Insights and Ingenuity

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the most recent McKinsey Quarterly placed a large focus of its content on women and leadership.  This is a fascinating topic to me, and my mind travels down several paths just thinking about it on a very basic, topical level.

Many of the qualities that I associate with leadership– being courageous, demonstrating good listening skills, sensing the needs and struggles of those around you, possessing strong communication skills, having a willingness to support the growth of those around them, being a provocative thinker–interestingly enough, apply to many of the women I admire and respect.  Their position on the corporate (or not so, as the case may be) ladder is immaterial; they simply conduct their daily lives as classically defined leader might.  It may seem cliche, however being from the South I can’t help but think that of those women leaders I know, I recognize some Steel Magnolia in each of them.

This publication issue really initrigues me, because McKinsey interviewed 85 women globally who lead between 5 to 10,000 people.  One interest they all hold in common is that they want to make a difference in a wider world.

If you sign up (free) on the Web site, you can gain access to the article.  There’s a wonderful piece of thought that the writers developed following these 85 interviews, and it’s called Centered Leadership.

“Centered Leadership is about having a well of physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual strength that drives personal achievement and, in turn, inspires others to follow.”

Centered Leadership emphasizes the role of positive emotions.  The impact of this model is presence, resilience, and belonging.  McKinsey suggests that today’s (women) leaders can become even more effective through this model.  It provides

“…a shared purpose with deep meaning for the people involved, explicit awareness and management of energy, positive framing, strong informal and formal networks, and the collaborative creation of opporutnities…”

In Europe and North America, the publication cites that 46% of women leaders clearly define expectations and reward achievement, compared to 35% of men.  Now consider that Mark Hunter and Herminia Ibarra have noted in the Harvard Business Review that “what differentiates a leader from a manager is the ability to figure out where to go and to enlist the people and groups necessary to get there.”

Now if that doesn’t sound like the successful women I know, I’m not sure what does.

1. They have a vision, a plan
2. They recognize the smarts, talents, and strengths in others
3. They outline and communicate the plan, the goal
4. They let the team lead
5. And they communicate the ways the team will benefit upon achieving the plan

I believe that innately, we all want to be productive and fruitful, to contribute good work.  Most of us want to be lead, to have a targeted direction, and are happy to contribute our piece and share in the success.  A few want to lead  the charge and take pride in the achievement of the collaborative unit.

Tags: Leadership Success Strong Women Teams

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