Diversity: Women Leadership
“A chunk of the glass ceiling came tumbling down Monday as veteran national security officer Letitia "Tish" Long became the first woman to head a major intelligence agency,” CNN Politics reported on August 9th.
Long, also called the velvet hammer, was sworn as a Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency after spending 32 years in government service.
Women have served as second-in-command in most of the major intelligence agencies except the CIA. Government data show that over the past 10 years, the number of women serving in the intelligence field hasn’t changed much - close to 39% -, but the percentage of women being promoted has increased each year.
Women are instinctively effective leaders that practice patience, compassion and determination.
Domination as a leadership style, which is mainly the male style of leadership, is becoming less and less popular. There is a new growing appreciation of inclusion and belonging, those traits that women use to keep families together, and to organize volunteers to unite and make change in the shared life of communities.
These newly admired leadership qualities of shared leadership; nurturing and doing good for others are today not only sought after but also indeed needed to make a difference in the world. A feminine way of leading includes helping the world to understand and value what really matters.
Women leaders can be more assertive and persuasive, have a stronger need to get things done and can be willing to take more risks than male leaders. Women leaders are mostly found to be more empathetic and flexible, as well as stronger in interpersonal skills than their male counterparts.
Women leaders are able to bring others around to their point of view, because they genuinely understand and care about where others are coming from, so that the people they are leading feel more understood, supported and valued. Women leaders demonstrate an inclusive, team-building leadership style of problem solving and decision making.
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