Women leaders must manage conflicting stereotypical role expectations. Their gender role expectations are centred on what psychologists call communal attributes, such as kindness, empathy and nurturing. At the same time, their leadership role expectations involve agency attributes, such as being aggressive and self-confident. These simultaneous, contradictory expectations often trap women leaders in no-win situations. On […]
Read More… from How Women Leaders Overcome Conflicting Expectations
Women continue to be vastly under-represented at the top levels of business, with recent figures in the U.S. indicating that less than 5% of major corporations CEOs are women, and less than 20% of corporate board directors are women. What accounts for this continuing gender disparity? This question, according to University of Virginia professor and […]
Read More… from Demand vs. Supply: The Future of Women in Top Leadership
Past research has demonstrated that high external performance expectations (e.g., from supervisors, co-workers, clients, family, friends, and the media) can motivate individuals to increase their efforts and be more persistent, leading to higher levels of performance. The source of this motivation is the desire to make a good impression on those who are watching. One […]
Read More… from Setting High Performance Expectations Can Lead to Failure
Previous studies have demonstrated the quality of decisions that emerge from cross-functional teams. Most of these studies focus on the outcome of cross-functional deliberations, but not the deliberation process itself. A study built on the simulation of six cross-functional teams reveals that the type of leader or leaders guiding the deliberations of the team will […]
Read More… from Why Cross-functional Teams Need Strong Leaders
Mentors with extensive entrepreneurial experience can make a significant contribution to the success of new or less experienced entrepreneurs facing the inevitable setbacks of early stage ventures. Many entrepreneurial mentoring relationships, however, rarely reach their full potential. Research from the University of Michigan, INSEAD, and the Entrepreneur Futures Network, based on an extensive survey of […]
Read More… from Growth Mindset, Empathy and Training for Entrepreneurial Mentoring
The dearth of female leaders in industry, despite the stated intentions of most companies and organizations to encourage diversity and promote women, is well documented. Past studies in this field have focused in large part on the actions and biases of (mostly male) leaders, or on the career choices of women (e.g., fewer women training […]
Read More… from Male Subordinate Bias Against Female Bosses: The Evidence from Schools
Many executives struggle to accomplish their mandate as executives: aligning the people from top to bottom in the organization behind the goals and actions that ensure the company’s success. The problem is that executives are often like ships in the night, pursuing their own individual agendas that often conflict with the agendas and priorities of […]
Read More… from Ships in the Night: How to Unite Warring Executives
Today’s unprecedented quad-gen workforce (baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, Gen Z) presents unique challenges for employers who must try to engage all four generations. Although having different backgrounds and histories, all four generations agree on the important of job flexibility and, according to a recent study on the subject by Henley Business School, many believe […]
Read More… from The Opportunity and Challenge of the Four-Day Working Week
Research has identified as non-productive the narcissistic tendencies of a leader, such as a grandiose sense of self-importance and need for constant admiration, that have a negative impact on the organization. In contrast, productive narcissistic tendencies, such as charm and the drive to push through adversity, can have a positive impact. A new study examines […]
Read More… from Narcissistic Leaders Negatively Impact Different Employees in Different Ways
A new study shows how impactful customer contact can be in terms of employee engagement and organizational results. According to the study, contact with customers elicits the feeling in employees that they are working to help others, that their job is not just a task in a vacuum with no connection to the rest of […]
Read More… from How More Customer Contact Creates a More Energetic, Motivated and United Workforce
