Feminine leadership forges the way of the new economy

The world as we know it is changing, and it’s changing fast. Today, collaboration trumps competition, and gone are the days where power over people works any kind of wonder. With job satisfaction as an essential microcosm of society-at-large, it is clear that a new culture of work and modus operandi has emerged.

“Line managers and their teams are seeking so much more than just targetdriven portfolios these days,” says Kerry Morris, CEO of recruitment agency The Tower Group. “The skills required to thrive in today’s work-age are now including softer skills with a deeper impact on job satisfaction like empathy, communication, inclusiveness and collaboration. All of which come, by default, more naturally to the fairer sex,” says Morris.

As a result, feminine leadership is forging the way of the new economy, and, increasingly, more and more leaders crossindustries, cross-countries and cross-gender are not only taking notes but also starting to embrace a 360-degree style of leadership that is proving to be more effective, more powerful and more necessary than ever before.

There are more women at the helm of Fortune 500 companies than at any other time in history — 33 out of 500. While stats such as these paint a sombre picture and large-scale inequality still exists in pay checks as well as in the proportion of maleto-female leaders in the global workforce, when it comes to the multiple advantages that feminine leadership capabilities bring to businesses as well as to a company’s bottom line, the lipstick is on the wall.

Morris says there are four key feminine leadership skills that every leader — female, male or nonbinary — should readily adopt as part of a well-blended management strategy. These are empathy, collaboration, vulnerability and inclusiveness. “At the end of the (work) day, feminine leadership belongs to all of us. It is a state of being that recognises and understands that we are here to connect, to learn, to share and to evolve; and to lead as humans first,” says Morris.