Have you overheard a colleague raise doubts about a particular female employee’s style of working? Or worse, proclaim doom if YOU – a woman in top level of management, exhibit your own risk taking behaviour in the boardroom meetings?
Well, take a breath and exhale out that doubt!
Caliper, a Princeton-based management consulting firm and Aurora, a London-based organization which advances women and comprises a 20,000 member businesswomen’s network, did a study of the unique qualities of female leadership and motivational factors that are at the heart of essential gender differences.
This study included a valid and reliable personality assessment, the Caliper Profile, as well as a demographic analysis and in-depth interviews with 59 female leaders, across19 different business sectors from some of the top companies in the United Kingdom and the United States, including: Accenture, Bank of America, Deloitte & Touche, Deutsche Bank, The Economist Group, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Ernst & Young, IBM, International Paper, Johnson & Johnson, Kohler, Lloyds TSB, Molson Coors and Morgan Stanley.
The female leaders in this study were matched to a representative sample of male leaders drawn from Caliper’s database, representing similar job titles. It was found that women possess stronger interpersonal skills (empathy, flexibility and sociability) and are more assertive than their male counterparts
The core findings about women’s leadership qualities revealed that:
1. Women leaders are more persuasive than their male counterparts. 2. When feeling the sting of rejection, women leaders learn from adversity and carry on with an “I’ll show you” attitude. 3. Women leaders demonstrate an inclusive, team-building leadership style of problem solving and decision making. 4. Women leaders are more likely to ignore rules and take risks.
According to Dr. Greenberg, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Caliper, “These women leaders share a strong profile. They are assertive, persuasive, empathic, willing to take risks, outgoing, flexible and have a need to get things done.”
So, rest assured, the very qualities that come naturally to you as a woman may be aiding in forming a leadership style that is uniquely yours and much more beneficial than you might imagine.
Stop trying to force yourself into a mould defined by what society dictates a women in power ‘should’ be like and start being YOURSELF – it is far more simpler and surer way to success!
Go on – step into that boardroom, OWN it with your unique brand of strengths and LEAD with confidence!
