What substantive differences exist between the performance of male and female leaders? What perceived differences exist between the performance of male and female leaders? What do the answers to these questions mean for females that aspire to leadership positions?

Substantive Differences

A fair amount of research has explored sex differences in business leadership. Although mostly survey research, a number of themes appear consistently, suggesting that there are some substantive differences between men and women with regard to leadership performance. For example, with regard to global leadership, research by Javidan et al. (2016) suggest that women demonstrate stronger leadership self-efficacy (the importance of which is iterated by Locke & Latham, 2002; Hannah et al., 2008; Lester et al., 2011; Luthans & Peterson, 2002; Paglis & Green, 2002) profiles in regard to passion for diversity, intercultural diversity and diplomacy, while men tend to show strong leadership self-efficacies regarding global business savvy, cosmopolitan outlook and interpersonal impact.

Women tend to behave more ethically than do men, and also tend to be more personable (Anonymous, 2013; Stedham et al., 2007). An article by Gannon (2012) discusses research showing that women leaders are judged as more supportive and rewarding, whereas men are judged to be better at such behaviors as delegating and managing up. Other research is described in the Gannon (2012) article,* suggesting that women leaders demonstrate higher levels of compassion and team-building skills. In addition, women leaders are also rated to be more persuasive and assertive. Still other research has shown that more women than men asked their bosses for new challenges at work. Women may also be willing to work longer hours than their male counterparts.

Men may be more willing to “wing it” and convey confidence even