With Mass Adoption of the technology will come Diversity
Having grown for 20 years, as revenue generator and manager in Investment Banking, a very much male-dominated industry, I believe Diversity -both in terms of culture and gender, brings tremendous added-value in a company’s leadership team.
It is common knowledge that the Tech Industry has always had a lack of women, even more so the Blockchain ecosystem. Not only developers and management teams are male-dominated but the users (Cryptocurrencies Holders, PC Gamers, Cyberpunk Community Members) are primarily men too.
To acknowledge that women bring different and valuable qualities to a management team is one thing. But the reality is that these qualities add up to a distinctive style of leadership that may be more value-creating than male leadership. Studies distinct two major types of Leaderships (*) : Transactional and Transformational. Transactional leaders simply reward and punish appropriate and inappropriate behaviours. Transformational Leaders are admired, respected and trusted. They motivate and inspire those around by providing meaning, optimism and vision. They are creative and innovative.
In a Meta-analysis of 45 studies of Leadership styles (**), it has been found wide agreement that female leaders were more transformational than men leaders. They also found that transformational leadership was more effective than transactional leadership.
In other words, outcome of that study is that women would be better than men at the things leaders do that have the most impact on performance.
As a COO and Head of Sales of a Blockchain company, I also think a company and its leadership team composition should be diverse, as companies will create more value if the minds of their leaders resemble to the minds of their market. Only then you can truly understand the needs of your clients and deliver the best products accordingly.
The increased number of decentralised applications across a variety of industries will surely take the products away from the current niche market and will make them universally usable.
In a mission to bring blockchain to the people, with mass adoption of the technology will come diversity in users- geographically, culturally and gender wise.
With time, the Blockchain industry will therefore change from being a pure Tech ecosystem to an Industry with a growing Business component. The shape of the companies will itself change to adapt, including a larger segment of staff in Sales, Marketing and Design. The UX/Client journey will have to progressively take into consideration a broader and diverse client base.
We are collectively true believers that Blockchain is such a disruptive technology that it will transform people’s lives in the way they work, interact, transact and possibly think.
Well, women currently account for a little more than half the population of the developed world. Today, about 90% of Bitcoin users are male. So in a world where women shop more than male and probably have a lot of influence on Male’s buying decisions than men have on theirs, once can expect female holding of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to skyrocket. Every day, a new commercial Brand is accepting Cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. Every day, you can expect new female users of crypto.
Gender inequality is not new, but if, as a female, like me, you think you have the right skills and you can add value, nothing should stop you from joining the Blockchain Industry. The work you are doing will speak for itself.
(*) If you are not serving Bill and Barbara, then you’re not . serving Leadership, Mintzberg H. , Leadership beyond Establishment Views, Southern Illinois University Press, 1982
(**) Transformational, Transactional and Laissez-faire Leadership styles. A meta-analysis comparing women and men, A.H. Eagly, M.C. Johannesen-Schmidt and M.L. van Engen, Psychological Bulletin 2003
