The Washington Post sees the light. A recent article, Fixing the Economy: It’s Women’s Work (see below) reports that businesses with at least 3 women in top leadership roles out pace the competition by a wide margin. After hearing about the Rule of 3 during one of my public speaking engagements several years ago, Kevan Norris of Wellesley Partners wrote, “Business leaders who do not heed the advice of Germane Coaching & Consulting about the Rule of 3 do so at their own peril.” The evidence grows stronger every day.
I disagree, however, with the premise in the Post article that men and women are locked in to different leadership styles. Ppersonality is more elastic and develops in response to opportunities provided and taken, according to Linda Carli, Ph.D. Wellesley College. For example, as women take on management roles they develop greater assertiveness. Simultaneously as men take on more family care taking roles, they develop more relational attributes. This means that leaders – both male and female – can practice and integrate the best of stereotypically male (assertive & individualistic) and female (relational and receptive) characteristics and as a result achieve fuller, richer and more effective leadership in addition to more satisfying lives.
If you are interested in achieving The Rule of 3 – a strategy that will unleash outstanding company performance – or in expanding the other side of your leadership potential contact me for an initial consultation. And keep checking back, I will be writing about best practices for realizing this vision.
Fixing the Economy? It’s Women’s Work
By Katty Kay and Claire Shipman
Sunday, July 12, 2009
While the pinstripe crowd fixates on troubled assets, a stalled stimulus and mortgage remedies, it turns out that a more sure-fire financial fix is within our grasp — and has been for years. New research says a healthy dose of estrogen may be the key not only to our fiscal recovery, but also to economic strength worldwide.
The sexy new discussion in policy circles around the world, thanks to the recession, is whether a significant shift of power from men to women is underway — or whether it should be. Accounting giant Ernst & Young pulled out charts and graphs at a recent power lunch in Washington with female lawmakers to argue a provocative bottom line: Companies with more women in senior management roles make more money. The latest issue of Foreign Policy magazine sweepingly predicts the “death of macho.” Economists at Davos this year speculated that the presence of more women on Wall Street might have averted the downturn. Adding to this debate is the fact that the laid-off victims of this recession are overwhelmingly men.
All those right-brain skills disparaged as soft in the roaring ’90s are suddenly 21st-century-hot, while cocky is experiencing a slow fizzle. (Click here for the full article)
Katty Kay is a Washington anchor and reporter for “BBC World News America.” Claire Shipman is the senior national correspondent for ABC’s “Good Morning America.” They are the authors of “Womenomics.”