Why are there Queen Bees instead of King Bees?
By Erica Perry Briody
By Erica Perry Briody
Would the world be the same without leaders? What if we were all equal?
We will never know since from the earliest pages of history someone always comes out on top, the cave man was the hunter and as for the cave woman, well she stays in the cave!
This article will explore whether men and women have the same innate ability and competencies to lead. Is leadership gender specific? If so, why is'nt there a king bee instead of a queen bee?Come to think of it…why does a hive need a queen bee anyway? Well bees, like humans need direction and without it would live in confusion and chaos. The worker bees need to know who does the fanning of the hive, that guards the hive from enemies etc…so, while the queen bee sits with her babies, the male worker bees sit around waiting to be told what to do. Sounds familiar? :-)
So would life be confusing and chaotic without a leader to direct? Most probably so!However, to become a leader, one must have followers, and to have followers, one must have gained the respect and trust to lead. Unfortunately, I could only come up with the queen bee…and the preying mantas that gobble up the males after having sex as examples of female insect leaders! Likewise in the animal kingdom, the male is usually the dominant species, not the female!… for example, the proud lion king warming himself in the sun while the lioness scouts for food for the family, and once the hunt has been completed and the fresh kill is waiting to be ravaged, she steps back and lets the male eat before she takes her fill. Is this respect, lack of innate leadership skills or pure survival?
Can women be leaders at home as well as at the workplace?BUT, why are there more male leaders than female leaders in the world? One could say it is nature vs nurture….. that the female has the family to breed and raise which takes them away from the world where leaders are developed and needed….but then who is the leader of the household? I can guarantee that if the man believes he is the king of his domain, the queen bee has been using some reverse psychology on him…..well at least in my grandmother’s case. Yet, with respect to the “business world” could we conclude that since society demands marriage and families, women are both the worker and producing bees? Until young men stop seeing the ideal male image as their “father”…..the one who brought home the bacon so the mother could fry it up in a pan and never ever let him forget he’s a man, women will remain the main caretaker of the family and household!
Personally, I do not believe gender dictates leadership, nevertheless… leaders, no matter what gender, are defined by having a vision with quantifiable objectives that answer the What, When, How and Why. The power of communication and charisma to clearly impart the roadmap to the worker bees so that everyone knows what their KPIs are and the benefits their work bring to the overall vision. So the question is can women be both the leader at home and in the workplace?
A woman with both Qs can no longer be held back!Well let’s analyze what the workplace expects of a leader…in the business world, the leader is measured by revenue and profit. If profit is the main driver for leaders, characteristics that assert cutting costs, efficiency and ability to fire someone to set an example may dictate the drivers. It is common place that the majority of these characteristics are seen today as male traits.Maybe it is because men come across as the stronger sex, more confident and dominating yet the way I see it, Leadership is not about telling people what to do; Rather, it is about people wanting to do what you suggest because they trust and respect your opinion and believe you will guide them in the right direction for the greater good!!!!In most companies today, work is all about discipline. Executives make life rational and predictable, with objectives, strategies, systems, procedures and most importantly rules. Information technology has greatly enabled this by streamlining and simplifying the workflow process. Unfortunately, that leaves little room for emotional intelligence in this equation. Companies are clearly dictated by a man’s point of view! Tasks are the focus and there’s ‘no time’ to worry about the feelings of the people who perform the tasks or what motivates them so they can be developed to their full potential. If your company conducted a Gap Analysis today, one would find that Leadership Development and “Succession Planning” were areas that needed improvement. Unfortunately, we are so caught up in the corporate life and becoming so competitive that we’re perpetually aiming to get one up on each other at work and worse yet, corporate incentive schemes are implemented to reinforce these behaviors.ENOUGH…we cannot continue like this, we are not in a jungle competing for survival of the fittest. We work together or die alone or something like that stated by the Doc in the TV Series “LOST”. I strongly believe that this is not the world we are seeing now….the world is changing…profit is no longer the “be and end all”.For instance, the inhibition for expansion of companies in China is the ability to locate talent to fuel their business initiatives. China will need 70,000 mid to senior level managers within the next five years. These numbers do not exist. Unless we take a look at the female population maybe we can change the odds. The male dominated traits of leadership are not the key attributes attracting talent nowadays. Leadership and success are becoming more holistic in approach…and we should be looking at attributes women can bring to the table.Today, women are already making headway at C level positions. To be good leaders, women need to realize that they do not have to compete with men in the “men’s world”. It’s a “Brave New World” as our friend Huxley once said! No one is expecting women to replicate men; we are different and therefore should value and embrace the differences. Companies valuing team work, contribution to society as much as contribution to the bottom line, work life balance, career enhancement etc.. will have a place for women at the helm.
We need more leaders with human relation skills that focus on education, healthcare and community issues, social responsibilities, someone with emotional intelligence, which is becoming as important as Intellectual intelligence. A woman with both the Q’s cannot be held back!!
Does EQ make women better leaders than men?Today’s business dynamics that include the struggles of East meeting West, the X Generation not relating to the motivations of the Y Generation, will need a leader who is more compassionate, understanding and better at communicating and trusting. An innate empathy for humankind with the aptitude to look at relationships from a multitude of angles and due to the conditioning of being female, possessing the inner strength to persevere despite barriers are traits favoring the female species. It’s about consensus building, alignment, and seeing each issue from a variety of perspectives. A woman who, uses her maternal instinct to take the lead and sort out the daily activities of the household which no doubt can also be replicated to sort out the dilemmas and challenges facing companies today!
So what is this Emotional Intelligence that everyone is talking about? Emotional Intelligence (EI), defined by Wikipedia and often measured as an Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ), describes an ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups. The most distant roots of Emotional intelligence can be traced back to Darwin’s early work on the importance of emotional expression for survival and adaptation.[1]Evelyn Mungai, President, All Africa Businesswomen’s Association, at the Eskom African Business Leaders Forum Johannesburg, South Africa wrote: “A key requirement for a high-EQ person is excellent self-knowledge”.Yet, haven’t we found that the more powerful someone becomes, the more they risk getting out of touch with who they really are and how they relate to others. Consider what powerful people have in common? Most of them are men for a start! As people become more powerful, those around them increasingly tell them what they want to hear. The powerful think they’re in touch, they imagine their EQ is high, but is it really?When a man shows emotion he is criticized for being a wimp or a “girl”. Aversion to emotions is not only implicit, executives discourage public emotional display in the workplace. Emotions interfere with efficiency, reasoning and judgment; it’s a waste of time, distracting and prevents people from making tough business decisions. Revenues must increase even as costs continue to be squeezed. Hours are becoming longer and work life balance is no longer equally weighted. So this causes a dilemma because women tend to put in less time than men, working fewer hours; and, statistically, people who work 44 hours a week make almost twice as much as those who work 34 hours.As a result, women still comprise fewer than 2% of Fortune 500 CEO’s and about 8% of Fortune 500 top earners. As an article in the Wall Street Journal once pointed out, the reasons are many; “women hit their prime child bearing years at the same time they are most pressured to prove themselves at work; they are reluctant to put in the 80-hour work week and globetrotting required for the corner office; they are too concentrated on staff positions like HR and marketing, where they never learn P&L responsibility; and they don’t have informed mentoring and networking opportunities, like golfing with the guys.”These theories belie a consistent finding in research -- there is little difference between the leadership abilities of successful male and female bosses.
In my opinion, communication is the key. Women need to step up to the plate and make it known that it’s your intent to become a leader in your company. Both men and women alike should engage in “hinting” about their aspiration to become a leader. There is nothing wrong in telling your company that you want to become a leader and that you also intend on having a family. My view is that with this knowledge and level of honesty, corporate will be able to help you manage your career path much more effectively than if they had waited around and second guessed one another about the “what if’s?” There is no need for surprises; If you have the skill and will to lead, and you make it known, you may find much greater support, which may even accelerate your path to leadership.When that happens, we will probably find more Queen Bees!Erica Perry Briody is the Vice President of RPO for Kenexa, a leading international talent outsourcing and management company. She can be contacted at erica.briody@kenexa.com
HROA-Asia Pacific
This article will explore whether men and women have the same innate ability and competencies to lead. Is leadership gender specific? If so, why is'nt there a king bee instead of a queen bee?Come to think of it…why does a hive need a queen bee anyway? Well bees, like humans need direction and without it would live in confusion and chaos. The worker bees need to know who does the fanning of the hive, that guards the hive from enemies etc…so, while the queen bee sits with her babies, the male worker bees sit around waiting to be told what to do. Sounds familiar? :-)
So would life be confusing and chaotic without a leader to direct? Most probably so!However, to become a leader, one must have followers, and to have followers, one must have gained the respect and trust to lead. Unfortunately, I could only come up with the queen bee…and the preying mantas that gobble up the males after having sex as examples of female insect leaders! Likewise in the animal kingdom, the male is usually the dominant species, not the female!… for example, the proud lion king warming himself in the sun while the lioness scouts for food for the family, and once the hunt has been completed and the fresh kill is waiting to be ravaged, she steps back and lets the male eat before she takes her fill. Is this respect, lack of innate leadership skills or pure survival?
Can women be leaders at home as well as at the workplace?BUT, why are there more male leaders than female leaders in the world? One could say it is nature vs nurture….. that the female has the family to breed and raise which takes them away from the world where leaders are developed and needed….but then who is the leader of the household? I can guarantee that if the man believes he is the king of his domain, the queen bee has been using some reverse psychology on him…..well at least in my grandmother’s case. Yet, with respect to the “business world” could we conclude that since society demands marriage and families, women are both the worker and producing bees? Until young men stop seeing the ideal male image as their “father”…..the one who brought home the bacon so the mother could fry it up in a pan and never ever let him forget he’s a man, women will remain the main caretaker of the family and household!
Personally, I do not believe gender dictates leadership, nevertheless… leaders, no matter what gender, are defined by having a vision with quantifiable objectives that answer the What, When, How and Why. The power of communication and charisma to clearly impart the roadmap to the worker bees so that everyone knows what their KPIs are and the benefits their work bring to the overall vision. So the question is can women be both the leader at home and in the workplace?
A woman with both Qs can no longer be held back!Well let’s analyze what the workplace expects of a leader…in the business world, the leader is measured by revenue and profit. If profit is the main driver for leaders, characteristics that assert cutting costs, efficiency and ability to fire someone to set an example may dictate the drivers. It is common place that the majority of these characteristics are seen today as male traits.Maybe it is because men come across as the stronger sex, more confident and dominating yet the way I see it, Leadership is not about telling people what to do; Rather, it is about people wanting to do what you suggest because they trust and respect your opinion and believe you will guide them in the right direction for the greater good!!!!In most companies today, work is all about discipline. Executives make life rational and predictable, with objectives, strategies, systems, procedures and most importantly rules. Information technology has greatly enabled this by streamlining and simplifying the workflow process. Unfortunately, that leaves little room for emotional intelligence in this equation. Companies are clearly dictated by a man’s point of view! Tasks are the focus and there’s ‘no time’ to worry about the feelings of the people who perform the tasks or what motivates them so they can be developed to their full potential. If your company conducted a Gap Analysis today, one would find that Leadership Development and “Succession Planning” were areas that needed improvement. Unfortunately, we are so caught up in the corporate life and becoming so competitive that we’re perpetually aiming to get one up on each other at work and worse yet, corporate incentive schemes are implemented to reinforce these behaviors.ENOUGH…we cannot continue like this, we are not in a jungle competing for survival of the fittest. We work together or die alone or something like that stated by the Doc in the TV Series “LOST”. I strongly believe that this is not the world we are seeing now….the world is changing…profit is no longer the “be and end all”.For instance, the inhibition for expansion of companies in China is the ability to locate talent to fuel their business initiatives. China will need 70,000 mid to senior level managers within the next five years. These numbers do not exist. Unless we take a look at the female population maybe we can change the odds. The male dominated traits of leadership are not the key attributes attracting talent nowadays. Leadership and success are becoming more holistic in approach…and we should be looking at attributes women can bring to the table.Today, women are already making headway at C level positions. To be good leaders, women need to realize that they do not have to compete with men in the “men’s world”. It’s a “Brave New World” as our friend Huxley once said! No one is expecting women to replicate men; we are different and therefore should value and embrace the differences. Companies valuing team work, contribution to society as much as contribution to the bottom line, work life balance, career enhancement etc.. will have a place for women at the helm.
We need more leaders with human relation skills that focus on education, healthcare and community issues, social responsibilities, someone with emotional intelligence, which is becoming as important as Intellectual intelligence. A woman with both the Q’s cannot be held back!!
Does EQ make women better leaders than men?Today’s business dynamics that include the struggles of East meeting West, the X Generation not relating to the motivations of the Y Generation, will need a leader who is more compassionate, understanding and better at communicating and trusting. An innate empathy for humankind with the aptitude to look at relationships from a multitude of angles and due to the conditioning of being female, possessing the inner strength to persevere despite barriers are traits favoring the female species. It’s about consensus building, alignment, and seeing each issue from a variety of perspectives. A woman who, uses her maternal instinct to take the lead and sort out the daily activities of the household which no doubt can also be replicated to sort out the dilemmas and challenges facing companies today!
So what is this Emotional Intelligence that everyone is talking about? Emotional Intelligence (EI), defined by Wikipedia and often measured as an Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ), describes an ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups. The most distant roots of Emotional intelligence can be traced back to Darwin’s early work on the importance of emotional expression for survival and adaptation.[1]Evelyn Mungai, President, All Africa Businesswomen’s Association, at the Eskom African Business Leaders Forum Johannesburg, South Africa wrote: “A key requirement for a high-EQ person is excellent self-knowledge”.Yet, haven’t we found that the more powerful someone becomes, the more they risk getting out of touch with who they really are and how they relate to others. Consider what powerful people have in common? Most of them are men for a start! As people become more powerful, those around them increasingly tell them what they want to hear. The powerful think they’re in touch, they imagine their EQ is high, but is it really?When a man shows emotion he is criticized for being a wimp or a “girl”. Aversion to emotions is not only implicit, executives discourage public emotional display in the workplace. Emotions interfere with efficiency, reasoning and judgment; it’s a waste of time, distracting and prevents people from making tough business decisions. Revenues must increase even as costs continue to be squeezed. Hours are becoming longer and work life balance is no longer equally weighted. So this causes a dilemma because women tend to put in less time than men, working fewer hours; and, statistically, people who work 44 hours a week make almost twice as much as those who work 34 hours.As a result, women still comprise fewer than 2% of Fortune 500 CEO’s and about 8% of Fortune 500 top earners. As an article in the Wall Street Journal once pointed out, the reasons are many; “women hit their prime child bearing years at the same time they are most pressured to prove themselves at work; they are reluctant to put in the 80-hour work week and globetrotting required for the corner office; they are too concentrated on staff positions like HR and marketing, where they never learn P&L responsibility; and they don’t have informed mentoring and networking opportunities, like golfing with the guys.”These theories belie a consistent finding in research -- there is little difference between the leadership abilities of successful male and female bosses.
In my opinion, communication is the key. Women need to step up to the plate and make it known that it’s your intent to become a leader in your company. Both men and women alike should engage in “hinting” about their aspiration to become a leader. There is nothing wrong in telling your company that you want to become a leader and that you also intend on having a family. My view is that with this knowledge and level of honesty, corporate will be able to help you manage your career path much more effectively than if they had waited around and second guessed one another about the “what if’s?” There is no need for surprises; If you have the skill and will to lead, and you make it known, you may find much greater support, which may even accelerate your path to leadership.When that happens, we will probably find more Queen Bees!Erica Perry Briody is the Vice President of RPO for Kenexa, a leading international talent outsourcing and management company. She can be contacted at erica.briody@kenexa.com
HROA-Asia Pacific
