Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/592176
What does this mean in regard to career progression? Taking risks is associated with working outside your comfort zone and pushing beyond your normal duties. Women avoid power structures and hierarchy, according to Deborah Tannen, in "Talking 9 to 5: Women and Men at Work." Tannen found that women do not enjoy self-promotion. In fact, a Princeton University Press article states that women do not negotiate salaries or benets as oen as men. When women display assertiveness and condence they are judged negatively for being unfeminine. is contributes to chronic stress. In order to secure a place for women in leadership roles within the trucking industry, we need to better understand the values women bring to the boardroom. More importantly, we need to view those values as being important for company growth and stability. A Proctor & Gamble study found that men typically oversell their abilities while women undersell theirs. Or, as Wittenberg-Cox and Maintland state in, "Why Women Mean Business," men who want power push for it, while women oen need to be coaxed. Research by Hewlett Packard found that men would apply for a position when they feel they meet 60 percent of the requirements, while women wait to apply when they believe they meet 100 percent of the criteria. Blame it on testosterone if you wish, but women don't like promoting themselves, even when they want more responsibility and greater leadership. Women feel that their bosses should be able to identify talent and a woman's contribution and promote her based on her accomplishments. Apparently we do have some inherent bias toward the way women should act. Yale psychologist Victoria Brescoll found that male executives who spoke more oen than their peers were rated 10 percent higher in competence, while female executives were rated 14 percent lower in competence, by both men and women! A famous study at Harvard Business School gave students a case study of a female entrepreneur, Heidi Roizen. Half of the students received the same study with the name Howard instead of Heidi. While both groups found Heidi/ Howard to be competent, Heidi was viewed as "selsh" and "not the person you would like to work for" by both male and female students. How can your company ensure greater diversity and avoid some of these limiting practices? Value women's contributions (team building, collaboration) and reconsider what characteristics you are looking for in a leader. Create a gender-neutral environment, and identify and promote more women into management roles. When possible, oer networking and mentoring opportunities for the women in your current and future management team. Make sure your current female leaders are visible as well. You know that creating a more diverse leadership team is the right thing to do and it can increase your company's prots as well. Let's see if we can move beyond 14 percent in the coming year and change the image of the trucking industry into one more welcoming for women. "IN ORDER TO SECURE A PLACE FOR WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP ROLES WITHIN THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY, WE NEED TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE VALUES WOMEN BRING TO THE BOARDROOM." "" Ellen Voie, President/CEO Women In Trucking Association, Inc. Vo l . 9 , N o . 6 TRUCKSTOP.COM 29