Some would argue that until recently, the business world has been geared exclusively toward men. Some would argue it still is to a large extent. Only 4.6% of the CEOs in the Fortune 500 companies are women. Persistently in the U.S., women make only $0.78 on average for every dollar a man makes. Nobody could argue that women have become a more powerful presence in the workplace over the last half century. So why aren’t the numbers better? Could it have anything to do with personality traits that are more prevalent in one gender over another?
Obviously, the business world is not a once-size-fits-all proposition. There are a lot of progressive companies developing new, more equitable standards in the workplace. Emotional intelligence is slowly elbowing its way onto the lists of skills the successful business person needs to possess. Humanitarian enlightenment is gradually finding a place in the boardroom.
Indeed, the human factor is becoming more of a consideration in the work world. Life/work balance programs are being taken more seriously as a benefit in many businesses. Recruiters often highlight softer people skills as a desirable trait for candidates to have. In an office, teamwork is seen as essential. In many ways, “soft skills” rule. And that’s all fine and good, but these skills don’t seem to crack the glass ceiling. Unfortunately, they typically limit people with strengths in these areas to middle management.
There are still certain characteristics that may always be a part of business. There is a bottom line and there is competition and both must be handled adroitly… even ruthlessly at times. No matter how advanced a company’s thinking, profits still take priority for the sake of the shareholders and outpacing the nearest rival company remains a key to survival. There may always be a certain cutthroat energy in the business place – whether it’s obvious to the casual observer or not.
This colder and more calculating energy comes primarily from the Thinking trait as the vehicle for decision-making. There is a stony rationality that comes with a greater reliance on Thinking. (Keep in mind that Thinking does not refer to intelligence but rather the way individuals deliberate.) This rationality persists as the job description of upper management, and it is well known that agreeableness is negatively correlated with income. The Feeling trait is about finding harmony and getting people to work together. As mentioned before, the Feeling trait provides skills best suited for middle management. Do you see where this is going?
According to our data, women are 19% more likely than men to endorse the Feeling trait. Women tend to be harmonizers. Notice, the phrase “tend to be.” Gender discussions are always fraught with the danger of stereotyping when a good number of exceptions exist. While we refer to a majority here, that still leaves a large minority of women who show a preference for the Thinking trait. (Let’s not even complicate the issue by going into the large minority (46%) of men whose personality style relies on the Feeling trait.)
So what’s the problem? If there remains a sizeable minority of women who are rationalists and that is the currency needed to get a seat at the leadership table, why are there only 4.6% women at the helm of the Fortune 500 companies? If colder rationalism is the key, why aren’t at least the women who favor the Thinking trait advancing higher and getting paid better?
Obviously, perception is everything and it’s millennia old. With rare exceptions, women have played a supportive rather than leadership role throughout history. In fact, some may be rightly tempted to argue that one of the reasons more women rely on the Feeling trait is because that trait has helped women navigate evolution’s selection process. Mothers, traditionally without childcare help, were anchored to the home and were delegated to the role of nurturer. Those whose temperaments were so inclined to that role were chosen for mating purposes and these genes were passed on.
However, like some fight or flight reactions or many other evolutionary factors, ideas about women being tied exclusively to these roles have outgrown their usefulness. While some women may retain the nurturing instinct, that shouldn’t keep them at home or out of the corner office.
Nonetheless the caretaking and domestic reputation linger and the Feeling trait is prominent among women. These perhaps provide the fodder for prejudice that makes the glass in the ceiling seem bullet proof at times. In reality, there is nothing about these things that should hold a woman back should she choose a more ambitious route.
In fact, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the business world limits the power of women at their peril. The numbers show that when boards have a good number of women on them, a company typically does better than when they do not.
Two things seem to come up frequently in discussions of personality traits and job advancement. First is the idea that just because someone is a harmonizer doesn’t mean they can’t also be hard-nosed in certain areas as well. Preferring harmony doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be a marshmallow in all areas of life. Men and women with the Feeling trait can be warm and supportive and still get the job done. It’s an old fashioned idea that says kindness can’t co-exist with strength.
Second, the consensus seems to be that for women to get a stronger foothold in the upper echelons of business, they need to reach a critical mass. As enough women break through the glass ceiling, the perception will have to change as proof of female competence is undeniably present and increasingly visible. So when enough women of all types and traits crash through, they begin to mold the job description around themselves and begin to normalize their place at the top of corporate culture. The idea that those at the top have to be so relentlessly cutthroat may be just as wrong as the idea that women can’t or shouldn’t lead Fortune 500 companies. More “feminine” influences may continue to change business paradigms for stronger but gentler and more holistic ones. It may take hitting that critical mass number for it to happen.
We believe that knowing your personality traits gives you a clearer picture of how to deal with any matter life throws at you. Clarifying who you are is intended to help you do this thing called “life” better. It’s about increasing your potential rather than limiting it. So, we offer some suggestions below specifically geared toward women who seek leadership positions and feel trapped by their identity, real or simply perceived by others. (Some may be universal enough that they apply not only to women, but to anyone who is marching their dominant Feeling trait into a business arena.)
Understand the strengths and limitations of your personality traits: Your traits are not necessarily your destiny. We do best when we are true to ourselves. We want to be genuine. Nonetheless, we don’t always have that luxury. Some introverts have to give many presentations in order to get their brilliant ideas, hatched in solitude, the attention they need. Some extraverts have to sit alone on occasion in a lonely back room and crunch numbers whether they like it or not. The reality of life is that while we leverage our strengths where we can, we sometimes have to step outside of our comfort zones to do what we must do.
For women (or even men who rely on the Feeling trait), this may mean being able to compartmentalize different aspects of a job. It may mean sometimes putting their harmonizing spirit aside to jump into a necessary fray. Does doing this help with the prevailing misperceptions about the abilities of women? Maybe not. But in your life and your job reviews, you don’t have to add to them. It may sometimes take simultaneously adopting a different style or persona while ultimately never forgetting who you are at your core. This can also be a bit of a balancing act.
On the other hand, don’t be afraid to feel: If you are one among the greater number of women who rely on the Feeling trait, don’t be afraid to integrate that into your business life when you can. The corporate paradigm is changing and the human factor is gaining strides and catching up to the bottom line as another important part of business. When we suggested compartmentalizing in the last section, we didn’t mean burying parts of yourself so that they disappear completely. Learning to blend supportive skills with more traditional upper management skills, if done cleverly, might just be the thing that distinguishes you. Who knows? Bringing a new style to management to the table might even get you labelled a trailblazer.
Find a mentor within the company: Find someone with more experience in the company who will get to know you and can help you climb the ladder. The best way to destroy prejudicial stereotypes is familiarity. Your goal with a mentor is not only to learn new skills and to get advice from them. That’s great in itself. But for you, such a relationship is also an opportunity to show what you are capable of doing. When your mentor sees how multifaceted and talented you are, they may become a partner in dispelling any gender prejudices that serve as a barrier.
Do your homework: When cartoonist Bob Thaves was asked about dancer, Fred Astaire, he famously responded: “Sure he was great, but don’t forget Ginger Rogers did everything he did backwards... and in high heels!” That the gender glass ceiling exists at all suggests women have a harder way to go. As a woman, you may want to make sure that “they” don’t find any excuses to hold you back. It may mean that you occasionally have to dance backwards and in high heels even when your male colleagues don’t.
Since the world isn’t currently fair or equal, the proverbial “they” may be looking for you to slip up. You may face greater scrutiny than those sitting next to you who happen to have the XY chromosomes. Be ready for it. But then again, if you’re hoping to reach a pinnacle in the business world, “Excellence” is probably already your middle name.
Just do it. Just get the job on the other side of the glass ceiling if that’s what you want: While this sounds self-evident, you may need to treat your job trajectory with the same determination as you would a sales plan or any other more objective goal. If you do rely on the Feeling trait, being cold and calculating with your life choices may feel a little foreign. But if you’re going to be part of the critical mass that shatters the glass, it may take some dispassionate strategizing. People with the Feeling trait are not necessarily averse to strategizing, but they may clutter an otherwise clear cut path with emotional stumbling blocks. A starkly objective plan may help prevent that. The old saw “Plan your work and work your plan” may feel coldly instructive to the Feeling person with a more ambitious streak. Nonetheless, it is fundamental to success.
Again, the goal is not to suppress your dominant traits (Feeling, for example), but to build up weaker traits (Thinking, for example) that are useful in the right situations. A stronger reliance on your analytical and rational skills may be of more value to your career trajectory than your normal perspective might have you think. Passion is essential, but a solid plan is the basic foundation on which it all sits.
Women’s role in society has drastically shifted over the last century. Unfortunately, the numbers suggest there is still a long way to go. Hopefully, a century from now, we’ll all be wondering why there was ever an issue of glass ceilings for anyone with ambition and talent.