In this Expert Insight Interview, Susan Madsen discusses women in leadership. Susan Madsen is considered one of the top global thought leaders on the topic of women in leadership. Her research has been featured in the US News and World Report, The Atlantic, The New York Times, etc. She also has an imposing array of books, including a couple of new ones geared towards preparing young women to lead.
This Expert Insight Interview discusses:
- Why women’s leadership journeys are different from men’s
- The fact that most women are not raised or socialized to be leaders
- How women expect too much of themselves when applying for leadership positions
Leadership Journey
A woman’s leadership journey is very different from that of a man. The differences start from birth because women are socialized so differently. Even though many people say that they raise their daughters and sons exactly the same way, the research shows a big difference between boys and girls even in home environments.
Decades of research have shown that boys are generally paid for their chores, and girls are not. This leads girls to grow up thinking that they need to serve, which makes it difficult for them to negotiate.
Socialization
No matter how much parents think that they’re raising their boys and girls in the same way, this is not the case 99.9% of the time. Boys are much more often raised and socialized to see themselves as future leaders than girls are. So, women in the workplace are often not even thinking about taking the path of leadership.
Susan has interviewed many women leaders, and interestingly, most of them have said that they had never thought about becoming leaders until they were very close to that leadership position.
Expectations
Some men may apply for a leadership position even though they fulfill one or two of the ten criteria required, whereas women might be discouraged because they “only” meet seven or eight, and not all ten.
The research is quite clear with numerous studies that if men have about 50% or 60% of the qualifications required for a promotion, job, or public office, they’ll often consider that good enough. On the other hand, women don’t think they’re good enough for a position until they have 90% to 100% of the required qualifications.
Our Host
John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.
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