Thoughts on university leadership
Everything we know about improving gender diversity points to one uniquely important success factor. The pursuit of enhanced gender equality flourishes or flounders with the interest and investment of an organization’s top leadership.
To get CEOs on board, they need to believe in the cause themselves; they need to believe that gender diversity matters. We must provide the best arguments we can so the people at the top will care.
Women matter. Women in leadership matter. Women in leadership make companies better. And it isn’t that hard to get more women into leadership positions.
These statements convey the core message of four reports, all called Women matter, that were produced by McKinsey & co. between 2007 and 2010. These reports have become extremely influential, providing basic research for pushing the discussion about gender balance forward. The research results in Woman matter help us argue that creating the circumstances for women to advance is not just right, it’s also smart.
Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, has become one of the clearest and most articulate voices on corporate gender diversity.Yet her facts, arguments, and eloquence, haven’t reached Sandberg’s closest colleague. It seems that even a woman at the top can’t convince the man she works side-by-side with.
How many women has Mark Zuckerberg put on Facebook’s board?
There are none. Facebook is run by white men. This shows both a lack of confidence in Sandberg and an apparent disinterest in the relevant research. Sheryl Sandberg now has the opportunity to call him on it.
A manifesto has emerged from the European Gender Summit, held in Brussels in November, 2011. The manifesto is the result of a public consultation building on the recommendations of of the genSET project and others. The European Commission invited the scientific community to recommend specific actions that could strengthen the role of women in science and innovation in its new research program, Horizon 2020.
The fourth and final Women Matter report from McKinsey, Women at the top of corporations: making it happen (WM4), gives us good research and a strengthened foundation on which to expand policies and practices.
How will you get the attention of your top leadership? How will you implement development programs and institutionalize the work of gender diversity? Find your answers to these questions. Your organization’s success depends on it!
Organizations that successfully navigate crises have leaders who provide direction and inspire action. Those that survive and flourish after a crisis have leaders who also create an environment for innovation.
An organization’s capacity to lead through and beyond a crisis can be nurtured and enhanced. Increasing gender diversity in the organizations’ leadership team can help. Diversity gives a greater variety of leadership styles. And that variety, especially in a crisis, will contribute to survival.
The leadership behaviors favored by women are the ones most relevant for conquering tomorrow’s challenges.
Gender diversity feeds organizational excellence because men and women differ in how they use leadership behaviors.
With more women in leadership positions, companies will be rated higher on those components of organizational excellence that are positively influenced by the leadership behaviors that women favor.
Gender diversity makes organizations better workplaces. Gender diversity makes organizations more profitable.
These are the central conclusions from Women matter: gender diversity, a corporate performance driver. In the five years since its appearance, McKinsey & Company’s report has become one of the most visible works on the value of gender diversity.
As we work together to develop the best arguments for enhanced gender balance in academia, we can look to Women Matter for inspiration.
The University of Tromsø was awarded Norway’s Gender Equality Prize for 2011, which includes a check for two million Norwegian crowns.
“Gender equality work at the University of Tromsø is clearly a prestige project for the university leadership, which sees gender balance as a prerequisite for success. This is how things should be at every university and college,” said Minister for Research and Higher Education Tora Aasland as she awarded the prize.
This is the fifth time The Ministry of Education and Research has awarded its Gender Equality Prize. The prize is intended to strengthen and motivate universities, colleges and research institutes in their work for gender equality.
When members of underrepresented groups start their careers, they see themselves as outsiders and therefore need role models who still look like outsiders. Early career women do need female role models, but it’s more nuanced than that. They need female role models they can identify with.
What can you do to provide your young colleagues with mentors who look like them?
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