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FastCompany.com
featured LEADERSHIP AND THE SEXES on December 1, 2008. This
blog is
the first of a series of four that will feature the book. Below the article are links to the other 3 parts.
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.
If
leadership is, as we say, about results, then consider this:
well-regarded research by Catalyst Group has proven that corporations
in which women hold at least 25 percent of the top leadership spots
deliver 35% higher ROI and 34% higher Total Return to
Shareholders. Research at London Business School proves that
innovation on teams soars when the teams are 50/50 male and female – a
perfect balance of male and female energy. Women
entrepreneurs lead in new business starts, at least in the US, and
women micro-entrepreneurs in developing countries are famously
successful (as well as extraordinarily diligent in repaying their loans
– something to consider given recent events in the financial markets).
Despite this and other evidence of their value, women still hold but a
tiny percentage of senior executive jobs in our largest and most
powerful companies.
Why so few? Lots of reasons: lack of mentors and sponsors,
issues with networks and career development choices, as well as with
families and self-concept. We will address these dimensions
over time in future blogs. This week, we concern ourselves
with what the new science tells us are measurable differences in male
and female brains -- but not necessarily in the ways that you may think.
Why is this so important? Because of the world’s 100 largest economies,
51 are corporations. They have huge power and influence. It
matters how well these places are run. And it would appear
that they would run better if they had better gender balance in the top
leadership roles. Given the current demographics in most
executive suites and boardrooms, that means more women.
*
* *
Every once
in a while, while deeply engrossed in the research and writing of
Leadership Code, a little thought bubble would appear over my head, a
plaintive: “But it’s different for women.”
I wasn’t sure what to do with this. Until that point, I had
not consciously suited up for the gender wars. As I saw it,
the points of view were these: old fogies said that men were simply
better suited for the working world by virtue of biology (the glories
of testosterone coupled with neat dodges around other potential career
de-railers like close involvement with their children, or
taking care of anyone or anything besides the bottom line). Hard core
extremists on the other side said that women were no different from men
in any way, and that the situation was all men’s fault: full
stop. Obviously, neither was accurate but my counterarguments
were limited to anecdotes from my own experience.
Interested in neither male-bashing nor turf-defending, and lacking
another course, I steered clear of the whole thing.
I focused instead on my true interest: the universals of
leadership. And thus our book was born.
Perhaps “co-birthing” Leadership Code finally freed me to look at the
leadership situation for women. Or perhaps birthing my own
two daughters finally loaded the necessary gravitas and urgency onto
questions that other, more enlightened women and men had been asking
for years. The central questions I have increasingly felt the
need to answer are:
- To what
extent is women’s leadership the same as or different from that of men?
- How do we
really know the answer to that question with any degree of rigor and
certainty?
- To what
extent might gender-based leadership style differences explain why so
few women lead our largest, most complex, and most powerful
organizations?
- Might the
lack of women at the top explain at least in part why so many large
companies get in to ethical and economic troubles, fail to deal with
complexity, and wander the globe, a little bit lost,
wondering where their innovative mojo could possibly be?
I hoped to
find an answer that was not: “It’s a boys club and they won’t let us
in.”
So my quest became: How can we synch up what we now know to be the
universals of leadership with the best of what is currently known about
gender? Suffice to say that the answers from much of the
existing literature – both business and social research – confused more
than enlightened. One source says that
women’s leadership is exactly the same as men’s. Another says
that women are cooperative, empathic team builders (if a bit wordy and
overly process-oriented) while men are hard-charging data hounds with
little regard for human life.
Then I was introduced to Michael Gurian and his lifetime of
popularizing and applying scientific knowledge about the gender brain
(the phrase “gender brain” roughly means “the scientifically
observable differences between male and female brains”). In
my next two blogs I will summarize what Michael tells us that the
science tells us, as well as how he and his team have applied that
insight in corporations. In the fourth and final blog in the series, I
will share how Michael and I mapped his applied scientific
understanding of these dynamics to our Leadership Code
framework. The results of that are very
illuminating.
I should add that these advances in understanding have been set forth
for non-scientists by a few authors. One, Dr. Louann
Brizendine's The Female Brain, is a New York Times best seller. I focus
here on Michael Gurian and Barbara Annis, and their new book Leadership
and the Sexes because in it they apply the new research on the issues
of men and women working together in corporate life.  Leadership Code Meets Gender Science, Part 2 of 4 Parts
Leadership Code Meets Gender Science, Part 3 of 4 Parts
All copyrights are held by the original writer/owner of the article.
--------
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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