions and Organization) 杂志上。其执笔人之一是宾夕法尼亚州立大学(Penn State)史密尔商学院(Smeal College of Business)管理学和社会学教授佛利斯特o布里斯科。报告指出，鼓励女性初级合伙人培养更多的客户，可以增强高级合伙人层级的多样性，同时还能够为公司带来更多的收入。
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.

研究人员详细分析了一家大型律师事务所1993年至2007年的内部数据。他们发现，在通往高级合伙人的道路上，继承客户资源和培养新客户都是险招。要想从一位上司手中继承客户资源，往往需要花费数年来经营这些客户，而且不一定能够获得回报，因为这位高级合伙人可能会将接力棒传递给别人。
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.