Ways Women Lead

Editors’ Introduction

While Mary Hartman helped us see the importance of continually rethinking our response to the issues that women face, Judy Rosener frames the problems and opportunities that women encounter in organizations in a very specific way. Her response is one that emphasizes the unique contributions that women leaders make within organizations. In her now classic article on women leaders we find a demonstration that a transformative collaborative model of leading is both more typical of women leaders and actually very effective, particularly in large organizations. As the book progresses, we shall see that the strategy of emphasizing women leaders’ “unique” leadership style also has its dangers, as it tends to strengthen gender stereotypes. We however include this perspective here because we want to trace the various possible responses to the changing situation of women within organizations, and consider its costs and benefits before offering new perspectives. Rosener’s article does offer us some crucial insights into alternative leadership models that may be more appropriate responses to contemporary organizational dynamics. Although Rosener barely touches on it, a transformational leader is more comfortable in a complex environment of a large multinational corporation, and that style of leadership, in turn, is more conducive to leadership success in global companies.

Reprinted from Harvard Business Review November–December 1990 with permission of the publisher and the author.