Boss LadyMy experience suggests the best and most successful supervisors are female
Academic evidence suggests that in particular women who are high-performing and already successful tend to see their prospects improve under a woman’s leadership.
Luca Flabbi, a professor of economics at Georgetown, believes that women are better than men at reading other women and assigning them to the jobs commensurate with their experience. Top female leaders, Flabbi notes, put women in more productive positions, and their performance goes up. Now, I’m aware that I may be in the minority, because I’ve heard many of my colleagues say they prefer to work for male supervisors. Men are perceived to be stronger, fairer, and more decisive that women bosses. At the same time, recent data suggests that in times of crisis, women leaders with their strong interpersonal skills are perceived to be more trustworthy compared to their male counterparts. The trust developed by women leaders with strong interpersonal skills results in better crisis resolution in the case when outcomes are predictable, says a study published in the journal “Psychology of Women Quarterly.” In addition, according to recent Harvard Business Review surveys, women are perceived by their managers — particularly their male managers — to be slightly more effective than men at every hierarchical level and in virtually every functional area of the organization. In the Harvard survey, women were rated as excelling in taking initiative, acting with resilience, practicing self-development, driving for results, and displaying high integrity and honesty. Because my expertise is communications, I highly value the effectiveness and persuasiveness of leaders who can be both insightful and succinct. The best communicators, in my experience, are usually women. My days of working for a male or female boss in a traditional 9-to-5 job are over. Instead, I work for a tough, demanding boss every day – me – and my boss never gives me a break. Thankfully, I don’t mind her unheard voice urging me on 24/7 to productivity, quality, and success. |