We need more women business leaders!

Ross Wilson, recently shared a platform with the Home Secretary, Theresa May as well as Fiona Hathorn, MD of Women on Boards UK Limited when the challenge for the packed audience was “Do We Need More
Women Business Leaders?”

For many years, Ross wrote a column for Women in Business. He is an Ambassador for Women in Business for Barclays Bank and an Ambassador for the Thames Valley Women in Business Awards.  In answer to the question whether we need more women business leaders his response was “absolutely!”.

Ross shared with the audience some of the things that in his experience might hold women back from
being leaders.  Many of the women in his study indicated that they would rather work for a man than a woman, something which took him by surprise and led him to asking the obvious question “why”? If this really is borne out then it’s something which in his opinion needs to be addressed.  He referred to women tending to be more “risk averse” than men and was quick to point out was not necessarily a bad thing! He believes women carry out more due diligence before making the big calls which often leads to a greater chance of success especially in start-ups.  The culture and ethos of an organisation is also something which will affect women’s ability to reach the top.

He believes there is a low level of engagement while women are off on maternity leave. A year is a very long time in business. Things change rapidly and of course if there is little or no engagement for a period of up to a year, then it is not surprising that women may come back to a very different organisation from the one they left a year previously.

His experience suggests that women also tend to return after a period of maternity leave with less confidence. This for him was fascinating given the significant life skills that the women will have added
during their period of time off. They and the business community, however, seem sadly to place little or no value on this.

Ross referred to many women who make massive life choices perhaps more so than men which can affect their decision to go for the top jobs. Many of the decisions are linked to the realisation that there is much more to life than money and titles. Ross referred to the attempts to introduce quotas for women serving on boards, however a recent study has found that women CEO’s are currently more likely to be fired than their male counterparts.  Two main reasons were said to be “the culture and political pressures to appoint a female candidate that led to risky appointments” and secondly “the overwhelming male culture in the board room has proved to be a very difficult environment for women to work in.” That – says Ross – needs addressing!

Another challenge affecting women in business is networking. One of the golden keys for progressing in any organisation would be the quality of the internal and external networks and the way that this is used. For women it can often be very different from the male networks of “old school”, university, golf clubs, rugby clubs and more besides.  And then there is the challenge of balancing business and family life. A topic on its own for another day perhaps!

Ross said that you can’t help but notice the impact that women are having on UK plc which is great to see. He referred to the STEM agenda (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) having really taken off especially in attracting outstanding young female talent to whom in years gone by these subjects were predominately the domain of men.

Ross looked forward to seeing women having an increasingly positive impact on businesses of today and tomorrow. Ross has for many years been a champion for Women in Business and for him it’s a question of whether the environment exists to allow them the same opportunity to do so as their male counterparts – and whether they want it!

One thing is for sure, he looked forward to seeing women continue to make their mark on the business community in leadership roles and to be judged solely and equally by their ability to carry
out the role.