“Can you imagine what the world would be like if women, who constitute almost half of the global population, had access to education and opportunities and were allowed to contribute their best? We would achieve prosperity globally in all spheres.” ―Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D.
Globally, a few women have held the position of CEO, while most have ended their careers in middle-level management. Very few women reach the senior level of management. Does it indicate that women lack the ambition to excel as CEOs? Or is there a glass ceiling preventing women from reaching the top positions? Or are there any hidden reasons?
Certain gender issues prevent women from reaching top positions, such as maternity, raising children, taking care of the spouse, and balancing family, to name a few. Although most men talk of women’s empowerment, they remain only in the letter, not in the spirit. It is still unclear whether men feel insecure if women reach top positions.
Although leadership is not gender-specific, we find only a few women leaders globally due to cultural, religious, social, and other factors, including the glass ceiling. The good news is that, currently, women are kicking the glass ceiling and excelling globally to carve a niche for themselves. For instance, women leaders, including Melinda Gates, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel, Indra Nooyi, Ursula Burns, Meg Whitman, and Sheryl Sandberg, stood out for their extraordinary contributions in their areas and became a source of inspiration for other women leaders. Despite several constraints, women are proving their credentials and capabilities on par with men. They are not behind in any way when compared with male leaders.
Strengths of women
Women are usually collaborative, while men are competitive by nature. Collaboration is essential for the smooth functioning of the organization, and equally essential is a competitive spirit, without which organizations cannot succeed. Blending both collaboration and competition is essential to achieve organizational excellence and effectiveness. Here are some of the strengths of women: Biologically, women have a huge potential and are compassionate by nature. They empathize with others and are sensitive to others’ feelings. They are experts in interpersonal skills and soft skills. They can handle stress better than men. By nature, men are aggressive. However, women are soft and well-behaved. Women are also experts in the hidden data of communication. That is why they know the knack of understanding male egos, emotions, and feelings better and act accordingly. Women are leaders at home. They lead their spouses and children effectively. They are more responsible toward work. Additionally, they are good at multitasking.
There are several myths about women’s leadership. For instance, women cannot perform certain roles in military organizations. The truth is that they also have fire-like men and the ambition to excel on par with men. Additionally, women stand up for what they believe in, and they work with flexibility.
Are women better leaders than men?
Women have several strengths to their credit, and the six major aspects include taking initiative, practicing self-development, displaying high integrity and honesty, driving for results, developing others, and inspiring and motivating others. However, women have more challenges than men as they must manage their families, take care of children, and do other household chores. Additionally, they encounter organizational politics, gender discrimination, and sexual harassment in the workplace.
Women are leaders; it is well-admitted that behind every man’s success is a woman. Historically, most women led behind the scenes by guiding men. Businesses can also improve by encouraging women to lead, as they can bring significant value to the table and improve organizational bottom lines.
There is a strong perception that men are promoted based on potential, while women are promoted based on performance. It is basically because leadership is synonymous with men, not women. Hence, there must be a shift in the attitude and perception of the people toward leadership and women. Both men and women leaders are two sides of the same coin, and the coin is incomplete without either. Hence, leadership is incomplete without the active participation of women leaders. Global Inc. must spot, support, and groom women leaders to keep them in the leadership pipeline to improve organizational bottom lines.
Essential qualities of women CEOs
Although women are more emotional than men, they know how to make decisions under stress. To be successful CEOs, women must have high energy, grit, ego strength, high stress tolerance, and the ability to bounce back from failures with tenacity and resilience. Here are some more qualities that are essential to stepping into the shoes of CEOs: strategic vision, continuous learning, adaptability, building connections, balancing stakeholders, engaging employees, and managing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, to name a few. Here are some strategies to build women CEOs globally.
- Identify the potential women in the early stage to keep them in the pipeline.
- Lay the ladder for their leadership development.
- Create a conducive environment to enable them to fast-track their career.
- Encourage them to pursue line positions, not staff positions. Instruct them to acquire emotional intelligence.
- Emphasize building credibility first, then enhancing visibility.
- Encourage them to build their personal and professional brands to stand out from others.
- Encourage Girl Scouts.
- Remove the prevailing strong perception that men are promoted due to potential, while women are promoted due to performance.
- Adopt an integrated approach and ensure coordinated efforts from all stakeholders, including organizations, women’s associations, NGOs, and the government, to build women CEOs globally.
It is a well-admitted fact that men oversell, and women undersell. Hence, women should not hesitate to sell themselves. Instead, they must showcase their competencies and capabilities. They must shed their traditional mindset and wed unconventional mindset to market themselves both within and outside the workplace to get noticed for their contributions and achievements.
Routes to the corner office
Women need coaches and mentors who play a crucial role in shaping their careers. The onus lies with organizations to engage passionate coaches and mentors to groom them as CEOs. Additionally, women must be ready to shoulder challenging roles and responsibilities. They must demonstrate courage and conviction. They must avoid the fear of failure and criticism. They must earn their titles by working hard and smart. They must not expect any sympathy from men because of their gender. They must come forward to encounter challenges on par with men to excel. It is improper to accuse men of their present plight. They must fight for their equal rights to assert themselves.
Women are equal to men in all spheres
Race to the top leadership slot is not an easy thing. It is very challenging to scale to top slots and stay. That too, when a woman reaches a top slot, she is more capable than men. There is a need for all of us to break the stereotypes. Women should break their traditional mental and psychological barriers and move forward toward shouldering leadership roles and responsibilities. They must work harder to prove themselves to excel as leaders in this male-dominated society. Remember that society cannot grow when one sex is denied opportunities. It is essential to let both sexes grow equally on the basis of merit and talent. It requires empathy on the part of men and a broad heart to handhold women to groom them as global leaders. If women also participate in leadership roles and responsibilities, we will find a better society with lots of prosperity and stability.
Let’s inspire inclusion
Both men and women are biologically different. That difference cannot be treated as a deficiency. It is natural for them to lead differently. Let us understand and appreciate the differences and respect them. Let us look at women not from a gender perspective but from a human perspective, and judge their competencies and qualifications purely on merit. Let us look at women with new lenses. Handhold women and take them forward to leadership positions to enable them to endeavor and explore to achieve leadership effectiveness and success. To summarize, women are equal to men in all spheres. They are proving their mettle globally to assert themselves. However, they must work harder to prove themselves. They must accept the fact that there is no free lunch in the world. They must express their ambition early in their careers and work smart consistently and relentlessly, with a focus and vision, to excel as CEOs.
Reference
Rao, M. S. (2019, December 13). Strategies to build women leaders globally: Think managers, think men; think leaders, think women. Waterside Productions.
