On the Brink

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Smashing another myth again!

The Sunday New York Times published an article on October 11th entitled, "In Belarus, Women Led the Protests and Shattered Stereotypes," which points out how women are changing the face of politics, creating new norms and shattering deeply entrenched gender stereotypes built up over generations.

“Women were stronger in this situation” said Tatiana N. Kotes, a film production designer and activist. “We had to assume a more significant role. Men’s dominating role in the society has collapsed.”

Fearlessly standing up to a bully by the thousands

Ah, these are interesting times, aren't they? During the coronavirus pandemic, some world leaders have risen to the enormous challenge of steering their country through lockdowns, quarantines, plummeting economies, mass sickness and death, and civil unrest. They have been level-headed, resolute and inspiring. Others, sadly, have sputtered or utterly failed. And who, by and large, have occupied that first group? Women.

Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Tsai Ing-Wen, President of Taiwan, are just some examples of women leaders around the world who have managed their countries' response to the pandemic far better than their male counterparts, and as a result, their countries have fared better. This is the subject of a recent article I wrote for Irish Tech News, which you can read here.

Are you ready for some distressing news? According to Axios.com, more than 25% of women recently surveyed by McKinsey & Company and Lean In reported that they are considering "downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce entirely, as the coronavirus pandemic has intensified challenges many already faced at work." The survey questioned over 40,000 women in 317 companies in the U.S. and Canada. This is an "emergency for corporate America," the report declares. You can read the results of the survey here. The graph below from Axios Visuals powerfully illustrates the plummeting participation rate of women in the U.S. labor force.

Women are smart. Women are capable. Women make great leaders. So why are only 4.9% of Fortune 500 CEOs and 2% of S&P 500 CEOs women? Could it be because of the outdated, erroneous myths that surround both men and women when it comes to taking charge? This is the basis of my discussion in a recent article in IntelligentHQ where I argue that despite enormous strides in business, government and many other areas, women often don’t get the respect men do for their leadership abilities, even when they can point to greater accomplishments. You can read the article here.

This gender disparity is also the focus of my new book, Rethink: Smashing the Myths of Women in Business in which I chronicle a number of women who have spoken out, broken through, and redefined what society has always told them was true about their capabilities.

Reading the recent Forbes article, “Do Women Make Better Leaders In A Pandemic? Don’t Trust The Data…….,” I was reminded of my Anthropology 101 professor telling us that “data does not exist.” In other words, out-of-context data points have no meaning. 

Our brains have a fascinating ability to only see what we want to see

I.e., only those truths that support our own story of reality, which has little to do with evidence-based research or “factually supported” data. Furthermore, since we are usually the hero in our story, we keep searching for data that makes us feel secure and certain of what to expect.