Are Woman Better Leaders Than Men
Are Women Better Leaders Than Men?By Mitch McCrimmon | |
An increasingly heard claim is that women are better leaders than men. What this really means is that leaders with stereotypical feminine traits might be better than those with classic masculine traits, whether men or women.
The foundation for this claim is that women are more collaborative while men are more competitive. There is no doubt that collaboration is vital for success in business today. In addition, work is much more complex. We are now in an era of knowledge work where people want to have their say, not just be told what to do. Organizations have many more vocal stakeholders telling them how to behave - government, environmental lobbyists, shareholders, customers, employee groups, etc. This calls for leaders with better relationship building skills. The ability to collaborate and foster joint ownership is now at a premium. Then there is the greater need to nurture talent, with the emphasis on ''nurture''. It is not that men can't do these things, but that such skills are more feminine than masculine.
Of course, there are collaborative men and competitive women in leadership roles, but this is why the discussion needs to be framed around masculine and feminine traits. That is, some women have masculine traits and vice versa. In any case, it is clear that the cultures of many organizations are becoming more feminine. All the talk over the past 20 years about cultivating better team work and showing more consideration for employees shows how feminine organizational cultures are becoming and rightly so.
But there is an important point that this debate is overlooking. Everything I have read about how and why women might be better leaders than men focuses exclusively on what happens within organizations. But what about the competitive environment that private sector businesses operate in? To beat competitors, leaders need to foster a strong competitive streak throughout the business and they
An increasingly heard claim is that women are better leaders than men. What this really means is that leaders with stereotypical feminine traits might be better than those with classic masculine traits, whether men or women.
The foundation for this claim is that women are more collaborative while men are more competitive. There is no doubt that collaboration is vital for success in business today. In addition, work is much more complex. We are now in an era of knowledge work where people want to have their say, not just be told what to do. Organizations have many more vocal stakeholders telling them how to behave - government, environmental lobbyists, shareholders, customers, employee groups, etc. This calls for leaders with better relationship building skills. The ability to collaborate and foster joint ownership is now at a premium. Then there is the greater need to nurture talent, with the emphasis on ''nurture''. It is not that men can't do these things, but that such skills are more feminine than masculine.
Of course, there are collaborative men and competitive women in leadership roles, but this is why the discussion needs to be framed around masculine and feminine traits. That is, some women have masculine traits and vice versa. In any case, it is clear that the cultures of many organizations are becoming more feminine. All the talk over the past 20 years about cultivating better team work and showing more consideration for employees shows how feminine organizational cultures are becoming and rightly so.
But there is an important point that this debate is overlooking. Everything I have read about how and why women might be better leaders than men focuses exclusively on what happens within organizations. But what about the competitive environment that private sector businesses operate in? To beat competitors, leaders need to foster a strong competitive streak throughout the business and they