International Women's Day is
celebrated on March 8, 2020. I advocate gender equality globally. I have signed
up for #HeForShe. I salute all women for their courage and contribution to
build a better world.
“Can you imagine what the
world would be like if women who constitute almost half of the global population
had access to education and opportunities and were allowed to contribute their
best? We would achieve prosperity globally in all spheres.” ―Professor M.S.
Rao, Ph.D., #HeForShe
Globally the number of women
scaling senior positions especially C-suite positions are very few. Although it
is widely advocated to increase the number of women’s participation in senior
positions, it remained in the letter, not in spirit. In this post, I will offer
tools for women to fast-track their careers to achieve a gender-equal world.
Research shows that women take
failures to their hearts and take a little longer time to move on from their
failures. They are hard on themselves and love to be perfectionists. They fail
to claim their achievements and make noise publicly especially on social media
because of gender and cultural aspects. Additionally, they fail to leverage
their networks and groups for fear of being misunderstood by others thus
hindering their career prospects.
Strengths
of Women
Women are usually
collaborative while men are competitive by nature. Collaboration is essential for the smooth
functioning of organizations and equally essential is a competitive spirit
without which organizations cannot succeed. Blending both collaboration and
competition is essential to achieve organizational excellence and
effectiveness. Here are some of the
strengths of women: Biologically women have a huge potential and are
compassionate by nature. They empathize with others and are sensitive to
others' feelings. They are good at soft
skills and interpersonal skills. They
can handle stress better than men. By
nature, men are more aggressive. However, women are soft and well-behaved.
Women are also good at hidden data of communication. That is why they know the knack of
understanding male egos, emotions, and feelings better and act accordingly. Women are leaders at home. They lead their spouses and children
effectively. They are more responsible for work.
When it comes to leadership
both genders possess the same leadership skills and abilities. However, women
leaders take issues seriously by being direct and decisive. They are more amicable
and approachable. They are more committed, transparent, accountable and
professional. Precisely, women leaders say what they mean and mean what they
say.
Tools
for Women to Fast-track their Career
Despite innumerable challenges,
a few women leaders including Melinda Gates, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton,
Angela Merkel, Ursula Burns, Meg Whitman, and Sheryl Sandberg broke the
glass-ceiling and stood out from others globally. When it is possible for them,
it is possible for other women also to excel in their areas. Here are some tools
for women to fast-track their career. Women must leverage their knowledge,
skills, abilities, networks, and groups to fast-track their career. They must
build allies and alliances. They must choose their coaches and mentors
carefully. They must help themselves. They must build their personal brand
which is the cheapest, easiest and quickest way to make their presence felt
because of the access to the internet and social media.
Create
a Gender Equal World
There is a strong perception
that men are promoted due to potential while women are promoted due to
performance. It is basically because leadership is synonymous with men, not
women. Hence, there must be a shift in the attitude and perception of the
people toward leadership and women. Leadership is incomplete without the active
participation of women leaders. Global Inc must spot, support and groom women
leaders to keep them in the leadership pipeline to avert organizational
eventuality.
Building women's movements
globally to ensure women's empowerment helps to some extent. However, women
supporting themselves helps greatly to ensure gender equality globally.
Additionally, men must extend their hands to women wholeheartedly to build an
honorable and prosperous world.
The world is at the crossroad
currently. It is time men advocated gender equality globally. Remember that it
is not a women’s issue anymore but a human rights issue. Hence, make your voice
heard to achieve a gender-equal world.
Note: This article is an adapted excerpt from my award-winning book, “Strategies
to Build Women Leaders Globally: Think Managers, Think Men; Think Leaders,
Think Women.” It is dedicated to Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, and Oprah Winfrey.
The Honourable Vice-President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has written the
foreword for this book. Links to
purchase your copy: https://www.amazon.com/Strategies-Build-Women-Leaders-Globally/dp/1949003108
Complimentary access to read
my award-winning research paper, A blueprint to build women chief executive
officers globally: https://rdcu.be/PsiK
Share
if you care!
Life
is great!
Professor M.S. Rao
Founder
of MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Thanks
for reading!
Kindly
share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find
your story useful.
Copyright©2020
MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or
in part without permission is prohibited.
This
is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S. Rao’s passion and vision to build
one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from
my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material
is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the
Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com. This material may not be sold, or published
in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party
without permission.
