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 Management Guru Tom Peters
reviews LEADERSHIP AND THE SEXES.
LEADERSHIP
AND THE SEXES: USING GENDER SCIENCE TO CREATE SUCCESS IN BUSINESS - Michael
Gurian with Barbara Annis. Jossey-Bass, $27.95 (272p) ISBN
978-0-7879-9703-8. To learn more about the book click
here.
TomPeters.com, a
management and leadership blog, featured LEADERSHIP AND THE SEXES,
with cover art, in a post on Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
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M-F Leadership Styles, Effectiveness of
In
my last post, Success Tip #140, I caught myself in an un-rare but
un-intentional sexist moment. While discussing crisis leadership, I
used typically male language and imagery—including the all-male
football analogy!
By coincidence, the day after the post, my mail included Leadership and the Sexes: Using Gender Science to Create Success in Business,
a book by Michael Gurion and Barbara Annis. The book is a marvel. The
authors begin, "This book is about the practical application of
information on male/female brain differences in every aspect of your
corporate life, from workplace comfort to competitive edge to the
corporate bottom line."
The most important phrase being, per me,
"brain differences"—that is, the book is derivative of the new brain
sciences, not anecdotal evidence. (The book is strongly endorsed by the
author of another book I found of inestimable value, The Female Brain,
by Louann Brizendine, M.D.)
The evidence is brain-science based,
but a social-psychological experiment provides a nice snapshot of the
findings. What follows is from a sidebar titled, "Gender Experiments
Surprise Even the Experts":
"In the 1990s, the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation/CBC created a short film that recorded an
experiment in leadership styles between women and men. CBC didn't tell
the participants the objective of the work they would do that day; the
director simply divided the male and female leaders into two teams, and
gave those team leaders the same instructions: build an adventure camp.
The teams were set up in a somewhat militaristic style at first,
including team members wearing uniforms, but also with the caveat in
place that the teams could alter their style and method as they wished
as long as they met the outcome in time.
"Leader one immediately
created a rank-and-file hierarchy and gave orders, even going so far as
to assert authority by challenging members on whether they had polished
their shoes.
"Leader two did not have the 'troops' line up and
be inspected, but instead met with the other team members in a circle,
asking 'How are we doing? Are we ready?' 'Anything else we should do?'
'Do you think they'll test us on whether we've polished our shoes?'
Instead of giving orders, leader two was touching team members on the
arm to reassure them.
"As part of the program, CBC arranged for
corporate commentators to watch the teams prepare. Initially the
commentators (mostly men) were not impressed by the leadership style of
leader two; the second team wasn't 'under control,' members weren't
lined up, and they 'lacked order' (or so it seemed). The commentators
predicted that team two would not successfully complete the task. Yet
when the project was completed, team two had built an impressive
adventure camp as good as team one's, with some aspects that were
judged as better.
"When debriefing their observations, the
commentators noticed that when team one was building the structures for
the camp, there had been discord regarding who was in charge and who
had completed which job and who hadn't. Team one exhibited a lack of
communication during the process of completion that created problems
(for example, 'Wasn't someone else supposed to do this?').
"Team
two, on the other hand, took longer to do certain things, but because
of its emphasis on communication and collaboration during the enactment
of the task (such as 'Let's try this' and 'What do you think about
that?'), the team met the goal of building the adventure camp in its
own positive way, and on time."
There is for me a profoundly
important "bottom line" here. Not that one style is better than
another, but that virtually every proclamation we make ought to be
informed by gender differences. In my speeches, for example, I often
find myself rambling on ad nauseam about the importance of relentless
relationship building—a stunning insight for a male to make or take on
board (I overstate ever so slightly), and boringly obvious beyond words
to most of the female participants. I am not suggesting that every
phrase be presented in two languages, but I am suggesting that the
topic ought not be far beneath the surface. Based on my own experience,
I will say that we (i.e., me) will not necessarily improve (as in,
exhibit increased sensitivity) over time; hey, with the chips down last
week, Joe Montana and the SF 49ers were my immediate benchmarks.
I
urge you to read the book—there is a lot at stake, and an opportunity
to achieve lasting competitive advantage. From an increasingly robust
body of research, we know for sure (as sure as sure can ever be) that
diverse teams—diversity on any and all dimensions—outperform homogenous
teams. We equally have to know ho w to maximize the diversity
advantage—the reward can be performance leaps, not just modest
improvements.
All copyrights are held by the original writer/owner of the article.
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Michael
Gurian and Barbara Annis are the authors of "Leadership
and the Sexes: Using Gender Science to Create Success in Business,"
published by Jossey-Bass/John Wiley, September 2008. For more
information, visit www.genderleadership.com.
This website features the
Leadership and Gender trainings offered by Michael Gurian and his
associates. We are proud to offer the finest state-of-the-art
training and keynotes in
how men and women think, work and lead. New York Times
bestselling author Michael Gurian is one of the world's foremost
authorities in leadership and gender diversity. Working
together as women and men is one of the greatest challenges we will
each
meet--personally and in corporate environments. If the Gurian
Institute can help your workplace meet the challenge, please contact
us. If you specifically want Michael Gurian to provide
consulting, training or a keynote, please let us know as well. Click
here to learn more.
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