Nina Angelovska* says women should not think or act like men to succeed in leadership, but they should definitely assert confidence like a man.
Photo: Bastian Weltjen
The digital world has by far greater potential to be more equal, less prejudiced and more inclusive than the traditional one — we don’t know who is sitting behind the machine, who is handling the application we have sent, etc.
And yet the digital world is still dominated by men.
During the recent UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) E-commerce Week in Geneva, Rebecca Enonchong, a tech founder and CEO of AppsTech, shared how hiding her title as a female founder helped her grow her company.
However, she could not hide her role from VCs and that has limited her ability to raise funds.
Candace Nkoth Bisseck, ex-Country Manager of Jumia Group Africa and currently Program Manager at eTrade for Women Network at UNCTAD tackled the policies when it comes to women leadership: “There must be policy initiatives to give women leadership positions.”
“Otherwise, the digital economy will never be gender inclusive.”
When it comes to women’s inclusion in leadership positions, the data globally is underwhelming — the percentage of women in senior roles is declining.
Women held under a quarter (24 per cent) of senior roles across the world in 2018, a decrease from 25 per cent in 2017.
In 2018 just 5 per cent of senior roles were held by women.
The “glass ceiling” is still an invisible barrier preventing women from reaching the top positions.
Men are still viewed as default business leaders, affirming the “think manager, think male” mindset.
So, should women who aspire to lead try to think like males?
A Harvard Business Review study investigated male vs female leadership taking into consideration 16 competencies that are proven as most important to overall leadership effectiveness, according to 30 years of research.
Their findings concurred the stereotype that women “take care” — women scored higher than men in building relationships, inspiring and motivating others, practising self-development.
However, at the same time, it put a brake on the stereotype that men “take charge” as the two traits where women outscored men to the highest degree were taking initiative and driving for results.
So, if women are more competent than men, why are the numbers of women in management positions declining instead of increasing?
Is it a matter of confidence rather than competence?
Author Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic asks two powerful questions: “Why is it so easy for incompetent men to become leaders?”
“And why is it so hard for competent people — especially competent women — to advance?”
He explains that we commonly misinterpret displays of confidence as a sign of competence; we are fooled into believing that men are better leaders than women.
“The truth of the matter is that pretty much anywhere in the world men tend to think that they that are much smarter than women,” Chamorro-Premuzic writes.
“Yet arrogance and overconfidence are inversely related to leadership talent — the ability to build and maintain high-performing teams, and to inspire followers to set aside their selfish agendas in order to work for the common interest of the group.”
“Indeed, whether in sports, politics or business, the best leaders are usually humble — and whether through nature or nurture, humility is a much more common feature in women than men.”
So, no, women should not think or act like men, but they sure should assert confidence like a man.
In addition, women outperform men in emotional intelligence, which is a core trait to leadership.
Men tend to perform better when the focus is on managing tasks, while women tend to perform better when the focus is on managing people.
And as AI is expected to automate most of the task-oriented elements of leadership, we can expect that people-managers will be in demand, hence making room for more women in leadership positions.
But do we have enough women who aspire to lead?
Are the glass ceiling and the prejudice the only explanations for the disappointing representation of women in management?
Most women in C-level positions have worked hard to prove themselves and get where they are today.
Did many other women fail or have they never tried?
Sheryl Sandberg claims that the issue is exactly that — the lack of women’s ambition to lead.
The Women’s Leadership Ambition Gap is defined as the inner obstacles women must overcome to reach higher levels of executive management.
Sandberg says this gap accounts for the poor representation of women in top leadership.
“More men than women aspire to the most senior jobs,” she explains.
“When jobs are described as powerful, challenging, and involving high levels of responsibility, they appeal to more men than women.”
If we generalise, we can say that women are competent to lead but men outscore them in confidence and ambition, which are key drivers.
However, as long as there isn’t a one-size-fits-all leadership style for success we can assume that fostering women’s ambition, passion and confidence can help to break the glass ceiling and increase women’s representation in leadership positions.
Sure, policy initiatives for women’s leadership are more than welcome, but at the same time, we need to work so that we have women who are willing, who aspire and are not afraid to take those positions.
* Nina Angelovska is CEO and co-founder of Grouper.mk. She tweets at @nina_angelovska.
This article first appeared at www.forbes.com.
