Women in business- Where they go wrong

Women have a different way of leading. Many believe they are better leaders because of their innate qualities of being corporative, nurturing and sensitive. But there are also a few traits that don’t always work in a woman’s favour. Four women leaders talk about what they think women do wrong at work.

Amy Schulman

President of Pfizer Nutrition in 2010

She feels that the most common thing she sees in women employees is their tendency to hoard favours. This, she believes, is less credible than earning political capital by introducing people, complementing them, standing up for things you really believe in etc. “If you’re waiting for the perfect moment to spend that (political) capital, you’re going to be sidelined your whole career waiting to just kind of enter the ring.”

Lisa Price

The Founder and President of Carol’s Daughter,

She points out one major way in which she feels women can go wrong. “I’m an emotional person. I understand where the tears come from. And being a founder of a beauty company, I sometimes can have the luxury to get teary when I’m speaking passionately about something,” reveals Price. Being emotional, women tend to get overwhelmed more often than men but Price believes that the stigma never goes away and without realizing, we end up reinforcing a stereotype- women are weaker than men.

The New York Times>

Doreen Lorenzo

President, Quirky- a product development company

According to Lorenzo women lead differently than men because they have better instincts and better intuition. She believes they are more corporative and don’t feel the need to be “Alpha all the time.” She doesn’t deny the existence of the glass-ceiling but says, “I never wanted gender to be a reason I did anything or was successful, and so I ignored it all. I just plowed ahead.” Girls, she believes are always taught to be corporative and aren’t as self-assured as boys or men. Most women don’t believe in themselves and this is something, she believes, men take advantage of.

Marjorie Kaplan

Group president of the Animal Planet, Science and Velocity networks

Kaplan feels women are uncomfortable with conflict and to avoid it, may give subtle feedback which may not be understood. She adds that women employers are very conscious of body language but its different with men. “The flip side is that you often have to be really direct with guys — if you’re not saying it to them, they’re not hearing it.”

ORIGINAL SOURCE: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/10/13/business/women-corner-office.html?_r=3&