‘It’s tough being a female executive in a man’s
world’
Women at, or heading for, the top in business face all the challenges
of men and more. It would take another book to explore these in
full, and some have been written that explore women’s role and
contribution to management.
7
Here we focus on two aspects.
The first is the higher expectations women have of themselves (and
that others sometimes have of women). Relinquishing the ‘leader
must not have faults’ myth is a necessary step for all leaders, but for
a woman – always fearing the snide comments that are likely to
accompany any business failure with which she is associated – it is
especially difficult. We will look further at the matter of exploring
and understanding your weaknesses and strengths in Chapters 4 and
5, which concentrate on feedback from your team and self-
awareness.
The second is the decision on starting a family, which necessarily has
a bigger impact on women’s career planning than on men’s.
On the first of these, we record the views of Barbara Moorhouse,
former finance director at IT firm Kewill Systems:
‘When I began I felt that I had to be seen as superwoman. If you
are female you feel you have less room for manoeuvre; that
nothing can go wrong under your control. You start to try to
become superhuman. There is a feeling that you are judged
more harshly than men, and this results in you becoming more
reserved.
‘Earlier in my career I would only relax with people who knew
me well. At a former company a colleague said to me: “Give
people time to get to know you; don’t be so super-efficient or
concerned with being perfect; when people know you they really
like you, and you are not just that woman who drives results.” It
is easier to be demonized as a woman.
‘In my experience there are two camps of executive women.
One group, particularly older ones, are prima donnas and
although they complain about being victimized they get a kick
out of being the only woman at the top and are hostile to other
women. I have tried to work with women from this group and it
is difficult.
‘The second group likes to sponsor and support other women. I
am delighted to see other women getting promoted because it
is important. One of the nice things about the IT industry is that
there are some senior women managers.’
She argues that it is important to challenge people from time to time
on whether gender plays a part in decisions:
‘We’ve had advisers pitching to us recently. Two of my team were
finding it hard to rate highly two of the prospective candidates,
who were women. I said to my colleagues (who are men): “Can
I talk something through with you? It’s occurred to me that both
of the two representatives whom you rated lower are women. It
could be that they are more junior than the male candidate, but
could you please think about whether in your mind there is
something about gender?” Neither of them is misogynist in
any way, and they gave me a very reasoned view – but now at
least I hope they would think about whether there is a gender
issue.
‘In this issue there is so much about female behaviour; fixing
the women, or fixing the attitudes of very senior men. We need
to fix the views of more junior men.’
This last point about attitudinal matters is particularly significant. It’s
easy to assume that, because of the emergence of high-profile
business women such as Anita Roddick, Carly Fiorina and Marjorie
Scardino, that the elevation to equality of opportunity and a gender-
neutral workplace is both ineluctable and a short distance away. In
fact, some research indicates that deeply rooted biases persist, are
shifting slowly, and may even be in reverse in a few circumstances.
8
momentum complete leadership chapter one
17
pages 16 /
For the foreseeable future, there are likely to be formidable extra
pressures on ambitious women, simply because they are women.
This book primarily concerns developing the generic attributes of
leadership that are constant across cultures and gender. The point
here to note is that this personal development doesn’t happen in
isolation from matters such as demography, societal changes and
gender. From an individual woman executive’s point of view, there is
still too much pressure on her to be seen to be better than the rest,
and to have to consider such matters as maternity policies when
choosing an employer. From an employer’s point of view, the need to
attract and retain the best women managers is actually increasing, so
business sense ought to point in the same direction as political
correctness.
We hope you don’t feel daunted by this list of challenges. There is no
need to be: if you are already in a senior post you will be familiar
with them, and if not it is better to be prepared. Of all the challenges,
perhaps the one that is commonest is the matter of feeling alone, and
we hope that this chapter will have illustrated that this feeling, and
attendant anxieties over being ‘good enough’, is common to all
business leaders, including the most successful ones. The point is not
to deny any feeling of loneliness or inadequacy, but to experience it,
acknowledge it and learn. It makes the achievements you realize
even more rewarding.
The point is not to deny any feeling of loneliness or
inadequacy, but to experience it, acknowledge it and
learn.
momentum complete leadership chapter one
19
pages 18 /
PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE
These questions will help you gain a sense of where you are, help
you identify your degree of support or isolation, and indicate some
developmental priorities.
Network support
Comment on the support of friends and soulmates you have at work.
1 How many people are there at work whom you trust, to whom
you can really talk about how you feel?
2 When you leave the office, do you have friends and/or family
who really understand your passions, fears and anxieties?
3 Do you have a strong support system at home where you feel
relaxed and can wind down?
Preparing for the role after next
It’s important to bear in mind how you are preparing not only for your
next role, but also the role after next.
4 Do you have (or are you planning to acquire) international
experience?
5 Have you thought about how you might work on a project which
is outside your direct remit?
6 Are you (or are you planning to be) a non-executive/
independent director?
7 Are you clear about what makes a successful leader? How
would you evaluate yourself against these leadership behaviours
and skills?
For women
8 Are you the only woman on the board or on the management
team?
9 Are you aware of how you might feel more comfortable in some
of the male-orientated activities (for example, in outward-bound
courses) or evening meetings?
Impact on the team
10 How do you think your PA would describe you?
11 Do people often interrupt you when you are in your office or
workspace, or do you look unapproachable? (Check to see if
physically you are easily approachable, or for example, if there
are bookcases, walls or secretaries blocking the entrance to
your office.)
12 Do you smile when people meet you in the corridor?
13 Would you say people feel really nervous about phoning you or
sending you an e-mail?
14 Do people often ask you to join them for lunch or even a
sandwich lunch?
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