Women as Leaders - Running Twice as Fast

What does it take for a woman to rise to a leadership position? What the Red Queen tells Alice in Lewis Carroll's classic tale Through the Looking Glass: "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

Except, of course, that contemporary women aren't trying to get through the looking glass and back home like Alice. No, we've left home to pursue breaking through another iconic glass image - that notorious glass ceiling.

For many years, women have believed that we needed to be twice as good as our male counterparts to succeed. We've assembled a stockpile of workplace accomplishments and chits in our favor to counterbalance the gender baggage we haul around in the form of assumptions - the "will she get married and leave? will she have a baby and mommy-track? will she quit to care for aging parents?" questions that never seem to dog men in quite the same way.

So we're doing exactly what the Red Queen says, running twice as fast as we can to get somewhere else.

Maybe running is not our thing. Maybe it's not about competing with men and mimicking their leadership characteristics, but transferring the skills we've honed in one field of endeavor to another.

Good mothers practice empathy, listening, creativity, and flexibility. And now we're finding these same qualities strengthen women's abilities as leaders.Yes, women lead differently than men, and what's wrong with that? We're finally learning to work with - not fight against - the style that suits us best.

Related Reading: Is the U.S. Ready For a Female President?