WASHINGTON — Women are taking active leadership roles in companies around the country and a recent survey says more people want a more feminine and transparent leader as opposed to a macho one.
There is a new, more “feminine” leadership communication model and women leaders are seen as markedly better at displaying more of the attributes deemed important for effective leaders, according to the Ketchum Leadership Communication Monitor.
The survey tracked responses from more than 6,500 individuals around the world about perceptions of leaders in various industries, including business, politics, community and organized labor organizations.
The survey found macho leaders are not as valued as transparent ones.
“It’s not about a value judgment on either gender, it’s simply saying what matters to the world now is systematically being displayed more by female leaders than male leaders,” Rod Cartwright, director of Ketchum’s Global Corporate & Public Affairs Practice, said to Forbes .
The researchers measured seven traits of effective leadership – five of which women topped their male counterparts.
More than half of the participants said women were better than men when it came to leading by example, communicating in an open and transparent way, admitting mistakes and bringing out the best in others, the survey found.
Women barely edged out men in one category. About 52 percent of participants said women handle controversial issues of cruses calmly and confidently.
“Communication, collaboration, true transparency all rated much higher. That’s different than what worked in the past,” Barri Rafferty, Ketchum CEO, North America, said to Forbes.
Watch a video about the survey below:
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