Women leaders are more persuasive, assertive and willing to take more risks than male leaders.
Mara Swan, Chief People Officer for Molson Coors, points out, “I believe this study shows that for a woman to become a leader today, she has to fight harder against the status quo, which requires her to be more focused and determined.”
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Women leaders are more assertive and persuasive, have a stronger need to get things done and are more willing to take risks than male leaders, according to a new study conducted by Caliper, a Princeton-based management consulting firm, which has assessed the potential of more than two million applicants and employees for over 25,000 companies around the world, and Aurora, a London-based organization which advances women and comprises a 20,000 member businesswomen’s network.
Women leaders also were found to be more empathic 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 Greenberg, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Caliper.
“We should emphasize that the male leaders in this study were also exceptional in these areas. But the women leaders set a new standard,” adds Dr. Greenberg.
As a footnote, the women leaders in the United Kingdom and the United States share very similar, very strong profiles.
While scores of executives and academicians have weighed in on what it takes to be an effective leader, a participant in the study, Connie Jackson, Chief Executive of St. Bartholomew’s & the Royal London Charitable Foundation, provides an excellent working definition: “Strong leadership starts with being able to pull together a group of people—who may not have anything in common—and getting them to buy into a vision of themselves as a collective group who can