Women tend to ‘lead very differently’ than men, says author
Although diversity is an essential asset for companies, women who build their careers still face a number of disparities.
A study by Goldman Sachs in March found that women earn more than $20 trillion each year and control a third of household wealth worldwide. Yet they make up just 8% of Fortune 500 CEOs and attract about 3% of all venture capital (VC) dollars.
“These women are succeeding despite the odds,” Julia Boorstin, author of “When Women Lead,” told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “I was always so curious, how did these women manage to not only grow and scale game-changing businesses, but do so with such limited access to capital, compared to their male counterparts? And what I’ve found is that women lead in very different ways than the traditional male leadership archetype.”
According to Boorstin, who surveyed more than 60 female executives, women are “more likely to lead with empathy [and] a common approach to management, thus bringing perspectives from across an organization rather than just top-down management. »
She also added that women’s leadership styles tend to rely on vulnerability and gratitude – “characteristics not traditionally associated with leadership but which, in fact, can be leadership superpowers.”
The author cited Gwyneth Paltrow, founder and CEO of lifestyle brand Goop, as an example of a woman who leads with vulnerability, noting that Paltrow “had to ask for the CEO role of the company she has. created herself, so she had to put herself in a position of vulnerability to do so.”
Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, who quit Tinder to launch the female-centric dating site, is another example of a fearless leader, Boorstin said, noting that “what really drove her [was] to try to change the way online dating works and put women in the driver’s seat.”
Unlike other gender-focused leadership advice that encourages women to embrace confidence or embrace typically male leadership styles, Boorstin said her book aims to highlight stories that show the leadership traits of women. women in action.
However, these approaches to leadership are not exclusively held by women.
For example, “servant leadership is an approach taken by Howard Schultz, who founded Starbucks, but it’s something women are more likely to do,” Boorstin explained. She added that these examples help move the conversation forward on women’s leadership styles by showing “why it’s effective if it’s done by both men and women.”
Edwin is a producer for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter @Edwin__Roman.
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