Today there are more companies where men and women are working together, sharing ideas and power. It is not as newsworthy now as in the past when a woman is promoted to the head of a business over many men. To compare and contrast the ways women succeed in gaining power at work without discussing the relationships they have had and currently have with men is impossible. Most all women have stated how hard it is to get to where they are or want to be but they all use men’s habits and traits to state on how to overcome their own issues with progression.
The most basic description given for how to generalize the basic issues women have with initially establishing themselves is the historical differences that they have with man. Sharon Patrick (President and COO of Martha Stewart Living) stated that there are differences between men and women in management style – not in skills but in style. She compared it to a Broadway show “Defending the Caveman” where men hunt and women gather as natural instincts. This is the basic instinct that most women feel that they need to overcome to be successful but many have found that this is not the route for all to follow. Many women feel and have proven that using their own natural instincts are working to overcome their past shortcomings.
Many women who have chosen the routes of using the head on approach with men by using mans natural or instinctive traits of win, take no prisoners, intimidation and not taking any steps back approach have succeeded but have had to sacrifice much to do so. These women have become just as successful and many of the men they work or were competitive against but usually still do not get to the top but are content with the power that they have gained. Most of the women that have used this approach are the frontiers of the women in the corporate world and these practices are not used as frequently as in the past.
Women today are trending to use their natural instincts to succeed in the corporate world. Most men use their forceful, bully and pressuring tactics to negotiate what they want or need but the women are using their natural abilities to collaborate, searching for common interest, and solving problems; which is normally seen by men as a sign of weakness but are producing high-quality results. Many women believe that we are living in the relationship era where it’s all about getting closer to the customers, striking up new ventures, and partnering with suppliers. It’s instinctual for women to work with these methods where using this methodology; warriors don’t make good CEO’s in companies based on relationships. The new CEO is a seeder, feeder and weeder and these are all women roles which would make a woman mighty in a man’s world.
Some women today believe that in by working together they can better overcome many of the differences that they have to climb up the corporate ladder. They believe that by using their numbers of women that are currently in power positions in the corporate world that they can affect the future progression of current and future women to power positions. This forum is currently being used in many different areas of the world but it is often not supported by many of the women already in these power positions because they feel that they may actually hurt the chances of their and future women and cause a backlash of the efforts that they have already made to progress themselves.
While women are definitely making progress in a so called man’s world; it is happening to slowly for many women. Women have found that one of their biggest challenges in progressing to power positions is not their skills or competency or even their natural traits; it is the power that men have with one another. Men naturally chose other men that are in their circle of trust or men they associate with daily as their successors or promotions are given to these men because they obviously know and trust them more than outsiders (which is often what women are known as in the corporate world as a whole). Taking chances is often thought by most women is the best way to rise where others won’t. Overcoming this issue is more than just a challenge for most women but the ultimate goal due to the sacrifices that most of them have given up from their natural traits; which is usually motherhood for most.
References:
1. Anna Muoio (1998, Jan 31), Women and Men, Work and Power, Fast Company.Com attained on 17 Sept 2010 from http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/13/womenofpr.html?page=0%2C0