" Women in a managerial position can contribute their talent and also models in which reason and emotion can work efficiently " (García Ribas, McKinsey consultant, 2007).
It is true that I worked for 10 years in the Madrid office of McKinsey, but that is not the reason that makes me bring you this powerful appointment today.
The truth is that McKinsey and Company, the world's leading multinational senior management consultancy, has been saying for many years that it is in gender diversity that the best results are achieved. In fact, when I joined the company in 1990 there were already women working as consultants with Manager positions. It is true that they did not reach the top then, they left it earlier for family reasons, social pressure and perhaps reluctance from the male leadership. But society has changed and they have done so for years, as in almost all companies, thus recognizing female leadership.
What does the 21st century woman contribute with the new Female Leadership?
To all the necessary attributes to be a good Leader that we saw in my article "How to motivate your staff": goodwill, confidence, training, giving importance to people, self-leadership, self-esteem, listening, collaboration, relationship, etc., Women bring other attributes that ADD, and make our capacity for Leadership brilliant:
- Intuition Courage Connection with emotion Paradigm shift
It is likely that having to fight to make a place for ourselves in a professional world until recently masculine, has made us question almost everything permanently. And this is a great advantage in today's world where everything changes at great speed, we are more prepared for paradigm shifts.
This struggle has also made us especially aware of the issue of equal opportunities and the democratization of the company. And on the other hand, our intrinsic way of being makes us care more about others, empathy is connected with emotion and is a feminine quality.
Comparison of female versus male Leadership - Square, 2003
- Women Leaders tend to emphasize cooperation over competition Women Leaders tend to emphasize equality over hierarchy Women Leaders tend to lead more democratically Women Leaders tend to be more transformational No differences have been detected between women and men in interest in Relationships and interest in the task Status, culture and race are more relevant factors than gender to describe Leadership
10 Strategies for Female Leadership - Dra. Berbel, 2011
- Know yourself Set your own goals Educate yourself Make your own wishes and goals known Be visible Find a mentor Network with women Affirm yourself Show initiative Design an action plan for the future
As you can see, both men and women are trained to be great leaders, although it is true that the leadership of the 21st century requires large doses of empathy, intuition, creativity, the capacity to transform and question old paradigms, and for everything For this, Female Leadership has a special contribution to make.
"Your steps will remain, look back but always go forward, because there are many who need you to arrive in order to follow you." Charles Chaplin.
