Claiming the corner office: Female CEO careers and implications for leadership development

Abstract

Drawing on evidence from a unique data set of in‐depth qualitative interviews with 12 female CEOs (and 139 male CEOs) of global corporations, we explore what enables some women to become CEOs. By drawing on our data from male and female CEOs, we set the scene by comparing the advice they would give to young women as they start their careers. We then focus the rest of our article on the experiences and career trajectory of the 12 female CEOs. We make three theoretical contributions: We identify, at the individual level, how women can take active ownership of their careers as part of a self‐acceptance process; how they can embrace gynandrous leadership as part of a self‐development process where both feminine and masculine leadership behaviors are embraced, with the feminine being dominant to help move beyond gender stereotypes, and finally, how they translate leadership—rather than combine—gender‐based behaviors as part of a self‐management process to develop their unique leadership style. For each of these theoretical contributions at the individual level, we also provide two practical recommendations for HR practice and policy, one relating to the intraorganizational context and the second having institutional‐level implications. We conclude by discussing implications for future research.

Gender differences in innovation: the role of ambidextrous leadership of the team leads

“…Recommendations are offered for (1) decreased focus on intraorganizational gender rivalry (Vasconcelos, 2018); (2) more androgynous leadership along with more androgynous socialization processes (Bissessar, 2018); (3) increased servant leadership behaviors, which can ease the gender power distance (Bissessar, 2018;Dirk, 2011;Perkins, 2017) and ( 4) increased efforts by senior organizational leaders to consider the benefits of gender diversity in team leadership. Additionally, inviting female leaders to employ androgynous leadership, where feminine and masculine traits are blended, with the feminine traits being dominant as a step towards transcending gender stereotypes, and utilizing gender-based behaviors to develop new, customized leadership styles (Athanasopoulou et al, 2018;Perkins, 2017).…”

Sixty years of discrimination and diversity research in human resource management: A review with suggestions for future research directions

“…An important difference between PWDs and individuals of other marginalized identities is the burden of seeking and establishing protection. Establishing disability is more complicated than establishing race or gender as courts often defer to the judgment of employers (Lee, 2001) and PWDs may be perceived negatively when they request disability accommodations (Baldridge & Swift, 2016). While supportive policies are important and necessary, if these policies are not adequately enforced by the organizational climate, PWDs may not request accommodations afforded by those policies for fear of judgment from others for going against the norm (Baldridge & Swift, 2016).…”

“…This alludes to the conceptualization of diversity as separation since women leaders and work-family policies may appeal to women due to shared experiences and perceived similarity to other employees in the organization. In order to foster women in leadership, early work by Herbert and Yost (1978) planning (Greer & Virick, 2008) and encouraging women to take more proactive control of their own career development (Athanasopoulou et al, 2018). These studies emphasize diversity as disparity by recommending diversity management practices that can help to remove barriers to advancement for women in the workplace.…”

Breaking the Glass Ceiling Philosophy and Reality: A Study of Gender Progress and Career Development in the Corporate World

“…An article in Human Resource Management explores the enabling force behind female CEOs and the development of their unique leadership style through in-depth qualitative interviews (Athanasopoulou et al, 2018). Compared to men, high potential women are over-mentored, under-sponsored, and have limited access to networks (Athanasopoulou et al, 2018). This means that women need to take active leadership of their careers in order to advance up the corporate ladder.…”

“…This means that women need to take active leadership of their careers in order to advance up the corporate ladder. In addition to this, it is discovered that women are more likely than men to combine both masculine and feminine behaviors in an androgynous leadership style (Athanasopoulou et al, 2018). In the interviews, the women interviewed called for female CEOs to toughen up and develop confidence in pursuing a promotion (Athanasopoulou et al, 2018).…”