I attended an industry meeting a number of years ago and a female Chief Development Officer was the speaker. Her opening words shook me. She wondered why, in an industry dominated by female staff members, were there so few female executives?
Why indeed?
Author Kitty Kay has a possible clue, although her research is not limited to the nonprofit sector. Females are notorious at self-effacing behavior. For no obvious reason. Even successful females have a measurable confidence gap when compared with their male colleagues who have achieved similar success. Here’s a discussion with Ms. Kay, who has conducted research on the topic and offers some valuable suggestions.
Click here for the accompanying article.
What lessons can we learn? Ms. Kay shares some findings. She says women often hyperfocus on failures or negative aspects of their performance, but in a way that is ridiculously out of context with their overall professional achievements. She also indicates that women tend to have internal dialogues that can spin out of control, contributing to a lack of action.
The video and article are well worth a look.
