L for Leadership

Posted on by Parul Thakur
Image Source : PixShark
Image Source : PixShark

I am sure you must have heard that people don’t leave their jobs, they leave their bosses. And that is the reason being a good leader matters, which mind you, is not an easy task. If the team is successful in driving results, the leader is successful. If not, it’s not the team who fails but the leader. A good leader

  • Communicates openly, is transparent and approachable
  • Is nurturing and collaborates efficiently
  • Leads from the front and is always ready to jump in when needed
  • Understands his/her team and their strengths
  • Encourages his/her team to reach their potential and keep raising the bar

A research suggests that, the presence of  feminine traits in men and women make them better in leading teams. Traits like empowering, having harmony in the team, resolving conflicts, to accept and to make each person of the team feel belonged comes naturally to many women. They are nurturing and they put themselves after the team. Most of the women reach the top after struggling with various kinds of biases both at home and at workplace, and hence they are more open to newer ideas and do not think too high of themselves to neglect talent. A good blend of masculine traits like competitiveness and aggressive approach towards certain things helps a leader remain successful in all that (s)he does.

In the modern-day scenario, organizations are changing – there is focus on building relationships, networking, developing listening skills and encouraging teams to do their best to raise the bar. Yes, traits like patience may depend on the organizational culture but every one loves leaders who does not lose calm and stays positive under tough situations. The feminine traits work better and of course help people to stay on.

It’s not that only women make great leaders or only men are suited for the C-level jobs. A good leader should work on both feminine and masculine traits to succeed with his/her team. Women need to believe in themselves and they need to raise their hand for one can never know when her passion helps her earns her daily bread.

I am blogging from A to Z during April (#425 on the list) and the theme I have chosen is set on women. Some of the posts will be here for you to know and some will be to reflect and accept. Share your thoughts and let me know how things are going. There is always a room for improvement. 

45 thoughts on “L for Leadership”

  2. These are exactly my thoughts here. The success or failure of a team depends majorly on the leadership. I fully agree, that a combination of feminine traits nurturing and masculine traits like aggressiveness yields the best results. Brilliant post Parul.

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  3. Having a good boss is so crucial to whether you will like your job and want to stay there. Good points about being a good leader. Wish more bosses had all these leadership skills but many are sadly lacking.

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  5. Thanks for this post that underlines the importance of leadership. Leadership is not only important as far as a job/career is concerned but also helps us take charge of our lives (self leadership).

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  8. A good leader has a balanced personally, she leads as well as nurtures. It’s true that men and women are equally capable of being great leaders.

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  13. Great post! I believe in “leading by doing” – being a visible and “on” leader – and seeing the pot and nurture the potential in the ones we lead. Moreover its great for a woman to be a role model for other women – because sometimes the road to the top can be harder for a woman than a man. F ex- sometimes they can say that the leader is aggressive if its a man – and thats positive, but it they say the same about a woman leader they mean it in a negative way. Also often woman leaders are faced with questions like “how can you take well care of your children and family and at the same time have such a challenging job” That question is not often raised to a man who is a leader. Hahah – ok, I see this is a long comment from me – but creds to you dear – for managing to write about interesting subjects and engage your readers…:-) 🙂

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    1. Thanks Eli for sharing your thoughts. Remember my post in letter G? Aggressive women are known as bossy and aggressive men are go-getters. There was also a twitter campaign #banbossy! 🙂
      I’m glad you feel that the posts are engaging. It’s worth the efforts then! 🙂

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  17. Great post Parul. Love the bit about about incorporating male and female strengths to be a good leader, because it’s important not just be aggressive but to have empathy for your co-workers.
    If I may add- a leader needs to lead by example.
    Also being assertive rather than purely aggressive is important too and sometimes it’s takes time to learn assertiveness.

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    1. Totally agree with you there – Leading by example is very engaging for the team. A must have. Also, assertiveness is a virtue and required in corporate settings. Thanks a bunch for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. Truly appreciate it 🙂

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  18. I agree with you on basically every point except calling those personality traits “feminine” or “masculine”… we have to be careful, in terms of getting equality, that we do not prescribe “compassion” and “empathy” as feminine. Gandhi and the Dalai Llama have both of those traits, but we would not call them feminine. “Nurturing,” even, can have a divisive tone to it.

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  19. A woman definitely needs masculine traits like assertiveness to get ahead, but I agree that the nurturing aspect is also a good thing. The best leaders are tough, but fair, in my opinion.

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  21. I have heard such comments at my earlier workplace where being a lady I was excused from waiting overnight. Not that I would have preferred working overnight but when it comes to communicating such points – why does the “lady” card come to play ? Well said and great post ! 🙂

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