Firstly, Happy International Women's Day! 20 Years since the Spice Girls got together
Secondly, Thank you to all of the strong and inspirational women who have influenced, helped me and made me believe in myself.
Lastly, We're not done yet. Here's a fun fact for you:
"Bold Women Do It Better"
Whether its a gender pay gap, a lack of female representation in senior positions or office sexism - there is still work to be done.
Luckily - science is on our side and science tends to win (unless you're a bigot).
What exactly is "IT" that women do better?
Hopefully, with companies using analytics more, they will see the benefits a diverse workforce brings.
Here's the science:
A recent article by Zenger and Folkman found that, in every function, women leaders are seen as bolder leaders.
The data shows this is generational. It shows that women in the age group 30 and younger in men-dominated professions were rated in the 62nd percentile, while women in the same age group in the women-dominated professions were in the 42nd percentile.
It shows that the common stereotype of men being “bolder leaders” is being eroded and that:
“looking through our database of 360-degree assessments from 75,000 leaders around the world, we noticed that on average the women were bolder than the men”.
If, as research shows, extra-ordinary leaders have both good judgement and bold leadership then we should embrace the qualities that produce great teams and results.
We should be nurturing more women into leadership roles
What we need to do
We should be striving to have extra-ordinary leaders who:
Challenge standard approaches
Create an atmosphere of continual improvement
Do everything possible to achieve goals
Get others to go beyond what they originally thought possible
Energise others to take on challenging goals
Quickly recognise situations where change is needed
Have the courage to make needed changes
We should not be afraid of pushing boundaries. We should confront people with tall poppy syndrome.
We should tell our girls they can achieve anything they want to.