What’s keeping women from being recognized for transformational leadership?
Every time I pick up a book that guides leaders and entrepreneurs toward habits and thinking toward exponential success—I’ve come to notice that it is always written by a man. I know what you’re thinking but stay with me.
When I read these books, I do find plenty of opportunity to make changes to my own life and state of being that lead to transformational leaps in my career. However, I also find myself making concessions against these pillars of success because I am a woman and a mom.
Hear me out.
Trust me, for much of my career, I was an obsessive ladder-climbing, achieve-at-all-costs kind of female. And, for many of those years, I was not a mom. In hindsight, I was very unsympathetic to the “plight” of motherhood among my female colleagues.
I did not have children early in my career because I was impacted by another mental battle many women endure while still marching ever-forward in the workplace: infertility (but that’s another conversation).
In 2021, I read a self-help book that opened its first chapter by suggesting that every day should start with a 45-minute wrestling match followed by a coital moment before heading off to a cold plunge and skipping the coffee until after breakfast. As I read, I wondered if that guy had a toddler that wandered into his bed every night or hair to fix and make-up to apply while getting kids out the door and to school on time followed by a conference call that he will barely make on his commute because there was hold-up in the car line. Hmmmm. . .
There is so much more to think about in the mornings than a “healthy romp in the sack. . .” or 10 to 12 minutes of alone time in the cold plunge—secrets that motivational speaker, Tony Robbins, and CEO of Orangetheory Fitness, Dave Long, swear by. I’d bet most women are lucky if they get 5 minutes in the shower alone at any point in time.
Of course, then I read another book that I wish I had never picked up because it truly was all about working harder and harder and harder because if you aren’t working hard, you will never win and never be successful. I must say, I know a lot of hardworking people, but a lot of hard work in middle management and similar positions will not land you on the highest rungs of the ladder—especially at large companies. There is a great deal of credence to “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” While I have fought tooth and nail throughout my career, praying against all odds that this is untrue—after 20+ years, I’m here to tell young people everywhere if you hone one skill, learn to network, network, network.
The most recent book I completed, 10X is Easier than 2X, by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Ben Hardy, left me reeling with excitement and completely changed how I managed my team. I was done with low level wins—it was time to win big every day.
But again, the coaching in this book, the stories of people who had reached 10X levels of success over and over and over again—all had something in common. While many were women, their children were grown, they had none, or they were stories about a man whose wife tended to the children while he conquered his 10X goals.
This led to an impromptu conversation with a longtime friend, why are there so few transformational female leaders?
Is it because women do the work without the desire to beat on their own chests and say “look at me, look how amazing I am”?
Or is it because these women are also juggling a family alongside their epic careers with little time for the incessant curation of their social media feed or nurturing a fan base?
Is it harder to “sell” the public on female leadership?
There are women that achieve significant levels of notoriety like Brene Brown, Sheryl Sandberg, and the up-and-coming presidential candidate, Kamala Harris. But when you sit back and look around, there aren’t as many women making headlines and being credited as transformational leaders.
The statistics are staggering:
When you Google “transformational female leaders” or “transformational women leaders,” it is interesting that the articles that pop-up actually cite male leaders before they dive into the female leaders.
Oprah Winfrey makes the cut, but listed next her name is Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs. Clearly, not women.
Are Women Poised to Be Leaders?
The short answer is yes.
According to a 1992 meta-analysis of 61 studies, female leader demonstrate more transformational leadership styles.
Fast forward to a 2019 meta-analysis reviewing data of 30,000 U.S. adults from 1946 to 2018 and you find that perceptions about female leaders are certainly evolving. When the researchers analyzed the traits commonly associated with transformational leadership: communion (i.e., compassion, sensitivity), agency (i.e., ambition, aggression), and competence (i.e., intelligence, creativity), the 1946 poll showed only 35 percent of respondents thought men and women were equally intelligent—with the majority citing men as the more competent gender. In 2018, however, 86 percent of respondents thought men and women were equally intelligent, with 9 percent believing women were more intelligent and 5 percent leaning toward men.
In a 2008 study, women were ranked as more honest, compassionate, outgoing, and creative.
2022 research showed that the presence of a female leader relative to a male leader led employees to perceive and anticipate fairer treatment. The same study illustrated that “female leaders cued organizational trust in both male- and female-dominated industries and when they occupied different levels of the organizational hierarchy.”
What’s a Girl to Do?
The burden of making our voices heard is on us. I used to think that if more men championed women, we would break this curse. The truth is that there are many women that came before us that have opened the minds of many simply by speaking up.
I can say from experience that is not always easy and while I have been an introvert most of my life, even my highly extroverted, highly confident female friends and leaders still doubt themselves and don’t always speak up when given an opportunity or platform.
Of course, when I say, “speak up,” I don’t mean rallying against male attitudes in the workplace and burning your bra on the conference room table. I’m talking about looking your male counterparts and superiors in the eye when you talk—don’t break contact. Speak with confidence. Ask your questions. Share your insights. You won’t always be right, but you are certainly not always wrong—men have the same probability. For some reason, however, they always speak up and many of us suffer from some sort of “imposter syndrome,” asking “Do I really belong here?”
A 2017 project sought to determine if it was possible to close the gap. The goal was to see 100 women seated as CEO of Fortune 500 companies by 2025. Here we are in 2024, and that goal is at a shade over 50 percent.
The outcomes of the research were quite insightful, finding that women are often ready for the role of CEO long before they achieve the title, but one researcher stated that a woman has to work 10 times harder to prove herself before even being presented with the opportunity. It takes women, on average, four years longer and more energy to achieve the same results as men who reach CEO level, meaning they often hold the position for fewer years and, therefore, their impact is less. Even though, when women take the seat, they often bring more diverse functional and industry experience to the job.
The same study also points to my early quip: are women actually achieving transformational leadership, but they go unrecognized because they don’t make it all about them?
According to this research, “female CEOs were comparably motivated by collaborating with other people, taking on more responsibility, power, and scope, the interviews strongly suggest that status, power, and reward were not enough to attract women to the role. Ambitious women may be hesitant to self-promote, driven more by a sense of purpose and a desire to contribute value and shape culture.” Women CEOs scored higher in humility—the 70th percentile—compared to the benchmark of 55th. Women tend to harness the power of the team and lean on experts compared to their male counterparts.
The solution is to continue bringing the female spirit to the workplace or the home or the church wherever you are inspiring, and leading people—everyone has the opportunity. But speak up, support your fellow female leaders, champion their success. Be the example for everyone around you. Raise daughters that know who they are and don’t rely on environmental feedback to shape their responses or sense of self.
Cultivating female leadership is my passion. It is what brought me to this place. However, I don’t think that you have to be in a corporate job to be a leaders. You can be a leader in your home, among your friends, at the gym, church—anywhere you meet people. Leadership begins with finding yourself and your brand of happy.
References:
https://www.apa.org/topics/women-girls/female-leaders-make-work-better
https://hbr.org/2017/11/we-interviewed-57-female-ceos-to-find-out-how-more-women-can-get-to-the-top
