It includes the behaviours of acting with integrity, demonstrating competence, organizing and moving projects forward, meeting commitments and milestones, and persevering through problems.
These data challenge the common assumption that women have not yet garnered the skills to be effective leaders. Quite to the contrary, when assessed on specific skills that both organizations and management consultants consider important for effective leadership in today’s world, women are perceived to do as well as men or even outperform them. Moreover, they excel not only in “people” and interpersonal skills commonly associated with feminine styles of management and increasingly recognized as important for leadership success in today’s organizations, but also in skills that traditionally have been perceived as directly linked to getting “bottom line” results and associated with masculine norms of leadership. Herein lies the paradox of success. While women are succeeding in applying a broad range of leadership skills to work and are achieving positive results, they are having considerably less success in being promoted to top leadership positions.

Understanding the paradox
First, it is important to recognize that the concept of leadership remains a masculine notion, defined by subtle and deeply rooted cultural norms and values in organizations. The specific skills and competencies identified as important for effective leadership in performance evaluations and leadership training often do not mirror the assumptions and images people hold of effective leaders. While companies might say they want leaders who are stewards, team builders, or good alliance partners, the widely held, yet often unrecognized, cultural assumption persists that good leaders are “heroic,” autonomous, disciplined, emotionally restrained, command-and-control figures. When leaders are selected for the top positions, it is often these more informal, subtle, and

masculine assumptions that come into play and influence the selection decisions.
Second, we need to recognize that many critical leadership skills are perceived through the lens of gender stereotypes and are valued differently when they are enacted by men or women. This differential valuing between men and women of specific skills as contributing to assessments of leadership potential can shut women out of the corner offices. It also raises the stakes and the risks for women who take up leadership roles. Paradoxically, when women competently demonstrate the leadership behaviors that are traditionally associated with “bottom-line results” and conform most closely to masculine norms of leadership, they are often perceived as less rather than as more effective as leaders.

Strategies for success
How do women who aspire to be leaders challenge this paradox? First, it is important for women to realize that it takes more than competence and well-honed skills to make it into the top positions. Leadership selection decisions are not based on objective criteria alone. Women need to invest in building relationships with influential advocates who can sponsor them for positions of leadership and make their leadership competencies visible and explicit to others. Once in a leadership position, they also need a constellation of allies who will continue to support them and advertise and reaffirm their leadership contributions publicly.
Second, to develop their careers and navigate effectively in their organizations, women need to arm themselves with an understanding of how gender norms shape perceptions and assumptions of leadership and effectiveness in organizations. This allows women to anticipate challenges emerging from gender norms and circumvent them. It also helps women to interpret the challenges they experience as derived from gendered assumptions within the organization rather than from personal inadequacies.