Several years ago I was meeting with my friend Herb Greenberg, Ph.D. Herb was the CEO and Founder of Caliper, a consulting firm in Princeton, NJ. Unfortunately, Herb has since passed away and Caliper has been sold but during our meeting, we discussed a research study conducted by Caliper and Aurora, a London-based organization which advances women and comprises a 20,000 member businesswomen’s network. The results from this study are significant and very much worth sharing.
Methodology
While much research has been published comparing the leadership styles of women and men, this study specifically focused on the personality qualities and motivational factors which are at the core of the underlying gender differences.
The study included a valid and reliable personality assessment as well as a demographic analysis and in-depth interviews with 59 women leaders from some of the top companies in the United Kingdom and the United States, including: Accenture, Bank of America, Deloitte, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Johnson and Johnson, Kohler, Molson Coors, and Morgan Stanley. The women came from 9 different business sectors with the highest representations being from Finance (26%), and 7% each in Computer Science, Education & Consulting, Health Products and Services, and Real Estate. The age breakout for the women was 30-39 years (24%), 40-49 years (49%), and 50+ years (27%). The majority, 69% of the women were married, 5% lived with a domestic partner, and 26% were single. 41% had dependent children living with them in the home.
For comparison purposes, the women leaders in this study were matched to a data base of representative samples of male leaders representing similar job titles.
Results Summary
Women leaders are more persuasive, assertive, and willing to take more risks than male leaders.
Women leaders are more assertive and persuasive, having a strong need to get things done and are more willing to take risks than male leaders, according to the study. Women leaders were also found to be empathetic and flexible, as well as stronger in interpersonal skills than their male counterparts.
“These qualities combine to create a leadership style that is inclusive, open, consensus building, collaborative and collegial,” according to Herb. “We should emphasis that the male leaders in this study were also exceptional in these areas. But the women leaders set a new standard,” added Herb.
Mara Swan, Chief People Officer for Molson Coors, points out, “I believe this study shows that for a women to become a leader today, she has to fight harder against the status quo, which requires her to be more focused and determined.”
The Findings
Women leaders are more persuasive than their male counterparts.
Women leaders scored significantly higher than male leaders in ego-drive (persuasive motivation), assertiveness, willingness to take risks, empathy, urgency, flexibility, and sociability.
Their strong people skills enable them to read situations accurately and take in information from all sides. This willingness to see all sides of a situation enhances their persuasive ability.
Women leaders can bring others around to their point of view or alter their own point of view-depending upon the circumstances and information they uncover. They can do this because they genuinely understand and care about where others are coming from. This allows them to come at a subject from their audience’s perspective, so that the people they are leading feel more understood, supported, and valued.
“The male leaders we’ve studied on the other hand have a tendency to start from their own point of view,” explains Dr. Greenberg. “And because they are not as flexible or willing to interact with others, the male leaders may tend to force their perspective and convince others through the strength of their position rather than actually persuading.”
Women feel the sting of rejection, learn from adversity, and carry on with an “I’ll show you” attitude.
These women leaders were in the mid-range of ego-strength (resilience), which was lower, though not significantly, than male leaders. But they exhibit stronger interpersonal skills, (empathy, flexibility, and sociability) and are more assertive than their male counterparts.
These women will feel the sting of rejection but then will muster their assertiveness, shake off the negative feelings, learn what they need to carry on, and a voice in the back of their head will say, “I’ll show you.”
When women leaders have the talent and ambition to move ahead, yet receive signals, subtle or overt, that others think they will not make the grade, this can fuel their ambition.
Women have an inclusive, team-building leadership style of problem solving and making decisions.
Women leaders listen to all points of view and the final decision does not necessarily need to be their point of view. The differences in leadership styles between men and women starts with listening. Not just listening to form and answer, but really listening, learning, reflecting, then implementing a plan that incorporates the best of everyone’s ideas.
Because women leaders are more willing to share information, they will also talk decisions through with many more people than their male counterparts. This inclusive type of leadership, incorporating facts and perspectives from as many resources as possible, positions women leaders ideally for the future, as the information age continues to evolve.
Women leaders are more likely to ignore rules and take risks.
Women leaders scored significantly lower than male leaders in external structure (adhering to established procedures) and cautiousness. They were also significantly higher in levels of urgency and risk taking. And they have very high scores in abstract reasoning.
Women are more likely to push back when they are overly bound by regulations and rules, engage in more risk taking, and come up with innovative solutions.
Women leaders tend to have a greater need to get things done than male leaders and are less likely to hesitate of focus on the small details.
“We’re looking at a different paradigm of leadership, and it plays naturally to the strengths of women,” says Regina Sacha, Vice President of Human Resources for FedEx Custom Critical. “The tide has turned. The leadership skills that come naturally to women are now absolutely necessary for companies to continue to thrive. It certainly is the reverse of how it was when I first started out in the workplace. It seems like poetic justice.”
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