Cheerfulness may hold back female leaders

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Steely Dan

Steely Dan

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http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/13/busin...-among-leaders/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

Cheerfulness may hold back female leaders
By Vanessa Ko, for CNN
updated 12:26 AM EDT, Thu June 13, 2013

(CNN) -- One way for women to combat the stereotype that they are less fit as leaders than men is to be less cheerful and show more pride, a new study suggests.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Technische Universität München School of Management, found that for both men and women, expressing pride gave the impression that one is willing to lead, especially when compared to expressions of happiness. But the difference was more pronounced among women....
 
True story: whenever I send out group emails at work, I have to make myself go back and remove all the smiley face emoticons before I hit send. It's totally a subconscious thing, like I need to "soften the blow" of a direct/imperative statement coming from a female. Things are still very complicated in the ol' workplace.
 
This comes from the societal expectation that women always be cheerful and friendly. We must never scowl, lest we be confronted by some nosy old man saying "aww, cheer up honey, nothing's that bad!".

We are damned if we do, damned if we don't. Be cheerful, and people think we are shallow and fluffy and unable to lead. Be more serious, and people comment about our b*tchiness and lack of humor.

:furious:
 
I always wondered what was holding me back from being a leader! Now I know it's my terrific, sunny personality. :dance: Wish I wasn't so likeable.
 
STEADFAST said:
I always wondered what was holding me back from being a leader! Now I know it's my terrific, sunny personality. :dance: Wish I wasn't so likeable.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I only need to venture into the second to last post wins thread to see how you have a sunny personality and are so likeable. :rolleyes:
 
STEADFAST said:
I always wondered what was holding me back from being a leader! Now I know it's my terrific, sunny personality. :dance: Wish I wasn't so likeable.
Click to expand...

Same here. All these years I thought it was just my incompetence and not being able to make a decision to save my life!
 
There are cheerful, jovial successful men. I guess it only applies to females.
 
Steely Dan said:
found that for both men and women, expressing pride gave the impression that one is willing to lead, especially when compared to expressions of happiness. But the difference was more pronounced among women....[/I]
Click to expand...


Expressing pride is often the same as "taking credit". A lot of women have a tendency to focus on "team" accomplishments, they don't take personal credit for things they give credit to "the team". Men are far more likely to either take direct credit or imply it is "all them".

Not to say ALL women do that, I work with one that has no problem taking full credit for other peoples work (people in other departments, not her own "team"). Because she is female I resent her even more for that behavior and would happy let her hang herself if the opportunity arose, I am very team oriented (and have to be because of my position) and believe in protecting team members and the company but in her case I wouldn't lift a finger if I saw her about to make a big mistake.
 
Ahh, yes.....'tis the topic of my thesis.

My research suggested that female managerial social skills differed greatly from men and it's difference lies in the fact that as children, women play in more solitary, smaller groups. One of the factors, anyway.

Women need to learn how to be more ingratiating to their bosses and not feel cheesy about it. They have to learn how to be cooly gregarious. They must learn to self-promote. They have to learn to feel that they deserve a better job position and to actually *apply* for that new job.

Some of my findings from a few years back........


Perhaps one of the solutions would be to have successful men mentor women?
 
"Lean In" seems to be a decent book on the topic. I won't link as I'm not sure of the rules, but it should be the first Amazon hit. Self-help for women In business by a female exec from Facebook / google / other big companies.

Lots of interesting statistics, stuff like women will only go for a new job/position if they feel they have close to 100% of the required skills, whereas men will go for it at like 60%. (I may not be dead on on the numbers, but it was a big gap.)
 
ATasteOfHoney said:
Ahh, yes.....'tis the topic of my thesis.

My research suggested that female managerial social skills differed greatly from men and it's difference lies in the fact that as children, women play in more solitary, smaller groups. One of the factors, anyway.

Women need to learn how to be more ingratiating to their bosses and not feel cheesy about it. They have to learn how to be cooly gregarious. They must learn to self-promote. They have to learn to feel that they deserve a better job position and to actually *apply* for that new job.

Some of my findings from a few years back........


Perhaps one of the solutions would be to have successful men mentor women?
Click to expand...

BBM

I think it would be better if successful women mentored men. JMO
 
ArianeEmory said:
Lots of interesting statistics, stuff like women will only go for a new job/position if they feel they have close to 100% of the required skills, whereas men will go for it at like 60%. (I may not be dead on on the numbers, but it was a big gap.)
Click to expand...

Very true. IMO it comes down to testosterone/confidence/risk taking.

It goes way beyond the work environment. Studies have shown women on the battlefield usually only make aggressive moves against the enemy when they KNOW they have the advantage whereas men often think "optimistically". Studies have also shown when men are under stress testosterone often spikes and they take MORE risks when competing aggressively.

Not many women die accidentally after saying "Hey, watch this!" (cue jump off roof). Females also account for a small percentage of drowning victims because we aren't nearly as likely to jump in to a body of water or try to swim across a lake unless we are SURE we have the skills/stamina.

I used to think about taking testosterone as I admire the aggressive sales skills and confidence that often borderlines on arrogance among many of the males I work with (some of them may not be too bright but they sure are confident in their mental prowess!). Course body hair isn't cool, and roid range combined with PMS could be a deadly combination.
 
Sonya610 said:
Not many women die accidentally after saying "Hey, watch this!" (cue jump off roof)
Click to expand...

Rsbm... So funny, and so true! If we didn't all know this already from real life experience, a quick spin on the youtubes proves this out. I don't know how many vids I've seen of men (mostly young ones) doing some of the most ridiculous, dangerous stuff, and having it all go wrong. :lol:

And my husband loves those videos, btw, and always makes me watch the ones he thinks are funniest. I've never seen him laugh as hard as he did at the one with the drunk young guys with fireworks. It involved a bottle rocket and a guy's rear end, which of course ended badly after "watch this!"... I don't even... :facepalm:
 
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