How to be the perfect female boss
Every day, women make a trade-off between sounding smart, confident, assertive and appearing warm and likable. In terms of being a female leader, how would you want to be known?
If you are a too communal female boss, you won’t be perceived with good eyes and considered as a poor and weak mentor. If you are too agentic, you will be taken as competent but unlikable and for women, likeability is a requirement for success. Is it really?
According to studies, most confident women leaders are considered as ‘intimidating,’ ‘too aggressive,’ or ‘bossy.’ A good female boss has the attribute to nurture and connect better with their colleagues and peers. Since woman bosses tend to train their juniors better, employees who work under women outscore those who work for men bosses. Not all female bosses are all inherently ‘Mean Girls’ but some also make it warm, fuzzy fantasylands for others. What you should be doing is, 1) remember to raise your voice but do not scream. Nobody likes a boss who yells at them all the time and makes the environment unpleasant. 2) Tell people what to do but don’t be bossy. All subordinates do not welcome a boss that tries to micromanage them all the time. 3) Care about your employees but do not be emotional, nobody like an emotional woman neither do they take them seriously in crucial times.
Woman-to-woman abuse is the primary way we continue to let men rule the world. No, they don’t disregard sexual harassment or misogyny, but they are desperate to avoid the hazing they receive from other women. A good female boss would stop this all at once and would not even give a rise to this matter. It’s absolutely fine to be aggressive and demanding at times but not always. When you’re leading a team, you have to be in your shoes all the time and keep a check on the things that is happening around you. You have to give up-and-down glares and tepid receptions to that would gradually grow accustomed (and weary) transformed into welcoming grins and warm embraces from female strangers wanting to become friends and collaborate.
You definitely do not want to be called by names as ‘bigwig’ or ‘crew leader’ as this phenomenon is too common when a leader is not liked. To be in good books you have to lead the way by being empathetic but not sympathetic. You have to understand and not react negatively to the hurdles that your second and below in commands are facing. You have to be ‘transformational,’ serving as a role model, helping employees develop their skills, and motivate them to be dedicated and creative.
We need to lean in but not just to our work. It’s time to lean into each other and play the ‘lean on’ song.
What better way to support a woman than with your wallet?
The most powerful thing you can do as a woman is support other women. The way society works today is simple that money equals power. For women to have power, they must land executive positions, grow their companies, and have their voices heard. With each supporting one another can lead to promotions of positions. Being in powerful position as a boss you serve as role model and show young people their potential as you have the power to be a part of this.
