Women and Leadership

I belong to several groups in Linkedin; the Professional Women’sNetwork is one I enjoy visiting often. A recent discussion revolved around this statement:  "My biggest struggle as a Professional woman is ___." Members of the group are asked to fill in the blank. The replies and comments were some that I expected and have experienced myself. I was disappointed that since my professional career began almost 40 years ago, not much has changed. A common thread was choices and priorities—having to choose between family and job. Sheryl Sandberg, in a TED Talk, mentions this same concern; women “face harder choices.” Making these choices is very difficult, but many of the Linkedin commenters said finding a balance is the key.

A second concern mentioned several times was the inequity of the corporate world as it applies to promotions, salaries, and opportunities.  Sandberg says the percentage of women in the corporate world who hold C-level jobs or board seats is about 15% to 16%. I encountered this in the beginning of my professional career and see that it is still a concern for women of the 21^st century.

John Maeda and Becky Bermont have a leadership design that compares traditional leadership with creative leadership. Creative leadership is characterized by being interactive, improvising when appropriate, learning from mistakes and taking risks. Their traditional leadership is characterized by one way action with others, following the manual, avoiding mistakes, and sustaining order. The creative leadership descriptors are more open, more about thinking out of the box, but both genders can fit into either set of descriptions.

Let’s break out of the kind of thinking that limits our choices for leaders and holds us back as we apply for those positions ourselves. I have six granddaughters ranging in age from 13 down to two. All six are energetic, active children who enjoy all kinds of activities. Their parents and grandparents encourage them to be the best at whatever they try to do. We also tell them they can be or do whatever they wish when they grow up. My dream is that they find many doors open to them—doors open based on their abilities—not their gender.