This is cutting edge improvisational blogging.
We call it – “Whose Blog is it anyway ?”
We have written this for FUN, not serious, to amuse ourselves and our readers, and help promote our blogs. So please read with that in mind.
Me And Steven
Steven first came to my attention via a mutual friend who’d mentioned Steven on his blog.
He’s an accomplished writer, moonlighting away from his day job as an engineer. We share a mutual liking of the metal band Metallica. Anyone who lists “Enter Sandman” in their top 10 favourite songs is cool in my book.
I admire Steven for fully embracing the challenge, and that he’s helping others who are facing challenging circumstances in their lives. There are marks of a strong heart and a good leader.
You can find Steven at SFoxWriting blog.
Please do enjoy Steven’s guest improviser submission.
Cheers
Don Charisma
Women make better leaders than men
Intro
Hello my name is Steven Fox or as I’m known in the blogging world SFoxWriting. For those of you that don’t know me I try and make sure my blog posts are fair, occasionally controversial however never offensive. While I’m aware that it’s impossible to not offend everyone all the time it still doesn’t make me try any less. I live in Derby, England and it’s fair to say that I live in a little village which looks like it was made to put in a model village. I’m 20 years old and while I still view this as young relative to the rest of my life I also believe that now is the time to start fully taking in my surroundings and make a push for what I perceive as greatness. I started writing in the first place to help others who suffered with depression and I like to think I have done this. But on to the article in hand.
When Don tasked me with this challenge it made me genuinely think What is my real stance on this topic? Not because I didn’t agree or disagree with the topic I was given but because I had never really thought about it before. I would like to now take the opportunity to thank Don and his amazing blog for the opportunity to express myself.
Discussion
Reasons why women are better leaders
In terms of work for example it is crucial that the Boss is a powerful figure. It is however also important that they also have lots of other little skills which help to make the Boss be as understood and motivating as possible. Because of this I believe that one of the biggest tools women use better than men is communication. This is because women listen to other people better than men do. For example if something needs to be done but it isn’t urgent and some thought needs to be taken beforehand the women will sit down with all parties involved and genuinely listen to everyone’s points before making up plans to deal with the subject at hand. However the man will jump into the problem and try and fix it sometimes with no exterior input. This is not because the man doesn’t care about other people’s opinions per say but I believe it is due to men wanting more power and having the mentality to try and fix things. It’s fair to say women are discussion orientated and men are action orientated. Now the reason why this is such an important characteristic is because employees want their employer to listen to them and even take their ideas on board. Also customers want themselves to be heard. Conversation and the realization from the employees and customers that the person in charge is listening to them builds something rather valuable Loyalty.
Women are known to try and build relationships in and out of work. This leads to collaborations with say other companies and it doesn’t matter if they are competitors or not. This will in the long run most likely make only a small difference to the way the company is run or the success it has but the reason why it is valuable, is because it gives you access to more resources and allies in case everything goes wrong. While men view competition as exactly that “someone else to take part of my pie” and this just leads to conflict, while the women invite each other round to share equal amounts of pie and get better ties with other businesses because of it.
If you take a look at life in general who takes longer to do things? Is it men or women? Well while I’m not talking about how long women take to get ready the answer is still women. However when leading people this is a good trait to possess. Women who are in charge of small businesses tend to take longer when decision making, this sometimes leads to failure and they miss out on a opportunity where as a man wouldn’t. But on the reverse side of the coin getting longer and sustainable success, through clever and calculated decisions because you bided your time is probably better ,than going all out and while perhaps getting short terms success you overspend and the company lives beyond its means.
Women also prefer leading from the middle of the pack rather than the top like men. Part of the problem with male leaders is the power goes to their head and they think every decision they make is all about them just ask General Custer. Women on the other hand know a little more that in order to achieve greatness everyone must chip in rather than just barking out orders they get stuck in themselves and this means the workers or the people they are leading respect them more. The world of business and fighting in the army for example is all about having respect for your leader, if you do not you will not put your all in.
Ok let me ask you this. Hypothetically you are the boss of a big company. You know however you are going to retire soon or you want someone to assist you in running the company. Who do you hire? Is it someone exactly like you? Or is it someone with a different view point? Now while I’m sure not all men at the top are like this I would say at least 90% would choose someone exactly with the same mentality as them. Mainly because they want their own opinion backed up. Now the other side of the coin that women would choose in my belief gives the final decision making a more rounded approach as there is the chance of a difference of opinion between the two.
Below I would like to give you some examples of powerful women and the legacy they left behind.
Inspirational women
Cleopatra – She was the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt. Cleopatra sought to defend Egypt from the expanding Roman Empire. She formed strong relations with both powerful leaders of Rome Marc Anthony and Julius Caesar, and while her methods can be called into question it just shows allies are much better than potential foes.
Boudicca – Was an inspirational leader of the Britons. She led several tribes in revolt of the Roman occupation. Her army of 100,000 was initially successful and won at both Colchester and London, and while her army was later defeated it shows her inspirational leadership and passion must have been great for men and women to follow her into battle.
Joan of Arc – Is the patron saint of France. She inspired the French revolt against the occupation of the English. She was an unlikely heroine she was just 17 and diminutive but she led the French to victory at Orleans. Her trial later and martyrdom actually heightened her mystique.
Elizabeth I – She was queen of England during the time of the great economic and social change. During her rein she witnessed the defeat of the Spanish armada and led Britain to be one of the world’s dominant superpowers.
Elizabeth Stanton – she was a social activist and also leader of the early women’s rights movement. She was the key figure which helped create the suffrage movements in the US. She was also the principle author of the Declaration of sentiments in 1848
Outro
In summary, while I’m not saying that men are bad leader’s in fact there have been many successful and popular male leaders throughout history I believe that they lack certain skills in order to gain the upper hand in every situation. I because of this am of the opinion that women have a broader range of characteristics in order to get the best out of any situation and are the best leaders. However I would just like to say this, if a man and a woman were both equally in charge now that would lead to true greatness.
I hope I haven’t offended anyone and that while you may not agree with me can see the points I have attempted to make.
BY Steven, blogger extraordinaire at the SFoxWriting blog.
Please note:
Comments are invited. BUT you are reminded that this is a public blog and also reminded to think before you press the “post comment” button.
Good manners are a mark of a charismatic person – so please keep comments civil, non-argumentative, constructive and related, or they will be moderated. If you feel you can’t comply, press the “unfollow” button and/or refrain from commenting.
I read ALL comments but can’t always reply. I will comment if I think there’s something that I can add to what you’ve said. I do delete comments that don’t follow rules above. For persistent offenders I will ignore you permanently and/or report you.
Most decent people already know how to behave with respect.
Thank you for your co-operation on this.
Warm regards, Don Charisma
Don Charisma 
My reply, as promised: http://shardsofsilence.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/women-and-leadership/
Hello Don,
Thank you for following my blog – I’m also on twiitter and am following. See you there:-)
Cheers,
Eric
Hey Eric, that’s awesome lovely to meet you … I’m on WordPress more than twitter, but my posts get linked onto twitter 🙂 warm regards DC
You’ve got some good insights into women, Scott, and I agree with all of them, especially the relational aspect of leading people (empathy, compassion, understanding). But, as a woman, I also don’t know if I like the pressure of being better leaders than men. 🙂
And there is something I thought worth examining: Women are really bad at the comparison game, meaning most of us can look at another woman’s higher position in a company (especially if they’re younger) and feel inefficient or their better-behaved children and feel incapable or their got-it-all-togetherness and feel deficient. I don’t know if this is something men struggle with quite as much…my husband, who is a graphic designer/hand letterer, has never mentioned it.
Something else to consider. I have a few women at work tell me during candid moments that they’d rather work for a male boss than a female boss (assuming he’s not a jerk). No one seems to want to publicly admit this, but I suspect a non-trivial majority of women feel this way.
Yes. I have worked for both and much prefer a male boss. (Please don’t hate me, women!)
I second that, having worked for both 🙂 (and I don’t care if you hate me 🙂 ) warm regards DC
Thanks for corroborating my story, rachel.
Good heavens, man! Where are the raging gender battles? The outraged feminist orc armies storming the shattered walls of Helm’s Deep? The blood-curdling war cries, even? What’s next? Will world peace break out? }:-|>
Other than that, a decidedly thoughtful and enjoyable post. Thank you. };-)>
Welcome mr charmer …
You missed the fun on my post then ?
Commented early and went back to playing Noah’s Ark with the WordPress emails. Have to go back, obviously!
I’ve moderated so nothing to see now, but a few sparks flew … You can switch emails off in settings if they are getting too much, look in dashboard, settings, discussion then “email me whenever” and you can turn off emails you don’t want there … or have you done that already ?
Found it. Big, big thanks, Don. You’re a lifesaver.
There’s a couple of other tricks, I’ll ping you an email from my icloud, ping me one back … cheers DC
Welcome, sending you email with additional details
Very well written. Thanks Don.
Irene
A pleasure, but credit for writing goes to Steven 🙂 warm regards DC
This is really, really well written and not offensive at all. You managed to stay balanced on the fence and provide view points from both sides. Very impressive! 🙂
glad you think i managed to stay balenced 🙂
Great write young Mr Fox! – Interesting and well written 😀
Thankyou very much 🙂
Cool SFox – sorry I could not discuss it much with you – I think you pretty much covered all bases to cover right 😉
Cheers –
Nice job! You are enlightened about men vs. women communication sfox. Men and women are hardwired differently in their brains and when both sexes realize that instead of saying one is better than the other, we will be much better off imho.
laura,
im very glad you think i dealt with the situation in hand well. i completely agree the two sexes are wired differently and rather than saying ooh im better than you or visa versa it would be nice to get the point across that we are all better at something than each other but all brilliant at what we do best.
Yes! The yin and the yang…we need both energies. 😀
Reblogged this on Go-See-Do Gal and commented:
This is a great article 🙂
Reblogged this on SFoxWriting's Blog and commented:
Thank you to Don( from doncharisma.org ) for giving me the chance to write on his blog . I hope you all enjoy reading it here on sfoxwriting.com
Good points 🙂 Thank you for this post. A very enjoyable read.
very welcome vicbriggs 🙂 what did you enjoy most about it ?
It is not often that I read a post that manages to strike a balance when it comes to gender. I thought yours did so. Hope other readers agree.
Warm regards,
Vic
Yes it was quite difficult t strike the balence actually , glad you picked up on my efforts to keep it that way. May i ask what your own personal feelings are about this topic ?
This would have to be a long reply 🙂 I tell you what. I’ll write it up as a reply post and send you the link (hopefully today, but certainly before the end of the week). Hope that’s ok.
Regards,
Vic
that would be great 🙂 thank you
Really nice blog, though do you think gender has much to do with leadership ability? I think its more of an innate quality a person has or develops over time. For every woman who is a great leader there is also a man and vice versa I am sure holds true. 🙂
Could be either, or, personally I think most people have a large amount of unrealised potential 🙂
I agree don but i also think that leadership cant be taught . You either have it or you dont
LOL well, we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one, I reckon any skill can be learnt by anyone. With the caveat that some will have more natural aptitude than others. I could for instance learn to play the piano and music, but doesn’t make me a Mozart 🙂
Cheers
DC
i would bend towards your way of thinking about natural aptitude , but i just think leadership is natural. but without disagreement nothing gets done properly 😉
Understood. Differences of opinion often lead to learning, provided their is civilised discussion. Margaret Thatcher said some along similar lines that she never learnt anything from someone she agrees with 🙂
I had lady leave a comment about chickens I took photos of. She said the roosters were in charge. When the roosters where taken out of the equation, one of the hens became the “alpha-female” and took charge. So perhaps this is a born natural aptitude or perhaps it’s just whoever decided to take the job ?
perhaps thats correct about whoever decided to take the job . they are not always the best person for the job though 😉 i liked your little info on Maggie Thatcher btw 🙂
I agree Prateek that perhaps it isnt gender that makes someone a good leader and in most cases it isnt. im not sure it develops however perhaps you are born with a certain style. Or Charisma 😉
I’m just happy to see Boudicca on the list! I didn’t learn of her until my adulthood and when I did, I wondered, “WHY am I just now learning of this?!?” LOL
Boudicca truely was a remarkable women , its a shame not many have heard of her. Hopefully this will enlighten more people 🙂 glad you enjoyed the article
Love It! 🙂
Thanks 🙂 What was your favorite part of the article ?
I like the whole article and would like to share if you don’t Mind? 🙂
You can reblog, no problem for me, Steven’s monitoring too, so just wait for him to reply, just in case. Cheers DC
no problems from me with sharing 🙂 in fact thanks very much 🙂
❤
Great article Steven, it’s informative, you’ve really embraced the challenge and I being very historically uninformed learnt a lot about the inspirational women of the ages. Excellent, thank you 🙂
Warm regards
DC
Don ,
im very glad you enjoyed the historical part of my post . I thought it would add depth as well as enlightening a few people . Im glad it has.
Thank you for the opportunity and cant wait to work with you again soon