Women should be themselves at work

It is common knowledge that women are given way less opportunities, compared to men, at workplace. This makes it more difficult for women to rise in the company. Most people feel and expect women to “act” a certain way, and when they don’t, they are rejected for being less competent.

Barbara Annis, the Chair Emeritus of the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard Kennedy School, is also a gender intelligence expert, who feels this attitude is problematic. She feels that successful women leadership means women breaking the glass ceiling by being themselves rather than conforming to the male way of working.

She told NBC News, “We need to move away from what I call sameness thinking. A few years back, we studied 28 of the top leadership books to see what we are teaching leaders, and what we’re teaching them is the male leadership model.”

Jessica Chievers>

Annis spoke to a top female lawyer who claimed that she is a different person at home and an entirely different person at work. Both women feel that there is a huge personal cost attached to this and organizations, on the other hand, lose out on getting the best out of their employees when they refuse to appreciate the diversity at the workplace.

Annis also believes that women have a unique set of traits and qualities that can help them succeed at work. She believes: “Women bring tremendous executive social skills that increase team work and move away from the hierarchical command and control model… Women tend to work in a much more egalitarian, team-like way. So, they bring out the best in employees,” she added, “…They bring new ideas and innovative thinking, because, again, women see different possibilities.”

ORIGINAL SOURCE: NBC News

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/maria-shriver/you-do-you-why-women-leadership-should-just-be-themselves-n216656