The Best Man for the Job is a Woman | Leading From the Library; Library Journal, 10/23/13

Steven Bell, Library Journal; The Best Man for the Job is a Woman | Leading From the Library: "Self-awareness is key to identifying one’s areas of weakness, whether male or female, and then working to build strength in those areas, according to John Gerzema, author of new book The Athena Doctrine, which argues that traits classically considered feminine are essential to effective leadership today. In his surveys of over 60,000 adults, the qualities most desired in leaders were patience, expressiveness, intuition, flexibility, empathy, and many other traits identified by respondents as feminine. Yet 81 percent of those surveyed said leaders required a balance of male and female traits. Gerzema believes that, while masculine traits are still the ticket to top executive positions, a shift is occurring. He advises leaders to aim for somewhere in between Venus and Mars, and identifies multiple trends that point to workplace changes in which a more feminine leadership will emerge as the preferred style... Does the current debate about whether men and women should be more like the opposite sex apply to the library world? It is a predominantly female profession, so one might think that the observation of feminine qualities among the profession’s leaders would be nothing new. Though the statistical over-representation of men in formal leadership positions, such as dean and directors, might suggest that even in our mostly female workforce, it is the male traits that enable individuals to acquire leadership roles. The real challenge, as I see it, is how leaders learn to morph their leadership styles with traits not typically associated with their gender. This may be where self-awareness, reflection, 360-degree reviews, and other techniques are of use in better understanding our own strengths and weaknesses as leaders. Both men and women can learn from each other as well, to develop the skills that individuals seek in their leaders. Each improvement we make, as we adapt these new skills to our leadership style, will help us to boost the quality of library leadership."