Lead like a Woman: Common Traits of Women in Leadership

Throughout history, women were often dictated by society to stay at home. However, in recent times we have seen powerful women challenge these norms by seeking leadership roles and empowering other women to do the same. With this, there are five common traits of women that both men and women in leadership should embody:

• • Empathy
  • Humility
  • Persuasiveness
  • Entrepreneurial Spirit
  • Resilience

Empathy

Women are known to have a natural sense of empathy. Empathy allows leaders to be more sensitive and cooperate more effectively in the workplace. By allowing employees to feel heard and valued, empathic leaders will be able to foster an open working environment, meet halfway with employees, and boost job performance in the long run.

Humility

Humility has traditionally been a trait associated with women. Typically, women are not egocentric; rather, women confidently show their humanity in the relationships they make. Humility allows leaders to inspire the people they lead, motivate them to perform, and improve strategy development through flexibility, cooperation, and collaboration.

Persuasiveness

Studies have discovered that women can accurately absorb information from all perspectives, integrate it, and generate it into a promising solution. Part of this is that women are known to have strong convictions in their beliefs, which makes them much more persuasive than males. As a leadership trait, persuasiveness allows leaders to motivate their employees to be more dedicated in the workplace.

Entrepreneurial Spirit

Entrepreneurial spirit may not be the first female trait that comes to mind, but women do excel at this trait. Women are often more willing to take smaller risks than men because of their drive to seek opportunities. Moreover, women tend to innovate and push limits as a means of growth both personally and professionally. With that, these natural traits allow women to possess that entrepreneurial spirit that is important in the role of leadership.

Resilience

In comparison to men, women are known to bounce back faster in the face of adversity. Studies have discovered that women are more capable of stress management than men. This means that women are more likely to move past stress quicker and more effectively than men. Leaders that are resilient will be better at composing themselves under pressure and adapting to unexpected changes that occur in the workplace.

There is no doubt that female leaders possess various powerful traits that both men and women can learn from. By fostering empathy, humility, persuasiveness, entrepreneurial spirit, and resilience, leaders destined for success will surely reach this end goal with more ease.