“Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men — the other 999 follow women.”
Groucho Marx
Gender differences in leadership have been studied for a long time. My own work suggests that men often possess that “no clue” gene relative to their female counterparts ((Nowack, K. (2006). Gender Differences in Leadership Practices. Unpublished manuscript)). In fact, in our own 360-feedback studies, men report being signficantly stronger in such competencies as listening, conflict and problem solving (no, this isn’t my attempt at humor). In our studies and others, women appear to be rated signifcantly higher in overall leadership competence and effectiveness by both internal and external customers (e.g., direct reports and peers).
A new model of the stress response might actually provide a clue about why women and men might differ in their approach to leading individuals and teams — particularly in times of crisis, challenge, and conflict.
The model, called “tend-and-befriend” by UCLA health psychologist Shelley Taylor and her colleagues, won’t replace the classic stress response. Rather, it adds another dimension to the stress-response arsenal, says University of California, Los Angeles, psychologist Shelley Taylor, PhD, who, along with five colleagues, developed the model ((Taylor, S. E., Klein, L.C., Lewis, B. P., Gruenewald, T. L., Gurung, R. A. R., & Updegraff, J. A. Female Responses to Stress: Tend and Befriend, Not Fight or Flight” Psychol Rev, 107(3):41-429)).
In particular, Taylor proposes that women respond to challenging and stressful situations at work and home by protecting themselves and their young through nurturing behaviors — the “tend” part of the model and exprssing emotions and socializing, particularly among women — the “befriend” part of the model. Males, in contrast, show less of a tendency toward tending and befriending, and emphasize the classic “fight-or-flight” response, they suggest.
Although women do show the same immediate hormonal and longer term nervous system response to work and life stress, other factors intervene to make “fight-or-flight” less likely in females. Indeed, women under stress may have a biological predisposition (mediated by pro-social peptides) to become more affiliative, caring, nurturing and emotionally expressive compared to men.
Taylor’s theory and current research seems to support the idea that women are likely to express more participative, collaborative and transforational displays of leadership particularly under stress relative to their male counterparts. Like every individual factor, not all of us will find this biological disposition equally distributed. But, it just might help to explain an interesting finding about gender differences in leaders.
Perhaps this research explains so many “competent jerks” in leaderhship roles who just happen to be men! Be well….
[tags]career management, talent management, interests, loyalty, retirement, competencies, career paths, succession planning, engagement, retention, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack[/tags]
Ken Nowack
Kenneth Nowack, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist (PSY13758) and President & Chief Research Officer/Co-Founder of Envisia Learning, is a member of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Ken also serves as the Associate Editor of Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research. His recent book Clueless: Coaching People Who Just Don’t Get It is available for free for a limited time by signing up for free blog updates (Learn more at our website)
