There are more women running FORTUNE 500 companies this year than there were last year. Currently, 10 FORTUNE 500 companies are run by women (up from 9 last year), and a total of 20 FORTUNE 1000 companies have women in the top job (up from 19). (more)
The next point is that men are incapable of taking women seriously in the office and are only focused on women’s appearance. I find this to be an insult to the many serious, professional men I have worked with over the last 23 years. Not that I am naïve to human nature and a bit of normal banter (and by the way women occasionally notice men’s hot or not-so-hot appearance) but I do believe we’ve been mostly past this for years. And to the extent it is present, we should treat this behavior as an unacceptable aberration not to be accepted.
The corollary to this point, which the author makes later, is that “men can also get away with more stupidity.” Note to any men reading this…NOT. Check in with several recently former Fortune 500 CEOs to verify. More
To Improve Your Executive Presence:
Source: Dee Soder, founder of CEO Perspective Group, an executive-assessment and advisory concern in New York via the WSG
There are literally hundreds of books written on leadership – how to be a good leader, what makes a good leader, the top 10 leadership skills or styles etc. It is a topic with seemingly no end. The WSJ have an interesting article on leadership focused on looking and acting like a leader:
Executives with presence act self confident, strategic, decisive and assertive, concludes a study released late last year by the Center for Work-Life Policy, a New York think tank.
Presence plays an increasingly important role as companies grapple with a weak recovery and fewer management layers. “You have less time to make that lasting impression,” warns Stefanie Smith, head of Stratex Consulting, a New York coaching firm. Today, 75% of her coaching practice involves enhancing clients’ presence–up from 35% in2007.
