This article first appeared as a guest post on Wally Bock’s Three Star Leadership Blog where it was viewed over 350 times and forwarded by many.
Wally’s Introduction
In November 2010, after Kevin Eikenberry announced his list of finalists for the “Top Leadership Blogs of 2010,” I posted some reflections best blog lists in general. The first comment on the post, from Dorothy Dalton, noted that there was only one woman blogger on the list of ten, about the percentage of women on corporate boards. Other comments picked up on that. In a later comment, Dorothy defined the core issue very well.
“what can be done to raise the visibility and inclusion of the surely excellent women who must be writing in this field?”
At about the same time, Dr. Anne Perschel, who blogs regularly at Germane Coaching & Consulting , contacted me to discuss the same issue. During the course of that conversation, I invited Anne to write a guest post for this blog. Her post appears below. I’m glad she accepted for three reasons.
As a matter of business practicality I think we need to get “every brain” in the game. As a matter of justice, I think we need to make sure that every brain is invited to play.
I think it is entirely possible to agree to that goal and disagree on how to accomplish it.
I think the best way to make progress is through civil dialogue.
Now, here’s Anne Perschel’s post.
Smoke filled conference rooms with fist banging, object throwing, and a lone woman or none at all were norms at the outset of my business career. Despite some changes, professional women’s groups participate in a chorus of head nods when I speak of the times…
“You are at a meeting. You say something and are ignored or negated. Within minutes (at this point women begin nodding their heads) a man in the group presents the same idea, with almost identical words. Everyone thinks it’s a great idea and no one seems to notice that you said the same thing a few minutes ago. You are dumbfounded the first time this happens. The third time you stop speaking.”
This same phenomenon is taking place in the virtual space of social media. Lists of “Best ________” (CEOs, leadership bloggers, speakers) include few women or people of difference. Our absence is a loud involuntary silence.
We are leading, writing and speaking. But our voices are ignored and our ideas are co-opted without credit to women as a group. The conference room dynamic has gone public.
Silenced Voices – Lost Opportunity
Women and people of diversity bring different perspectives, perceptions, ways of thinking and ideas to the conversation. Of utmost importance is the ability to see what is not obvious to the power group that sets the rules. Those who live outside the mainstream, see the stream more clearly simply because they are not in it. The ability to apprehend different opportunities, problems and solutions often lies outside the stream as well. Here are a few examples.
Spanx – The lines of Sara Blakely’s underwear show through her pants. She cuts the feet from a pair of panty hose and substitutes them for the underwear. Voila, no lines and ten years later a $300 million dollar business.
Audur Capital – an Icelandic finance firm weathers the country’s economic crisis with no loss of equity for the company or its clients. Two women founded the company and intentionally employ feminine values.
- Risk Awareness – don’t invest in things we don’t understand
- Straight Talk – use simple language and deliver even the bad news
- Emotional Capital – people not spreadsheets make money
- Profit with Principles – Invest in the long term, social and environmental good
Fortune 500 companies with the most women on top leadership teams produce 33% better financial gains that those with the least women, according to a study by Catalyst.
The Talent Revealed
A literature review of “leadership” and “empathy” yields one article prior to the 1990s when few women occupied upper management and leadership roles. Today, with the presence of more women, articles posts and books on relational and emotional aspects of leadership abound. I believe these phenomena are related.
Several years ago I conducted interviews to ascertain whether, and if so, how women change leadership practices. Fifty executives – 25 men and 25 reported increased
- Empathy
- Collaboration
- Support for others
- Intuitive Thinking
- Emotional Savvy
- Diminished aggressive behaviors
They unanimously attribute these changes to the increased presence and influence of women.
In the 1980s James MacGregor Burns wrote in his book On Leadership,
“[There is] a false conception of leadership as mere command or control. As leadership comes properly to be seen as a process of leaders engaging and mobilizing the human needs and aspirations of followers, women will be more readily recognized as leaders and men will change their own leadership styles.” (p.50)
Conclusions
Women are capable leaders, as well as leadership thinkers, writers and speakers.
They bring something different to the practice and thinking about leadership.
The predominance of one group on “Best” lists fails to represent the full breadth of the best leadership and the best thinking about leadership.
Lack of diversity in leadership can lead to groupthink, the absence of questions about such thinking as well as unpredicted and unwanted results.
The old rules and yesterday’s playbook are failing to secure the future.
When leaders are chosen from all the available talent the rules will change, but first, these newer players need to be heard and valued.
Postscript
I am not fighting for women but for the future. What got us here won’t get us there and women are a critical piece of the difference.
How will you help secure the future?
Comments from guest post at Three Star Leadership
As you’ve pointed out, Wally, these lists are very subjective. I don’t fault Kevin for the bloggers that made his list, but mine would have looked different.One of my favorite bloggers is Mary Jo Asmus. She does not blog about women leaders, or for women leaders, she just blogs in a way that consistently resonates with me. She is one of the 6 bloggers I ask my MBA students to follow, and she is consistently one of their favorites.
As you know, I publish a paper.ly daily. It is a selective list of 23 bloggers/tweeters that I like. 7 of the 22 folks on my list are women. To be honest, I make a determined effort to include women on this list for the reasons you and Anne point out in this blog.
We’ve been talking about this issue for decades. Things have improved, but they still have a LONG way to go. We all bear responsibility for making things better for our children. Business as usual is not going to get it done.
Bret
I like your opening line, Bret, and I think it applies to me as well. I believe that it’s important to have dialogue on issues like this so that different points of view get aired and, more important, heard.
There is an excellent video on TED in which Sheryl Sandberg COO of Facebook addresses the question of why there are not more women leaders. One of the points she puts forward is that women consistently underestimate their leadership abilities and so we hold the view that we are not good enough to “sit at the table” with the men.As a woman who offers leadership training and blogs about leadership I am embarrassed to say that I don’t think I noticed that there was only one woman blogger on the top ten list. Or maybe I subconsciously noticed but didn’t think anything of it – and that is even more shocking.I recently ran a leadership clinic for a group of corporate women. I was extremely impressed with their leadership abilities. What really caught my attention however was the comment that the skills learned in the workshop would help them be more successful at handling their male managers – who they felt should have been in the workshop also.
Women need to stop accepting the status quo and begin to believe that good leadership is not gender dependent. Until we do so we will not see more women “sitting at the table.”
By the way, I plan to spend some time revising my subscription list so that at least fifty percent of my subscribed blogs are written by women!
Thanks, Laura. I think I have to disagree with your last objective, though. I don’t think the objective is to have fifty percent of the blogs on a subscription list written by women. I think that when we go that way we wind up rewarding mediocrity. But if we encourage women to blog and help them become effective we can create distribution lists where all the blogs are first-rate and a lot, perhaps even more than fifty percent are by women.
You are absolutely right Wally. My comment was a bit facetious. However your post was a wake-up call that I should be making more effort to support women bloggers – especially being one myself! Thanks.
Thanks, Laura. People may want to look at your blog which is “The Alpha Mare’s Blog,” and one I didn’t know about even though you’ve commented here several times.
A lot of interesting points, and I also agree we “…need to get every brain in the game.” There is a lot of confusion and disagreement as to the extent of the problem of inclusion and exclusion on the web in the past month or so regarding this topic. For example, two different TED talks where one expressed the rise of the women in executive and leadership roles, and another by COO of facebook where there were some issues that women themselves need to be aware of (e.g., habitually not speaking up). Additionally, an article on Huffington Post entitled, “21 Companies That Have Excluded Women From Leadership: 24/7 Wall Street” reflected recent research that shows that women are not included among many Fortune 500 companies. So the question then becomes, which reports are correct or more influential?Perhaps all are correct and must be viewed from a big or holistic perspective. As from Anne’s comments regarding being ignored in the corporate world, and from facebook’s COO of women habitually not speaking up — I have seen both. As well, I have had the experience in a predominately women led and workforce organization where the women leaders expected no one to speak up in order to present their ideas under the disguise of asking for opinions, but were not comfortable when individuals gave opinions. Additionally, the facts are evident that in established Fortune 500 companies that women in leadership is not commensurate with their numbers in the workforce, but women are increasing (perhaps even dominating) in new business start-ups, entrepreneurs, and as college graduates.
Furthermore, there are other disparities in inclusion and exclusion relative a typical social phenomenon of people seeking out similarity and in the technology of engagement on the internet via blogs, social media, and web sites. Anyone who has had a sociology course has probably heard that America was first called the melting pot until it was realized that little melding was occurring and that instead people flocked to be with others of a similar culture (e.g. Little Italy, Chinatown). I believe this has occurred also within organizations and the male dominated established businesses under the old ideology of command and control. Secondly, technology does not have a bias as to your gender unless it is made so by specific individuals that do not have clear, concise, and transparent criteria for inclusion. There are lists that specifically list only technological criteria among leadership blogs and unfortunately women are underrepresented on those lists too.
From my perspective, both organizations and individuals need to be cognizant of some points in order to avoid the social phenomenon of similarity or exclusion, and to create a culture of inclusion: such as:
– Transparent criteria for performance or inclusion in leadership, leadership development
– Creating a culture that involves inclusion and acceptance
– Personal Leadership and responsibility for one’s own limitations
Thank you for that thoughtful comment, Dale. Your response and Laura’s are exactly the sort of comments I hoped we would get when I invited Anne to post.
Thank you Wally for raising the visibility and inclusion of women on your three star leadership blog. You included two of my favorite and most inspirational “partners in crime”, Anne Perschell and Dorothy Dalton.Amusingly, you also include the three of us in your very kind #FollowFriday recommendation, invariably quoting “Special attention to issues of women in the workplace”. It’s a wonderful recognition as far as I am concerned and I’m very grateful for your special attention towards us.At the same time, I can’t help feeling a little confined to the “issues of women at the workplace”. Doesn’t it concern men too? Not Only Women…Remember, our motto in NOW Leadership
With great consideration and gratitude!
Marion
Thanks for stopping by, Marion. Please don’t take my follow recommendation as an indication that you only deal with issues of women in the workplace. It’s my observation that, for me, those contributions stand out.
Wally, Bret, & others discussing quotas:
There is a well written article highlighting research on this topic athttp://www.theglasshammer.com/news/2010/12/15/leadership-gender-quotas-–-the-research-perspective/
Reply to this
Thanks, Anne.
Laura – There isn’t much that could delight me more than seeing your statement that you’ve been awakened and will be more intentional about noticing and supporting other women. When one of us wins we all win – men and women.
Gracias for your comment.
Regards,
Anne
Great article (as usual)! That behavior is very much a part of our culture. I suggest something, team members chuckle derisively or else glare at me as though I’d farted, and the conversation goes on with the next person responding to what the person before me said. I’ve learned to relax. I was heard. Almost every time, in a few minutes or days, a man who heard me speak will suggest my idea and and we’ll adopt it almost immediately. It’s as though everyone needs to stew on it awhile to get it, and by then, no one remembers where the idea began. I try to remember that, unbeknownst to anyone, I have an amazing track record. The odds of my next “unheard” idea taking root are remarkable. But the chuckles and glares seem childish and inappropriate in an organization that claims to value respect and diversity. I’ve worked where men behave with maturity and respect, which tells me this behavior isn’t “a guy thing” but misbehavior that a company can choose to tolerate or discourage and in so doing build its culture. And yes, I’m thinking to move on to a culture that’s more mature.
You really did say “fart” on a public forum. Thanks for instigating my first smile of the day, and I’n not even 1/2 way through my 1st cup of java.Many people have raised valid issues in their comments all of which will benefit companies when they are addressed. If, however, the culture does not value what you and other women contribute, the picture will remain much the same. Others can use your ideas but a wise man once told me – “Women who try to be like men are at best an imitation of half pie.” The same is true when men co-opt ideas without incorporating the perspective, values and thinking systems that lead to these ideas. Wish I could be in the room to let the immature folks know you spoke the idea and paying more attention would be a good thing. Good luck in your next endeavor.
Thanks, Kathy. I’d like to highlight the comment at the end of your post, that the behavior you describe is something a company can choose to tolerate or not.
I believe the best way for most people to address issues where the market under-prices certain labor is to buy that labor for yourself and beat the competition that has to hire less capable people and pay them more.And I definitely think there are lots of ways the hiring market makes dumb systemic decisions. They often penalize silly things that don’t have large impact on job performance. And there are a number of these that result in women being passed over for jobs. So take a look around at those great opportunities others are giving you (by failing to hire them) and you can get better people and beat the competition.
You can use this strategy not just to hire more women but anything where the market makes systemically dumb decisions. Setting up silly requirement for college degrees or some certification instead of just looking at qualified people for example. Or caring about breaks in employment history. If companies are so lame that they care if someone has a 6 month break in their employment history (which I guess they are given how many people fret over such things) that gives you a great chance to hire people that others foolishly didn’t.
Good points, John. My take is that this is an issue that needs to be worked from several directions.
With an attitude of respect, deep curiosity, desire to learn and explore, I observe and ask about the following dynamics in our own community of people writing and reading about business leadership.When men raise this issue, as Wally has done by way of a guest post on his site, more men join the conversation, exemplified by those who have voiced up here. On my own blog and those of other women who write about this issue, men tend not to participate in the comments to this degree.
1. How do you understand this dynamic?
2. Is there anything any of us, including myself, can do to change this dynamic beginning in our own back yards?
3. Is this the way it has to be and, therefore, collectively we should accept and work with it.
In advance, thanks for your thoughts.
Men tend not to participate in the comments to women’s conversations to the degree of their own conversations for more reasons than I could probably imagine. However close to the surface is change, it would be different. I am dragged through change slowly and cautiously even when I’m doing the dragging. And I trust myself. So fighting change IS the way it has to be but, therefore, collectively we should reject rejection and work through change with every champion that pushes evolution.
Thank you Wally and Anne for airing this important debate. As someone involved in global executive search I am always suprised that such a large portion of the talent pool can remain untapped. But it does. At the European AESC Conference in 2009 it merited +/-30 second mention.There are many factors involved in this and one of them is the need for women to step up, self advocate, self develop and self promote, as well as negotiating, not just within the workplace, but within the context of their own relationships. But additionally – current leaders have to innovate with vision and develop this resource, otherwise in my book they are not leading, simply replicating with the resources that are willing and available.
There are many other wider factors at play here too, as the workplace and home life undergo signficant changes which as Marion rightly says will also impact men. The next decade is going to see some interesting developments I think, as the impact of divorce and the rise of single parent families become workplace issues.
Men and women can learn from each other in terms of reassigning the value we give to certain leadership characteristics giving way to new leadership models.
The issue I had with that particular blog list was that it claimed to be the “Best Leadership Blog in the World” when it was actually based on nominations from the author’s own readership base. For me it was inaccurate and misleading labelling on the tin!
Dorothy, your “I am always surprised that such a large portion of the talent pool can remain untapped” is an interesting counterpoint to John Hunter’s thoughts on market forces. Let me throw one more observation into the pot.There are industries, journalism and PR for example, where women make up more than half the workforce and others, petroleum engineering for example, where the percentage is very small. Is there something we can learn from that?
Hi Wally – I agree there are certain sectors where the employment of women is higher than others. Media, PR, HR, hospitality, teaching, healthcare, finance, law come to mind. What percentage of these women occupy senior or operational business management roles I’m uncertain, but a quick Google search located a number of groups in existence to promote them to managerial and leadership positions which would suggest that there is a gap there too .Engineering in general is lightly populated by women, but I’m sure that will eventually evolve to reflect changes in global education systems.
John’s point was also interesting about the unnecessary signficance attached to certain job requirements that might exclude women(or any other demographic). Specifically in the case of women career gaps, a demand for flexible working and reduced travel to facilitate childcare are the ones I encounter most frequently as a headhunter.
While the hiring elite is predominantly male at a senior level, their norms, assumptions and values will prevail. I came across a recent case of 2 colleagues who applied for flexible working conditions and the woman was asked how she would manage with children at home. The man was not – there being an expectation that his partner would look after the kids.
I know I keep bashing on about this, but one trend I do anticipate is that organisations will be obliged to recognise that family life will become a workplace issue, with the increase in single parents( both men and women) and Gen Y expecting gender neutral flexible working conditions.I’ve already written about this trend as it already impacts executive search. Modern businesses are reliant on functioning traditional nulear families and that is changing.
I think our leaders are being slow to recognise the significance of social changes which are currently ongoing.
All good points, Dorothy. I think those in the power positions are almost always late to the party on changing social trends. They’ve succeeded with things one way and they’re likely to be told by those beneath them on the org chart that they’re doing things ever so well.
when i speak at conferences I find that women contribute a lot to the discussion in this forum. I havent noticed them being excluded or undermined. Women and men are very different intellectually and emotionally, and our voice is critical, the diversity is crucial.
Thanks, Jody. I have a slightly different observation. When I’ve spoken at associations, my experience is like your experience, that the women present usually speak up and participate in the discussion, what varies in associations is the percentage of women in the room. At company programs, the participation doesn’t seem to have a pattern. My guess is that it varies with company culture.
Good point. Their are a relatively large number of women in association audiences. I have always found that. This might lend to why they have more of a voice. I don’t know as much about corporate.
Really like your blog
Thanks for those kind words, Jody, and for adding to the conversation.
Wally, I really appreciate your proactive approach to this subject. Not only was this a pattern with best blogs, it was also a pattern with lists of top business leaders.Anne describes the situation well when she says “What got us here won’t get us there and women are a critical piece of the difference.” It’s in everyone’s best interest for us to tap the full capabilities of all. Probably most people would agree, but who points out we’re far from consistently acting that way?
Those in the traditional power positions need to reach out and welcome others, (which is what you did here, Wally and which Bret does with his lists), and not wait for those on the outside to bear the full responsibility to fight their way in.
My hope for the future is that more men will become proactive in recognizing the inequities and will actively name them when they see them. Thanks again for creating the forum to put this on the table.
Anne, you wrote an exceptional article. Kudos to you!
p.s. I’ve also enjoyed reading the thoughtful responses. (One of the advantages to being late in entering the conversation).
s
Thanks for all the kind words, Jesse. There are a lot of moving parts to this and a lot of voices that need to be heard.
To all who have commented here. You are the solution and I deeply appreciate each and everyone of you.As Lee states this is about “change.” Celebrating successes, those who contribute, and making new stories are key to the shift. Next step for me – celebrate white guys who stand for women leaders. I’m creating such a list in my twitter account. It will be public. Other ideas? Names of other people who should be on the list?
This has been my first chance to review the comments on Anne’s post. I love the dialog, and feel compelled to add a couple of things.One – a thank you to Bret for his kind words and noticing the hidden agenda for my blog. It’s always been intentional for me NOT to write about gender and leadership.
Two – I do have some concern about the care we must take not to create divisiveness over gender. There is a line that can be crossed that creates “us” vs. “them”. I see it sometimes manifesting itself in categorizing people’s leadership style by gender (the question of whether women lead differently than men is irrelevant – at least to me. Individuals lead differently because they are human beings who bring their whole selves to work).
I once had a female VP ask me to coach her to understand and work better with her male peers. My response? I refused to focus on “male vs. female”, but rather could help her to work better with anyone. She hired me anyway, and it was a successful engagement partially because she was taking responsibility for reaching out and improving those relationships, and partially because I refused to allow her to focus on any perceived slights or differences due to gender which may have only exacerbated differences and soured relationships. My bottom line: awareness is good. But a focus on gender differences in leadership – and blogging – must be undertaken with great care. Likewise, we must be careful to support blogs because they are well written, not only because they are written by women.
Thanks for the insights, Mary Jo, I agree completely. It’s always hard to change attitudes and practice, but it’s almost impossible if people cast others enemies or cast themselves as victims. I like the two points you made: that you would work with that client on her business relationships of all kinds and that she had to take responsibility for changing the things that she controlled.
I take a similar approach, Mary Jo. I rarely speak directly on behalf of women’s issues and don’t call myself a feminist. Instead, I hope my actions can serve as a model. Although, every once in awhile, I see or read something, like Anne’s article, that calls me to speak to patterns I have observed from a big picture perspective.I appreciate your approach to the female VP in helping her take responsibility for her actions and not become a victim blaming the system.
I also believe we need positive role models of what female leadership looks like. Twenty years ago I consulted with the first female office of a 150 year old Fortune 500 manufacturing company. At that point, it was quite common for me to be the only woman in the room when I facilitated a meeting, so it was nice to connect with another woman. She once jokingly remarked to me that when she went to the restroom, she would look down when she zipped her pants. I was struck by her comment because I realized how much she had unconsciously adapted in her rise to the top. And twenty years later, I believe we still don’t have a lot of positive models of female leaders.
On the other hand, more and more are emerging. I thought Halla Tomasdottir, the financier who helped rescue Iceland’s financial system after the crash, did a wonder job describing how she applies five traditionally “feminine” values to financial risk in the TED talk in Dec.
http://www.ted.com/talks/halla_tomasdottir.html?awesm=on.ted.com_8l1w
Thanks for you comments and the link, Jesse.
Thank you Jesse for commenting with a link to TEDWomen presenter Halla Tomasdittor. Her presentation is worth watching. I think both men and women can will be impresses with how intentional values positioned the financial services firm she co-founded to thrive during the financial crisis. And if anyone is interested she told me where to find those stunning red power shoes she’s wearing.
Mary Jo – I appreciate your comment about taking care not to create divisiveness in our discourse about gender. To do so would be a disservice to all and to leadership in general. For this reason, I choose to talk about “the feminine” and “the masculine,” with the understanding that most of us behave in ways that are at times more stereotypically one or the other.When talking about organizations, culture, business and leadership I think it is important to acknowledge that until the past few decades the business of business and the business of leadership have leaned heavily on the masculine aspects of human behavior. Referring to “the feminine” is a way of capturing the human qualities that need to be better integrated in business and leadership for and by the benefit of all.
Let’s keep the discourse alive and moving on twitter @bizshrink and at http://germaneconsulting.com