Why is there so much buzz around the Global Power 150 — Women In Staffing list? While there is enthusiasm about all the SIA Who’s Who lists, I have to concede that there is a little extra frenzy when it comes to this particular one.

Perhaps because on the one hand, it’s about promoting gender equality in the workplace. On the other, it’s about our ecosystem being able to attract the labor market’s best candidates for clients. We can only do that we if we have the right people — both women and men — pushing their firms to adapt to tight labor markets and developing new ways to source talent and engage workers — both internal and external.

There is no denying that a large number of women work in staffing firms, but how many actually power the C-suite? Not many. Our list is nudging the industry to call out those women who are doing a phenomenal job.

Our goal also is to provide you with resources to take your firm to the next level. To that end, we provide much food for thought in this issue, such as View from the Boardroom, in which Airswift CEO Janette Marx discusses the abundance of underutilized female talent out there. Who better than our industry with its excellent vantage point to bring this talent to the fore?

Helping with strategies is Jay Cohen, founder of Signature Consultants, who explores concepts to help build a framework of your approach to growth. His story concludes our Breaking Through series — excerpts from a 2019 Executive Forum session based on SIA President Barry Asin’s and Charted Path founder Mike Cleland’s book, Breaking Through: Leadership Disciplines from Top-Performing Staffing Firms.

This issue also has our usual columns written by our staff and other thought leaders, all to help you stay competitive and prepared for what this economy delivers. We hope you enjoy reading the magazine. And as always, we welcome your feedback. Please drop me a line to tell me what you think. Or if you feel strongly that we should do something different.