Gender and leadership
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"Research shows women have better leadership skills." That's the teaser headline about research done in Australia. I haven't seen the study yet. The people releasing it are milking the teaser aspect for every drop of publicity.
No doubt, the news releases will result in newspaper and wire service stories about how research shows that women are better leaders than men. But the practical business reality is that studies like this give us great conversation starters and not much more.
The reality is that we don't need no stinking survey to demonstrate that women can lead. Look around. It's happening. With all the women who are effective business and political leaders, if you think that something about gender eliminates the possibility of effective leadership, you need to see if your brain is switched on and your scanning systems work.
Glass ceilings are also reality. There are willing and qualified women in our organizations that don't get the opportunity that their ability and ambition should merit. I have never, in almost forty years in business ever heard a man say that he didn't get promoted because he was a man. I wish I could say I never heard a talented and ambitious woman say that.
And here's one final bit of reality. We can't afford this nonsense. As organizations, as countries, and as free economies, we need every brain in the game.
In the end, it's not about whether men or women are better leaders. In the end, it's not about which team has better traits. In the end it comes down to individuals and their performance.
A long-time friend of mine was a police firearms trainer before she retired. I do not have permission to share her name.
She points out that if a woman has the upper body strength to hold a handgun steady, she is more likely to be a good shot than a man. That's because women have better small motor skills and better eye-hand coordination, as group, than men.
In real life, whether as a pistol shot or a manager, "as a group" doesn't count. In real life it comes down to individual people producing results. We need to give every qualified and interested man and woman the opportunity to do just that.
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Successful female executives used to be seen as loners who shunned helping other women and dutifully stuck to entrenched rules to succeed.
Today, executive women networks are emerging in the corporate world that work to counter the old boy's club. Women are mentoring other women to help one another advance and succeed. That is why I have created a peer-to-peer social network for women mentoring women in leadership at:
www.WomanLeadership.com
Emerging women leaders are clustering in big cities here in the U.S. Young, college-educated women in Manhattan and other major cities are now earning more than their male counterparts.
The report by Andrew A. Beveridge, entitled "Women of New York City" and published online by the Citizens Union Foundation at its Gotham Gazette site, www.GothamGazette.com, found female New York City residents ages 21 to 30, coming from all educational backgrounds and working full-time, earned 117 percent of men's wages. In Dallas, they earned 120 percent.
According to Census figures, 53% of women in their 20s working in New York City graduated from college, compared to 38% of men in the same age group.
Watch out glass ceiling!
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Thanks for that information and those pointer, John. I think that networks, in both the technological meaning and the social one, will be vital to everyone's success in the coming
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Wally,
I know that you knew I would comment on this entry!! As you know, these issues are basically why I am blogging. I am reading a good book on this topic as well called "Through the Labyrinth" by Alice Eagly and Linda Carli. It talks about these issues in great detail.
I believe you have seen them already, but here is a link to several of my recent entries on these topics:
http://ninasimosko.com/blog/category/glass-ceiling/
Thanks for keeping these issues front and center where people can discuss and we can overcome dates stereotypes!
Regards,
Nina
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Hi Nina. Yes, I would have been stunned if you hadn't stopped by to post. Readers of this blog will surely want to check out your blog for ongoing coverage and comment on these issues. The thing I like most about your blog is that you are an executive writing from that perspective and not a consultant or other sort of commentator. It gives your posts a unique flavor. Thanks, as usual, for stopping by.
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Wally,
Whenever I see a header like that, I cringe.
I wonder if the writers realize that such rants are divisive and do nothing of substance to put to rest a non-issue. That is, all kinds of people can lead in all kinds of situations.
To perpetuate emotional gender headlines is to perpetuate reasons for the indiscriminant to discriminate.
I feel better. . .now I'll go read the actual article.
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Hi Wally,
Best lines: "In real life it comes down to individual people producing results. We need to give every qualified and interested man and woman the opportunity to do just that."
That's the long and the short of it, right there. Prejudices that exclude groups and studies that overpromise can be equally destructive or pointless - the real imperative here is the increasingly powerful market demand for quality talent - wherever - and in whatever guise - it can be found.
Excellent perspective on this - offering plenty to think about - thanks!
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