Perrysburg Pulse Magazine Perrysburg Pulse October | Page 24

NOW, MORE THAN EVER.
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
I
BY: SHAWN HUNTER
n his wonderful book, Stumbling
on Happiness, Harvard researcher
Daniel Gilbert points out that
often our best bet for making
decisions we will both enjoy and
benefit from, is to ask our peers who
have made similar decisions. Gilbert
points out, once we learn their point
of view on the matter, we often refuse
that advice on the grounds that our
situation is different. We often reject
their advice claiming, “But I’m unique!
How could they possibly know what’s
best for me?” Men are less likely than
women to listen to new ideas.
More recent research concludes
that this inability to accept outside
advice and insight only increases
with power. The more power and
resources controlled by an individual,
the more confident they tend to be
in their decision-making, and less
they tend to listen and be influenced
by outside opinions and points
of view. However, in their study
women were often an exception.
In two phases of the study, women
tended to be more open to outside
points of view regardless of their
position of power within the
organization. In their study entitled
“The Detrimental Effects of Power
on Confidence, Advice Taking, and
Accuracy,” Kelly See and her colleagues
discovered that women more often
reported less certainty in their decisions
than men and solicited the advice and
opinions of their colleagues more. Most
interestingly, because women more
often solicited the opinion and advice
of their colleagues, they were viewed
by their peers as stronger leaders.
So, while they may have lacked
absolute assertiveness in their
decisions, women were regarded by
their peers as more confident and
effective leaders precisely because they
asked for advice from their peers.
This innate ability holds separate
ideas at once, and to solicit external
opinions and advice is but one of
many of the 21st century traits and
competencies needed to be an effective
leader in this turbulent economy.
As author Tony Schwartz noted in
the Harvard Business Review, “An
effective modern leader requires
a blend of intellectual qualities—
the ability to think analytically,
strategically and creatively—and
emotional ones, including self-
awareness, empathy and humility…
I meet far more women with this
blend of qualities than I do men.”
For the most part, women, more
than men, bring to leadership
a more complete range of the
qualities modern leaders need,
including self-awareness, emotional
attunement and authenticity.
– Tony Schwartz
At an unprecedented historic time in
which much of the educated talent and
a majority of the consumer decisions are
made by women, we need gender diversity
at all levels – and particularly the highest
levels of organizations. As gender diversity
expert Avivah Wittenberg-Cox researches
and argues, some of the most successful
organizations who are effectively adapting
to change are populated at the highest
levels with balanced gender diversity.
Adopt the “Rooney Rule,” which
originated in NFL football. The
Rooney Rule requires NFL teams
to interview minority candidates,
including women, for head coaching
and senior football operation jobs.
Your company will thrive.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Entrepreneur, author, idea developer. Shawn Hunter has
collaborated with hundreds of business authors, executives, and
researchers to create learning solutions. Shawn’s first company,
Targeted Learning, was acquired by Skillsoft in February 2007.
He is the author of Out•Think and Small Acts of Leadership.
mindscaling.com | shawnhunter.com
Shawn Hunter,
Founder & President of MindScaling
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