Research: Women score higher than Men in most Leadership Skills
Women now occupy several leading positions across companies and political parties worldwide. There may, someday even be a woman President of the USA. This eventuality is only expected, as women outshine men across leadership skill categories. This is as per a study conducted based on data submitted by talent management and research firm Zenger Folkman. This is in spite of the fact, that women tend to under- rate themselves until they reach the mid forties. Instead, they rate themselves higher as they move up in their career, gaining experience. It is only a dearth of opportunity that is holding back women, though they can make highly competent leaders. The data further reinforces the different skill categories where women tend to have the higher competence. The biggest gap exists in the ability to take initiative. Women also do better in terms of resilience, being results- driven, having an acute awareness of self- development, bold leadership, helping develop others, problem- solving ability, building relations, effective communications and in executing business innovations. The only areas where they marginally fall short of their male counterparts are in developing a strategic perspective and in their professional or technical expertise.
Uploaded Date:23 July 2019
John Kerry on Leadership, Compromise, and Change
John Kerry is a former U.S. Secretary of State. He has spoken on how to make the right connections and to bounce back from defeats. The public sector can actually be a great place to understand these things, and correspondingly advice the private companies on the same. Kerry speaks about how his early military training was his induction to leadership and talent management. He has even penned down a book titled Every Day is Extra to drive home his points. Being a good listener is an effective and competent method to start it all. Recruitment is also a critical aspect, so Kerry has always made it a point to select people he considers to be smarter than himself. Compartmentalization is one thing that teams must avoid at all costs.
Uploaded Date:08 June 2019
Succeeding the long- serving Legend in the Corner Office
Life at the top of the corporate ladder is getting increasingly competitive, thanks to the constant changes in trends and the churn in technologies. Last year alone, more than a sixth of the CEOs in the world’s 2,500 largest companies quit, as per PwC’s Strategy and CEO Success Study. The average tenure of a CEO too has been drastically reduced to five years only now. Sometimes, succession doesn’t work out, but in others they do, as happened with Apple post Steve Jobs, when Tim Cook took on the top job. At GE, the succession proved to be a failure after Jeffrey Immelt was succeeded by John Flannery. Companies must thus, build formal management training sessions, primarily focused on succession planning at each stage, but with special focus on the very top. Potential successors must try and build their own brand. They need to set the agenda, by drafting the corporate strategy, at their level at least. The right pace has to be dictated to lead to change. The board needs to work with such potential successors as collaborative partners. Critically, the person has to leverage the existing working culture, to suit towards his/ her needs.
Uploaded Date:08 June 2019
When a Leader is Causing Conflict, Start by asking Why
There are times, when corporate leaders turn arrogant and tactlessly blunt while lacking in empathy. At such times, there is often a need for external executive coaches to conduct specific management training sessions for these leaders. To address this problem, the team needs to understand, why exactly this happened. The team members must hold on from making any judgements or assumptions. One then needs to identify the symptoms that led to the formation of such contradictions. A broad repertoire of solutions needs to be suggested for the leader to choose from. Personality instruments are often used effectively at such times by these leadership coaches. One must avoid making the mistake of mislabeling behaviours.
Uploaded Date:04 June 2019