Balance in the Boardroom
The core issue in my view, is not that there are too few women in the boardroom but rather a complete masculine-feminine imbalance in leadership style. The macho, adrenaline driven approach to business leadership has been prevalent among most businesses for decades regardless of whether there are women or men at the helm.
To redress the imbalance, a new leadership approach is needed which blends the typically male characteristics of drive, determination and ambition with typically feminine characteristics of empathy, democratic collective decision making, a more considered attitude towards risk and a focus on nurturing people.
To enable this to happen in a meaningful way, it is not just men who have a responsibility to change. More women need to develop their strength and sense of power to step up to the leadership challenges we now face and make their voices heard while retaining their ‘feminine’ qualities.
Leaders with awareness, maturity and responsiveness to switch between masculine and feminine approaches depending on the needs of the situation, are all too rare. When there is balance within an individual, there will be balance within their approach.
Developing these kinds of balanced leaders is one of the greatest challenges we now face.