Happy International Women’s Day 2024.
We have, to put it bluntly, come a very long way.
I know, I know, there are still a lot of firsts waiting to happen, especially when it comes to the most senior leadership positions. But as someone who’s been working with women leaders and aspiring women leaders around the world for the last 35 years, I’m here to testify that progress has been remarkable.
Perhaps most significant has been women’s influence on how excellence in leadership is now defined. Yes, the shift to networked technologies and an economy based on knowledge have played a critical role. But so have women’s distinctive values and skills.
Back in the 1980s, when women began entering the workplace in significant numbers and assuming positions of influence, it was assumed that those who sought senior roles would have to adopt the male style of leadership that was then dominant in order to be taken seriously.
Corporate training programs for women– rare in that era– reinforced this belief. I recall a popular session on “How to Talk Male” (hint: ceaselessly use sports metaphors). I also recall self-styled experts advising women on how to act like one of the guys while barhopping with male colleagues (hint: laugh at off-color jokes while pounding down the alcohol). Awkward corporate fashion shows encouraged women to wear a skirted version of the male suit, complete with fussy little ties, always in sober colors.
Well into the 1990s, as women’s presence in the workplace soared– along with their ambitions– the assumption that women needed to become more like men in order to be successful remained widespread. It was fed by an economic boom in which the media relentlessly exalted demanding, top-down, tough-guy bosses (almost exclusively male) who appeared to be driving their company’s stock prices through the roof. It was the era of “Chainsaw Al” Dunlop and “Neutron Jack” Welch, not to mention the insular numbers crunchers at companies like Boeing. At the time, collaborative leadership styles got no respect.
Yet despite being advised to leave their values at home, women brought their own perspectives and talents with them to the job. In retrospect, we can see that it was borderline ridiculous to assume that one half of the human race could enter a domain that had formerly been the sole preserve of the other half without substantially influencing the culture.
So women began to change the narrative. They were helped along by the obvious and lasting damage done to companies by my-way-or-the-highway male leaders as the boom first faltered and then, in 2007-08, crashed.
In the aftermath, what had traditionally been viewed as women’s values and skills– collaboration, listening, empathy, developing others– began to play an increasing role in transforming how leadership excellence was perceived.
Progress remains incomplete, of course. But there’s no denying that the best companies now seek to attract, engage, and promote potential leaders viewed as adept at building inclusive cultures.
More and more, these are the criteria that show up in performance reviews and search firm directives. Organizations also seek to brand themselves as inclusive in the global marketplace so they can get an edge in recruitment. As a result, the ability to build strong relationships and instill confidence in others are longer no longer viewed only as soft skills but as essential leadership skills.
This has shifted how we talk about leadership, the very vocabulary we use. This matters because our vocabulary shapes our thinking, even as our thinking shapes the words we use.
The shift I am describing has many mothers and many fathers. But women’s increasing influence on the world of work has been the key. Which makes International Women’s Day something to celebrate.
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I still credit you for talking about a WEB before the WWW! You were a pioneer, leader, visionary and I am thrilled women’s values are finally being seen as workplace values. Thanks Sally. Jann