The Female Advantage

Rating:
Summary: Strengths of Women Leadership
Review: In her book, the Female Advantage, author Sally Helgesen distinguishes the basic characteristics among men and women and the advantages of these unique qualities in women when performing a leadership role. Throw out those books that tells you that you have to play the big boys games in order to succeed in the corporate world. Because what really takes to succeed lies in our in our thinking and our basic behavior al differences from men. Instead of blinding to these characteristics to 'fit in', she tells us to embrace them and use them to our advantage.

She entails these characteristics from the female executives in her book, not in an interview but rather in a 'diary' format, watching and learning by their behavior. She presents four different women in her book, the President of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. , A Ford Motors Executive, a founder and president of a telecommunications company and a founder and president of millwrighting firm. These diverse group of women are put under the microscope in her book in order to not just define what a female leader is but also the advantages of being a female leader.

Helgesen points out that women have distinguishing qualities that she calls 'feminine principles' that allow them to be better managers and responsible leaders. These feminine principles reflect our culture's basic presumption about differences between how men and women act and establishment of these principles in the public sector results would result in a more enriched life. She challenges the hierarchial structure of the corporate world by presenting female perspective by offering a web construct where direct communication and free flowing of ideas are encouraged and relationships are valued.

Her writing is loosely structured filled with inquisitive remarks. The stories of the four women she documented are interesting read and provide a window to the private lives and behavior of successful females. Whether you are a woman just planning the first seeds in her career or whether you're a seasoned leader, this is a good book to read to recharge ourselves and claim a stake of our worth in this world.

Rating:
Summary: Descriptions of different styles of leadership by women
Review: Includes a "day in the life of" Barbara Grogan, who at the time of writing (1990) was forty-three year-old founder and president of Western Industrial Contractors, a $6 million millwrighting firm in Denver. Grogan is one of many successful women profiled with an eye toward spotting gender characteristics that give women an edge

Rating:
Summary: The Strengths of Women Leaders
Review: Sally Helgesen's profound book shows how women lead differently...via a "web" instead of a hierarchy. Women in the workplace have long been told that we can't compete effectively because of the games (meaning tea parties instead of competitive sports) we played as girls. But, guess what? Sally Helgesen shows that the world based on hierarchies is spinning out of control...and the games we girls played (which hinged on relationships)turn out to be exactly the right games, giving women the unusual strength our world needs to evolve in a powerful new direction.

The rules have changed and women already know them. Not only does this book boost all women's self-esteem, but it also charges us to realize our responsibility to the world in which we live: "...feminine principles are entering the public realm because we can no longer afford to restrict them to the domestic sphere, nor allow a public culture obsessed with Warrior values to control human destiny if we are to survive." [p.255]

How true.

Rating:
Summary: The Strengths of Women Leaders
Review: Sally Helgesen's profound book shows how women lead differently...via a "web" instead of a hierarchy. Women in the workplace have long been told that we can't compete effectively because of the games (meaning tea parties instead of competitive sports) we played as girls. But, guess what? Sally Helgesen shows that the world based on hierarchies is spinning out of control...and the games we girls played (which hinged on relationships)turn out to be exactly the right games, giving women the unusual strength our world needs to evolve in a powerful new direction.

The rules have changed and women already know them. Not only does this book boost all women's self-esteem, but it also charges us to realize our responsibility to the world in which we live: "...feminine principles are entering the public realm because we can no longer afford to restrict them to the domestic sphere, nor allow a public culture obsessed with Warrior values to control human destiny if we are to survive." [p.255]

How true.