So, Women Do Have The Vision Thing - Building Gender Balanced Business

In a study by Professor Herminia Ibarra and Otilia Obadaru, published in the Harvard Business Review (January 2009), women out-scored men in seven out of ten leadership traits. This was based on data from several thousand executives who attended courses at Insead business school and agreed to participate in 360-degree assessment process.

But, and this was the area that was highlighted in the HBR article (The Vision Thing) and the media, women scored less well than men in one area: envisioning — but only as perceived by their male peers. This refers to the ability to sense opportunities and threats in the environment, set strategic direction, and inspire others.

In the table below I have chosen to turn the spotlight on the perceived strengths of women leaders as highighted in this study.

In the second column, I have inserted data from McKinsey’s recent study, Women Matter 2, based on a survey of more than a thousand managers from a wide range of companies. This showed that women were perceived to be strong in five out of nine leadership criteria which were seen to be critical to corporate performance.

Interestingly, one of these was “inspiration”, which refers to “presenting a compelling vision of the future and inspiring optimism about its implementation.”

So, women may have the vision thing after all.

Writing about gender differences is a minefield and one in which one must tread carefully. But these are two robust pieces of research and both suggest women are, in general, likely to have a significant set of capabilities, which are vital to good leadership in the modern world.

As a male observer of such issues, I will let the table below speak for itself. Managers, of both sexes, take note and draw your own conclusions.

The Vision Thing
Women Matter 2