Wait? What??
“Women manage in a less hierarchical, more interactive, more collaborative way.”
– Julia Boorstin, When Women Lead.
My first real leadership experience was in the US Army. You might imagine a prideful, positional authority, ego-driven leadership culture; the structure certainly created this potential.
The best commanders I worked for and with were quite the opposite. They created an intentional, collaborative team operating from a paradigm of competent humility. HUMBLE enough to ask questions, and seek input from every level of the organization; they continuously learned, and continuously grew…bringing us with them. At the same time, these leaders were CONFIDENT. They set the example, put the work in, and delivered on their commitments. The result was a highly committed and cohesive team that was ready to accomplish the toughest missions.
Women are naturally better than men leading this way. The performance outcomes of this style are more teamwork, higher motivation, increased creativity, and faster innovation.
Men, don’t fall into the culture trap of being a ruggedly independent, all-knowing, all-seeing, shot caller. This just doesn’t work with a modern workforce. Our position is it never worked that well, but maybe we didn’t know any better.
Now we do!