In part 1 of Women in Business, A Woman’s Worth, I concluded that women discourage each other from being powerful, strong and ambitious, and that we feel that it is only acceptable to own our expertise if it is couched in our role as mother.
Part 2 is where I assert that women are not perceived of as leaders because we do not feel entitled to be heard.
A few years ago I sat on a panel about online video and social media. As was typical, I was the only woman on the panel and one of the few women in the room. The panel, was being monitored by my then boss, the CEO of an online video company. Just as the panel was ending my boss nudged me “I’m about to wrap up” he whispered “say something else”. I was taken aback. I had spoken often and didn’t have anything to add to the present discussion. Was I supposed to speak just for the sake of hearing my own voice?
As it turns out…Yes!
An article published by Time magazine last year, Competence: Is Your Boss Faking It?, reported on a study that found that the most vocal and assertive members of a group were perceived as the most intelligent and influential, despite the fact that the most assertive people were rarely the smartest or most competent. This study was structured to eliminate gender issues so draws no conclusion as to the role of gender.
But I will.
Only 3% of Fortune 500 companies have female CEO’s! 3%!
Where are all the women leaders??? There has been much discussion over the past few years about the lack of women speakers at tech conferences…panels at conferences in general are dominated by men…start-up after start-up is launched by men…forget technology, even interior design magazines and celebrity cooking shows are dominated by men!
Are women being held back, or do we lack the fundamental ability to assert our thoughts and opinions, regardless of their actual value, and so to establish ourselves as leaders in our fields?
As an interesting example, a group of incredibly accomplished women have launched a blog Technically Women. These are some of the smartest and most accomplished women in technology, staking a name for themselves and for women in the male dominated tech industry. So…lets take a look…
Their last post was seven weeks ago- the previous post, 20 days before that.
Now lets look at some of these women’s male counterparts… Jeremiah Owyang has posted three times in the last week, Michael Gartenberg has posted twice in the past week… and Chris Brogan has posted 14 times in the past week.
If being vocal and assertive is what causes other people to perceive you as a leader, the men have won this race hands down.
(side note- I myself have three blog posts on my dashboard that I have not deemed “good enough” to post yet- and seem to be on a pretty pathetic once a month schedule)
Sure, perhaps women don’t post as much because we have children, perhaps we turn down speaking invitations because we are too busy- that would account for a small difference between the achievement rates of men vs. women. But the schism between male leadership and female leadership in this country is way to wide to chalk it up to logistics
What does it take to assert your opinion simply for the sake of asserting it? An innate sense of entitlement. An inherent belief that your opinion matters, that people want to hear what you have to say and that it is your right to be heard and to excel. And, maybe most importantly, an aggressive rejection of perfection.
I don’t think any of those qualities come easily to most women, especially the ability to present our work in a less than perfect state. And yet it is these very qualities that will pave the way to the future that over and over we declare we wish to see. Perhaps speaking for speaking’s sake isn’t the loftiest of goals, yet if it moves my career, and those of the women in technology whom I so admire forward to the level at which we all belong, then hold on tight! It’s time for a bumpy ride!
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Great post. I used to write more often on my blog (weekly), but now I’m down to I don’t know what (haven’t posted since 4/5/10). Good nudge. I have plenty to say so I’ll just keep saying it. thx again.
@DFBrouillette I can’t wait to hear it…seriously – i just subscribed!
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