Women Leaders: It’s Time for A New Conversation!

by Dr. Barbara Mark, CEO Full Circle Institute

Dr. Barbara Mark

With only 6 CEO’s in the Fortune 100 and a paltry 15 in the Fortune 500, we might be inclined to believe that getting past the glass ceiling is a task beyond most women.

However, like the characters in the Wizard of Oz, we may find that it is our own limited thinking that contributes to keeping us from the top positions.

We’re able to define in great detail what keeps us from ascending to the highest leadership positions in Corporate America or in political leadership.

We’re able to identify the glass ceiling, the marble ceiling, the concrete ceiling, the glass cliff, the shattered cliff, the sticky floor, the lattice and the labyrinth… to name the most commonly perceived trips and traps.

It’s Time for a Different Conversation about Women as Leaders!

Let’s start having a very different conversation about women in leadership and let’s have that conversation everywhere.

As women, we come to leadership with skills that are different than those that men bring. Women are natural relationship-builders. Women are focused and yet can multi-task. Women are more collaborative; we want to win and have it be for the good of all. Women assess risk differently.

There’s a lot for women to hang their hats on and build confidence around.  But we must begin to break down our own glass ceiling of trips and traps thinking.

We no longer have to learn to lead from men and adopt the masculine style of leadership. We can be women and bring all of our natural and authentic skills to the job.

Let’s begin talking about and honoring the unique leadership skills that women possess.  Let’s start this conversation in our own hearts and minds as well as with women colleagues, with men, in businesses, in business schools, in any training programs, and in leadership programs.  

A First: Fortune 500 CEO Woman-to-Woman Handover

On July 1, 2009, Ursula Burns became the first African American CEO of a Fortune 500 company. It was also the first woman-to-woman handover as Burns stepped in after Anne Mulcahy stepped down at Xerox. Mulcahy has been celebrated as the most successful female CEO to date, for her phenomenal turnaround of an ailing Xerox.

This is a stellar example of how the tide is turning in the business world’s assessment of and response to female CEO’s as well as the beginning of what needs to become a broad trend: women supporting and hiring other women in business.

The way business is conducted is also going through a major transformation. One of the most important factors is the ensuing flood of gender-blind, color-blind, work/life-integration-embracing Generation-Y workers. Half of those workers will be women.

Now is the Time!

Now is the time for women to step up to the challenge and be ready to be the leaders of today and tomorrow.  Now is the time to embrace our natural leadership skills.  And now is the time to begin working alongside our male colleagues, combing the best of feminine and masculine leadership skills to create a successful future for all of us.

What do you think?

Barbara Mark, Ph.D. is the CEO and Founder of Full Circle Institute. FCI is a leadership development company for female executives. Dr. Mark is a thought leader in the area of Women in Leadership and Leadership for the Future. She has been working with women in business for nearly three decades and is committed to the advancement of women for the good of all.  You can learn more by visiting Full Circle Institute.

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Tags: Career, Leadership

Category: Leadership