Companies that are looking for inquisitive, creative, engaged, and motivated coworkers cannot deny the creativity and performance potential of women. Many women in Germany have had an excellent education, yet in most businesses and public institutions they are still fighting for recognition, especially when it comes to filling leadership positions.97 At the same time, 66.8 percent of all women are employed, and 49.7 percent of students are women. Women are ahead of men in scores on their high school exams and in achieving degrees, including in the natural sciences. In comparison, the percentage of women who are moving up to the executive level is only 10 percent—a shockingly low number.
Most male executives today are married and have a family, while women in leadership positions often pay for their dedication by remaining childless. Over 40 percent of women academics between the ages of thirty-five and forty do not have children. The expectations of executives are immense, in terms of professional dedication and the commitment of time and strength. Time for one’s personal life quickly diminishes, including time for one’s family. Women are just as much affected as men are, with the difference that it is usually women who are also responsible for the family, and who are quicker to relinquish having a family when in leadership positions.
Conversely, many highly qualified women refrain from taking on positions of responsibility because they are afraid they won’t be able to align their desire for a family with their professional career. But the latest studies show that desire for a family is not what keeps a woman from having a career, as has been thought. Rather, 47 percent of those surveyed felt that it was prejudice against women that restrained their career potential. And 34 percent of women counted the lack of professional networks as a major stumbling block for the advancement of their career.
Our society is losing out on enormous potential. A woman’s good education is much too valuable to simply be abandoned. Studies have long indicated that so-called mixed leadership is in many cases more successful than if men alone are at the helm. Modern brain research has once and for all laid to rest the preconception that male intelligence is superior to female intelligence. It has, however, discovered extraordinary differences between the thinking of men and women.98
Men and women differ not in the level of their intelligence but in their type of intelligence. While male and female brains are the same, they work in different ways. Men and women organize their thoughts differently, and they develop alternate solutions for the same circumstances. Hormones also shape the male and female intellect differently, affecting the microstructure of the brain even in utero. As newborns, boys and girls already perceive the world in different ways. Besides the genetic legacy, our environment also has a lasting effect on the differences between men and women. Even if both sexes are intellectually equal, they distinguish themselves greatly in terms of the specific cognitive output in the same circumstances. A man and a woman with an equal level of intelligence can come up with completely different solutions when solving the same problem. However, both men and women can be equally unwilling to consider the other’s perspective when arriving at their own conclusion. Not acknowledging the other’s point of view is the source of many misunderstandings. But therein also lies a hidden, untapped potential. Because if women see something that men cannot, and vice versa, then the combination of the two points of view can help avoid simplistic and one-sided answers to complex problems and can lead to powerful solutions. It has been proven that women are more quickly able to grasp nonverbal connections. Women’s perception is more complex. The old adage that a women on a team will bring complications may be true, but in a positive way. Women rely more strongly on their intuitive and memory-based awareness, which leads to a more complex and creative perspective. When a female brain evaluates a situation, it looks for similarities among the broad range of past experiences. In this way women have been proven to be superior to men in terms of quickly assessing a situation, being sensitive to emotional states, and perceiving differences in facts.
The two genders use their brains differently. Women use the evolutionarily younger areas of the brain, where they can interpret facial expressions, gestures, and other methods of communication, more frequently than men do. Men, on the other hand, are always connected to the more ancient parts of the brain, even when they are at rest. This part of the brain is wired for survival—it’s as if a man has to be ready to fight at any moment.
These differences in the workings of the intellect lead men to frequently seek out very even-keeled solutions. Women, on the other hand, often want to examine all the details step by step, which can sometimes get in the way of quick results. Scientists describe these two attitudes as “high-risk gambler” and “safe investor.”
I have had many exchanges with women in government and economics about this issue. I was especially impressed by Lore Maria Peschel-Gutzeit, Berlin’s former minister of justice.99 During her long career as a politician and as a justice, this mother of three was involved in establishing legal equality for women in Germany. Today Peschel-Gutzeit is pursuing the stronger integration of women onto executive and supervisory boards. Her reasoning is that men ask questions less often, while women will seek detailed information, thus taking on a monitoring function on a board. Since the economic crisis has brought to light the failure of control mechanisms, she is especially advocating more women at the executive level.
I, too, am convinced that having women in leadership positions could advance our companies’ creativity and our future sustainability, especially because men and women employ such different strategies. We need concrete action from economics, politics, business, and various alliances in order to right this societal wrong. Only when the two sexes are working together can all the decision makers of our society reach their full potential. We need to realize that women’s complex perception can complement the tunnel vision that men can sometimes develop. Conversely, men can remain focused on a goal even within the most multitiered problems, which is a very complementary quality for women to work with.
In today’s world, where the challenges could not be any more complex, a great potential lies in these differences. Businesses that bank on women in leadership positions have an advantage in market competition. Female managers are important to the success of communications strategies and creativity—and for the future of our society.
In the United States, training specifically geared toward female executives has long been the norm. In Germany, Bertelsmann has set a first such benchmark by offering an executive development seminar every year at our Business Women School in Berlin, in which twenty-four women from various German businesses participate.100 Renowned women speakers who are active in economics, the media, religion, and politics give insight into their professional experience. I greatly enjoy using this opportunity to speak with some of our young participants. It is quite impressive how highly motivated these women are as they search for the right strategy for their career path.
Together we look at how women’s competence, their knowledge, and their capabilities can be integrated into the corporate culture. We openly discuss questions about leadership competence and career issues. The reconciliation of work and family life is an important subject for many. Having successful speakers as role models in an open working atmosphere makes the Business Women School a place that’s full of opportunity. The young managers of tomorrow have the chance here to network and compare experiences. Everyone takes full advantage of these opportunities.
A future-oriented society cannot be built without collaboration between men and women. Many young women still underestimate, however, how much effort it takes, even after a successful career start, to get a foot through the door on the leadership level. This is why I appeal to women to take on responsibility not just for others but for themselves as well. We need more than a commitment on the parts of corporations—we also have to change the thinking in our own heads.