The data is compelling. Organizations with more women in leadership roles do better on a wide range of criteria — innovation, performance and profit — as compared to companies with fewer women leaders. But as more and more organizations move to capitalize on the immense value of women leaders, a challenge emerges.When the first one or a few assume leadership roles, the combination of human social pressures and male-dominated organizations with unwritten or invisible cultural rules leave too many of those women unsupported and set up to be ineffective. (Meanwhile, as the dismal statistics show, women are only 4.6 percent of all CEOs at S&P 500 companies.)In order for women to have a positive impact as leaders, especially in organizational structures and social contexts that don’t readily associate women with leadership roles, everyone in the organization must hone their understanding and ability to have “courageous conversations”: the ability to think, speak, and act from values and best thinking in challenging situations.
Source: The Critical Need for Women Leaders and the Power of Courageous Leadership | Brooke Deterline
