Reflective Journal Week 7 Due Feb. 25th
This week has been enlightening. I struggled with the assignment to choose who make better leaders, men or women. I don't really like this question because there are a lot of variables that go into making a great leader and I don't think it has to do with gender. I had to go off of what I read in the articles and what my experience has been with my past and present leaders. I believe the characteristics of women mentioned in the articles are characteristics and skills that would make great leaders.
However, my experience with women leaders and male leaders have been that my male leaders have been a bit more competent, but that's just my own experience with leaders. The reason for that is that these leaders were well-organized, intelligent, concise (did not deviate from topic or ramble), were not condescending, had a prestigious demeanor and because of this their compliments and praise seemed to mean more. I admire those with these qualities and tend to be more inspired by them. I’ve noticed these qualities more in men leaders than women leaders.
Most of the women leaders I’ve dealt with carry themselves differently. Most of them haven’t been as well organized, intelligent, nor concise (they have more of a tendency to ramble or have difficulty finding the right words to express themselves). A lot of them seem to try to act the part, but don’t seem as adept at leading. A lot of the female leaders I’ve had show more signs of anxiety, especially in staff meetings. I’ve also heard a lot more gossip coming from female leaders than from male leaders. I lose a lot of respect when I hear gossip, especially from leaders.
However, it's not cut and dry. I've seen both genders of leaders have similar weaknesses and strengths. I've had great leaders of both genders. Sydney, in her discussion comment mentioned that perhaps the balance of my experience is skewed because there are generally more male leaders in the workforce than females and I may have had more male leaders than female leaders. This is a definite possibility. After listening to everyone's comments and thinking more about the leaders I've had, I have changed my mind, veering toward women being better leaders by a slight fraction of a percent. If I listed all the gender characteristics here, I don't believe it would be an accurate portrayal of who is the better leader because I believe that both male and females can have these characteristics. If based off of stereotypical characteristics of women's strengths, I believe these characteristics would make the best leader.
Here are a couple lists of characteristics from the readings:
Coaching-for-new-women-managers.com (2008). Business women differ from business men in style, not skill. Retrieved from http://www.coaching-for-new-women-managers.com/business-women.html
Pew Research Center. (2008). Men or women: Who's the better leader? Retrieved from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2008/08/25/men-or-women-whos-the-better-leader/
However, my experience with women leaders and male leaders have been that my male leaders have been a bit more competent, but that's just my own experience with leaders. The reason for that is that these leaders were well-organized, intelligent, concise (did not deviate from topic or ramble), were not condescending, had a prestigious demeanor and because of this their compliments and praise seemed to mean more. I admire those with these qualities and tend to be more inspired by them. I’ve noticed these qualities more in men leaders than women leaders.
Most of the women leaders I’ve dealt with carry themselves differently. Most of them haven’t been as well organized, intelligent, nor concise (they have more of a tendency to ramble or have difficulty finding the right words to express themselves). A lot of them seem to try to act the part, but don’t seem as adept at leading. A lot of the female leaders I’ve had show more signs of anxiety, especially in staff meetings. I’ve also heard a lot more gossip coming from female leaders than from male leaders. I lose a lot of respect when I hear gossip, especially from leaders.
However, it's not cut and dry. I've seen both genders of leaders have similar weaknesses and strengths. I've had great leaders of both genders. Sydney, in her discussion comment mentioned that perhaps the balance of my experience is skewed because there are generally more male leaders in the workforce than females and I may have had more male leaders than female leaders. This is a definite possibility. After listening to everyone's comments and thinking more about the leaders I've had, I have changed my mind, veering toward women being better leaders by a slight fraction of a percent. If I listed all the gender characteristics here, I don't believe it would be an accurate portrayal of who is the better leader because I believe that both male and females can have these characteristics. If based off of stereotypical characteristics of women's strengths, I believe these characteristics would make the best leader.
Here are a couple lists of characteristics from the readings:
Coaching-for-new-women-managers.com (2008). Business women differ from business men in style, not skill. Retrieved from http://www.coaching-for-new-women-managers.com/business-women.html
Pew Research Center. (2008). Men or women: Who's the better leader? Retrieved from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2008/08/25/men-or-women-whos-the-better-leader/
Comments
Post a Comment