Harvard Business Review Begs for Women's Confidence
Hi friends of women in science,
Recently, Leslie Pratch wrote on the Harvard Business Review Blog about why women leaders need self-confidence. She is a clinical psychologist who often consults with businesses about hiring executives. She noted that on January 1, IBM welcomed its first female CEO, Virginia Rometty. We have discussed here whether the top ranks of executives in industry are as open to female as males, and though we found some female executives, it was clear that they were in the minority. Here is one woman taking the reins at a very solid technology firm, clearly a success of the type we were hoping to see earlier.
Rometty had been offered an executive position earlier and asked for time to think it over. When she went home and talked with her husband, he thought a man would not have asked for time, and said it meant she didn't have confidence in herself. She now links that with a discomfort in taking risks. If one is not confident, risks look more dangerous. Pratch noted that being confident is an aspect of active coping, something she finds essential for executive success. She said, "We found that the only measure that predicted leadership for men and women alike was an overall measure of active coping that indicates the ability to respond adaptively to stress and to grow." Furthermore, there were several other marks of women's coping that predicted their executive success, for example the attribution of frustration to external causes rather than self-failures.
She also discussed how men are expected to have "agentic" leadership styles so followers are more comfortable with that behavior from men, a subject we've discussed before. To be good leaders, women have to behave in ways expected of men, but then get negative reactions to those behaviors that men would not get. It's a real catch-22 situation. Pratch thinks women need to lead collaboratively while having a strong coping style, since their leadership is constrained more than men's in its methods.
What do you think?
cheers,
Laura
Hi Laura,
I agree a support group is better than workshops. When opportunities come along, women more than men need a safe place to discuss their choices and the potential consequences. As we've discussed previously, most women are concerned with how their choices will affect their families. And this still is true for women more than men. I always take that into account myself and worry at times if this makes me seem unambitious.
Hi Elizabeth and Kinsey,
Yes, I think today's leadership style is a lot more collaborative than it used to be in theory, although perhaps it was always the case that a small group was used to sound out and refine the leader's ideas, at least for successful leaders. It's hard to know how people will react to ideas if you haven't tried them out. One bad word choice can be a large stumbling block, and it might not matter to the leader what word is chosen.
And confidence is, I agree, very important. There are workshops to help with that, but I think having a supportive group a la Ellen Daniell's book is a great way to help with this issue.
cheers,
Laura
Hi Laura,
I do think a lot of women could work harder on building up their confidence. If even this woman, who is now IBM CEO, wondered if she was qualified, the rest of us may well hesitate when a man would spring forward! KRL
I think it's ignored how important building consensus is even for male leaders. I've seen plenty get into deep trouble through acting without enough consensus-building first. Leaders today need to bring people along, not just jump and clean up afterwards!
Elizabeth D.
