Leadership: A Female Perspective

Are the challenges different for women than men who aspire to leadership roles? Which sex makes the best leaders?

These are two fundamental questions anytime gender and leadership is discussed. It was clear to me, during my interviews with the women leaders I met with in writing this series, that they felt there was a minimal difference in the challenges they met, if any, compared to their male counterparts. However, I would have to say that, based upon the statistical data available, there are real differences. I think that the women we met in this series just figured out how to deal with those differences successfully instead of dwelling on them or allowing the differences to hold them back. There is no question that this is the most productive approach from a personal perspective—focus on the solution and not the problem.

However, one of the things I would like to accomplish with this series is to raise the level of awareness, not only about the contributions women make to leadership today and their enormous potential for tomorrow, but also to raise awareness of the difference between the opportunities and pathways that sometimes exist for women versus men today and to suggest some possible remedies and perspective adjustments.

First, some data: Looking at the 50 largest publicly-traded companies in each country of the European Union, women, on average, account for 11% of the top executives and 4% of the CEO’s. Further, just 1% of Fortune Magazine’s Global 500 have women CEO’s.

In a very interesting paper titled, “Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership”, published in the Harvard Business Review in September 2007, the authors, Alice Eagly and Linda Carli, offer some insights and suggestions. They point out that the metaphor of the “Glass Ceiling”, a term coined in the mid 1980’s to describe how women were held back from the very top slots in corporate leadership, was only part of the problem.

The use of the metaphor of labyrinth is used to describe a situation where women are redirected and led on a different path on the way up, not just as they reach the top, or ‘glass ceiling’. Here are some suggestions from their paper to corporate policy-makers that may help further level the field and allow some budding talent to emerge:

• Acknowledge that there are vestiges of prejudice. An example is that even in culturally feminine settings such as nursing, librarians, elementary education, and social work, men ascend to supervisory roles more quickly than women. Just acknowledging this fact is a step in the right direction.
• Reduce the subjectivity of performance evaluation—greater objectivity in evaluations also combats the effect of lingering prejudice.
• Prepare women for line management with appropriately demanding assignments. Bring them out of support roles and get them into ‘the business of doing business’.
• Establish family-friendly human resources practices—flex-time, job sharing, telecommuting, etc.
• Shore up women’s ‘social capital’. When a well-placed executive (often a man) takes an interest in a woman’s career, her efforts to build social capital—informal and formal networks—proceed more efficiently.

These are only a few of the well thought out suggestions Eagly and Carli offer. I urge you to read their paper for some truly insightful perspectives.

Now to the question: Who makes better leaders, women or men?

I have dealt with men and women leaders in the arts, politics, and business from around the world for 30 years. As a young man I heard all the stereotypical descriptions that would differentiate women from men and make them less desirable as leaders—many of which were told with a wink and a nod—usually from a man who wanted to share his ‘wisdom’. Even at an early age, these stereotypes would confuse me because every time I would try to apply them as I evaluated women, sure enough, men would start popping up with the same traits, which would negate the stereotype.

In addition, I have worked with men and women leaders from many different sectors: professional services, financial services, retail, and manufacturing (yes, manufacturing) and I think I have the answer to this question, which I would like to approach from two different vectors: anecdotal and statistical. Anecdotally, I can say without equivocation that the differences I have noticed in leaders are truly individual, not gender-based. The differences come from personality, intellectual curiosity, emotional intelligence, discipline, experience and a sense of humor among other things—not someone’s sex.

Now, from a statistical standpoint, we have nowhere near enough data to prove or disprove the hypothesis that women make better leaders. When you look at the sheer numbers of men versus women in leadership positions, how could anyone support a credible conclusion?

What’s the answer? There are many talented women who have significant potential to lead. I’m not suggesting you favor them in the selection process. I’m saying give them equal consideration when you interview someone for that next promotion or vacant management position. Who knows what talent you might discover?

Good luck on your way up!