Women in Business
Advancing women into senior leadership positions is everyone’s responsibility
The burden of increasing female representation in senior positions needs to stop being a women-only agenda – in the same manner that topics affecting minority groups are erroneously assigned to individuals from those groups instead of the majority groups that are in a position of influence.
In business, the main decision-making power still primarily rests with men. Research shows that less than 5% of businesses globally are led by women, and women fill less than 25% of senior leadership positions. That means the views and decision-making at the top remain biased towards one gender.
Merely empowering women to own the “women” agenda is not really helping anyone as those women are not in the position of influence needed to effect impactful change. Worse, in the instances where there is that one woman who has managed to break through the supposed glass ceiling, she is burdened with the responsibility of carrying the women agenda for everyone else and taking on the responsibility of mentoring and coaching all the women below her, even though men are just as capable of carrying this burden.
This is unfair in many ways, and we have to start shifting our thinking on this women agenda. As the primary decision-makers, it is the men in the boardrooms who need to be tasked with this responsibility – not the outlier executive already overburdened with the high volume of responsibility placed on her by the women looking up to her.
Instead of putting her in a tough position where she has to mentor as many women as she can, why not let the men carry the weight? After all, they, too, have wisdom on how to make it to the top.
Men quite easily take on mentoring other men. They identify the guys they like, spend quality time with them, sponsor them and position them in line for the next promotion. They seldom do this for women. There are many reasons for this, including the awkwardness that comes with giving female employees special attention – all kinds of gossip and misinterpretations can follow on from that. Men would rather have drinks or a meal with a male colleague, at which most of the mentoring happens, than risk being seen doing the same with a female colleague.
This indirectly leads to the exclusion of women, intentionally or not. Men need to think about how to effectively change their views on this, even if it starts with proactively giving women the same mentorship-type attention that they do with men. That way, no one is excluded merely on the basis of gender.
Men should also proactively take responsibility for encouraging those who look up to them to remain their authentic selves as they grow into leadership positions, otherwise we will end up with a situation where the women successfully move up, only to arrive at the top and realise they have been pretending to be men the whole time.
Human beings see and do. Women see mostly male leaders and unconsciously decide that this must be the way of leading. It is often not. We all have our own unique ways of leading that make us effective.
The male leaders in the majority should be encouraging women to appreciate and thrive from that which makes them unique.
One day, when we get a seat at the table, we will have a female perspective in the room. Then we can start reaping the benefits of gender diversity in senior leadership positions.
Studies show that companies with female representation in leadership, however minimal it may be, outperform those that do not. This occurs because these women bring a new, refreshing voice into the room. That is how you get quality and better position your organisation to outperform its peers.
The women representation agenda is one for which we are all responsible, especially those of us who are in leadership positions and have the power and influence needed to change the numbers at the top.
We should not be doing this just because it makes sense for equality – it also makes simple business sense. Diverse teams are far more effective than homogeneous teams.
Behind every successful man, is …
A joke doing the rounds on the internet is that while Michelle and Barack Obama were at a simple restaurant, the owner requested a private conversation with the first lady.
On her return to the table, Michelle told her husband that she and the restaurant owner had been in a relationship during her teens. To which the president responded: “So if you had married him, you would now be the owner of this lovely restaurant.” Michelle replied: “No. If I had married him, he would now be the president of the US.”
Like many jokes, this reflects a view held by many: that Michelle has had a commendable impact on Barack’ s success as the first black president of the US.
Numerous presidents and leaders around the world are confirmation of the axiom “Behind every great man is a great woman”.
But Michelle Obama consistently stands out as an American first lady who has gained a tremendous following and respect around the world.
I believe the respect and admiration she has won is the result of her ability to build a powerful personal brand.
This is something that we can all learn from, especially women. In the spirit of Women’s Month, let’s remember the notable local and international women who have proved that building a powerful personal brand is not something reserved just for men. Women can also have strong brands and can reap the resulting benefits.
When people describe Michelle, the words most often used are “powerful”, “confident” and “integrity”. This is thanks to the efforts she has made to be consistent in the way she portrays herself – from public appearances, to the content of her speeches and the kinds of career choices she makes.
The lesson for anyone building a personal brand in the context of business is that the strength of your brand relies on your ability to consistently live up to the qualities your brand stands for – whether it be in public or in your private life.
It is much easier to be consistent when the brand is authentic to who you are. So often we see our leaders in business and in politics being embarrassed by the scandals that emerge about them – scandals that are utterly inconsistent with the public images that they try to portray.
A personal brand is not a marketing idea of who you hope to be: it is a representation of who you are.
The second key element of Michelle’s brand is that she did not become a shadow of herself in an effort to help or stand by her husband. In fact, both she and the president have benefited from her maintaining the outwardly powerful presence that she consistently portrays.
In the past, the words “powerful” and “confident” would traditionally not be associated with women next to the men at the top, even though manyof us know that the presence of these women plays a key role in the men’s success.
For example, the fact that Hillary Clinton is the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party in the USis a testament to her leadership abilities. One can assume that these same abilities were critical to the success of husband Bill’s election campaign and his presidency.
But few would have credited her with these skills back then, because her image was of a supportive first lady, not the competent presidential candidate we see today.
Women may not be holding all the top seats in business either, but there are a number of them behind successful male CEOs.
In the past, the norm may have been to lie low and remain in the shadow of the men leading us. But it is time we started encouraging the opposite behaviour.
America’s first lady has proved that this approach canbe beneficial, not detrimental, to the brands of everyone involved.
This mentality is reaffirmed by the wise words of Marianne Williamson in her book A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure … There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you.”
Let us all start reaping the benefits that come with letting our power be known.
There is no shame in displaying your power in a manner that is true to your feminine nature. Michelle Obama’s brand is both powerful and feminine.
We live in a world where power is often associated with masculine behaviours. This first lady has shown us that you can indeed build a brand respected for its power, while being authentically feminine at the same time.
In her own words: “One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself.”
Don’t overlook the wisdom all around us
The global market economy is facing a tough time, with billions of dollars lost this week alone – and the local market is following suit.
The outlook is negative and some economies are preparing for another crisis. This does not provide an inspiring environment for someone looking to start or grow a business.
Something could be wrong with how we have been running big business. Perhaps entrepreneurs will need to look for inspiration elsewhere. The enthusiastic optimist in me is eager to find different, unconventional sources of inspiration.
Myles Munroe, a prominent author and life coach, once said: “The wealthiest places in the world are not the diamond mines in South Africa or the banks of the world … In the cemetery is buried the greatest treasure of untapped potential.”
In contrast, I wonder if we can seek inspiration from the wisdom that is around us but often overlooked.
Dr Miles Munroe and wife Image: Myles Munroe International Facebook
Surely we can be inspired by the behaviour of the women and children in our lives – people whose key behavioural traits have been historically marginalised or undervalued.
In the ’40s, Carl Gustav Jung was the first analytical psychologist to introduce the idea of female and male consciousness, anima and animus. He claimed that all beings naturally possess both levels of consciousness. However, the feminine traits remain largely suppressed. This is worrying because, he found, creativity stems from the feminine traits of spontaneity, emotion and intuition.
If entrepreneurs suppress these natural creative abilities, they run the risk of not using something that is critical during the business start-up phase. We are missing out on a chance to use half of our potential.
One of my all-time dreams in life was to meet Oprah Winfrey, one of the most influential women in the world. When I did, I was surprised to realise that a woman as powerful as she is still abounds with the very essence of “anima” – intuitive, spontaneous, humble. She was vulnerable enough to admit to not knowing all the answers and instead admired others for bringing brilliant questions to the table.
Entrepreneurship needs the humility to acknowledge when we do not know the answer; it needs to allow mentors and peers to drive the creative process.
Bestselling books on business and entrepreneurship talk about how women need to be more like men to succeed, and how showing feminine qualities can hinder success. I look forward to the day when we start reading more books on how women (and the rest of the world) can embrace their innate feminine strengths.
A similar case can be made for children. The “marshmallow challenge” experiment showed that preschool children were among the fastest groups to build the tallest marshmallow tower using just spaghetti sticks. They played, collaborated and completed the task on time, and with decorations. The adults planned, argued and even cheated, but could not complete the task on time.
We all know that we are most free, honest and playful when we are young. This open-minded mindset can propel a culture of innovation and creativity in a new business.
Beyond the behavioural traits of women and children, there are also the traits of the poor. They are the best implementers of the survivalist mindset. This is the mindset that most big businesses are operating under today – one that is critical when an entrepreneur needs to allocate limited resources to a wide set of activities.
I was raised by a Mother Teresa-type character who somehow mastered the art of allocating limited resources across a large group of people. She consistently ensured the nourishment of the family, despite a meagre wage.
Psychology studies repeatedly show that the poorest communities are happier than wealthy communities. They live relatively simple, meaningful lives, with strong social connections.
It is much easier to entrench these values of simplicity, purpose and community in the earlier stages of an organisation’s development than later on. Changing the habits of an established organisation can be much harder.
Albert Einstein, one of the greatest creative geniuses of all time, once said that we can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
As we establish the businesses of the future, it is worthwhile to seek inspiration from unconventional sources. This will hopefully help us get out of our current predicament.
Inspiration is all around us, we just need to open up to it.
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