The Stern Opportunity

At a global level, women in business have become more powerful and influential and gender lines are increasingly blurred at senior levels. However, there are still some commonly held beliefs about women that I come across in my everyday work life. They are never explicitly stated, but these generalizations can be overheard and the effects can be implicitly "felt" at the office. I've been in the work force for several years, and in industries that are predominantly male-concentrated, so while people don't talk about the differences between the way men and women generally behave at the workplace, they still exist. I will attempt to shed some light on some of these generalizations that people (including women) have based on my personal experience:

Female executives are too demanding and uptight and have slashed many to move up the ladder I'm not being biased, but some of the best bosses I've had were women. They are thorough, methodical, and forward thinkers. If one works for a person with these qualities, it typically will be a demanding and time-consuming job. Being detail-oriented and strategic in thinking should be rewarded and not criticized. Female bosses seem to be a point of contention with some people. When doing some research for this week's article, I saw several articles on the web entitled "How to Mange your Female Boss?" Are female bosses that much more difficult to read than the average boss? In any industry, a successful person is serious about his or her work and expects those that they work with to be the same. Perhaps there are other factors at work, such as ego, intimidation, pride and sense of worth, that get in the way of seeing the value of rising stars who just happen to be female.

A group of women working together will inevitably lead to tension and drama. In a previous job, I have had the misfortune of working for a male chauvinist, but the pleasure of working with all female colleagues. While my boss was constantly wary of "catfights", in his own words, he didn't see that all the members in my group worked well together. We were among the most productive groups in the division, and I think the reason we worked well is because we felt a bond with one another that none of us had with previous work groups that we were in. However, it was a bond that had little to do with gender. Some may argue that a job is not the preferred place to socialize, yet one should at least make attempts to get to know their cohorts better. For any group that you work in, it's important to feel comfortable with the people you work with. Group motivation would increase, and there is more willingness to do a good job and to support the team. It is from this team, in particular, that I realized the importance of camaraderie in a work setting.

Women try to hard to fit in with their male superiors and counterparts. To me, this statement implies that a woman trying to move into the upper echelons of management should have the behavioral traits of their males that dominate the space have. Interestingly enough, I have seen this happen. At a closing dinner at an old-world steakhouse, my female ex-boss eagerly puffed the cigar that the client company's CEO offered to her (she had quit smoking five years before). The whole scene looked like a rite of passage ceremony. However, by the end of the night, the elderly CEO could only remember my boss as "the young lady that smoked a good Cuban." I could be na've, but I am still a firm believer that clients, coworkers and bosses will like me more if I could lead initiatives and generate revenue. There are countless successful women that have not succumbed to the stereotypical behaviors of the alpha-male, and didn't see the need to in order to progress.

Women are too emotional and can often convey the wrong message Many think that showing emotions at work is a sign of weakness. I was once scorned by a senior female counterpart for including an extra exclamation point or two in a thank-you email to a client. She said, "It's too emotional." I didn't think of this as emotional so much as an expression of my personality. I am generally a positive and upbeat person and wanted to convey my genuine gratitude through the impersonal media of email. The office décor I was surrounded by was dull and dated (one of the conference rooms featured an artfully designed prison). I am a big fan of vacation pictures on cubicle walls, plants and flowers or even a Dilbert cartoon. While there is more to my personality than this, I will take what I can get given the confines of my cube and surroundings. Without any expression of personality, the office would be as sad as the one in the movie Office Space.

Without a doubt, there have been huge changes in gender roles and shifts in the way women are viewed at the office. While we are moving toward a workplace full of "equalists", there are still some notions that I wanted to clear up.

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