By Sunday Tollefson, MBA, PMP® 

BREAKING: The number of women CEOs now exceeds the number of men CEOs.... named John. That's progress, you can't deny that. 

Women executives comprise less than a quarter of all corporate leaders in the US.

A recent article by Bloomberg highlights why that might be shifting.  

See: Female CEOs Brought in $1.8 Trillion More Than Male Peers

Why? Women spend their careers being promoted on past performance while men are promoted for "potential." It stands to reason that women have more experience and expertise at equal points in their careers, such as at the moment they are promoted to CFO. Women have to be better performers than their males peers, and that explains why their performance is stronger.

A research study by S&P Global Market Intelligence analyzed 6000 companies over 17 years and found that, "within 24 months of appointing female CFOs, companies saw an average 6% increase in profits and an 8% better stock return...