How women take on leadership roles and how companies succeed in promoting female leaders

Ms. Mahlstedt, you will be releasing your first book at the end of November titled "How Women Lead and How Companies Succeed in Promoting Female Leaders." What is the intention of this book? In general, my aim is to support as many women – but also men – in shaping their careers. However, different personalities have different needs, and both men and women inherently possess different strengths – apart from other aspects of personality. What are the respective strengths? Women excel in performing their jobs with great discipline and in not only engaging people on a factual level but also emotionally, especially in larger processes of change. Men, on the other hand, are good at networking and self-marketing. Therefore, they often find the next career step much more natural. Combining these strengths in a company can only be advantageous for entrepreneurial success. Companies need to understand this and adjust the framework conditions accordingly, especially for women. They often fail on the career ladder due to male-dominated rules of the game when it comes to positioning themselves, self-marketing, and taking risks. The often-mentioned work-life balance plays a significant but rather subordinate role in this. Is your book primarily a call for German companies to change their framework conditions? No, that would not be entirely accurate. It is more of a call to all parties involved, including companies, male, and female employees, to come together and collectively make a change. Because it is about changing the leadership culture. To achieve this, movement and change are necessary on many levels – both in the corporate context and in the behavior of women. That sounds as good in theory as the women's quota, which has not achieved much almost a year after its legal introduction. Why should German companies change the framework conditions of the women's quota? Indeed, the legal women's quota has not brought much so far, and the question is whether we need it or if a voluntary commitment by companies is sufficient. However, there was already a voluntary commitment from the economy to bring more women into leadership positions back in 2001. However, as Elke Holst from the German Institute for Economic Research confirmed with the statement "The executive boards remain male monocultures," nothing has changed. There are clear macroeconomic arguments for women and men jointly taking over corporate governance – mixed teams at the top have been proven to be more successful than homogeneous ones. For example, in a survey conducted in 2011 by the consulting firm McKinsey together with the lobby organization Catalyst, it was found that among the 89 European listed companies examined, those with mixed top management teams were the most successful. Furthermore, companies with more than three women in key positions grow faster and make more profit. Already in 2008, Wirtschaftswoche reported in its story "Why Female Leaders Increase Company Value" on a US study that showed that Fortune 500 companies that appointed women to their boards achieved an average of 35% higher return on equity than all-male teams. Thanks to the women's quota. And how can this be implemented concretely? Everyone involved must realize one thing: it is not about training women to adopt more masculine management behavior. It is much more important to complement the rather female strengths in communication, appearance, and leadership with the more masculine strengths of assertiveness, boundary-setting, and positioning. In concrete terms, companies need to rethink to attract female leaders for top positions in the long run. Allowing a broad behavioral repertoire at the highest decision-making level is an important step. Only then can they benefit long-term from the strength of mixed teams. It starts with the recruitment of leaders: Are women, for example, specifically targeted? What criteria are used to select applicants? However, career development is also a key point: Are there flexible career paths and offerings for late careers, or mentoring and coaching programs for female talents? Real work-life balance without leading to a career break is also a crucial point. Companies should consider what flexible working time models are possible for executives. What sets your book apart from other career guides? When I want to make a change, I often mean that the other person needs to move first. Let's consider a mobile; we know that we only need to touch one part to set the entire mobile in motion. That's exactly what I want to convey to women and companies with my book. Above all, I want to support women in actively shaping their careers. This certainly includes optimizing the framework conditions to balance career and family. But it also involves strengthening one's own strengths, having the courage to seek one's own stage, and talk about one's own success. It's about change, and it should start with each individual. This requires first dealing with oneself – which also applies to companies. With "How Women Lead and How Companies Succeed in Promoting Women's Careers," I provide women and companies with a "workbook" containing background information, current issues, and solutions on how women's careers can be actively shaped and integrated into companies. I am convinced that in the end, everyone can benefit from it. Ms. Mahlstedt, thank you for the conversation. For more on the topic of women's quotas in companies and on Anja Mahlstedt, visit: http://www.deutsches-rednerlexikon.de/redner/anja-mahlstedt.html