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How both genders can progress in leadership

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How both genders can progress in leadership

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Leadership Differences Between Men and Women

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Leadership Differences Between Men and Women

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Gender Differences in the Boardroom and women in leadership

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Gender Differences in the Boardroom and women in leadership

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Gender differences in the boardroom and women in leadership - a different story

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The Most Undervalued Leadership Traits of Women

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The Most Undervalued Leadership Traits of Women

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It's impossible to respect, value and admire great leadership if you can't identify what makes a leader great. Because of this, the identity crisis I have written about that exists in today's workplace is something that women leaders in particular have been facing for much too long. While the tide is changing and more women are being elevated into leadership roles, there is still much work to do. As of July 2013, there were only 19 female elected presidents and prime ministers in power around the globe. In the business world, women currently hold only 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEO positions and the same percentage of Fortune 1000 CEO positions. As women continue their upward trajectory in the business world, they have yet to be fully appreciated for the unique qualities and abilities they bring to the workplace.

Like many who grow up with a Hispanic upbringing, I was surrounded by strong-willed, hardworking and purpose-driven women. It is through their leadership that the traditions, values and legacy of our family have been upheld. My grandmother, mother, wife, and sister-in-law all possess natural leadership skills and they are masters of opportunity management - seamlessly keeping us all in check while running the family household and at the same time supporting our family businesses. They have taught me that a woman's instincts and emotional intelligence can be off the chart. They seamlessly manage crisis and change and are turnaround experts - sensing and neutralizing any signs of danger well before it invades our path. It is because of the women in our family that we are well-organized, full of love, spiritually aligned and well-balanced. We are by no means a perfect family, but we are a modern family who embraces traditions even as we adapt to changing times.

It can be difficult for a man to understand how women think, act and innovate unless he has been closely influenced by the women in his life. I've learned that women may process things differently and in their own terms. Fortunately for me, I've been influenced by great women who made me appreciate their approach towards leadership. I've grown to understand their decision-making processes, the dynamics and subtleties of their personality and style, and other special character qualities that women possess.

The best women leaders I know have circular vision that enables them to be well-rounded people. For example, they have their finger on the pulse of the culture and can talk to you about the latest pop-culture news - but then easily switch gears to give you their perspective on what is taking place on Wall Street. Women leaders seeking a chance to be significant see the world through a lens of opportunity; they are especially in search of those opportunities previously unseen (perhaps this is why the women I know enjoy a good treasure hunt). My experiences have taught me that great women make it a point to teach men about women.

I've seen women run the show for years both at home and in the workplace, which has enabled me to recognize behavior patterns and see the value behind their way of doing things. These women are master multi-taskers and highly collaborative (though not afraid to get territorial to protect their domain). They enjoy their own space to test themselves and find their own rhythm. These women leaders are like scientists: many of them want to make new discoveries or solve for problems where others have failed. The women leaders I've been around don't stop pursuing until the job gets done. This is why I believe they are good collaborative leaders - not afraid of trial and error as long as they continue to build the resource infrastructure around them that gets them closer towards accomplishing their goals. As one of my women mentors told me, "Without enough of the right resources around me, I will not risk the outcome. I know the resources I need to get the job done right. I'd rather be patient than foolish."

The women leaders I know invest in themselves and become knowledge seekers. They are not afraid to ask questions when given a safe platform to express themselves. For example, during my keynote and conference appearances - more often than not - it is the women who ask me the most questions and they are also more inspired to adopt new ideas and ideals. Though extremely curious, it's often balanced with a bit of skepticism - after all, they don't want to be fooled or taken advantage of. My experiences have taught me that women leaders need to trust a person before they will endorse what they have to say. Many just want to know that there is legitimacy behind the opportunity.

As I've learned from my women bosses and mentors, they want things to be authentic yet practical. These women leaders enjoy a good challenge - and seek to find meaning and purpose from each circumstance they face and opportunity they are given. They like to see and understand the connectivity of thoughts and how they work or why they don't. They want all the facts and figures before making important decisions.

Competitiveness amongst themselves may really be about looking for validation -- an identity that matters and a voice that is heard. Successful women leaders don't rely on favors; they earn respect and truly believe they can influence their own advancement by serving others. Consummate team players, they also seek to prove their value and self-worth by exceeding performance expectations.. Looking for respect more than recognition, the most successful women leaders don't seek to become the star of the show -- but they enable others to create a great show. In other words, being in the spotlight is not what drives them - but rather it's the ability to influence positive outcomes with maximum impact.

One thing is certain: these women leaders understand survival, renewal and reinvention. They have grit and are not afraid to fight for what they believe in or an opportunity to achieve something of significance. They believe in what they stand for, but that doesn't mean they won't put their ideas and ideals to the test. For them, doing more with less is simply a matter of knowing how to strategically activate those around them.

While women leaders have their productivity secrets, it's not secret where they come from: the leadership traits that women leaders naturally possess and - based on my personal and professional experiences - are the most undervalued.
1. Opportunity-driven
When confronted with a challenge, the women I know look for the opportunity within. They see the glass as half-full rather than half-empty. They push the boundaries and, when faced with adverse circumstances, they learn all they can from it. Optimism is their mindset because they see opportunity in everything.

Estée Lauder, the child of Hungarian immigrant parents, was quite the opportunist in the cosmetics industry. During the postwar consumer boom, women wanted to start sampling cosmetic products before buying them. Lauder noticed and responded to this shifting dynamic by pioneering two marketing techniques that are commonly used today: the free gift and the gift-with-purchase. It's exactly this type of inventiveness that other women use to pursue the opportunities in front of them.
2. Strategic
Women see what often times others don't see. As one of my women mentors told me, "A woman's lens of skepticism oftentimes forces them to see well beyond the most obvious details before them. They enjoy stretching their perspective to broaden their observations. Many women are not hesitant to peel the onion in order to get to the root of the matter."

At times they "play the part" to test the intentions of others and to assure that they are solidly grounded and reliable. Successful women leaders know how to play the game when they have to - and can anticipate the unexpected. They know what cards to play and keenly calculate the timing of each move they make.

I wouldn't be surprised to learn a woman leader made the word "organic" a business term. I learned that women who enjoy the ebbs and flows of business activity also know that the best things are accomplished when they are done naturally - and unforced. When things are happening organically, this means that they are functioning within a natural rhythm and speed - that is safer and risk adverse.

This is not to say that women are uncomfortable with risk - in fact, they will often tackle risk head-on in order to get to the root cause of a problem and to solve for it (they value time and money). Women leaders who don't allow their egos to stand in the way of good business are in the mindset of getting things done for the betterment of a healthier whole.

While women in general were historically viewed and stereotyped as emotional leaders by men, I believe they are just passionate explorers in pursuit of excellence. When women leaders are not satisfied with the status quo, they will want to make things better. These women leaders get things done and avoid procrastination. As another one of my women mentors said, "They enjoy order and stability and a genuine sense of control. Many women have learned not to depend upon others for their advancement and thus have a tendency to be too independent. A woman's independent nature is her way of finding her focus and dialing up her pursuits."

When these women leaders are locked into what they are searching for - move out of the way. Their passionate pursuits allow them to become potent pioneers of new possibilities. No wonder minority women represent the largest growing segment of entrepreneurs. According to a report by the Center for Women's Business Research, U.S. Hispanic and African American women entrepreneurs grew at rates of 133.3% and 191.4% respectively from 1997 to 2007.

Entrepreneurship is just a way of life for many women. They can be extremely resourceful, connect the dots of opportunity and become expert in developing the relationships they need to get the job done. Many women leaders also see through an entrepreneurial lens to best enable the opportunities before them. They know that to create and sustain momentum requires 100% focus on the objective - and so they don't enjoy being disrupted by unnecessary noise and distractions.

As one of my former women bosses told me, "Women can play into the politics of the workplace, and do so if it means adding value to the momentum they are attempting to create."

Many women leaders find excitement and motivation by being extremely creative and resourceful when completing tasks and other duties and responsibilities -. They avoid falling too far behind on projects - knowing that if they do it will disrupt their focus and momentum. That is why I learned never to disrupt a woman's focus and concentration if I can avoid it.

My former female boss continued by saying, "This is why women like control. Not necessarily to be in charge, but to not lose the rhythm or compromise the momentum they need to accomplish their goals."
5. Purposeful and Meaningful
I have found that many women leaders enjoy inspiring others to achieve. They know what it's like to be the underdog and work hard not to disappoint themselves and others. Women leaders in particular often have high standards and their attention to detail makes it difficult for others to cut corners or abuse any special privileges.
6. Traditions and Family
Women leaders with a nurturing nature are good listeners and excellent networkers/connecters. They enjoy creating ecosystems and support a collaborative leadership style that melds the thinking and ideas of others; this is what multiplies the size of an opportunity and/or its speed in execution in order to create a larger sphere of influence and overall impact. Women who don't have to be right all the time make good consensus builders and will more likely enjoy participating in a team environment.

Whether at home or at work, women are often the glue that keeps things together and that is why they represent great leadership for America's future. When they sense growing tensions that can lead to potential problems or inefficiencies, the most successful women leaders enjoy taking charge before circumstances force their hand. Women are usually the ones to secure the foundational roots of the family and to protect family and cultural traditions from wavering. They provide the leadership within the home and in the workplace to assure that legacies remain strong by being fed with the right nutrients and ingredients.

The most successful women leaders are big believers in team building and the enforcement of mission, goals and values to assure that everyone is on the same page with like intentions. This secures a sense of continuity making it easier for everyone to have each other's backs. No wonder women are assuming more management and leadership roles in family owned businesses.

To the great women in my personal and professional life, thank you for the opportunity to be inspired and mentored by your leadership (you know who you are). I've read many things about women in the workplace and their lack of advancement into senior executive roles and in the boardroom. Rarely have I read something from a man who has been inspired and influenced by the wisdom of a woman's leadership. Hopefully this perspective helps awaken more of us to the opportunity of learning about leadership from the women in our lives, whether in the home or at work.

-For another perspective on this subject, I recommend that you read the Business Insider article, " Why Women Are More Effective Leaders Than Men."

Click here to learn about my high-impact workshop, Develop Your Personal Brand as a Leader on April 2-3, 2014.

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The Most Undervalued Leadership Traits Of Women

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It's impossible to respect, value and admire great leadership if you can't identify what makes a leader great. Because of this, the identity crisis I have written about that exists in today's workplace is something that women leaders in particular have been facing for much too long.

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organizations where women hold at least half of executive positions are more likely to have employees who understand and believe in the company’s mission, products, and strategy—and feel more inspired by its purpose.

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organizations where women hold at least half of executive positions are more likely to have employees who understand and believe in the company’s mission, products, and strategy—and feel more inspired by its purpose.

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Plenty of research shows that women-lead companies perform better financially than those led by men.

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Plenty of research shows that women-lead companies perform better financially than those led by men.

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How Women are Building Better Businesses

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How Women are Building Better Businesses

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Plenty of research shows that women-lead companies perform better financially than those led by men. One recent study compared the performance of Fortune 1000 companies that had women CEOs against the male-dominated S&P 500's performance, and found that the 80 women CEOs produced equity returns 226% better than the S&P 500. But there's also evidence that women are building workplaces that perform better for their employees, too. According to the findings from Capital One's Spring 2019 Small Business Growth Index Survey , when it comes to competing for talent, women small business owners (55%) are more likely to market their business as a great place to work than men (37%). And it's not surprising why.
Engaging Employees
It's impossible to truly engage employees if they don't believe in where the company is headed. A from HR data platform Peakon finds that organizations where women hold at least half of executive positions are more likely to have employees who understand and believe in the company's mission, products, and strategy-and feel more inspired by its purpose.

At the day-to-day level, women have also been found to do a better job at connecting with their employees. In 2015, Gallup research found that female managers are better at engaging employees than male managers, and were rated higher in areas such as giving recognition, providing helpful performance feedback, and getting people in the right role to grow.
Recruiting & Retaining Talent
Multiple studies have found that more people would prefer to work for a female boss. In 1953, when Gallup first asked U.S. workers , "If you were taking a new job and had your choice of a boss, would you prefer to work for a man or a woman?" two-thirds said they preferred a male boss and just five percent preferred a female boss. Six decades later, now one-third would prefer a male boss, while 20% would prefer a female boss (46% say it doesn't matter).

In a recent study from Berlin Cameron, The Harris Poll, and The Female Quotient, research reveals that half of Americans would prefer to work for a female-led company over a male-led company. Why? A majority say that these companies are more purpose driven (56%), more likely to include access to childcare (78%), and are more likely to offer equal pay (75%).
Driving Diversity & Inclusion
In today's workforce, where companies are waking up to the importance of diversity and inclusion, it's women who are really leading the way. According to the Spring 2019 Capital One Small Business Growth Index, more women small business owners (57%) believe a diverse workforce drives more business innovation than men (50%). A recent survey by UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Executive Development shows that female-led businesses are more likely to have a mature diversity and inclusion function, and are less likely to run into hurdles with senior leadership. Organizations with female executives are also 13% more confident in their organizations' ability to achieve their diversity and inclusion goals. And they rank higher than male-led organizations in several key areas, including awareness of bias (27%), appreciation of difference (17%), and understanding of diversity (21%).

Despite the progress we've made in putting more women in leadership positions, we still have a long way to go. According to Weber Shandwick's Gender Forward Pioneer Index , among the world's 500 largest companies, only 10.9% of senior executives are women, and 37% of these companies have all-male leadership teams, while 21% have only one woman. This, of course, is to the detriment of the companies themselves, as there's clearly so much evidence that gender diversity has a positive impact on company performance. Ultimately, having more women at the helm isn't just about equality-it's good for business and good for people, too.

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How Women Leaders Are Building Better Places To Work

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Plenty of research shows that women-lead companies perform better financially than those led by men. One recent study compared the performance of Fortune 1000 companies that had women CEOs against the male-dominated S&P 500's performance, and found that the 80 women CEOs produced equity returns 226% better than the S&P 500.

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Women can learn how to be more confident 

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Women can learn how to be more confident 

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Men need to learn to take a step back, and allow women to speak 

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Men need to learn to take a step back, and allow women to speak 

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Women are 9 1/2 times more productive than men

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Women are 9 1/2 times more productive than men

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The Differences Between Men and Women Leadership Styles

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The Differences Between Men and Women Leadership Styles

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The Differences Between Men and Women's Leadership Styles

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Why we have too few women leaders | Sheryl Sandberg

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Leadership: Does Gender make a Difference?

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Leadership: Does Gender make a Difference?

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Leadership: Does Gender make a Difference?

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Are Gender Differences Just Power Differences in Disguise?

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Are Gender Differences Just Power Differences in Disguise?

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Gender differences and disparate outcomes between men and women populate the landscape. In 2017, women made just 79 cents for every dollar earned by a man. According to a comprehensive review of the literature in 2016, even after controlling for gendered differences in experience and choice of industry and profession, 38 percent of that gap remained unexplained. We also know that women are vastly underrepresented in the highest echelons of organizations, both in the C-suite and on boards of directors.

Gender differences have also infiltrated new ventures and political campaigns. Research done at Harvard Business School found that investors funded male entrepreneurs at twice the rate of females. And a study I conducted of every election in the United States since women gained suffrage found that women are 36 percent less likely to be elected governor or US senator than men.

So there are clear gender disparities in outcomes. But we also see gender gaps in aptitude tests. For over 50 years, men have consistently scored higher than women in math on the SAT. And that is true for every ethnicity in the United States.

The persistence of these differences has led some to wonder if they might be innate - a product of biology, and the different selection pressures faced by the sexes during evolution. In 2005, Larry Summers, then president of Harvard University landed in hot water for suggesting that the lack of women in top positions in science might be due to "issues of intrinsic aptitude," a comment that would ultimately cost him his job.

What I'd like to suggest is a different idea, that many observed gender differences are not biologically based, but instead may be power differences in disguise.

I've been studying power, negotiations, and leadership for over 20 years, since I began my PhD. One of the most important things to understand about power in this context is that every person has a range of what we might call acceptable behavior. When we stay within that range, we are rewarded by the people we interact with; and we reward ourselves by feeling comfortable. Sometimes, however, we step outside that range: we act too assertively or took meekly and are punished for our behavior.

Our range of acceptable behavior, however, isn't static. In fact, it's pretty dynamic. And what determines that range is our power.

Power comes in many forms. In negotiations, power comes in the form of alternatives. If you have strong alternatives, you can bargain more aggressively because you are less dependent on the outcome of any one negotiation. Power can also come from our level of experience, or from our position. And our power changes from moment to moment and situation to situation. But power also comes from our demographic characteristics, and some characteristics afford individuals more power than other characteristics.

When you have lots of power, you have a wide range of acceptable behavior, a lot of leeway in what you can say and do. But when you lack power, your range of acceptable behavior narrows.

I've documented across hundreds of studies that power has psychological effects. And one of the things it does is change the range of acceptable behavior that we allow ourselves in our own minds. Our power, however, also affects the range that other people allow us. Across all of these studies, one of the most interesting things that we've discovered is that a lot of gender differences can be reproduced by manipulating people's sense of power.

Research by Linda Babcock has shown that women rarely negotiate for more pay when they receive a job offer. In one study, she found that men graduating from Carnegie Mellon were four times more likely than women to have negotiated their first salary. In another study, she brought people into the lab, and gave people a task involving a word game. At the beginning, she told participants, "you'll be paid anywhere from three to ten dollars," but at the end she simply paid everyone three dollars. In response to receiving the very bottom of the promised range, some participants, however, asked for more. And men were seven times as likely to do so as women.

We have replicated these gender differences with power manipulations. What that means is that if men score higher than women on a task, those randomly assigned to a high-power condition score higher than those randomly assigned to a low-power condition. In a study similar to Babcock's, we brought a group of participants into the lab and randomly assigned them to a high-power or a low-power condition. We told them, "you're the boss. You control these resources," or we said, "you're the subordinate. The boss is going to direct you." And then we looked at the likelihood that people felt comfortable negotiating and found, regardless of gender, people in the higher power condition felt more comfortable negotiating.

In another study, we focused on something women are better at than men - identifying other people's emotions. Again we brought people into the lab and randomly assigned them to either a baseline or a high power condition. Those in the high-power condition were worse at interpreting the emotions of other people in photographs.

There's something really important here - we randomly assigned people to these conditions; their power was temporary. Yet it affected these basic psychological processes like confidence and social perception, and these effects occur equally for men and women.

As I mentioned before, the experience of power affects not only our own psychology, it also has interpersonal effects.

You may have heard of something called the "gender double bind." Women who don't speak up go unnoticed, but women who do often get punished. But I think this gender double bind represents something broader and larger, what I have labeled the "low-power double bind." When you lack power, you don't speak up and you go unnoticed. But if you do, you get rejected.

There is a really tragic story that reflects this. A woman was offered a job as a professor at a college. In response to their offer, she sent an email that was, in my opinion, perfect - exactly how I would advise one of my MBA students to negotiate an offer.

In that email, she wrote, "I'd like an increase in my salary, some time off for maternity leave, and no more than three class preps. And maybe just to postpone the date one year so I can finish my post doc. I know that some of these conditions might be easier to meet than others, just let me know what you think."

How did the college respond? They withdrew the offer.

Now here's why I think this is related to power. My twin brother is a documentary film maker. And early on his career, with one of this first films, he got an offer from a distributor. I had just started out as a negotiation researcher, and saw this as the perfect opportunity to use my skills in the real world. So, I helped him craft what I thought was the perfect counteroffer. And it actually was perfect - perfectly offensive.

It turns out he didn't have any power. He had no other offers, while they had lots of other films they could buy. They simply withdrew the offer from him, and wouldn't even let him accept the original offer.

So, how do we reduce the low-power double bind? How do we expand the range of acceptable behavior in our own eyes and in the eyes of others?

There is a very clear robust, replicable finding that, on average, when a man negotiates against a woman, the man gets a little bit better of an outcome than the woman. But a couple of researchers, including of one of our former PhDs at Columbia Business School, found that there's one situation in which women perform equally well as men - when they're advocating for other people.

When we're advocating for others, we can be assertive because we're also being communal. For women, that creates an opening to be assertive that's actually consistent with gender stereotypes. It's sometimes called the "Mama Bear Effect." Women, when they're advocating for others, are allowed to be ferocious.

Although this effect may help women advocate for better conditions for their team, for example, it does little to help them get their own accomplishments and achievements recognized. And self-promotion is an area where the low-power double bind hits women particularly hard.

According to some brilliant research by Bob Cialdini, Christina Fong, and Jeff Pfeffer, though, we can solve this dilemma by getting others to promote us on our behalf. We don't actually have to share our accomplishments if someone else does.

How do we get people to do that?

One of the things that I've been studying is the strategic benefits of asking other people for advice. When we ask others for advice we flatter them, and we show humility. We ask them to take our perspective. And by sharing their advice they make an investment in us; it's a commitment to us, and they'll want to see us grow and do more. That is incredibly powerful - and it even works when you see it coming.

When I was at the Kellogg School of Management, we had a young assistant professor who, at the end of her first year, went to another junior faculty member and expressed a concern. "I don't really have strong relationships with the senior faculty that will one day vote on my tenure," she said to him. He responded, "why don't you try to follow Adam's research and ask the senior faculty for advice." He also subsequently told me he'd given her this advice

So, one day I get an email from here with the subject line "Advice." She'd just gotten an invitation to revise and resubmit a paper at the top journal in the world, Science. And she said, "I'd love to get your advice about what I should do with these reviews." She was self-promoting a bit - being invited to resubmit at Science is a big deal - but she was doing it in a way that was also humble.

I want to point out three really important things about this example. First, I've studied the strategic benefits of asking other people for advice. Second, I had already been forewarned that she was likely to try this technique on me. And third, it still worked.

Anytime I saw a senior colleague, I'd tell them, "Did you hear she got this great opportunity at Science?" And I sat down that night and really read the reviews and laid out my advice on how she could best respond.

Our power determines our range of acceptable behavior, both in our own mind, and in the minds of others. I've laid out some strategies that can help us negotiate power differences: advocating on behalf of others, and asking other people for advice. But if we really want to take this seriously, and address these long-standing gender disparities then there's really only one solution: We need to give women more power.

While gender disparities in math scores have continued with virtually no change in the United States for decades, researchers at the University of Chicago and Kellogg have found that they're hardly consistent from country to country.

The gap is particularly large in Turkey and Korea, and moderate in the US. But in Norway and Sweden it nearly disappears. And in Iceland, women actually outperform men. What's more, they found that the Women's Emancipation Index, calculated by the United Nations, can be used to predict the size of the gender performance gap in a country.

More recently, I've found this exact same measure can predict not just the performance of female World Cup teams, but also the performance of male teams. Countries that had greater gender quality had higher performing male teams. Why? Because they had better talent. Why? Because more equal treatment of women is associated with more equal treatment of many different types of people.

The conclusion is clear. Many gender differences will be significantly reduced, if not eliminated when - and only when - women have more power. So, we all have an obligation to help this process along, to help women gain opportunities in business, and in politics, and all realms of society. When we do so, it's not just helping those women, it's not just giving people role models, it's literally changing fundamental aspects of the mind, and producing better outcomes for everyone in society.

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Are Gender Differences Just Power Differences in Disguise?

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Gender differences and disparate outcomes between men and women populate the landscape. In 2017, women made just 79 cents for every dollar earned by a man. According to a comprehensive review of the literature in 2016, even after controlling for gendered differences in experience and choice of industry and profession, 38 percent of that gap remained unexplained.

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Differences of Opinion: How Canadian and US business leaders think about gender diversity

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Differences of Opinion: How Canadian and US business leaders think about gender diversity

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RBC continues to do interesting research and reports on diversity issues. This Canada-United States comparison being the most recent example (and it challenges Canadian smugness about our diversity policies in the corporate sector). These two charts are particularly revealing, report recommendations follow:

1. Be aware that diversity mandates can backfire.

Surprisingly, mandatory diversity training can often have the opposite effect, increasing bias rather than eliminating it. Research over several decades has shown that corporate leaders and managers are less motivated to increase diversity if they are forced to do so. In one study, Harvard Business Review researchers who analyzed data from hundreds of US firms found that "companies get better results when they ease up on the control tactics."

Similarly, national policies that promote gender parity, diversity, and gay rights may be viewed as controlling or policing people's personal opinions and actions. Equal opportunity or pro-diversity legislation may make organizations "check the boxes" to advertise their compliance with the requirements, but may also make them less likely to make practical efforts to reduce gender or other types of discrimination. Rather, engaging leaders and managers to become advocates for change is more effective. Voluntary training to raise awareness, along with mentoring and coaching efforts, participation in task forces or councils, or leadership of affinity groups, works best.

2. Try more innovative solutions.

The most appropriate measures vary across industries and firms, and a decision not to adopt any specific approach cannot be interpreted as a failure. Still, our study shows that companies in both the US and Canada are using only a subset of all the potential strategies. Canadian companies tend to take fewer risks and are less likely to try innovative solutions than their US counterparts. Solutions that have been adopted less frequently in Canada than in the US may provide ideas for further action by Canadian firms. They include:

Job auctions or trial hiring (37% vs 43%)

On-the-job development activities that provide opportunities to generate business impacts (38% vs 44%)

Support for working parents (34% vs 43%)

Flex time (48% vs 52%), part-time (31% vs 35%) and childcare subsidies (27% vs 31%)

Assessing performance relative to gender diversity targets (37% vs 44%)

3. Build a strong business case for women in senior management.

"Fundamentally, having a workforce and a senior management team that represents the clients and communities an organization serves is both an asset and a competitive advantage," says Jennifer Tory, Chief Administrative Officer at RBC. "Diversity of gender, thought, and background creates inclusive teams that generate better ideas and solutions. Inclusive teams are strong teams, and strong teams make better business decisions."

4. Invest in retraining and reintegrating women into the workplace.

One of the biggest challenges in both the US and Canada is the issue of parental leave and how it affects women's careers. The two countries differ markedly with respect to national policies. In the US, women who take maternity leave do not receive guaranteed payments from the federal government. The Family and Medical Leave Act protects their job for up to 12 weeks; some individual companies and states may offer more generous policies or a short-term disability policy that pays women during their leave of absence. By contrast, Canada is far more generous; its mandated 12-month parental leave is expected to stretch to 18 months in 2018.

In a way, that could "create unintended consequences" for women's advancement in Canada, says the University of Toronto's Dart. She notes that although both parents can share the leave, men are often reluctant to take time off. "In many Scandinavian countries paternity and maternity leave are mandatory. Both men and women leave the workplace for a time when they have children, so there is less of an opportunity for gender bias. It has to be mandatory. You have to make it an equal playing field."

In Canada and other countries where equal parental leave is not mandated, being away from the job for so long could be detrimental to women's careers, she adds. "Women step out, often because of family pressure, and find it very difficult if they want to come back later on. They have lost their professional networks and they don't know if their skills are up-to-date. Many companies don't actively work on bringing women back to work; it is easier to advance the women who have stuck it out."

5. Make a concerted effort to change societal perceptions.

Here's where male role models, influencers, pressure groups, and governments play a big part. "With regard to progressing in their career, women are working really hard, but they need networks and sponsorship much earlier in their career," says Jennifer Reynolds, CEO of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance (TFSA), a public-private partnership that supports the financial services industry. "We need to actively challenge senior management on that, and we have to have men in this dialogue."

Dart advocates going even further. "There is a very large gap in the middle part of the pipeline," she says. "There's always more commitment that we need to see in senior leaders. We need more CEOs and board chairs to advance their support of women. But this battle is not lost at the corporate front. This battle is lost at the home front. The expectations of women, the roles they are supposed to play, are different in different cultures. That's where we need to start: changing role expectations."

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Differences of Opinion: How Canadian and US business leaders think about gender diversity

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RBC continues to do interesting research and reports on diversity issues. This Canada-United States comparison being the most recent example (and it challenges Canadian smugness about our diversity policies in the corporate sector). These two charts are particularly revealing, report recommendations follow: 1. Be aware that diversity mandates can backfire.

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How Gender Bias Holds Women Back in Leadership

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How Gender Bias Holds Women Back in Leadership

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This is the first of a four-part series examining patterns of gender bias affecting female executives, and how "bias interrupters" can be used to challenge them.
A decade of talent and diversity work in the construction industry has given me access to the challenges in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) community. Despite years of dedicated work of "filling the base" with females and ethnic minorities, these industries still struggle with promoting and retaining their hard-earned talent. The infamous Google memo incident, in which an employee criticized the company's inclusion efforts and attributed the lack of female advancement to women's biological makeup, merely underlines the fact that female executives in male-dominated industries are subject to gender bias that holds them back. In fact, 96% of women report having experienced gender bias, and women of color, with the double burden of gender and ethnic bias, face an even more challenging situation.

We all have biases, and having them doesn't make us bad people. Biases are based on the basic human need to make sense of the world around us through creating categories that become tied to either positive or negative associations. While we can't prevent these "mind bugs" from forming-through life experiences or social messaging-we can prevent acting on them.

While bias needs to be addressed on an organizational level in STEM and non-STEM organizations alike, individual leaders can do a lot to raise awareness and counteract the effects of bias. In this latest series of blog posts, we draw from the research by Joan C. Williams (University of California, Hastings College of the Law), who has identified the most common bias patterns and how bias interrupters can be used to challenge them. This first bias pattern we will call "prove it again."

"look for opportunities to publicly acknowledge women's accomplishments, and push back when women say they are "not ready" or "not qualified."

Prove Yourself Again
In the Williams study, 68% of women executives have experienced the "prove-it-again" bias, which essentially is a double standard: in order to be seen as equally competent, women need to perform better than men. Their successes are credited more to luck or circumstance than to skill, and their mistakes are noticed more and remembered longer. Objective requirements are often applied rigorously to them and more leniently to others. Additionally, while men are judged on their potential, women tend to be judged on their performance alone. A single mistake can become generalized into broad negative perceptions and reinforce negative stereotypes of women as a group. Interestingly enough, superstar women tend to get higher evaluations than men, but the women who are a notch down often get much lower evaluations.
What Female Executives Can Do

Move outside your comfort zone, push past the overachiever mentality, and take risks on putting yourself out there. If a promotion requires nine things, don't wait until you have 10-just go for it.

Be clear on what experiences/accomplishments make you eligible for a promotion, and then get to work gaining them.

Ensure that your goals and accomplishments are clearly measurable, so that there is no room for subjectivity in evaluating their attainment.

Capture the breadth of your successes through keeping careful, real-time records of your accomplishments: goals achieved, the impact of your leadership, and recognition you receive throughout the year.

Communicate and ensure that your boss and other key stakeholders have visibility into your results throughout the year.

Form a posse-a group of allies who can help advocate for each other, for example, by ensuring that no one is held to a different standard or by calling out stolen ideas (that is, ideas that are first voiced by a woman and ignored, then restated by a man and celebrated).

What Allies Can Do
When evaluating people for hire/promotions/extended scale and scope, make people pre-commit on what the nonnegotiable qualifications are. If you note people diverging, push back and have them explain why. "Can you help me understand how Jane's situation is different from John's?" is a helpful question to ask.

For vague statements such as "cultural fit," "gut feel," "has what it takes," or "natural leader," challenge the team to break them down into concrete behaviors.

Be sure that the concepts of performance and potential are evaluated separately rather than lumped together.

Women receive less credit and give themselves less credit, which can lead to an eroded self-confidence. As a result, they are less likely to present themselves for promotions and stretch assignments. Therefore, look for opportunities to publicly acknowledge women's accomplishments, and push back when women say that they are "not ready" or "not qualified."

When you notice a stolen idea occur in a meeting, say, "I've been pondering that ever since Pam first said it."

It is easy to feel powerless when faced with the barriers of gender bias-the patterns seem so pervasive and difficult to change. Part of the difficulty lies in their often subconscious nature; we simply don't notice the invisible map with which we navigate the world. For us to be able to scrutinize those internal maps and find strategies and solutions to deal with them, we first need to surrender to the fact of their existence. The potential for change lies in the actions performed by female executives themselves and in the power of their allies creating a system of partnership, support, and advocacy.

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How Gender Bias Holds Women Back in Leadership Roles: Prove Yourself Again

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This is the first of a four-part series examining patterns of gender bias affecting female executives, and how "bias interrupters" can be used to challenge them. A decade of talent and diversity work in the construction industry has given me access to the challenges in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) community.

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Does gender have a role on who makes a better leader?

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In 2012, women held just 3.8% of Chief Executive Officer positions in Fortune 500 companies, and 90 out of 535 seats in US Congress. Much has been written about why women are so severely underrepresented in senior leadership - from poor childcare provisions to institutional bias. One thing researchers can't agree on is whether there are fewer women leaders because they're less effective at the job, or because society expects them to be.

One theory goes that society generally associates successful leadership with stereotypically 'masculine' traits such as assertiveness and dominance, and so disapproves of female leaders because they violate these gender norms. As a result women experience greater obstacles to reaching the upper echelons. In the 1970s Virginia Schein came up with the phrase 'think manager-think male' to explain the automatic association between leadership and masculinity - an association which still exists, in certain circumstances, today (see a previous post here). But with the recent rise of transformational leadership and its emphasis on traditionally 'feminine' traits like empathy, collaboration and emotional intelligence, could the expectations of female leaders be shifting?

Of course, there is no universal rule: different individuals are differently suited to different situations, and context is, as ever, king. To that end, a study published recently in the Journal of Applied Psychology aimed to add a more nuanced insight to the 'male vs female leaders' debate. By analyzing the results of 99 different studies that measured leaders' effectiveness from 1962 to 2011, the researchers were able to unpick the situations in which male or female leaders excelled.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the results suggested that the culture of the organization makes a difference: in traditionally male dominated, masculine organizations like government or the military, male leaders were more effective , while women triumphed in more 'feminine' environments like social services and education . Interestingly, under the vague umbrella term 'business', female leaders also came out on top.

What's more, the results also highlighted that it matters who you ask. When leaders rated their own effectiveness, men tended to rate themselves higher than women. But when other people (peers, bosses, subordinates or third-party observers) did the rating, women were seen as significantly more effective than men - particularly in studies from 1982 and later. This was especially true taking into account the different levels of leadership: at lower, supervisor levels, men rated themselves higher than women, while women were seen by others to be more effective in mid- and upper-level positions.

There are a few possible explanations to this pattern of results:

1. the recent trend towards transformational leadership and its emphasis on empowerment and collaboration - traits traditionally associated with women - means that leadership is increasingly seen as a domain more suited to women.

2. because of the many obstacles that women experience on their way to the top and the assumption that management is better suited to males, people assume that women who have made it to a mid- or high-level management position must be extra special, and so credit them with elevated competence ('she must be really good to have made it that far').

3. men have an over-inflated view of their own ability and women really do make better leaders.

Perhaps the most important result from this meta-analysis though was that taking into account self and other ratings, across all types of organizations and all leadership levels, there was no significant difference between male and female leaders. Perhaps in 2014 it's time we all looked further than gender and concentrated instead on which skills make the best leaders - male or female.
Follow @DrSebBailey on twitter or on Forbes at the top of this post.

I'm an author and the cofounder of Mind Gym, a company that transforms the way people think, behave at work and at home by using the very best of applied psychology. I ...

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Who Makes A Better Leader: A Man Or A Woman?

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In 2012, women held just 3.8% of Chief Executive Officer positions in Fortune 500 companies, and 90 out of 535 seats in US Congress. Much has been written about why women are so severely underrepresented in senior leadership - from poor childcare provisions to institutional bias. One thing researchers can't [...]

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Leadership Differences Between Men and Women

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Leadership Differences Between Men and Women

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What should a women act like in the workplace?

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Women comprise more than half the workforce. Yet, less than 20 percent of C-suite executives are women and only five percent of CEOs are women. To help answer why there are not more women in the top ranks of leadership, scientists at Development Dimensions International (DDI), the global leadership development consultancy, released two research studies aimed at finding the answers. The first, Ready-Now Leaders: Cultivating Women in Leadership to Meet Tomorrow's Business Challenges by DDI and The Conference Board, identifies "confidence" as one of the few but significant leadership differences between the sexes. The research also provides a snapshot view and analysis of gender diversity across countries and industries. DDI's High-Resolution Leadership study reviewed true assessment data from 10,000 global leaders and found no difference in the battle of the sexes for leadership skills. Men and women equally qualified in business drivers around hard- and soft-business skills-with neither gender scoring high. However, the study did identify three personality differences-inquisitiveness, sensitivity and impulsiveness-between the two sexes.

To get ahead, should a woman act more like a man at work? "The quick answer is no-except when it comes to confidence," said Tacy M. Byham, Ph.D., DDI CEO. "Women need to do a better job of declaring themselves and becoming their own advocates-speaking and acting confidently and mentally promoting themselves to a future-focused role. With this mindset, our own behaviors change. And, a woman's impact is strengthened and improves her ability to get that seat at the table." Combined findings from the research include:

Fact 1: Women are less confident and less likely to rate themselves as highly effective leaders compared to men. Men highly self-rate their own leadership skills and their ability to tackle management and business challenges. Only 30 percent of women rate themselves in the top 10 percent of leaders, in comparison to 37 percent of men. At the senior level, 63 percent of men rate themselves as highly-effective leaders compared to only 49 percent of women. Women were less likely to have completed international assignments, to have led across countries or geographically dispersed teams, all of which make up important development opportunities. Leaders who had access to global and more visible experiences are more likely to advance.

Fact 2: Business drivers comparing men and women yield no significant differences. Business drivers examined include: Building high-performance cultures; engaging employees; cultivating a customer-focused culture; creating alignment and accountability; enhancing organizational talent; building strategic partnerships and relationships, driving process innovation and driving efficiency. "The reality is we tend to focus too much on differences which are actually few and far between," said Richard S. Wellins, Ph.D., DDI Senior Vice President and study co-author. "The disparity in gender diversity has little to do with competence levels."

Fact 3: Considerable personality gaps exist between the sexes in inquisitiveness, sensitivity and impulsiveness. The research shows that men are 16 percent more inquisitive than women, possibly due to their tendency to gravitate towards STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers that reinforce inquiry. Women are interpersonally more sensitive than men (13 percent more), which can be an advantage in cultures where leaders are valued for demeanor and interactions with others. Men also score as more impulsive than women (11 percent more) which could result from the reinforced "just do it" attitude where women are nurtured with the outlook "don't do it unless you can do it right."

Fact 4: Organizations with a greater percentage of women in leadership roles perform better financially. Organizations in the top 20 percent of financial performers have 37 percent of their leaders as women. "When it comes to leadership, gender shouldn't be an issue, but it is-a business issue," said Byham. "Encouraging gender diversity in leadership ranks leads to more diversity of thought prompting improved problem solving and increased business benefits." Organizations with women in at least 30 percent of leadership roles are 12 times more likely to be in the top 20 percent of financial performers. Organizations in the bottom 20 percent have only 19 percent of their leaders as women. "DDI research shows that when women occupy top leadership spots it pays dividends to the bottom-line in the form of increased revenue and profits," said Byham.

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Leadership Differences Between Men and Women

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Women comprise more than half the workforce. Yet, less than 20 percent of C-suite executives are women and only five percent of CEOs are women. To help answer why there are not more women in the top ranks of leadership, scientists at Development Dimensions International (DDI), the global leadership development consultancy, released two research studies aimed at finding the answers.

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How are women represented in the workplace?

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Women are not new to leadership; think of Cleopatra or Queen Elizabeth. Think of the women who led the civil rights and education reform movements. But women are still outnumbered by men in the most prestigious positions, from Capitol Hill to the board room. Barriers and Bias: The Status of Women in Leadership examines the causes of women's underrepresentation in leadership roles in business, politics, and education and suggests what we can do to change the status quo.

Join the conversation by using hashtag #leadHERship

What Is the Gender Leadership Gap?

In short, women are much less likely than men to be in leadership positions. In universities, businesses, courts, unions, and religious institutions, male leaders outnumber female leaders by wide margins. Our elected state representatives, for example, are far more likely to be men than women:

The gender leadership crisis is even worse in the U.S. Congress, where women make up only 19 percent of our elected officials. And it's plain dismal among governors, only six of whom are women.

For women of color, leadership opportunities are particularly elusive. Asian, black, and Hispanic women make up 17 percent of workers in Standard and Poor's 500 companies but fewer than 4 percent of executive officials and managers. The further you move up the ladder, the fewer women are there.

Why Is There a Gap?

There is no lack of qualified women to fill leadership roles. Women earn the majority of university degrees at every level except for professional degrees, and more women are in the workforce today than ever before. There must be something inherent in the system that's working against them.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that 30,000 cases of sex discrimination in the last five years were settled or decided in favor of the person who filed the charge. But blatant sex discrimination isn't the only barrier; hostile work environments, negative stereotypes about women in leadership, and bias also keep women out of the top spots.

One key obstacle to women's leadership is unconscious or implicit bias, which can cloud judgment in ways people are not fully aware of. To help better understand the power of hidden bias and how to mitigate its effects, AAUW created an online test in collaboration with Harvard University and Project Implicit.

*Desktop or laptop computer required. Not compatible on mobile or tablet devices.

Why Should We Care about Women Leaders?

Having gender equality at the top benefits everyone. It's good for both men and women to shift stereotypical ideas around gender roles - just as the status quo is holding women back from leadership roles, it is holding men back from embracing caretaking and support roles. It's good for families, whether they rely on women as the sole breadwinners or share a two-earner income. It's good for business to draw on the creativity of a diverse staff and recognize the purchasing power of women. It's good for the country, because the more diverse the pool, the more talented our leaders will be.

From the Experts

Watch the AAUW researchers talk about the importance of women in leadership.

What Can I Do to Close It?

The leadership gender gap is persistent and pervasive but solvable. There are many steps we can take as individuals, employers, and policy makers to create significant change.

Individuals

Learn about your own subconscious biases by taking our brief online test.

Employers

Employers should create an equitable workplace culture, with flexibility and fair expectations for both men and women, and they should enforce fair policies through tools like diversity training and blind résumé screening.

Policy makers

There are many proposed pieces of legislation and regulations that would promote women leaders through pay equity (the Paycheck Fairness Act), family support (the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act), and salary transparency.

Read more about the AAUW recommendations.
Solutions from AAUW programs

AAUW's Start Smart and Work Smart workshops empower women with the tools they need to successfully negotiate their salaries.

Our annual National Conference for College Women Student Leaders brings together 1,000 women for workshops, speakers, and professional development.

Stories from Women Leaders

Check out these AAUW stars who are proving that women can be powerful leaders on campus and beyond. Read more "

The world needs to value women's contributions as much as men's - our economic opportunity, peace, and security are on the line. Read more "

Thanks to deeply ingrained stereotypes, time and again women leaders are labeled as bossy, cold, aggressive, and worse. Read more "

When it comes to civic participation and mobilization (online and on the ground), black women are leaders. But they remain severely underrepresented in electoral politics. Read more "

Barriers and Bias is made possible by the generosity of AAUW's Mooneen Lecce Giving Circle and the AAUW members whose gifts help support AAUW research.

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Barriers and Bias: The Status of Women in Leadership

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Why do men still vastly outnumber women in leadership positions? There is no lack of qualified women to fill leadership roles. Women earn the majority of university degrees at every level except for professional degrees, and more women are in the workforce today than ever before.