An interesting study conducted by Korn/Ferry International, which is an executive search firm, and the Columbia Business School found that mentoring and education were the two most critical components toward helping the most successfully senior-level women and minority executives get to where they are today.

The study, which examined 280 minorities and women who averaged 46.5 years of age and earned $100,000 to $500,000 salaries, found that 74% of them depended upon their four-year college degrees to help them get recognized by corporate management. 44% of those being studied also eared an MBA degree in order to provide them with the extra help they needed to obtain high-level positions.

College degrees weren’t the only important factor used by these high-ranking executives, however, as almost all of them acknowledged that they achieved their positions largely because of the connections they had with company mentors as well as with their co-workers and superiors.

“The executive suite is no longer a club for privileged, fourth generation, white American males,” said Joanna Miller, Korn/Ferry, who is the Managing Director of Management Assessment Practice. “It is a place where education, determination and hard work win the day. Nevertheless, the glass ceiling is very real, especially for those who do not have a college degree and must compete on wit and work experience alone. The best advice I can give these people is to get back to school and stop casting stones at what they see as discriminatory hiring practices.”

Despite the progress that women have made, Miller maintains that senior management positions still remain difficult for women to obtain.

“We unfairly stereotype women when we infer that they are more concerned, burdened and focused on family issues and other activities outside of work than men,” says Miller. “It’s closer to the mark to observe that a woman’s tolerance for the workplace is more determined by her values and priorities than those of a man.”

Currently, while women make up about half of the professional and managerial positions in the United States, there are only 5 female CEOs in Fortune 500 companies. More than 50% of female executives also report that male stereotypes play a larger role in keeping them from attaining high-level corporate posts. Nearly half of the women also say tat information communication networks still remain male-dominated, making it difficult for them to achieve high level positions. Many also felt their contributions were not recognized and were often not taken seriously. On the other hand 80% of men said the main problem was that women lacked management experience and have not yet spent enough time in the “pipeline.”