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Women and the vision thing.
Herminia Ibarra1, Otilia Obodaru
1Insead, Fontainebleau, France. herminia.ibarra@insead.edu
Harvard Business Review
|February 21, 2009
Summary
Women leaders are not rated lower due to gender bias, but may lack in visionary skills. Research suggests this deficit is learned and can be overcome with development in strategic foresight and communication.
Area of Science:
- Organizational Behavior
- Leadership Studies
- Gender Studies
Background:
- Lingering gender bias is often cited as a reason for women's lower ratings in leadership evaluations.
- An analysis of thousands of 360-degree assessments from executive education programs challenges this assumption.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the perceived deficit in visionary leadership among women.
- To determine if this deficit is a reality or a matter of perception.
- To explore potential explanations for this leadership gap.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of thousands of 360-degree assessments from executive education programs.
- Interviews with female executives.
- Qualitative study of evaluation data.
Main Results:
- Women leaders generally outperform men in most leadership areas.
- A notable exception is in "vision," where women tend to score lower.
- Possible explanations include different approaches to future-shaping, perceived lack of license for bold assertions, or a strategic choice to de-emphasize self-promotion of vision.
Conclusions:
- The perceived leadership gap in vision is not necessarily due to gender bias but potentially to differing leadership styles and perceptions.
- Visionary leadership is a learned skill, not an innate trait.
- Developing and promoting women's visionary capabilities can remove barriers to advancement.
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