Decreasing Competition
How Recruiting More Female Leaders Actually Leads to Less Competition
Over the decades, women have gotten a bad reputation for being competitive. Think of the comedies you’ve seen involving women who work together: they may have cat fights; a queen bee might rise up, who monopolizes leadership and doesn’t help anyone else; rarely do we see portrayals of female leaders working together in harmony.
This really isn’t representative of the real world — especially in today’s age. In reality, these stereotypes and challenges aren’t based on leaders being women. Instead, they’re based on being a minority. Think about it: when resources and opportunities are scarce, there will naturally be competition. That’s true for men, women, young, and old.
Women who are one of the only female leaders in their organization know that they have to grasp opportunities while they have the chance. They may not often get the chance to lead, to be promoted, or to demonstrate their skills to a welcoming audience. However, as we see a changing in our culture — as more women are educated, leading, and being welcomed into organizational leadership circles, we’re seeing competition and negativity go way down.
The truth is that, as we create more opportunities for female leaders, we’ll see healthier workplace environments. When female leaders don’t feel threatened, they’ll be freer to thrive — and to help others thrive alongside them. There won’t be a scarcity mentality, but an abundance mentality.
Which would you rather have in your organization?
