No Women in Leadership

What do these people have in common - Mandela, Genghis Khan, Paul Keating, Gandhi, Confucius, and Michael Malthouse?

Correct. They're all political and spiritual leaders. And they're all men.

I would be the first to admit that Gen Y's notorious inability to look beyond their own peer group's self-interest probably disqualifies my generation from lecturing our elders and betters about leadership.

And frankly, if you ask a Gen Y slacker to define leadership, expect her to dredge up something they found on Google – usually a quote from some long dead inspirational figure they're only vaguely aware of.

So I will limit my observations to personal experience.

I came back from the States a few months ago completing a Global Leadership program on ethics. At one session our professor did a random survey with the class, asking us to name a leader from the place we came from. We had 27 in the class and among those mentioned included Nelson Mandela, Genghis Khan, Paul Keating, Bob Hawke, Mohandas Gandhi, Confucius, and more. But the striking thing was that not one person in the class named a woman. The demographic of the class was balanced in terms of gender and all from diverse backgrounds culturally, and many are studying a Masters of Leadership from Northeastern University.

What is going on here?

Is the problem that there are too few women leaders?

Or, is it that young people are too busy soaking up the popular culture zeitgeist to notice the many woman already doing amazing things – leading in their own way?

Probably a bit of both.

The result is that the younger generation is unable to come up with a woman's name when asked about leadership. The term 'leadership' is often only attached to men in top positions.

Our three national figureheads are women: The Prime Minister, the Governor General and our Queen. All have been getting a bit of press lately - you may have noticed.

Yet the Australian participants couldn't, or wouldn't, name a single woman leader when prompted.

This probably says more about them than our leaders.

The most visible top woman is Julia Gillard. But is she a good leader that young women can aspire to?

Putting gender aside for a little bit, Martin Luther King, Jr., a prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights said this about leadership: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

Where is Gillard standing in this challenging and controversy times for Australia?

Why is the arrival of asylum seekers onto Australian shores made into a headline issue for the whole nation? Where is a vision to move Australia forward as suggested by her 2010 election slogan? Have we moved backward instead? Can we all truly aspire to a leadership that is inhumane, coupled with a lack of vision?

According to John Quincy Adams, true leadership is when, "your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more."

Leadership has nothing to do with the position you are in, but the changes you can ignite in others. One of the greatest challenge for any leader is not to have a vision, but to get others to follow your vision, otherwise it is only a dream.

Earlier this year I attended a forum about women leadership, run by Christine Nixon. Participants were asked about the leadership qualities of women. The majority of participants mentioned the ability to engage, care, be inclusive and bring diverse people together, among others. All these are qualities of good leadership for this century as defined by business books. However, are they accepted by the population at large?

I also hear friends sometimes say that women in top positions are "manlike," and feel the need to be tough and aggressive. Participants at Christine's forum also felt that one of the barriers for them in taking a leadership position was not wanting to become a "man."

Is the glass ceiling too inherited within the population? Or as Laura Liswood, Secretary General of the Council of Women World Leaders and Senior Advisor of Goldman Sachs said: "There's actually no such thing as a glass ceiling. It's just a thick layer of men."

Recent discussions on the need to have more women in leadership has seen the corporate sector conducting research highlighting that companies perform better financially when there are more women decision makers. Despite the fact that many women aspire to be in leadership positions, women always come against a glass ceiling and only the rare "tough" women can reach the top.

For some, the process of pushing past a "thick layer of men" to reach the top, has also meant the need to adopt some male traits. Only the very strong women can maintain the feminine qualities of leadership.Unfortunately, a female with male qualities is not very attractive to men or women.

All these reasons point the finger at men!

Mentorship for women is already underway. Women on top are trying to help pull the younger people. But will the programs help when we have men continuing to push women down. It is not just the men within the companies, but also the men at home who want their wives to stay home to look after the kids, cook and be a "good wife."

To fix the problem, we need to fix the men!

We need men to be advocates for women to come up through the ranks. Apart from hearing from the women who have made it to the top, we also need to hear from the men who have wives in top position on how they do it.

We need to show that you CAN have a healthy family even if the woman of the family is working hard.

We also need the men in top positions to open up to the possibility of having women as part of the decision making team, and actively promote diversity programs within their company. Although a quota system is one way to start, I have seen people trying to reach a quota by inviting the person who clearly cannot fulfil the role and is only there "for show," which totally defeats the purpose and intention. It takes a conscious effort from the top.

Maybe the situation will change if everyone begins to remove the label of "leadership" for people holding the positions, but rather a person can only achieve the title of leadership when they possess certain qualities.

I recently came across a new concept of leadership in business – Spiritual Leadership. Not in a religious context, but spiritually. It is the type of leaders that looks holistically at issues, and by creating a learning organisation to increase commitment and productivity of employees. This kind of leadership not only addresses the bottom line for a company, but also addresses the wellbeing of employees (their spiritual needs) and hence employees are willing to bring their whole self to the company.

Why are we looking at that?

According to a report by Queensland Tourism Industry Council, Gen Y will represent 40 per cent of the workforce in 2012. At the same time, research has shown that Gen Y do not necessarily work for the wage, they value highly personal growth, work-life balance, meaningful work and a solid learning curve. All these have strong implications for leaders today.

With the high number of Gen Y coming into the workforce, all organisations (public, private or the not-for-profit sectors) need to move towards strategies that achieve work-life balance, help employees grow personally, and is achievement oriented rather than process oriented.

In order to achieve this, current leaders of organisations need to start leading a learning organisation, through reflecting on self critically, listening to stakeholders, and thinking creatively.Gen Y needs good guidance and mentorship from current leaders. For young women, it appears that they are not visible!

What happens if guidance is not provided? They have the power and ability to change it before you know it!