Leading Educational Consultants to Watch In 2020

he future face of business is a female one.
TAccording to United Nations Women, when more
women work, economies grow and an increase in a
country’s female labor force will equal faster economic
growth. Women have demonstrated the qualities of good
leadership in whatever work setting or industry in which
they found themselves long before acceptance as business
leaders. While the glass ceiling is still firmly in place in
many ways, there are gleaming examples of women who
possess these qualities and shine as models of how female
leaders will help shape the face of tomorrow’s business
world.
Business analysts have made many lists of qualities and
characteristics over the years, attempting to understand
what the profile of the future successful leader will look
like. Qualities such as having a vision, integrity, and being
collaborative have made these lists countless times and are
considered critical to the future success of business leaders.
In addition to these qualities, choice of leadership style,
transformational or transactional, is known to impact a
company’s performance and consequently should be
considered when trying to determine how the future of
business will appear.
It is a commonly held belief that vision is shaped from the
top of an organization and permeates the entire company,
depending on the strength of the leader’s belief in the
vision. Tomorrow’s leaders will need to drive the company
towards this vision and at the same time, be prepared to
alter the vision to keep pace with consumer demands.
Because women are historically good readers and quick
learners, they possess the ability to stay abreast of changes
that can alter a company’s trajectory and consequently the
vision. A great example of this is Chairman and CEO of
General Motors (GM) Mary Barra’s vision to transform
GM’s traditional offerings to keep pace with the future. In
2016, Barra took on electric car company, Tesla, by
launching the Chevrolet Bolt EV, with a battery that outlasts
Tesla cars. This was a risky, but calculated move that has
reshaped the vision of GM and set the tone for future
production.
OCTOBER|2020
In order to steer a company towards a vision, a tomorrow’s
great business leader must lead with integrity. This involves
being an ideal role model when others are watching and
doing the right thing even when no one is looking. Leading
with integrity will allow tomorrow’s leaders to avoid
pitfalls, such as the lack of transparency that have brought
large corporations down. Women leaders such as Stephanie
Buscemi, COO for the cloud tech company Salesforce, have
been “walking the walk” and leading by example in a maledominated
industry. Knowing that her every move is being
watched, Buscemi intentionally seeks out challenging
opportunities in cloud computing to resolve so she can
exemplify integrity in action.
Along with vision and integrity, future leaders will drive
business successfully forward by incorporating
collaboration into the process. Working together to achieve
a common goal is a time-honored practice that women in
many industries have mastered to achieve exponentially
better results versus the attempt to “go it alone.” Women
like to share ideas and come up with solutions that are
effective and benefit everyone involved. Collective
organizations, such as SheWorx, encourage female
entrepreneurs to work together on the same goals and
propel their businesses forward, making much greater gains
than those who attempt sole enterprises and have no outside
support. Participants in these collective endeavors have
found success across the globe with co-founders Yin Li and
Lisa Wang setting up programs in New York, Los Angeles,
London, Singapore and Tel Aviv.
Besides these qualities, another factor that will continue to
shape the face of business is a leader’s style – whether it is
transactional or transformational. Transactional style of
leadership employs some sort of system of reward and
punishment or discipline. In this type of work environment,
employees are motivated to perform in order to attain a
reward (e.g. bonus pay or additional time off) or avoid
negative consequences (e.g. denying a time off request)
associated with not meeting one’s work goals. A leader
utilizing a transformational style motivates workers by
encouraging and inspiring employees. Transformational
leaders tend to model exceptional behavior and work to
help the employees understand and embrace the company’s
vision. Women leaders gravitate to the transformational
style because they tend to be relationship-oriented. Unlike
men, women are more likely to form strong interpersonal
connections with subordinates that encourage higher levels
of job performance.
While there are many factors that will come into play to
shape the face of tomorrow’s business leader, considering
these qualities and styles can provide perspective on how
future business leaders could look. And, adding the
additional layer of how women embody these qualities and
styles aids in bringing the picture into focus. There is no
doubt that women who tend to possess high integrity, create
and share vision in a collaborative, transformational way
will contribute to the furtherance of good business practice. T R
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