What Makes A Leader Great? Essay

‘Why we have too few women leaders’ was an address given by Sheryl Sandberg in the year 2010, presenting messages to women if they want to stay in the work force. This topic is a concern to Sandberg because there are small numbers of women who hold prominent leader positions in the world. In her presentation, she states “…, How are we going to fix this? How do we change these numbers at the top? How do we make this different?”

Women make up a majority of the United States population and yet they are significantly behind men when it comes to their representation in leadership positions. Women only hold about 52 percent of all professional-level jobs (CITATION). When it comes to politics only about 20 percent of political leaders in the world are women (CITATION). In today’s society, women are absent in almost all major leadership positions in both business and politics. Women seeking leadership positions are constantly being faced with different obstacles. These obstacles include many negative stereotypes about female leaders. There is also the idea that women belong at home with taking care of the family not in the workplace. Another obstacle is that many women are lacking the necessary support and opportunities they need in order to succeed. Other obstacles they face are the leadership gap, lack of gender equality in the workplace.

“At times of change or dealing with uncertainty or in a crisis-- that is when the best leader will shine” (Ellis, 2016). A leader who can work effectively in a complicated, unpredictable situation is a competent leader and he tirelessly works to improve his capabilities (Ledlow & Coppola, 2010). All great leaders are known for communicating effectively what they want to achieve. They are visionaries who have the ability to lead others toward a shared goal (Gibson & Weber, 2015).

leaders. However, more people prefer male than female bosses. That has made it more difficult

One identified contributor to women's slower than expected assent into leadership is the persistence of assumptions and stereotypes that women are intrinsically "communal" or "dependent" and "passive", and therefore, lack the capacity to succeed as leaders. (National Academy of Sciences National Academy of Engineering Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2006 as cited by Isaac, Kaatz & Carnes, 2012).

A question that a lot of people, especially women, seem to wonder is why are women being held back from leadership positions in the workplace. According to PEW Research Center ‘the problem is that women still have to do more

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, women make up half of the workforce today and 40 percent of women are either equal to their male counterparts or the singular breadwinners in their household (Institute for Women’s Policy Research). And most Americans find women are better than men in key leadership traits such as intelligence and competence for

I agree with Manning’s statement that women are hypercritical of themselves and men are often more confident of their abilities than they ought to be. Traditionally, women are more cautious and aware of their actions as they heavily impact their ability to advance within an organization. According to Sebastian Bailey (2014), women are several underrepresented in senior leadership, holding less than 5% of Chief Executive Officer positions in Fortune 500 companies in 2012. Bailey (2014) also suggests that society typically associates successful and efficient leadership with the characteristics of masculine traits and a female leader would violate those gender norms.

Despite the fact that Northouse (2016) offers many reasons why gender should not matter in leadership, it does still matter. Eagly & Johnson and van Engen & Willemsen (as cited by Northouse, 2016) state that “one robust gender difference found across settings is that women led in more democratic, or participative manner than men” (p. 402). Female leaders have also been shown to use more adaptive and transformational leadership styles, but Ayman, Korabik, and Morris (as cited by Northouse, 2016) point out that male subordinates still devalue these female leaders despite the fact that their leadership style predicts effectiveness (p. 402). Eagly, Karau, and Makhijani (as cited by Northouse, 2016) conducted a study that showed women to be just

To me, leadership is more than a title. It is more than just being in charge. Leadership is honestly, learning, listening, and most importantly application. Leadership means going the extra mile or two, doing the right thing no matter who’s looking, staying encouraged and encouraging other even when times are hard and you have every reason to quit. Leadership doesn’t mean you’re rich, well known, liked, or respected but it does mean you are a passionate, caring, and authentic. Leadership means you care about something so much you are willing to risk everything you have for this belief or idea. Leadership is doing whatever you can in your power to make things better for those around you.

As the author points out, the figures on women in leadership is staggering in disparity. The article takes time to focus on identifying and highlighting reasons what makes a successful leader. Having an opportunity to attend a leadership meeting, in which we discussed improving inclusion at my company, this article presented many of the same reasons that as a company we tried to understand, “Why do we not have more women in leadership?” This article really underscores that in order for a business to survive and grow or for that matter, any organization to flourish you need to find individuals that embody the above-mentioned leadership traits not just seniority.

A good leader needs to have many particular characteristics. Some of these are obvious, such as that they care about what you are doing and always puts you before themselves. Also another trait of a good leader is that they always keep promises they make. Some of the subtle attributes of a good leader are that they do not hide behind bad news. Moreover, they are easy people to talk to and they have a good if not excellent sense of humor.

Gender and leadership? Leadership and gender? A journey through the landscape of theories start off by giving a statistical summary of percentages of women in higher echelon position in the workforce. With this information in the intro, the article quickly highlights the limited representation of women in exclusive positions in Fortune 500 companies. Next, the paper examines multiple theories why this problem exists in the workforce. The four theories examined are biology and sex; gender role; causal factors; and attitudinal drivers (Appelbaum et al, 2003, p. 44).

Determination, courage, and confidence are all characteristics needed to be a good leader. The principal player in a music group is considered to be a leader. Even bands need leaders, if we didn’t have leaders where would we be today? John Quincy Adams once said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” A good leader is liked by the people, has power, and produces followers. When there is an unwillingness to make things happen, to take the initiative and accept responsibility; this is when a leader emerges. Leaders develop through drive, creativity, and devotion.

Evelyn has a Women’s Way of Leading her employees, which is common in female leaders. Researchers indicate that women’s style of leadership is indifferent from men and happens often in today’s organizations. Using data from actual performance evaluations, one study found that when rated by peers, subordinates, and bosses, female managers score significantly higher than men on abilities such as motivating others, fostering communication, and listening. (pg 360)