WOMEN AND THE

VISION
BY HERMINIA IBARRA AND OTILI
OBODARU

Presented by:
Ayesha Sadaf Gul
Kiran Tariq
Farheen
Khan
Maria Zahid
INTRODUCTION

 Women outshine men in many areas

measured by 360 degree assessment but
score low on one key leadership capability
i.e. envisioning.

 A correspondent of the leading female CEOs,

says that envisioning comes from staying
close with the details.

 Women are more practical and stick to

quantifiable objective rather then crafting
plans.
VISION IMPAIRED
 The authors studied the 360 degree reviews
of more than 2,800 women ,developed by
INSEAD's Global Leadership Centre. The
results were:

 women did as well or better than men in

most categories. The exception was vision,
and that exception could be one reason why
fewer women rise to the top jobs.

 360 degrees evaluation of the leaders is the

self assessment and evaluation of all the co
workers, subordinates, and peers etc.
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE VISIONARY

 trying to understand the trends in the industry.

 communicating with the society and the people

to be able to formulate what are threats and
opportunities in the business environment.

 and how that might match up to capabilities in

the organization.

 Women are less visionary then men, is it a

perception or a reality, we will find it out by
explaining the 3 theories based on research from
female leaders…
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE
VISION?

 Sensing opportunities and threats in the

environment

 Setting strategic direction

 Inspiring constituents
THEORY 1:WOMEN ARE EQUALLY
VISIONARY BUT IN A DIFFERENT WAY.

 Less directive method

 More collaborative in forming vision

 Role of a catalyst, allowing potential to emerge

Vivienne Cox, CEO of BP Alternative Energy

 Creating objectives and incentives so that

the organization will naturally find its own
solutions.

 External inputs from thought leaders and

potential adversaries to develop strategic
perspective.

Hypothesis: Female leaders get less credit for

result by involving male peers in the process
THEORY 2: WOMEN HESITATE TO GO
OUT ON A LIMB.
 Base decisions on CONCRETE facts

 Negative effects of presumed male competence

 Gender stereotypes

Hypothesis: presumed notion of male

competence puts female leaders on defensive.
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES BARACK
OBAMA AND HILLARY CLINTON
 Barack Obama was viewed as a visionary
charismatic communicator.

 Hillary Clinton was viewed as a competent

executor with an impressive grasp of policy
detail.

Hypothesis: Men speak more confidently with

very little data to back it up while women
feel more confident when they have a lot of
data to back up what they are saying.
THEORY 3: WOMEN DON’T PUT MUCH
STOCK IN VISION.
 Women have a different style of leadership from
man.

 Women have a skeptical view of envisioning to

achieve results. No nonsense attitude , practical
orientation.

 Interviews show that women are more thorough,

had better command on details and were less
prone to self-promotion.

Hypothesis: if you want anything said ask a man, if

you want anything done ask a woman. By Margaret
Thatcher.
WHO SAYS WOMEN AREN'T
VISIONARY ?
MAKING THE LEADERSHIP
TRANSITION
 The shortfall in the no of women at higher
ranks is because of the “vision ” part … The
only one thing that is holding women back .

 It is often observed that the very talent that

brings managers success in middle level can
be an obstacle to their taking on bigger
leadership roles.

 Behavior's relative importance to overall

leadership effectiveness . Male had a edge.
Women's outscoring factor was “supporting
other”.